Current Issue: December 11, 2007
D.C. Psychology School Offers New Program
Mary Schuhriemen
The psychology department sponsored a visit from the Institute of Psychological Sciences' director of admissions on Tuesday. Speaking to a small group of students interested in psychology graduate degrees, Anne-Marie Dardis detailed the Institute's program.The Institute of Psychological Sciences (IPS) was founded in 1999 by Dr. Gladys Sweeney, who was inspired to start the graduate program when she served as a prison counselor in 1997. While counseling inmates, Sweeney realized that their suffering and confused lives could only be fully healed in a Catholic setting, and that her training had not prepared her for this need.
"Psychologists that are grounded in an understanding of the nature and dignity of the human person can bring people to deeper levels of healing and, in so doing, contribute to a better society," Sweeney said in a 2000 interview with the National Catholic Register, copies of which Dardis handed out.
Dardis said that IPS' faculty is staffed by practicing psychologists, philosophers and theologians. Fr. Benedict Groeschel is an adjunct professor, and Oxford University scholar Dr. Roger Scruton is a visiting professor at the Institute.
There are 50 students currently enrolled, but Dardis says that applicants are chosen by their aptitude for the Institute and not on a numerical basis. IPS' flyer states that the Institute is looking for "men and women of distinction with a sense of mission and determination who want to be part of something truly revolutionary. We are looking for people who want to make a profound difference in the lives of countless suffering individuals. It is that courage and seal that will bring in new ideas that will transform society."
IPS offers masters degrees in general and clinical psychology and a Doctors' of Psychology. A Ph.D. program is pending and will soon be offered to students. The school is based just outside of Washington D.C., which Dardis says is great for both urban and nature lovers. On one side of the Institute is the bustle of the nation's capitol, while on the other side lies the scenic Shenandoah Valley.
IPS has been accredited by the American Board of Psychology and hopes to be accredited by the APA in two years. Accreditation will then be retroactive for five years. Dardis related some student testimony about the Institute. "Students say that IPS is special because the atmosphere is not one of competition but of cooperation." She continued that at the Institute, "everyone agrees on the same core values. We don't have to re-start at the beginning, and so can go much further in study and research." The Institute also offers a summer program in Oxford. Participants do not have to be enrolled students at IPS, but must have an undergraduate degree in philosophy, psychology, theology or have permission to participate from the Dean. The program earns participants six graduate level credits, and uses the Oxford model of intellectual formation.
More information on IPS or on its summer program can be found at the Institute's website, www.ipsciences.edu.