In one masterstroke that encompasses a new name, a new location in Doral, and a bold plan for expansion and academic growth, the Miami Institute of Psychology has just transformed itself into the Miami campus of Carlos Albizu University.

University President Dr. Salvador Santiago-Negrón with Vice President Teresa Albizu-Rodriguez, at the portico of the new Doral campus.

The name change took effect on January 1, and was followed within a matter of weeks by the school's move to a renovated 18 acre campus (formerly occupied by a pharmaceutical laboratory) at 2173 NW 99 Ave.

By this Fall, the newly established university expects nearly to double its current enrollment of 600 students and to inaugurate an academic program in elementary education, which will complement its existing graduate and undergraduate offerings in psychology and mental health. Business administration studies are also under consideration.

Carlos Albizu University Chancellor Dr. Jose Rivera-Berg describes his institution as, "the best kept secret in advanced psychology education today."

Such a statement might be considered hubris if not for the fact that its predecessor institution has awarded nearly one out of five doctorates in psychology in the U.S. earned by Hispanic students over the past twenty years.

"We graduate more Hispanic psychologists and mental health professionals than the entire Florida state university system," added University Vice President Teresa Albizu-Rodriguez, the youngest daughter of its namesake.

The university's roots can be traced back to 1966 in San Juan, Puerto Rico--it was then and there that Dr. Carlos Albizu-Miranda founded the first independent school of psychology in the U.S.

His overriding concern was to offer culturally sensitive training in psychology to Hispanic students, because his own doctoral studies, at Purdue, and his subsequent career had convinced him that "mainstream" psychology practices in the U.S. paid too little attention to ethnic differences.

Rivera explained, "Psychologists' assessments have an impact on our patients for the rest of their lives. Unless we understand what is normal and abnormal in their culture, we increase the risk of misdiagnosis."

Once Albizu branched out to the mainland in 1980 by opening the Miami Institute of Psychology in Doral, his founding vision of culturally relevant mental health training broadened further. He sought to differentiate treatment methods based not just on blanket ethnicity, but also based on specific cultural backgrounds.

As Rivera noted, "Hispanic culture isn't uniform. Puerto Ricans are different from Cubans, Nicaraguans, Colombians and Mexicans. In South Florida's melting pot, furthermore, we encounter major Black-American, Haitian, Jewish, and other communities, in addition to the many varieties of Anglos."

Rivera continued, "What was relevant originally for psychologists in Puerto Rico proved to be equally so on the mainland. Today an essential aspect of our school's mission is to enhance appreciation of others and acceptance of differences; above all, we seek to promote understanding. We firmly believe there is beauty in difference and diversity."

By the mid-nineties, the Miami Institute of Psychology was bursting at the seams and consequently it conducted a search for new space, which entailed inspecting hundreds of properties over four years.

In the Spring of 1999, it hit pay dirt and struck a deal with the Codina Group to purchase its new campus, "for the value of the land, " according to Albizu-Rodriguez.

The buildings, which date from the late sixties, are an architectural gem in the international style, designed by the Coral Gables firm now known as Spillis Candela, and built to "Fort Knox" construction standards.

They offer far more space than the university needs for the forseeable future, and they are pre-stressed for vertical additions. Already the university has made extensive renovations to 67,500 of the 240,000 square feet of interior space, under the supervision of architects Smith, Reynolds and Hills.

Carlos Albizu University is a "top-down" institution, with 400 doctoral students, 100 pursuing Masters degrees, and 100 senior undergraduates (it does not offer freshman and sophomore years).