The NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis is a freestanding program within the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS). The program is administered by the Director, Spyros D. Orfanos, Ph.D. The Postdoctoral Clinic is administered by the Clinic Director, Maria Lechich, Ph.D., who reports to the Director.
The Postdoctoral Program Senate is the governing body of the program and is responsible for program policy and operations. The Senate is constituted of 26 senators with half coming from the faculty and half from students and graduates, and all segments of the Postdoctoral community are represented. Chaired by the director (who only votes to break a tie), the Senate consists of 13 faculty members (four from the Executive Committee, eight track chairs, and the clinic director); eight students; five graduates including one representing the Psychoanalytic Society (the society constituted of graduates of the program). All senators are required to adhere to the highest ethical standards and must adhere to the ethical standards of the profession in which they are licensed. Senators serve at the discretion of the director of the program.
The Postdoctoral Program’s Executive Committee is an advisory committee to the director. It consists of the Clinic Director and four faculty members, one from each of the program’s tracks. While representing their respective tracks, the purpose of the Executive Committee is to consider the needs of the program as a whole, rather than the interests of the track. These members of the Executive Committee (EC) also serve as liaisons between the program and the tracks. The Executive Committee is fully responsible for the appointment of faculty and consultants, and makes recommendations to the Senate regarding new courses and curriculum. In addition they advise the director regarding program policy and operation of the Senate.
STANDING COMMITTEES
Ethics Committee
The Ethics Committee offers educational and consultation services in ethical matters to the Postdoctoral faculty and candidates. Read more...
Pro Bono & Social Responsibility Committee
The Pro Bono and Activism Committee surveys the Postdoc community about activist commitments, and presents the work of Postdoctoral faculty, graduates and candidates in this area at bi-annual meetings.
Co-Chairs:
Mary-Joan Gerson
Katherine Oram
Among the topics presented at the bi-annual meetings, have been foster care, hospice, amnesty work, public media involvement, and parent-child consultation. The Committee has organized a Directory of Pro Bono and Activism commitments which is available on our members only page, so that individuals who are interested in initiating a volunteer commitment can contact colleagues for further information. The Directory includes national and international efforts, as well as a full record of the many pro bono supervisory commitments of the community.
INTEREST / STUDY GROUPS
Candidates, graduates, and faculty are invited and encouraged to attend the various informal study groups that focus on specific clinical and theoretical issues. These groups are only open to the NYU Postdoc community.
Committee on Ethnicity, Race, Culture, Class, & Language (CERCCL)
The CERCCL's purpose and mission is to facilitate engagement with matters of ethnicity, race, culture, class and language, both clinically and theoretically, in the NYU Postdoctoral program. Read more...
Committee on Genders and Sexualities
This committee, originally formed as a study group by Ann D’Ercole, Steven Botticelli, Martin Devine and Jack Drescher in 2012, developed into a formal Postdoc committee in 2014. We organize programming to educate the Postdoc community about issues, clinical and otherwise, relevant to LGBT+ individuals and communities. All members of the Postdoc community are enthusiastically encouraged to attend our events, to which members of the public are sometimes also invited.
We have organized clinical case conferences and discussions of pertinent theoretical issues, and most recently have presented programming on ballroom culture, the legacy of homophobic theorizing and practice in psychoanalysis, and performance by an Israeli-American performance artist exploring the intersection of her identities as a transwoman and Palestine solidarity activist.
Our programming has benefited from financial support from the Psychoanalytic Society’s Scholars Grant program.
Organizing committee: Catherine Baker-Pitts, Steven Botticelli, Jane Caflisch, Ann D’Ercole, Martin Devine, Rachel Kozlowski, Chris Paliouras, Romy Reading, Joe Ruggiero, Forbes Singer, Melanie Suchet