Founded in 1897, San Diego State University is one of 23 California State University campuses. SDSU has been recognized as an outstanding public university with top 10 rankings nationwide for graduation rates; ethnic, racial, and economic diversity of students; and rates of study abroad.

SDSU’s mission is “to provide research-oriented, high-quality education for undergraduate and graduate students and to contribute to the solution of problems through excellence and distinction in teaching, research, and service.”

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

The Department of Psychology was established in 1956 and has grown into one of the largest departments at SDSU, with more than 1600 pre-majors, majors, master’s, and doctoral students of diverse backgrounds. There are 38 tenure-track and tenured faculty members, 23 of whom are JDP faculty. In the 2019 fiscal year, SDSU’s Psychology Department was ranked #15 nationally in NIH funding to departments of psychology ($8.56 million) and #10 in total number of awards (25); it was ranked #1 in California compared to departments of psychology at all other private/public universities in the state. 

The SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology is the only doctoral program offered by the Psychology Department at SDSU, and it benefits from the involvement of a substantial proportion of the faculty, including those that are clinically trained as well as trained in other areas of psychology or related disciplines (e.g., quantitative psychology, physiological psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, public health, and medicine).