UJ Counseling Program Selected as Pilot for Accreditation
Jamestown, N.D.—University of Jamestown’s Master of Science in Clinical Counseling (MCC) program was recently selected by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a pilot for its new master’s-level accreditation.
Up until this point, the APA has only accredited doctoral programs. It has now begun the process of accrediting master’s-level programs.
Melissa Schultz, Ph.D., LP, director of the MCC program and assistant professor at University of Jamestown, shared that if the MCC program receives the accreditation, it means it has met and maintained certain standards determined by the APA.
“The fact that the MCC program was selected from a national pool to be one of the first programs is very exciting,” she said. “This means that if we go through the process and meet all their standards of accreditation, we could be one of the very first APA accredited programs at the master’s level.”
If the program gains the specialized accreditation, the MCC program could make it easier for graduates to get licensed compared to if they were in a non-accredited program.
“It’s like quality assurance for students,” Dr. Schultz said.
Dr. Schultz believes the APA accreditation will also help the University: “An APA accreditation will reflect the high quality of education we provide, making our program more widely known on a national scale, attracting more students, and helping us build on our reputation of making students feel valued, get more individualized attention, and like the environment of the smaller school, smaller class sizes and attentive instructors.”
Dr. Paul Olson, University of Jamestown Provost, said “Our counseling program is an excellent program and has been since we started it several years ago. I’m glad that we will be going through the APA process to have the additional indicator of the high quality of work that our faculty and students are doing in the program.”
Established as Jamestown College in 1883 by members of the Presbyterian Church, The University of Jamestown is a private, liberal arts university granting Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees as well as master’s degrees in Education, Leadership, and Clinical Counseling. Doctoral degrees are available in Physical Therapy and Clinical Research. UJ Accelerated, the newest division of the University, is based in Phoenix, Arizona, and delivers intensive upskilling opportunities to learners in a variety of settings. For more information, please visit UJ.edu.
