Program Committees

STEERING COMMITTEE

The Steering Committee is the primary policy-making body of the program and provides overall direction. It comprises of faculty members from each university and the co-directors of clinical training; the department chairs of psychology (SDSU) and psychiatry (UC San Diego) serve in an ex officio capacity. In addition to policy-making, the Steering Committee determines if a student must be put on or removed from probation or be terminated.

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE

Comprised of three faculty members from each university and two student representatives, the Curriculum Committee makes all recommendations regarding the approval of new courses, changes in current course content or requirements, changes in the organization and structure of practicum, and so forth. When a change is proposed, the committee typically polls students and faculty members to determine the general sentiment, then they make a decision about the most appropriate way to proceed. The Steering Committee must ratify Curriculum Committee decisions before they take effect.

PRACTICUM COMMITTEE

The Practicum Committee consists of the JDP Practicum Coordinator (standing chair), the VA Practicum Coordinator, the UCSD Psychology Internship Director, a representative from the SDSU Psychology Clinic, and a representative from Rady Children’s Hospital. The committee evaluates potential new practica, makes recommendations about current practica, and, whenever necessary, helps to resolve practicum-related problems and issues. The committee also assigns students to practica each year based on available slots and student requests. The Steering Committee must ratify major Practicum Committee decisions before they take effect.

Current Members:

UC San Diego

• Melissa E. Munoz, Ph.D. (VA Practicum Coordinator)
• Christina Wierenga, Ph.D. (VASDHS/UC San Diego Psychology Internship Co-Director)
• Katherine Nguyen Williams, Ph.D. (UC San Diego; Rady’s Children Hospital Practicum Representative)

SDSU

• Colby Chlebowski, Ph.D. (JDP Practicum Coordinator) – Standing Chair
• Miguel Villodas, Ph.D.  (SDSU Psychology Clinic Supervisor Representative)

CLINICAL COMPREHENSIVE EXAM COMMITTEE

The Clinical Comprehensive Exam Committee is comprised of six members with representation from each university and track, serving as Practicum Supervisors. Committee members serve three-year terms, rotating off in alternate years for continuity. The JDP Practicum Committee Chair serves as the “standing” overall chair of the Clinical Comprehensive Exam Committee.

The committee’s main purpose is to grade and provide feedback on the Clinical Comprehensive Exam. It meets annually in the summer to review scoring procedures and discuss the scoring timeline.

​Questions regarding scoring should be directed to the Chair of the Clinical Comprehensive Exam Committee. If the issue is not resolved, JDP grievance procedures may be invoked.​

SELECTION COMMITTEE

Student applicants are reviewed by the Selection Committee. Each of the three specialty tracks operates its own subcommittee. The subcommittee consists of a chair from each university, faculty from each track who are interested in mentoring a student, and one or two student representatives. Subcommittee chairs are appointed by the Co-Directors of Clinical Training and serve two-year terms. A Selection Committee Chair oversees the entire process and ensures that all deadlines and requirements are met by the subcommittees.

GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE

The Grievance Committee allows students to seek resolution of complaints about faculty actions or policies that could not be resolved by direct methods. Under most circumstances, an appeal to this committee is not an appropriate initial step in dealing with problems in the program. Before filing a grievance, students are encouraged to express their concerns and dissatisfactions to the faculty members involved.  An issue involving possible sexual harassment, however, can be brought directly to the committee.  All committee matters will be treated as confidential to the extent possible and all parties to the action will be so advised.  Please note, however, that such matters may not be privileged communication in the eyes of a court of law.

When a complaint is filed, the committee will gather information from the relevant student(s) and faculty member(s) and will present written findings of its investigation and its recommendation(s) to the program directors. If the grievance is filed against one or both of the directors, the Steering Committee will appoint a replacement(s) for the director(s) to administer the grievance process. In all other instances, the program directors will respond to the findings and recommendations of the Grievance Committee. If a majority of the members are not satisfied with this response, the committee will notify the directors that it plans to appeal to the appropriate dean(s). The directors will not prevent such an appeal but can request a brief delay while they make a second effort to resolve the problem.  If a majority of members remain dissatisfied, the committee will appeal in writing to the graduate school dean(s), and their decision will be binding.

The committee will be composed of three permanent members, including one faculty member from each university appointed by the program directors and one student elected by the student body. In addition, the student(s) filing the grievance may appoint a fourth ad hoc committee member (from program faculty members or students) as an advocate during the proceedings. All four members will have full voting rights. The program directors and members of the Steering Committee may not serve on the Grievance Committee. If a committee member is named in a complaint, they will be replaced on the committee by the appropriate director until a final disposition of the matter is made. Membership on the committee is for an indefinite term. All participants in a grievance procedure are required to maintain confidentiality regarding matters before the committee. Records of formal written complaints will be kept in the locked student file room, in a locked filing cabinet. Both the student file room and the filing cabinet have extremely limited key access.

The grievance procedures of the Joint Doctoral Program may not supersede the grievance procedures of the university that students may choose to exercise.

Current Members:

• Gregory Aarons, Ph.D. (UC San Diego)
• Elva Arredondo, Ph.D. (SDSU)
• Maulika Kohli (Student)