Van Kaam arrived in the United States in August of 1954 and shortly thereafter became an American citizen. Although he had hoped to continue on a full-time basis the work he had begun in Holland, he accepted the challenge to develop a new program in psychology as a human science at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA and was appointed as a faculty member in the Psychology Department. In addition, Fr. Adrian pursued his doctorate in psychology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, completing his dissertation in 1958, which drew upon his earlier Dutch degrees in educational theory and practice. In 1963, van Kaam founded the Institute of Man at Duquesne, dedicated to the graduate-level study of spiritual formation and religious education. 

As a professor in phenomenological psychology at Duquesne during the 1960s, van Kaam brought to light the findings of such European thinkers as Jacques Maritain, Max Scheler, Gabriel Marcel, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and William Luijpen. They probed such existential questions as: Who are we most deeply? How do our situations impact us? Why do some people maintain hope, while others — in the same difficult circumstances — choose a downward plunge into despair? Van Kaam’s approach centered on the formation of the human heart, the dispositions engendered there, and the configuration of dispositions that ultimately constitute our human and Christian character. 
 

Around this time, client-centered approaches to psychological counseling began to flourish, notably under the influence of Carl Rogers and Gordon Allport, colleagues of Adrian’s, who, like him, chose to pursue a humanistic view of counseling that was more encounter-oriented. Adrian himself participated in training programs at the Alfred Adler Institute under Drs. Rudolf Dreikurs and Heinz Ansbacher. He studied personality theory under Abraham Maslow and Kurt Goldstein at Brandeis University and sharpened his psycho-therapy skills under Carl Rogers at the University of Chicago. Van Kaam also consulted with existential thinkers of the time, including Henry Elkin, Rollo May, and Erik Erikson — not only to be apprised of their work but also to keep his students informed of the rapid developments unfolding in this field. He also served as a visiting professor at Brandeis University, taking the place of Abraham Maslow while Maslow was on sabbatical leave, an honor that spoke to how much he was both accepted and consulted in the mainstream of the humanistic psychology movement. Van Kaam received the President’s Award for Excellence in teaching at Duquesne; remained as the Institute’s director until 1980; and continued his tenure at the university until the closing of the Institute of Formative Spirituality in 1993.

Dr. Susan Muto met Father Adrian in 1966, leaving a career in journalism to serve as Assistant Director of Duquesne’s Institute of Man, which van Kaam had established in 1963. [Eventually, the Institute of Man separated from the Psychology Department and was renamed the Institute of Formative Spirituality (IFS)].  A 40+ era of collaboration between van Kaam and Muto was thus initiated. At the Institute, van Kaam was able to return to his original commitment to educating laity, clergy, and religious in fully human, fully Christian, faith-based formation. Fr. Adrian complemented his own teaching, writing, and speaking by serving as consulting editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, the Journal of Individual Psychology, and the Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry. In addition to these publications, the IFS also offered three other journals during its existence, Humanitas, Studies in Formative Spirituality, and the Journal of Spiritual Formation. By 1979, Fr. Adrian had initiated a six-semester core curriculum as well as an accredited PhD program within the IFS. In 1980, Fr. Adrian suffered a major heart attack and subsequently asked Dr. Susan Muto to assume the directorship of the Institute.  She served in this role for the next eight years.