UNL's Clinical Psychology Training Program has been named a top program in the United States.
David Hansen, professor of psychology and director of the program, was notified that the UNL program has been named the 2013 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Outstanding Training Program. This recognition is given to only one program every two years. Representatives of UNL’s program will be on hand at the annual conference in Nashville, Tenn., in November to formally accept the award.
The program is responsible for training graduate students to become clinical psychologists with expertise in behavior therapy. In an average year, eight or nine students are admitted and the same number graduate from the program. Hansen said this recognition demonstrates the high level of success that graduates have had through the program.
Graduates have gone on to develop mental health treatment programs at such places as Veterans Affairs and state hospitals. Others have taken positions at major universities and research centers, such as Yale University School of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Our alumni go on to successful careers as licensed psychologists, with varied and important clinical, research and professional contributions,” Hansen said. “A recent survey of alumni documented high levels of satisfaction with the program.”
Students also participate in some of the best internships in the nation.
“Students from the UNL program are consistently outstanding and among the best trained and ready for internship success,” said Daniel Smith, professor and co-director of the Charleston Consortium Clinical Psychology Internship program. “Our faculty has come to see UNL as a ‘known quantity’ of the highest quality when it comes to evaluating internship applicants.”
The UNL program has been continuously accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1948, the first year any programs were accredited.
— Deann Gayman, University Communications