Adler University

Adler University is named for Alfred Adler (1870–1937), a physician, psychotherapist, and founder of Adlerian psychology, which is sometimes called individual psychology. [ 1 ] He is considered the first community psychologist, because his work pioneered attention to community life, prevention, and population health. Among Adler's advocates and followers was Adler University founder Rudolf Dreikurs (1897–1972), a psychiatrist who immigrated to Chicago in 1937 after Adler's death. [ 2 ] Dreikurs lived and worked in Chicago's Hull House , and he was instrumental in the child guidance movement in the U.S. In 1952, Dreikurs founded the Institute of Adlerian Psychology that, in 1954, changed its name to the Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago, and in 1991 became known as the Adler School of Professional Psychology, and in 2015 as Adler University. Early instructors and founders of the institute were also Bernard Shulman, Harold Mosak, Bina Rosenberg, and Robert Powers. In 1963, the institute was chartered as a not-for-profit Illinois corporation and approved as a post-secondary educational provider. A year later, the institute created a group therapy program for those incarcerated at Cook County Jail, a program that was a precursor to the school's later focus on the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated. In 1972, the institute established its on-campus Dreikurs Psychological Services Center, a community mental health center and training site for students, which was the precursor to today's Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), directed by Dan Barnes. [ 3 ] In 1973, the Illinois Office of Education granted the institute the authority to award the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. [ 4 ] The institute received accreditation of masters level programs and awarded its first M.A. degrees in 1978. It received doctoral level accreditation in 1987, and awarded its first Psy.D. degrees in 1990. The Psy.D.

program was accredited by the American Psychological Association in 1998. (This accreditation has been maintained, but is limited to the Chicago campus.)

Master and doctoral programs are offered at both the Chicago and Vancouver campuses. In fall 2013, the Vancouver campus began offering a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology—the first traditional Psy.D. program in Canada. [ citation needed ] Adler University's Chicago campus is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission [ 5 ] and the American Psychological Association . [ 6 ] All of Adler University's masters and doctoral programs offered at the Vancouver campus are offered under the written consent of the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education. [ 7 ] Doctoral programs at the university's Vancouver campus are not accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association . [ 8 ]

The university's main campus is located downtown Chicago. Adler University also maintains a satellite campus in Vancouver, British Columbia and has been in Canada since the early 1970s (520 Seymour Street since 2022 and formerly at 1090 West Georgia Street) former clinical training base and official campus from 2005. [ 9 ] The Vancouver campus focuses on Graduate Studies.