Message from the Dean
April 2008

Why Fielding? It's a question each of us must ask and answer, students and faculty alike. Here are some of my answers, the reasons I came to Fielding earlier this year. Maybe you'll find some echoes or resonance here.

First of all, we come for QUALITY. A Fielding psychology degree is not just a commodity, the kind of thing you could get in a dozen or a hundred other places. A Fielding degree really means something. If your focus is on the highest possible quality, in a learning community of, by, and for adults, Fielding is your place, as it is mine.

We also come for INVOLVEMENT and CONTRIBUTION. Fielding is not just a job, not just a place to put in time and collect credits. We're bold enough to want to make a difference, to make the world a better place for our having been here. Some of us resonate to calling it a focus on social justice. For all of us, it's a kind of learning that transforms, that makes us something different and better than we were before.

And we come for CARING and a PERSONAL CONNECTION. Fielding is a place with a face, not just electrons dancing on a computer screen. We're distributed all over the country and, increasingly, around the globe - and so we use technology to link us across time and space. But it doesn't stop there, or start there. We are real people, face-to-face, working together with real colleagues on issues that matter. And when we get together in person (National Sessions, research sessions, clinical sessions, cluster meetings), we know that the time is precious and we make use of every minute, for connection, for caring, and for learning.

If you've read this far, then you may very well be a Fielding kind of person. Check out our Clinical Psychology PhD program, our Media Psychology PhD program, our clinical Respecialization Certificate Program, our postdoctoral Neuropsychology Certificate program, and our Master's in Media Psychology and Social Change. Then contact us at 800.340.1099. Your future is calling….

Raymond J. Trybus, PhD
Dean