Fuller’s SOP Granted 10-Year Accreditation Extension

Fuller is thrilled to announce that the American Psychological Association (APA), the accrediting body for our psychology programs, has granted Fuller’s PhD and PsyD clinical programs accreditation for 10 years. The number of years granted is based on the professional judgment of the APA Commission on Accreditation (CoA). Ten years is the maximum term granted by the CoA, an indication of the APA’s strong affirmation of the strength, quality, and sustainability of these two programs.

“The extension of the accreditation by the APA for the maximum 10-year period for both the PhD program and the PsyD program is a tangible recognition of those programs’ achievements,” said Provost Mari Clements. “This reaffirmation is a credit to Dean Ted Cosse, PsyD Chair Cynthia Eriksson, PhD Chair Ken Wang, Director of Clinical Training Tina Houston Armstrong, the whole doctoral faculty, and the SOP staff. I am proud of my colleagues and excited for the training provided to our bright and hardworking SOP students.”

This most recent accreditation journey began in May 2017, when the CoA notified us that each program had one year to complete a thorough self-study. Those self-studies covered 48 accreditation standards for each program, and each standard required detailed answers to questions posed by the CoA to determine the program’s compliance. The self-studies, comprising 91,000 words of narrative covering 360 pages and including dozens of syllabi, tables, and related documents, were successfully submitted in May 2018. The CoA reviewed them and commissioned visits to our school from teams of site visitors, which began in December 2018. During those site visits, tours were conducted, documents were examined, and dozens of students, faculty, staff, and administrators were interviewed. Throughout most of 2019, our programs were in touch with the CoA, answering questions and responding with additional documentation. In October 2019 the CoA met for their quarterly board meeting to review the findings of the self-studies, site visits, and follow-up communications, and on November 12, they informed us of the good news, thus concluding a successful 30-month accreditation journey.

“This gold-standard accreditation achievement was only possible through the teamwork over the past 30 months between our faculty, staff, students, and administrators,” said Ted Cosse, SOP dean. “Our programs are much stronger as a result of this collaboration and hard work, and we are committed to making our programs even stronger over the coming years.”

Please join us in congratulating SOP for a job well done!