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ACCREDITATION

Fuller Theological Seminary is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). All degrees and academic certificates are accredited by WSCUC. The School of Mission and Theology master’s and doctoral degree programs are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. The accreditation of these associations applies to both the Pasadena campus and Fuller’s regional campuses. The PhD and PsyD programs in clinical psychology of the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy are approved (professionally accredited) by the American Psychological Association. The contact information for these agencies is provided below.

Association of Theological Schools Accreditation:

Contact information is:
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
10 Summit Park Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15275 USA
Telephone: 412-788-6505
Fax: 412-788-6510
Accredited by the ATS Commission, the following degree programs are approved:

MA in Theology and Ministry, MA in Family Studies, MDiv, MA in Intercultural Studies, MA in Christian Leadership, MA in Specialized Ministry, MA in Global Leadership, MA (Theology), DMin, DMiss (Doctor of Missiology), DIS (Doctor of Intercultural Studies), ThM, PhD (Intercultural Studies), PhD (Missiology), PhD (Theology)
American Psychological Association Accreditation: 
Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation.
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation

American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation
The following extension sites are approved as specified:

Houston, TX
Approved Degrees: MDiv, MA in Intercultural Studies, MA in Christian Leadership, MA (Theology), MA in Theology and Ministry, Certificate in Christian Studies

Phoenix, AZ
Approved Degrees: MDiv, MA in Intercultural Studies, MA in Christian Leadership, MA (Theology), MA in Theology and Ministry, MS in Marital and Family Therapy, Certificate in Christian Studies


Approved for a Comprehensive Distance Education Program
Contact information is:
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
10 Summit Park Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15275 USA
Telephone: 412-788-6505
Fax: 412-788-6510
Maximum Time to Completion

Fuller Seminary offers several doctoral and master’s-level degrees from each of its two schools: the School of Mission and Theology and the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. Most of the programs are designed to allow a student to attend either full-time or part-time, but all credits counted toward a specific degree must be earned within a ten-year time period.

Credit Hour Policy

All classes at Fuller Theological Seminary must follow this Credit Hour Policy.

Transfer Credit Policy 

Please see our current Academic Catalog.

Student Complaints/Grievance Policy and Procedures 

Please see our Student Handbook.

EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

OVERVIEW

Fuller Theological Seminary is a multidenominational graduate-level institution comprising two academic units: the School of Mission and Theology and the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. In addition to the Pasadena main campus, Fuller has regional campuses in Houston and Phoenix. These regional campuses are approved to offer most of Fuller’s degrees. Fuller has kept pace with educational practices as seen in its distance education programs, including online, web-enhanced, and hybrid courses and degree programs. The diverse modalities enhance the institution’s ability to offer students multiple pathways to complete their programs.

Evidence in support of our program learning outcomes for all programs can be found here.

The student achievement information presents a general sense of the time to completion rates and is based on a ten-year limit for completing the programs. Some Fuller students are enrolled part time. Many students also work while pursuing a degree at Fuller.

Complete graduation and retention data for all programs can be found here.
Data about types of employment alumni obtain after graduation and the relevance of Fuller's curriculum to that employment can be found here.

WSCUC Commission Action Letter, June 2019

SCHOOL OF MISSION AND THEOLOGY

Context and Mission

Fuller’s graduates encounter on-the-ground realities marked by waves of cultural change that continuously reshape what discipleship looks like and what leadership demands. Discerning the Holy Spirit, we are all called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and to embody the gospel in action toward God’s justice and reconciliation.

To meet this moment, Fuller’s School of Mission and Theology offers reimagined curricula that underscore how theology and mission are contextual and holistic. To shape innovative leaders for vocations in church and society, programs integrate rigorous scholarship with practical wisdom through courses that utilize new technologies to reach the body of Christ globally. Grounded in Scripture, students receive indispensable formation in life-giving patterns of thinking and feeling, believing and behaving that are Christ-centered and mission-focused.

School Learning Outcomes

The primary learning outcomes of the School of Mission and Theology are:

  • Graduates will demonstrate critical awareness of their identity and formation within God’s active work amidst a diverse church and world.
  • Graduates will demonstrate ability to discern God’s truth and purpose in Scripture, critically engaging theological and missiological disciplines using global resources.
  • Graduates will demonstrate personal and corporate practices for holistic lives of discipleship and vocation.
  • Graduates will demonstrate reflective capacities to proclaim and embody the good news of Jesus Christ for God’s justice and reconciliation.
  • Graduates will demonstrate creativity, agility, and effectiveness in leadership in complex and changing contexts.

