In 1955, Guy Renzaglia founded the Rehabilitation Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). That same year, Israel Goldiamond joined the faculty of SIUC’s psychology department. Dr. Goldiamond was instrumental in recruiting Nathan Azrin to become the founding director of the Behavior Research Laboratory at Anna State Hospital, some 20 miles south of Carbondale. There remains a close working relationship between the academic program on campus and the hospital, now called the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center. Dr. Renzaglia and Dr. Azrin collaborated in 1965 to form the first master’s in behavior modification in the US, which became one of several graduate programs in the Rehabilitation Institute. In 1982, the name of the program was changed to Behavior Analysis and Therapy to reflect not only its evolving disciplinary terminology, but also the comprehensive nature of the curriculum. A doctoral program in rehabilitation, including a behavioral specialty, was also added in the early 1980s. SIUC students have received education and training in both basic and applied behavior analysis, as well as behavior therapy. 

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