Throughout its history, The Chicago School has remained grounded in its core values of education, innovation, community, and impact, which faculty, students, and staff emphasize every day.
For many faculty leaders, such as Susan Foster, Ph.D., associate dean in The Chicago School’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies, the commitment to community building is especially resonant.
In Dr. Foster’s own words, “I really want to make our university into what experts in the field call a ‘communiversity,’ a vibrant space where we collaborate across programs, inspire one another, and work together to advance our shared mission of expanding access to high-quality healthcare for everyone.”
The Chicago School’s programs offer unique opportunities for collaboration across disciplines to create and train well-rounded integrated health change-makers in the academic fields of psychology, business, counseling, health, and behavioral sciences.
For instance, the university’s master’s program in behavioral economics combines lessons from across public policy, statistics, social psychology, and business management to prepare graduates to address complex challenges and serve diverse populations across business, marketing, and politics.
“We often hear that higher education is a dinosaur, always a step late and out of date,” says Dr. Foster, “but my experience at The Chicago School has been just the opposite. People here jump in to help make innovation happen so that we can have the best possible impact on our community.”
Future students will also get to see how this innovation takes place at The Chicago School’s proposed Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine once it opens in 2026. The unique mind and medicine curriculum will combine medical and psychological expertise to ensure graduates are prepared to support the growing needs of patients.
Says Dr. Foster, “As healthcare providers, we may not get to see our entire impact, but it’s there. We’re like pebbles dropped into a pond; our impact ripples outward through time and space beyond what we can see directly, making a real difference in the lives of individuals, families, and communities.”
The Chicago School’s “communiversity” approach helps students stay connected with classmates to grow skills and expertise well beyond graduation.
“Often, we see a diploma as a punctuation mark, a period closing the sentence on your time as a learner. But I think that’s misguided. We want our students to see their graduation as conjunction, an ‘and’ that marks continued growth and curiosity as a professional where you’re getting better every day,” Dr. Foster says.