PROGRAMS

School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Demonstrate the ability to provide excellent preventative and or transformational mental health services [to church and community].
  • Graduates will be equipped to apply the insights of Christian theology along with the knowledge and techniques of the social and behavioral sciences in their scholarly and clinical work.
  • Graduates will be prepared to contribute to the development of knowledge as it relates to the interface of religious, spiritual, and psychological functioning.
  • Graduates will demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and attitudes necessary to serve effectively in diverse communities locally and globally.
  • Graduates will be prepared to serve underserved populations and to integrate in their practice and personal lives the disciplines of compassion and charity.

PROGRAMS

INSTITUTIONAL GOALS

Fuller Theological Seminary’s unique contribution to the church is reflected in the union of its two faculties. In this union, the psychological sciences and intercultural studies join with theology to effect the biblical mandate of bringing persons throughout the world to maturity in Christ through every language and culture. As an educational arm of the church, Fuller’s two graduate schools seek to serve the body of Christ in its worldwide ministry, combining these emphases in the type of training they provide.

Institutional Goal: Academic Excellence

The trustees and faculty of Fuller are committed to achieving and maintaining the highest academic standards in teaching, research and writing. In the quest for academic quality, we assume that there will exist:

  1. A commitment to increase and strengthen the quality of teaching in the classroom
    • through funding and supporting innovative programs
    • through varied teaching models
    • through careful evaluation and feedback;
  2. A rigorous program of research and writing to provide literary leadership for the church;
  3. Interaction with nonevangelical viewpoints;
  4. A commitment to maintain the highest possible standards of responsible academic freedom;
  5. A commitment to flexibility in curriculum design
    • to allow room for innovation and growth
    • to recognize individual needs and specialized ministries;
  6. A commitment to the best of theological traditions;
  7. An academic program which will encourage and foster the spiritual formation of the individual;
  8. Recognition by regional and professional accrediting agencies
    • Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WSCUC)
    • Association of Theological Schools
    • American Psychological Association.

Institutional Goal: Professional Competence

Fuller Seminary is committed to an academically and professionally qualified faculty whose appointments and advancements are dependent upon potential and acknowledged competence in teaching, writing, and professional practice. These standards assume:

  1. A willingness to invest in the growth of persons both within the context of the seminary and outside its walls
    • personally
    • professionally
    • spiritually;
  2. A commitment to relate productively with local congregations
    • in support of local pastors by offering workshops and other services to enhance their ministry
    • in a continued and expanded use of local churches for fieldwork experience
    • in keeping local churches informed of Fuller’s ministries
    • in listening to the local churches’ articulation of their ministry and needs;
  3. An ability to serve the church in the area of research
    • by keeping abreast of the times
    • by initiating new programs in order to meet present and future needs
    • by coordinating efforts within the two schools to optimize the application of their unique resources;
  4. A commitment to provide professional training of the highest quality for the varied ministries within the church
    • incorporating practical “in-ministry” experience
    • stressing the importance of preaching and other means of communication
    • recognizing the effect of culture on the ministry of the church;
  5. A concern for the highest standards of professional competence for individuals engaged in ministry outside of the organized church
    • in the healing ministry of clinical psychology
    • in the caring ministry of social agencies
    • in the teaching ministry of educational institutions.

Institutional Goal: Multidenominational Breadth

The trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary are pledged to serve the entire church of Jesus Christ in its various expressions whether congregational, denominational, or interdenominational. While maintaining a multidenominational structure, Fuller encourages its students to work within existing church organizations. In reflecting this approach, the seminary assumes the following:

  1. Strong denominational participation by individual trustees and faculty members;
  2. A variety of programs designed to prepare individuals for the general and specialized ministries identified by the church
    • pastors
    • staff ministries
    • missionaries
    • clinical psychologists
    • youth ministers
    • administrators
    • research psychologists
    • professors
    • chaplains
    • campus ministers
    • Christian educators
    • counselors
    • evangelists
    • marriage and family therapists
    • social workers;
  3. A correspondence between the enrollment in each program and placement opportunities
    • responding to the church’s request for ministers with specifically defined training (e.g., preaching, Christian education, family ministries, administration)
    • observing the growing need for mission training, particularly at the professional level
    • addressing the continued need for clinical psychologists and marriage and family therapists;
  4. A commitment to be ecumenical in church relationships;
  5. An emphasis on preaching, evangelism, Christian nurture and church discipline through which unity is expressed.

Institutional Goal: Vocational Diversity

In order to meet the demands of the church today, the trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary take seriously the apostolic description of the church’s nature—one body, many members. For this reason, the programs of the two schools and the continuing education programs are designed to provide training for a wide range of Christian service. This attitude toward diversity assumes the following:

  1. A diversity of gifts and ministries to be exercised with awareness of the unity of the body and dependence upon the head, Jesus Christ;
  2. A variety of programs designed to prepare individuals for the general and specialized ministries identified by the church
  3. A correspondence between the enrollment in each program and placement opportunities
  4. The offering of extension courses in theological education to allow laypersons, many of whom are already involved in vocational service, to strengthen skills in Christian ministry
  5. The opportunity for in-service training which provides both academic stimulus and spiritual growth.

