Fielding Graduate University was founded in 1974 by Frederic M. Hudson, Hallock Hoffman, and Renata Tesch.

[4] The university offers graduate-level degrees (certificate, master's, and doctoral programs) in clinical psychology, media psychology, educational leadership, organizational leadership, and human development.

As of 2019[update], its School of Leadership offers accelerated PhD degrees that can be earned in as little as three years,[5] and its School of Psychology offers a PhD in Clinical Psychology that can be earned in five or six years.

Fielding University Press publishes several publications per year on subjects including clinical psychology, neurology, leadership studies, phenomenology, philosophy, human development, and art history.

In 2015 the university was granted special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).