On December 11, 2005, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Tel Aviv University (TAU) signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint (FDU/TAU) Graduate Center for Professional Psychology on the campus of Tel Aviv University in Israel. FDU President J. Michael Adams and Christopher Capuano, director of FDU’s School of Psychology (Metro), traveled to Israel to participate in the signing ceremony with Tel Aviv University President Itamar Rabinovich and Tel Aviv University Rector Dany Leviatan. Other Israeli guests and friends of FDU and Tel Aviv University were in attendance as well (see photo below).

The center, which is scheduled to open in fall 2007, will be managed by the School of Psychology on the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University and the department of psychology of Tel Aviv University, both of which offer numerous graduate (including doctoral and postdoctoral) programs in various fields of professional psychology.

The center will offer Israel’s first PsyD program in clinical psychology and will be home to a new clinic for psychological services, a community-based outpatient clinic that will serve primarily as the training site for students enrolled in the PsyD program.

Capuano said, “The purpose of the new center will be to deliver quality graduate programs in various professional fields of psychology (and possibly special education) to Israeli citizens. Together, FDU, Tel Aviv University and their affiliates will cooperate in providing the academic and practical training for degree programs on the graduate level and will work closely with the psychology community in Israel to develop non-credit programs that are currently in demand in Israel. Moreover, the new center, through the various programs and specialty clinics it hopes to develop through affiliates such as Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, the Sackler School of Medicine of Tel Aviv University and Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, N.Y., will offer quality practicum and internship placements to students enrolled in its programs.”

Capuano added that “FDU is focusing on psychology in Israel because of the strength of the University’s offerings in that field and because of the considerable demand in Israel for a PsyD program. Further, the University has established an excellent relationship with the professional psychological community in Israel and believes that by focusing on one area it will maximize its chances for success.”

Moreover, he said, “the establishment of a joint Graduate Center for Professional Psychology in cooperation with well-recognized and prestigious institutions such as Schneider Children’s Medical Center, the Sackler School of Medicine and Four Winds Hospital reinforces FDU’s commitment to global partnerships and its position as a leader in promoting global education.”

The center will draw from the curricula and strengths of the existing PhD programs in clinical psychology at FDU and Tel Aviv University, as well as from FDU’s experience with the PsyD model and establishing and managing professionally-oriented programs.

“Dr. Capuano has done a tremendous job over the last five years building relationships and providing the foundation for this exciting program,” said President J. Michael Adams.

At the agreement signing between Fairleigh Dickinson University and Tel Aviv University (TAU), Israel, were the following dignitaries: Front row, from left, Dany Leviatan, rector, Tel Aviv University; Ina Weiner, dean, Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, TAU; Amiram Raviv, chair, department of psychology, TAU; Meir Rosenne, former Israeli ambassador to the United States; and Leah Kagan, TAU’s legal counsel. Back row, from left, Moshe Balter of Balter, Guth, Aloni and Co., FDU’s legal counsel in Israel; Carlo Strenger, professor, psychology, TAU; Itamar Rabinovich, president, TAU; J. Michael Adams, president, FDU; and Christopher Capuano, director, psychology, FDU (Metro).

The PsyD program will initially provide doctoral level training to master’s level, practice-oriented (licensed or license-eligible) clinicians in Israel. Capuano said, “The program will follow the scholar-practitioner model of training, which is well regarded in the U.S. as a doctoral training model designed to produce science-oriented clinicians (clinicians who apply evidence-based treatment interventions in their work).”

The center also will prepare clinicians for a specialty area within the field of clinical psychology. For example, subprograms are likely to be established in medical psychology, marriage and family therapy, school psychology, community psychology, clinical neuropsychology and forensic psychology.

The initial curriculum will consist of 54–60 credits, including a doctoral dissertation, to be completed over a three-year period. Following the graduation of two or three classes, and assuming the PsyD training model has captured market interest in Israel, a more traditional (five-year) PsyD program in clinical psychology will be introduced, and possibly (eventually) a PsyD program in another professional area of psychology.

Graduates of the center’s programs will earn doctoral degrees approved by the trustees of both Fairleigh Dickinson University and Tel Aviv University.

February 2006

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Flor =
College at Florham, Madison, N.J.

Metro =
Metropolitan Campus, Teaneck, N.J.

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