history of the center

In December 1970, the following analysts and friends of psychoanalysis met to establish a Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies: Evelyn Abrams, Dorothy Bloch, Selwyn Brody, Ethel L. Goldwater Clevans, Mark E. Clevans, Irene Kesten, Jacob Kesten, William Kirman, Evelyn J. Liegner, Leonard Liegner, Shirley B. Love, Sidney I. Love, Benjamin D. Margolis, Deborah Margolis, Cyril Z. Meadow, Phyllis W. Meadow, Benjamin Nelson, Marie Coleman Nelson, Joan Ormont, Louis Ormont, Leslie Rosenthal, and Harold Stern. The group was chartered in 1971 by the State of New York Department of Education.

Early in 1971 the Board of Trustees unanimously elected Hyman Spotnitz as Honorary President in recognition of his pioneering efforts in the development of modern psychoanalysis and for his dedication and commitment to the training of psychoanalysts. The Center continues to acknowledge Dr. Spotnitz’s contributions as the major foundation of the Center’s philosophy and approach to psychoanalytic training.

In 1971, because of their interest in modern psychoanalysis, the following practicing professionals were appointed senior associates: Gertrude Aull, Arnold Bernstein, Harold L. Davis, Gerald M. Fishbein, Betty Gabriel, Mary L. Gottesfeld, Stanley Hayden, Dennis Horvath, Lia Knoepfmacher, Etta Kolodney, Ethel Lawton, Fanny Milstein, Doris Pfeffer, Avivah Sayres, and Murray H. Sherman.

Under the direction of Phyllis W. Meadow, the Center developed into a leading psychoanalytic training institute, establishing the first program of study in modern psychoanalysis. The training program reflects the efforts of many modern analytic educators. Prominent among these were Ethel L. Goldwater Clevans, who played a significant role in the introduction of modern psychoanalytic process teaching to the faculty, and Yonata Feldman, who helped structure the supervisory relationship between supervisee and supervisor, and the communication between student and faculty through the log.

In 1972 the Center was provisionally chartered by the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York to offer a training program in psychoanalysis as the Manhattan Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies. This charter became absolute on March 21, 1978, and the name was changed to the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies. The Center was approved by the State of New York as a licensure-qualifying institute in 2006.