2010 - 2011 Psychology Program (PSYC)

Objectives | Program Requirements | Academic Major | Concentrations | Academic Minor | Course Descriptions

Faculty: Lesa Ellis, Angela Hicks, Cathleen Power, Paul Presson, Colleen Sandor, Jennifer Simonds, Barbara Smith, Janine Wanlass

Program Goals

• To become critical thinkers who are logical consumers of information.
• To effectively communicate information in writing.
• To become effective researchers, and to learn how to effectively communicate ones results.
• To demonstrate an understanding of the field of psychology.

Objectives

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology offers an academic major leading to a Bachelor of Science degree, as well as an academic minor. The psychology curriculum provides students with an academic and experiential background for graduate study in psychology and/or employment in social service or research settings and gives the student a breadth of background while also allowing some specialization. A major or minor in psychology is for students who have a general interest in understanding behavior and its determinants.

Program Requirements

Students must maintain at least a cumulative 2.5 GPA in courses required for the psychology major and minor. To fulfill the requirements for a major in psychology, students must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours of coursework in psychology and related fields (sociology, anthropology, justice studies, and political science courses). In addition, each student must select an area of concentration from among the following: clinical/counseling, developmental, social/personality, and neurosciences/experimental.

Students are encouraged to take an internship course in psychology (PSYC 440) and may apply a maximum of 5 credit hours of internship coursework to the major. For students considering graduate school, History and Systems of Psychology and Experimental or Physiological Psychology are highly recommended. Students choosing a double major or minor within the Social Science Program may not apply electives to more than one major or minor. Only classes listed as "required classes" for both majors/minors may be applied to both.

For course prerequisites, please refer to the course description.

Academic Major

Areas of Concentration

Please note that some courses appear under more than one area of concentration; however, a course may not be applied to more than one area, and the student must decide in advance which area will receive the credit. For example, if a student elects Test and Measurements, he or she may decide to apply it to the clinical/counseling concentration or the developmental concentration, but not both.

Also note that some courses are indicated "as applicable." Here the concentration area(s) will be determined by course content. For example, a Special Topics course on behavioral pharmacology would apply to the neurosciences/experimental concentration, while one on the effects of early experience in children would apply to the developmental concentration. As above, a course may apply to more than one area such as "biological theories of mental illness" or "psychopathology of childhood," and the student will have to make a choice.

Recommended Plan of Study for Psychology

Academic Minor

To fulfill the requirements for a minor in psychology, students must complete a minimum of 20 credit hours in psychology and related fields (sociology, anthropology, and political science courses).