Mission Statement:

To provide quality training and organization support to the health and human services community.

Core Values:

• Professionalism
  and Accountability
  • Being reliable and responsible to coworkers, community partners, and the organization by implementing timely decisions driven by good judgment and the Academy’s mission and vision . Exhibiting open, honest, pertinent, accurate, respectful, complete, and consistent sharing of relevant information.
• Collaboration
  • Achieving organizational goals through mutual sharing, teamwork, cooperation, and participation with internal and external stakeholders on a regular basis.
• Innovation and Flexibility
  • Achieving organizational goals through mutual sharing, teamwork, cooperation, and participation with internal and external stakeholders on a regular basis.
• Integrity
  • Valuing honest, ethical, fair, equitable and considerate interactions and decisions.
• Diversity
  • Embracing the various ways diversity strengthens our programs, our workforce and our communities. Fostering an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming organizational culture that appreciates and celebrates the diverse talents, cultures, backgrounds, experiences and opinions of our learning community.

The Academy was established in 1996 with the mission to provide quality training and organizational support to the health and human services community in the Southern California Region. This mission is accomplished through training and technical assistance, organizational development, and evaluation and research.

The Academy is a project of San Diego State University School of Social Work, which offers both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Social Work and is currently the only accredited social work program in San Diego County. The School of Social Work was founded in 1963 and has been continuously accredited by the Council of Social Work Education since 1966.

The fiscal agent for this project is San Diego State University Research Foundation. The Foundation was incorporated in 1943 and administers grants and contracts on behalf of San Diego State University. It is a nonprofit corporation, self-financed, and authorized as an auxiliary organization by the Education Code of California. Serving over 4,000 people annually, the Academy for Professional Excellence manages a budget of over three million dollars per fiscal year.

The Academy continues to grow with new programs and a diversity of training focused on serving the health and human services community in Southern California and beyond.