The major in Psychology offers students the opportunity to grow in self-understanding and in the understanding of others through the study of social, developmental, cognitive and biological perspectives. Psychology majors take a core of courses that provides basic knowledge of psychological theories, methods, and research techniques. Students then select a concentration in Child Development, Human Services (focusing on children or adolescents and adults) or Organizational Psychology. The program uses an applied approach to prepare its graduates to be effective practitioners at the undergraduate level or to continue on to graduate school. Utilizing a systems approach to the study of psychology, our students understand the individual from multiple perspectives of ever widening spheres of influence: family, neighborhood, community, culture, and society. The program uses a science/practitioner model, which grounds the students in the theories and methods of psychology while teaching them how to apply these principles to effectively work with a diverse set of individuals. In their junior year, students take the community based research sequence which allows them to understand and apply research methods and statistics to real life research questions posed by community organizations. In the students’ senior year, they apply what they have learned as psychology majors in their senior seminar in the fall and their senior internship in the spring.
The major prepares students for careers in human services, research, and education and provides background for further training in medical or health-related fields. A minor in Counseling is available for non-Psychology majors and Psychology majors not concentrating in human services.