According to the Dyson Col- lege of Arts and Sciences, Pace Pleasantville now offers the first psychology PhD in Mental Heath Counseling (MHC) in New York State as of the fall of 2013.
“No PhD Program in New York has ever tried to do what we are doing,” Associate Profes- sor and Director of the MHC PhD
Program Dr. Paul Griffin said. “We are the trail blazers of bring- ing counseling to the next step.”
After years of planning, the MHC PhD program is the first PhD program that Pace offers. In acquiring a large enough research and resource-driven program, there is now the capability of pro- viding for the population.
As of Jan. 2013 the finaliza- tion and approval was completed leaving little time for advertising and accepting applications for this first year running of the pro-
gram.
As a small and selective pro-
gram, the MHC PhD will only be selecting ten to twenty students per academic year for acceptance.
Since its development, nine students have applied and were accepted into the program. Out of the accepted students, eight had previously graduated from Pace’s New York City and Pleasantville campuses.
“Even with the short notice of this first year, we still had a great interest in the program,” Dr.
Griffin said. “We suspect a great increase in the interest of the program as we have been receiv- ing calls from students that have graduated from all over–schools such as NYU, LIU, and Fordham. We are happy to have continuing Pace Students but it is great to see such a wide interest.”
The research opportunities and new laboratory environment that the Pleasantville campus has dedicated specifically to the MHC PhD program are some of the key elements that makes Pace’s new
program stand out. With Pace’s Psychology Department having new lab requirements and hands on knowledge, the program has sparked the interest of many.
The Psychology Department’s new MHC PhD will provide its students with the opportunities to become professionals in their field. The program has yielded a new door for psychology stu- dents, which allows them to have knowledge to perform as researchers, clinical service pro- viders, counselor educators, and clinical supervisors in the mental health counseling field.
The PhD Program is only of- fered on the Pleasantville Cam- pus and is only available for those that fit the requirements and that are accepted into the program.
Applicants of the program must have earned a Master’s De- gree in MHC, completed a psy- chology statistics course within the last five years, and earned a graduate level GPA of 3.6 or higher.
The Psychology Department encourages the development of the connections from undergrad- uate learning, to Mental Health counseling graduate study, to the new Mental Health Counseling PhD.
With Pace as a base for Psy- chology PhD for Mental Health Counseling there have been doors opened into new fields of psy- chological study. As the start of a brand new program to New York State, Pace becomes one of the groundbreaking universities for PhD programs.