Pacific Graduate School of Psychology

Palo Alto University (PAU) is a non-profit, private educational institution in Palo Alto, California, United States. PAU is dedicated to education with an emphasis in the behavioral and social sciences; to promoting future innovators and leaders for the benefit of society; to generating knowledge through research and scholarship of the highest level; and to providing services to the community informed by science and scholarship. The school was founded in 1975 as the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (PGSP).

PAU offers two undergraduate degree programs (Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Psychology and Social Action and B.S. in Business Psychology) and five graduate programs: a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology; a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology as part of a consortium with Stanford University, and two master's degree programs: an M.A. in Counseling, and an M.S. in Psychology. Palo Alto University subscribes to the practitioner-scientist training model, a variation of the Boulder scientist-practitioner model, which emphasizes clinical practice along with scientific training.

PAU has an interconnected relationship with Stanford University and the Stanford University School of Medicine. PAU maintains its prominent doctoral program in conjunction with Stanford University, often employs its students in Stanford research laboratories, houses prominent faculty members who teach at both institutions. Furthermore, along with other prominent members of the Stanford University faculty, the chair of the Stanford Department of Psychiatry holds a membership on the PAU board of trustees.

The Pacific Graduate School of Psychology was founded in 1975 and has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), since 1986. It has been continuously accredited since then. The university is not affiliated with the similarly named Pacifica Graduate Institute, located in Carpinteria, California.