Albizu University facts for kids
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| Type | Private university |
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| Established | 1966 |
| President | Nelson E. Soto |
| Students | 3421 |
| Undergraduates | 682 |
| Postgraduates | 2119 |
| Location |
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United States
18°28′00″N 66°06′50″W / 18.4666°N 66.1138°W |
| Campus | Urban (San Juan, Mayagüez), Metropolitan (Miami) |
| Website | albizu.edu |
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Former Puerto Rican Institute of Psychology
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Contributing Property |
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| Part of | Old San Juan Historic District (ID72001553 & ID13000284) |
| Significant dates | |
| Designated CP | October 10, 1972 |
| Designated NHLDCP | February 27, 2013 |
Albizu University is a private university with campuses in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami, Florida, and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The university focuses on teaching subjects like psychology, health, education, and helping people in the community.
Contents
How the University Began
The story of Albizu University starts in 1966 with a Puerto Rican psychologist named Carlos Albizu Miranda. He saw that Puerto Rico needed professional training in clinical psychology that respected the local culture. At the time, there were no advanced psychology programs on the island. Students had to go to the United States to get a graduate degree in psychology.
Dr. Albizu-Miranda himself studied at Purdue University in Indiana. When he returned to Puerto Rico, he found it hard to apply what he had learned to the Hispanic community. The American methods didn't always fit the culture of the island.
During the 1950s and 60s, Puerto Rico was changing quickly. It was becoming more industrial, with big cities and new social challenges. With a growing population of nearly three million people, there were only five clinical psychologists on the island. The government tried to help by creating "assistant psychologists," but they often didn't have enough training.
Dr. Albizu-Miranda wanted to create a program in Puerto Rico to train more psychologists who understood the island's culture. After trying to work with the University of Puerto Rico, he decided to start his own independent school. In 1966, he founded the Puerto Rico Institute of Psychology.
Later, in 1980, he saw a similar need in Southern Florida, which has a large Hispanic population. He opened the Miami Institute of Psychology. In 2000, both schools were renamed Carlos Albizu University to honor their founder.
University Campuses
Albizu University has three main locations: a main campus in San Juan, a branch in Miami, and another location in Mayagüez. Each campus has a clinic where students can get hands-on training by providing health services to the local community.
San Juan Campus
The San Juan Campus is located in the capital city of Puerto Rico. It was the first independent school of professional psychology in North America. Dr. Albizu-Miranda based it on European schools where students could practice psychology while they studied. Today, the San Juan Campus has over 1,600 students.
The Albizu Clinic in San Juan
The Albizu Clinic is connected to the university and provides mental health services to people of all ages in the San Juan area. It's also a place where graduate students from the university get practical experience.
The clinic also helps children and adults with speech and language problems. Students studying to become speech pathologists work there with licensed professionals to gain real-world skills.
Miami Campus
The Miami Campus is in a major city in Florida. It offers many different degree programs in psychology, education, criminal justice, and human services. It also has programs for learning English.
Goodman Psychological Services Center
The Goodman Center was founded in 1980 and is sponsored by Albizu University. It's a mental health center that helps children and adults in South Florida. It is also a training site for Albizu students.
The center helps many people who might not otherwise get care because of cost or language barriers. It works with local schools to provide evaluations for students. Services are offered in both English and Spanish.
Mayagüez University Center
In 2015, Albizu University opened a location in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, on the western side of the island. This center offers degree programs in psychology and speech and language pathology. Like the other campuses, it has a clinic where students can practice their skills while helping the community.
The Albizu Clinic in Mayagüez
The clinic at the Mayagüez University Center offers mental health and speech services to the local community. It also serves as an important training site for students at the Mayagüez location.
See also
In Spanish: Universidad Carlos Albizu para niños
