Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology

The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology has created this website as a way to remember and share memories of Don Peterson.

Donald Peterson was the first and only psychologist to direct a research-oriented scientist-practitioner program, a professional program in an academic department, and a professional school in a major research university. In his writing, he established a firm intellectual foundation for the education of professional psychologists. In the programs he directed, he set the highest attainable standards of quality in preparation for the practice of psychology.

Don received the BA, MA, and PhD (1952) degrees from the University of Minnesota and accepted a position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign following receipt of the doctorate. At Illinois, he became director of the Illinois Psychological Clinic in 1963 and director of clinical training in 1964. In the latter position, he organized the first doctor of psychology program in the country, admitting the first class of students in 1968.

In 1975, he became the first dean of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, where he remained until and beyond retirement in 1989. He is author, co-author, or co-editor of several books, including The Clinical Study of Social Behavior, Close Relationships, History of Psychotherapy, and Educating Professional Psychologists. His journal publications include research reports on personality structure, children’s behavior disorders, and interpersonal relationships, but his articles on the education of professional psychologists are probably best known. In 1983, he received the APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Psychology as a Professional Practice, and in 1989 the APA Award for Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology.

Don has had an outstanding career and has had a profound effect on the training of professional psychologists.

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