Chatham University

Doctor of Psychology in Counseling Psychology (PsyD): Accreditation

What is accreditation?

"The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality. Accrediting agencies, which are private educational associations of regional or national scope, develop evaluation criteria and conduct peer evaluations to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency's evaluation and that meet an agency's criteria are then "accredited" by that agency" (US Department of Education, 2009).

What is the PsyD program's accreditation status?

Chatham University's PsyD program is seeking accreditation by the American Psychological Association. The program is designed to meet the guidelines and principles for accreditation set forth by the Commission on Accreditation. For information about these guidelines and principles, please see the following document: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation . Accreditation involves a self-study of the program, conducted during the first few years of the program's existence, and a site visit by the Commission representatives. We have submitted the self-study to the Commission on Accreditation of APA, and it is currently undergoing the review process that occurs prior to a site visit.

Contact information for APA Commission on Accreditation:

American Psychological Association
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation / Commission on Accreditation 
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979
TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
Fax: 202-336-5978
E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Internet Web page: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation

What is Chatham University's accreditation status?

The University is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In addition, several graduate programs are accredited by the appropriate governing bodies (please see www.chatham.edu/about for details).