After the mildest Winter I have ever experienced in Minnesota here we are, already one
month into Spring. How time flies when you are having fun! And for Adlerians, fun
equals social interest in action.

Although Adler Graduate School is best known for the excellent education we offer to
future mental health professionals, our contribution to the greater Minnesota
community also includes providing relevant and quality educational programs to
already licensed mental health professionals. This January, with support from the
Minnesota Department of Public Safety, we started offering a program focused on
preparing mental health professionals to better meet the wellness and mental health
needs of Minnesota law enforcement personnel and their families. The program focuses
on the culture and specific stressors faced by this population and on the most effective
ways in which mental health professionals can help them develop and maintain
wellness when faced with daily traumatic events. As of today, 55 mental health
professionals have completed the program, and approximately 100 more are expected
to participate between now and June 2025. The program is an example of how AGS
demonstrates social interest in action, as healthy peace officers translate into a
healthier community and increased public safety.

When we think of Spring, one of the first words that comes to mind is growth. This
Spring brings to our Adlerian community an important step toward growth: an effort to
increase our awareness and knowledge of how we can continue to promote social
justice through continuous development and implementation of curricular,
instructional, and administrative practices within our own School. By now, we all have
been invited to participate in group-specific BEAD (belonging, equity, accessibility, and
diversity) surveys that will help identify our opportunities for improvement and the
current strengths upon which we can build. I encourage everyone to demonstrate their
own social interest in action and contribute to this internal initiative, by completing the
survey and helping us gain an accurate understanding of what we do well and where
and how we can continue to improve.

Social interest takes many shapes and forms. In addition to the two examples above,
the next articles provide numerous other examples of how the Adler Graduate School
community demonstrates social interest in action. Enjoy the reading and remember
to share with Nikki (nikki.marchand@alfredadler.edu) the different ways in which
you help make the world a better place. Thank you for all you do!

~Dr. Solange Ribeiro
AGS President

Year in Review

Believe it or not, we are just four weeks away from the end of the calendar year! Where did 2023 go?
Well, we all have heard the expression time flies when you are having fun, and I believe that expression
can be translated into time flies when you are contributing. As 2023 came and is about to go in a blink,
here is a non-exhaustive summary of how the AGS community contributed to the greater good this
year:

And this is just a partial list, as many students, staff, and faculty members have engaged in volunteer
service of which I am unaware.

I wish you all a healthy, peaceful, and safe holiday season, and a great start to 2024. I look forward to
all the ways in which we will be putting social interest into action next year, as the AGS community
continues to pursue our mission of preparing mental health and human service professionals with a
strong Adlerian foundation to foster encouragement, collaboration, and a sense of belonging to the
individuals, families, and culturally diverse communities they serve.

Dr. Solange Ribeiro
Adler Graduate School President

As I write this, we are one week away from the end of Spring semester and the 2022-23
academic year. And what a year this has been! It feels like yesterday we were having the
2022 commencement ceremony and the 2022-26 strategic planning retreat and yet here we
are, planning for the 2023 commencement. In the meantime, 75 students completed their
master’s degree and 13 completed certificates; one of our students, Brenisen Wheeler, was
awarded the prestigious National Board for Certified Counselors Minority Fellowship;
faculty and B-GREAT students attended the American Counseling Association Annual
Conference (ACA) in Toronto; faculty and students presented together at several
professional conferences; staff members attended professional conferences where they
learned the latest trends in their respective areas and networked with other professionals;
our alumnus Hallie Williams was elected president of the North American Society of
Adlerian Psychology (NASAP); thanks to the dedication of a task force led by the Director of
Alumni Relations, Ev Haas, and our legislature liaison, Lisa Venable, we secured a grant
from the Minnesota legislature to train mental health professionals on best practices for
working with law enforcement personnel; and the list goes on. You get my drift – what I see
is a vibrant community contributing to the counseling profession and working toward AGS’s
vision of being a leader in empowering and developing mental health and human service
professionals to transform society through social interest in action.