Institutional Goal: Personal Maturity

The trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary believe that the church of Christ must minister to the whole person. Emotional healing in Christian perspective is the particular goal of the School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy, but the aim is shared by the other school’s faculty as well. The ultimate objective is that every Fuller graduate be equipped to model, as well as foster in others, a personal maturity which is demonstrated by loving service to others and responsible Christian discipleship. In developing and nurturing spiritual and emotional maturity, we assume there will exist:

  1. An investment by the seminary in the personal, the professional, and the spiritual development of each of its members
    • in time and availability
    • in resources
    • in services provided
    • in participatory governance;
  2. The opportunity for all students to participate in supportive community
    • for social development
    • for spiritual formation;
  3. Easy accessibility to the counseling services offered on campus;
  4. A commitment to strengthen marriage and family life while affirming the value of those who are single.

Institutional Goal: Social Concern

The trustees and faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary have a deep-seated concern to demonstrate and to evoke a quality of discipleship which applies the biblical norms of love and justice in all human relationships. This regard for justice assumes that the following will be evident:

  1. A biblically shaped perspective in the question of the relationship between evangelism, social concern, and the Christian’s mission in the world;
  2. Course offerings which encompass intercultural studies, problems of church and state, and aspects of social ethics, as well as social work, family guidance and mental health services;
  3. Opportunities in internships and field education that confront students with the massive problems thrust upon them by our urban society;
  4. A reflection in all areas of seminary organization of a significant minority involvement
    • in the African American (Pannell Center) and Hispanic Ministries (Centro Latino) programs
    • supported through a central office organized specifically for women’s concerns
    • undergirded by the office of the chief of diversity, equity, and inclusion for ethnic and cultural concerns.

Institutional Goal: Ethnic and Racial Diversity

Fuller reflects the multiethnic and cultural richness of the body of Christ. Through the location of its historic headquarters in Southern California and its international student constituency, Fuller Seminary is faced with the challenges and opportunities of multicultural ministry in a badly divided and broken world. This situation assumes for a theological seminary that:

  1. Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility that separates people and races (Eph 2:14). But redemption does not efface the created cultural differences of people, but rather enables God’s people to enter more deeply into a fellowship of mutual understanding and love;
  2. Since each cultural group has unique gifts to offer the church and its life, each one must be given a place where it can feel safe in the academic community and empowered to make its contribution to the upbuilding of the body of Christ;
  3. Through a broad-ranging discussion of all parts of the community, programs will be developed that welcome and affirm the cultural diversity of its students both in providing faculty and staff models and a curriculum that develops a multicultural perspective on theology and ministry.

Institutional Goal: Local and International Perspective

The seminary community is dedicated to the task of proclaiming the gospel both in its local setting in Pasadena and throughout the world. This commitment assumes that there exists:

  1. A need for an evangelical, multidenominational seminary on the West Coast
    • with a continued location in Pasadena
    • ministering in the changing multicultural population of Southern California;
  2. A concern not only to share the gospel with those outside the seminary but also to implant a missionary vision within the life of every Fuller student;
  3. A dedication to the growth of the church in every culture of the world confronted with rapid change and unrest.

Institutional Goal: Interdisciplinary Endeavor

The faculty of Fuller is committed to an integration of ideas, research, and programming in the areas of theology, missiology, and psychology. The faculty assumes that there will be:

  1. A need to strengthen the theological foundations of such an integration to give it an enduring viability;
  2. A need to strengthen the social science foundation upon which integration rests to give it greater scientific credibility;
  3. A growing recognition that the resources of psychology and theology may, if combined, provide new and more effective remedies for many human problems that exist;
  4. A commitment to the integration of theological and social science insights in the development of missiology;
  5. A need for academic, professional, and personal preparation for training in these new disciplines;
  6. A requirement for an academic community in which scholars from all three disciplines can generate, through research and theorizing, a new body of literature to promote integration.

Institutional Goal: Responsible Stewardship

The seminary community is committed to a responsible stewardship of its intraorganizational processes, facilities, and financial resources. This assumes that there will be:

  1. An endeavor toward development into an organization that accomplishes its mission while it fulfills the lives of its members;
  2. Continued leadership training by the seminary to meet the needs of the church;
  3. A periodic reconsideration and refining of the seminary’s intraorganizational processes to ensure greater efficiency and fulfillment of its goals;
  4. A recognition that all planning for facilities should take into consideration that our needs will change
    • the scale of our operations will change
    • the situation in which we work and live will change
    • we will change
    • there will be an intermingling of user functions on campus.