Initiatives

Common Book Program

In 2010, the Adler School of Professional Psychology launched the Common Book Program to develop community by creating dialogue across multiple constituencies on issues related to social justice and social responsibility.

2011 marks the second year of the Common Book Program and this year's selection is Fledgling by Octavia Butler. It is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted—and still wants—to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.

Octavia Estelle Butler is the first African-American woman to gain popularity and critical acclaim as a science fiction writer. Through her fictional tales, Butler tries to understand and explain the differences, as well as common traits, shared by all humans.

For more information or our schedule of events, please email us.

Socially Responsible Practice Project

The most contemporary translation of our legacy is educating socially responsible practitioners who are relevant, flexible, and multiskilled enough to work in and improve a complex, diverse, and changing world. Socially responsible practice is the careful translation of our Adlerian heritage, and this practice lives in our School culture, curricula, expected student competencies, Institutes, and the ways in which we engage communities. We believe we are doing visionary and exceptional work in this area. And we can do a better job; our legacy demands that we do.

That is why we announced the Socially Responsible Practice Project (SRP Project). An initiative defined in our new strategic plan, the SRP Project will enable us to reflect on our organizational core competency of socially responsible practice. Through a yearlong schedule of conversations, events, and activities, we will bring together faculty, staff, students, and alumni from Chicago and Vancouver to strengthen our articulation and collective understanding of socially responsible practice. We will develop better alignment in what we mean by socially responsible practice, which will improve our efforts of graduating socially responsible practitioners. We’ll have the opportunity to discuss and debate socially responsible practice, and we’ll also express ourselves in less academic ways—through art, music, and other experiential means.

By the end of the academic year, we will produce a White Paper, an update of our 2006 socially responsible practice document, which will describe our educational model, outcomes, and culture. We will also have a year-end celebration event to showcase the different ways we’ve devised to illustrate socially responsible practice.

We expect and believe we will do great work through the SRP Project to continue to forward our legacy and our vision to be the leading academic institution advancing socially responsible practice, healthy communities, and a more just society.