Eleanor Camp Criswell, along with Rollo May, Clark Moustakas, and James Bugental, founded the Humanistic Psychology Institute at California State University, Sonoma in 1971. Under the leadership of Criswell and philosopher Thomas Louis Hanna the school began offering graduate courses in humanistic psychology. Later on it was renamed the Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center. Author Michael Mayer recalls that the Saybrook name derives from Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where during a conference in 1964 several psychologists, including May, expressed a desire "to create a school that embodied the values of the 'human growth and potential movement' and to educate practitioner-scholars in the methods and philosophies of human-centered psychotherapy". In 2009, the school was renamed Saybrook University. The university became affiliated with the shared services organization in 2014 to provide administrative and financial services, so that the school could focus on teaching and research. The same year, the administrative offices of the school moved from San Francisco to Oakland, California. The administrative offices now are located in Pasadena, California.
Academics
The university aims to provide "rigorous graduate education that inspires transformational change in individuals, organizations, and communities, toward a just, humane, and sustainable world." It offers programs in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Clinical Psychology, Psychophysiology, Mind-Body Medicine, Leadership and Management, Counseling, Integrative Wellness Coaching, Transformative Social Change, and Integrative and Functional Nutrition. The school's president is Nathan Long
*Department of Integrative and Functional Nutrition
*Department of Psychophysiology
*Department of Mind-Body Medicine
Rankings
Based on a survey of academic programs, US News & World Report ranked Saybrook's psychology program in the bottom quartile of its 2013 ranking of graduate psychology programs. The precise rankings in this quartile are not published. The United States National Research Council rankings ranked Saybrook 173/174 out of 185 in its 2014 rankings of 185 psychology PhD programs.
Accreditation
National
Saybrook's M.A. in counseling is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, however the remainder of its clinical mental health programs are not accredited by any major national accrediting body or major professional organizations' accrediting bodies like the American Psychological Association , the Council for Accrediting of Counseling & Related Educational Programs or the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education. This can cause problems with licensure or employment in certain agencies.
Saybrook has authority to operate in the State of California by way of an exemption granted by the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education pursuant to California Education Code section 94874. Saybrook has registered in Pennsylvania with the Bureau of Postsecondary and Adult Education as an out-of-state distance education provider to enroll residents of Pennsylvania in its online programs. Saybrook has a Certificate of Authorization from the TexasHigher Education Coordinating Board to offer degrees or courses leading to degrees at a physical location in Texas. Saybrook has met the requirements of Utah Code Ann. § 13-34a-203 to be a registered postsecondary school legally authorized by the State of Utah. Saybrook is authorized by the Washington Student Achievement Council and meets the requirements and minimum educational standards established for degree-granting institutions under the Degree-Granting Institutions Act.
Student demographics
Program
Male
Female
Not Reported
Certificates
3
2
0
Master's
39
131
1
Doctoral
113
326
7
Total
155
459
8
Notable faculty
Notable faculty include Gary S. Metcalf at the School of Organizational Leadership and Transformation and author Chip Conley.
