{{Short description|Private graduate school, focused on psychology, based in Berkeley, California}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox university |name =The Wright Institute |image =File:The_Wright_Institute_Logo.png |image_size =200px |motto =Educating Clinicians to Society |established =1968 |type =Private graduate school |president =Peter Dybwad<ref name=Admin>{{cite web |url=http://www.wi.edu/administration |title=Administration & Staff |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2016 |website=The Wright Institute |access-date=August 3, 2016 }}</ref> |academic_staff = 121<ref name=Petersons>{{cite web |url=https://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/wright-institute-program-in-clinical-psychology-000_10038718.aspx#/sweeps-modal |title=Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology Wright Institute |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2016 |website=Peterson's |access-date=August 3, 2016 }}</ref> |postgrad = 355<ref name=Petersons/> |city =[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] |state =[[California]] |country =United States |campus = [[Urban area|Urban]] |website ={{URL|http://www.wi.edu}} |logo = }}
The '''Wright Institute''' is a private graduate school focused on [[psychology]] and located in [[Berkeley, California]].
==History== The institute was founded by [[Nevitt Sanford]] in 1968. Dr. Sanford first gained prominence as a co-author of "The Authoritarian Personality," a study of anti-Semitism published in 1950. His co-authors included two refugees from Nazi persecution, [[Theodor Adorno]] and [[Else Frenkel-Brunswik]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/11/obituaries/nevitt-sanford-86-psychologist-who-traced-roots-of-prejudice.html|title=Nevitt Sanford, 86, Psychologist Who Traced Roots of Prejudice|first=Daniel|last=Goleman|date=11 July 1995|access-date=14 November 2017|website=Query.nytimes.com}}</ref>
Sanford believed strongly in the capacity of adults to continue to learn and grow throughout their lives. His developmental approach and emphasis on the possibilities of lifelong learning form a key part of the foundation on which the Wright's doctoral program is built.<ref name="wi">{{cite web|url=http://www.wi.edu/|title=The Wright Institute - Educating Clinicians to Society|website=Wi.edu|access-date=14 November 2017}}</ref>
Sanford was also influential in shaping American clinical psychology educational standards. In 1947, he was appointed by the American Psychological Association to the committee that established criteria for accrediting programs in clinical psychology.<ref name="wi" />
From 1960, Sanford directed the Institute for the Study of Human Problems at [[Stanford University]]. In a 1988 interview, he gave his reasons for leaving Stanford as follows: "Christine, my wife, and I had never really left Berkeley in a psychological sense. We wanted to go home. In addition, no tradition-bound university is likely to lend a home to an institute bent on action". After an initial attempt to teach his ideas at the Berkeley [[Graduate Theological Union]] was unsuccessful, Sanford founded the Wright Institute with $25,000 in funding from Hopkins Funds, "a small foundation that gave support to unpopular causes".<ref name="canon">{{cite book |last=Canon |first=Harry J. |date=January 1, 2001 |editor-last=Heppner |editor-first=P. Paul |title=Pioneers in Counseling & Development: Personal and Professional Perspectives|publisher=American Association for Counseling and Development |pages=92 |chapter=Nevitt Sanford: Gentle Prophet, Jeffersonian Rebel |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_1556200781/page/92/mode/2up |location=Alexandria, VA |isbn=1-55620-078-1}}</ref>
In the same interview, Sanford described the origin of the institute's name:<ref name="canon"/> {{blockquote |text=When I talked to a lawyer to ask him to do the incorporating, he said, "You can't have a name like 'Institute for the Study of Human Problems' because all those names have long since been used up. Why don't you just get a name like the [[Salk Institute for Biological Studies|Salk Foundation]] or the [[Tavistock Institute]] that doesn't by itself mean anything, and then you can do whatever you please." I presented the problem to my wife and the next morning she said, "Why don't you call it the Wright Institute?" It turned out that Wright was her mother's maiden name, Elizabeth Wright. We needed a one-word thing, and something that rolls easily off the tongue. I felt right away that that was the name.}}
==Academics== The Wright Institute has two programs: a doctoral program in clinical psychology leading to a Psy.D. degree; and a master's program in counseling psychology leading to an M.A. degree.<ref name="wscuc.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.wscuc.org/institutions/wright-institute|title=Statement of Accreditation Status The Wright Institute|date=19 June 2015|access-date=20 November 2018}}</ref>
The institute is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the [[Western Association of Schools and Colleges]] (WASC).<ref name="wscuc.org"/> The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association's Committee on Accreditation<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation|title=Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation|access-date=20 November 2018}}</ref> and the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program is approved by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). The MA program is designed to meet the requirements defined in the California Business and Professions (B&P) Code Sections 4980.37 and 4980.40 which cover the statutes and regulations relating to the practice of marriage and family therapy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbs.ca.gov/applicants/lmft.html|title=Board of Behavioral Sciences Schools with MFT Programs|access-date=20 November 2018}}</ref>
==Notable alumni== *[[Alan Briskin]], M.A. and Ph.D. Organizational Psychology, 1984{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} *[[Derek Draper]], M.A. Psychology, 2004 *[[Peter Gabel]], Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, 1981 *[[Jan Haaken]], Ph.D. Social and Clinical Psychology, 1979<ref name=JanCV>{{cite web |url=https://jhaaken.com/wp-content/themes/haaken/Haaken%20CV%202016.doc |title=Janice Kay Haaken - Curriculum Vitae, 2016 |website=JHaaken.com |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-date=August 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807044444/https://jhaaken.com/wp-content/themes/haaken/Haaken%20CV%202016.doc |url-status=dead }}</ref> *[[Michael Lerner (rabbi)|Michael Lerner]], Ph.D. Social and Clinical Psychology, 1977 *[[Joseph E. Marshall]], Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, 1997 *[[Amalia Mesa-Bains]], Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, 1983<ref>{{cite book |author=Farris, Phoebe |title=Women artists of color: a bio-critical sourcebook to 20th century artists in the Americas |publisher= [[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |location=Westport, Conn |year=1999 |pages= [https://books.google.com/books?id=wm7UNbstCvgC&pg=PA184 184] |isbn=0-313-30374-6 }}</ref> *[[Suzanne Segal]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Suzanne Segal |title=Collision With the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self |publisher=Blue Dove Press |year=1996 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/collisionwithinf00sega/page/102 102] |isbn=1-884997-27-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/collisionwithinf00sega/page/102 }}</ref> *[[Don W. Kreger]]
==Notable faculty== *[[Terry Kupers]]
==Notable former employees== *[[Charles Hampden-Turner]] *[[Stephen Nachmanovitch]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.wi.edu/ Official website]
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[[Category:Graduate schools in the United States]] [[Category:Private universities and colleges in California]] [[Category:Universities and colleges in Alameda County, California]] [[Category:Education in Berkeley, California]] [[Category:Clinical psychology]] [[Category:Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1968]] [[Category:1968 establishments in California]]