So, what next? We continue to pursue our mission of preparing mental health and human
service professionals with a strong Adlerian foundation to foster encouragement,
collaboration, and a sense of belonging with the individuals, families, and the culturally
diverse communities they serve! To this end, the next academic year will see us switching
our online learning platform from Moodle to Canvas, which will allow for more dynamic
instructional activities and improve the learning experience. We will also prepare and
submit our midterm report to the Higher Learning Commission and develop the plans for
an institutional improvement plan regarding belonging, equity, accessibility, and diversity,
aimed at moving us from allies to agents against systemic discrimination. Also contributing
to our mission and our values of Adlerian principles, diversity, and institutional
sustainability, in August we will welcome the students, staff, and faculty of Arete Academy,
a 6th to 12th grade school serving twice exceptional children, who will share our building
with us. I look forward to having them on our campus and the opportunities for
collaboration that will arise from this partnership, as well as to welcoming you all back for
another year of Gemeinschaftsgefuhl.

~Dr. Solange Ribeiro

Having received the honor of becoming Adler Graduate School’s President, I am excited for
the opportunity to lead us through the next steps toward our vision of being a leader in
empowering and developing mental health and human service professionals to transform
society through social interest in action. Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA)
constitute one of the four values that support our mission and are the focus of a
significant portion of our strategic plan for the next four years. I am excited to share with
you that our new strategic initiatives in this area include but are not limited to:

If you have any questions about B GREAT, don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Asha Dickerson, and
for questions or comments regarding our partnership with MACMH, please email me or
stop by my office.
My appointment as AGS President also triggered a change in our institutional organization.
Dr. Nicole Randick was promoted to Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Dr. Rashida
Fisher was promoted to Dean. Dr. Randick will lead us in institutional and programmatic
evaluation and continuous improvement, and in seeking or reaffirming institutional and
programmatic accreditations. Dr. Fisher’s role includes supporting faculty and student
development, as well as curriculum continuous development. Together, Drs. Randick and
Fisher will lead the part of our strategic plan focused on providing quality education.
I hope you find this news as exciting as I do, and I look forward to collaborating with all of
you – students, faculty, staff, alumni, and AGS’s friends – toward making the world a better
place, one process/project at a time.

Dr. Solange Ribeiro

Hello Adler Graduate School community,

Much has happened at Adler Graduate School since our Spring newsletter was published. As
announced, Dr. Jeff Allen retired in May, and I was instated as Interim President for the 2022-23
academic year. This will allow the School to continue to operate according to the systems implemented
in the last four years and will give us time to search for a permanent President who shares our values,
believes in shared leadership, and has the characteristics and drive to support our mission.

Talking about our mission, framed by our values of providing quality education grounded on Adlerian
principles and respect for diversity, I am excited to report that the Counseling program received 8-year
accreditation from CACREP (the maximum accreditation period offered by CACREP), ending in October
2030. This means that graduates from CMHC, CODAC, or MCFC specialties who graduated after July 9,
2020, are considered to have graduated from a CACREP-accredited program, which opens doors to
working with the military population and veterans’ administration, as well as to nationwide license
portability. Congratulations to all who participated in the accreditation process!

As we continue to strive toward preparing mental health and human service professionals with a strong
Adlerian foundation to foster encouragement, collaboration, and a sense of belonging with the
individuals, families, and the culturally diverse communities they serve, faculty, staff, and members of
the Board of Directors participated in a strategic planning day on September 16th. The process
included examining the progress made in the last four years, establishing new strategic goals, and
creating plans of action for continuous development. I am happy to report that re-opening admissions
to the school counseling specialty in Fall 2023 was one of the short-term goals identified. To this end,
we are starting to prepare to apply for CACREP accreditation for the School Counseling specialty and
are seeking to recruit a doctoral level counselor educator who holds a school counselor professional
identity.

As you can see, we have had a productive Summer term. I welcome everyone back to what I hope will
be a highly engaged and equally positive Fall term!

President’s Message
Dr. Solange Ribeiro