Fifty Years Ago: A Reflection from Dr. Bruce Weiss

Below is a reflection submitted by Dr. Bruce Weiss, first president of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, now William James College. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year in October, 2024.

50 years ago, a few psychologists supported by the Massachusetts Psychological Association, founded the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP)-the mother of William James College.

Three years later in September 1977, 46 courageous students, joined 10 faculty in the grand experiment that has evolved into the outstanding William James College. I arrived in October to become the school’s first program director (and ultimately first President). I believe that it is important for current and future members of the college to understand something about the history of the organization.  

As we trudged up the three flights of stairs to the facility that housed MSPP (the former dormitory of the Newton Country Day School) we were joined together by a conviction that this new practitioner model was going to prove superior to the antiquated scientist-professional model of training that led to the PhD in psychology that previously was the only way to become a clinical psychologist.  While much has changed for the better in PhD training, at that time many of the programs emphasized the science of psychology with not enough attention to applying that knowledge to psychological practice.

At that time, PhD programs were quite small and the competition to be admitted was comparable to medical school.  And with the burgeoning mental health needs of our society, the small PhD programs could not possibly meet the culture’s needs; at that time, 2/3 of the psychologists in the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health did not have doctoral degrees.  The average age of these pioneer students was 32.  42 of the 46 had already earned advanced degrees: 1 PhD, 1 LLD, 36 with Masters degrees, 2 MSWs and 2 CAGs. 

To better understand the courage that these pioneers had, when MSPP began in 1977 it did not even have the authority to grant the PsyD, much less was it a regionally accredited institution. It wasn’t until 1984 that it was fully regionally accredited and it was not fully accredited by the American Psychological Association until 1991. The early students were risking a lot of time, money and effort  to attend this experimental venture. And the faculty,  Board members and field agencies that took our students were risking their professional reputations.

It might seem funny to today’s William James students to even be able to imagine a time when this kind of training in psychology was considered unusual, unorthodox or downright flawed, but it was. And perhaps the most ironic thing about the development of MSPP and the other professional school programs is the effect that we have had on the nature of the “traditional” PhD programs which have become so much more experiential than they were back in the 1970s.  I hope that today’s and tomorrow’s students, faculty, staff and Board members can take a moment to reflect on the courage it took for the pioneers to start such a wonderful adventure that grew into the fine institution that William James College is today.

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