Department of Psychology

Directions for the future:

1.  The Next Full-time Faculty Member.

We are in the process of looking into hiring another full-time faculty member.  Specifically, the administration is currently reviewing whether to conduct a national search for a developmental psychologist.

2.  Future Faculty.

In the long term, we plan to expand by hiring up to a department of 4 or 5 full-time faculty members.  Possible future members of the department would include the following:

    a.  A community psychologist who could help provide students with a meaningful practicum experience.
    b.  An experimental psychologist who could teach cognitive psychology, behavior modification, physiological psychology, and, possibly, sensation/perception.
    c.  An industrial/organizational psychologist who could teach applied psychology and serve as a liaison to the School of Business.
    d.  A health psychologist who could teach a variety of psychology courses and serve as a liaison to the School of Health.

3.  Possible Future Courses.

 • Statistics for Psychology (or Statistics for the Behavioral Science)

 • Early Childhood Development

 • Middle Childhood Development

 • Adolescence

 • Evolutionary Psychology

 • Wilderness Psychology

 • Industrial/Organizational Psychology

 • Organizational Behavior

 • Cross-cultural Psychology

 • Health Psychology

4.  Future tracks.

Currently, the major includes the "clinical track," designed for students interested in pursuing clinical and/or counseling professions, and the "leadership track," designed for students interested in applying psychology in some sort of leadership context professionally.  As the department develops and expands, we intend to incorporate some or all of the following tracks in the major:

 • Graduate School Preparation Track

 • Forensic Psychology Track

 • Industrial/Organizational Track

 • Child Psychology Track

 • Health Psychology Track

5.  Future degrees.

As the department expands, it may become feasible to develop a graduate program.  Currently, a PsyD program is being considered.  The PsyD is a doctoral level degree in clinical psychology.  Compared with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, the PsyD has a more applied emphasis.  As our department size and access to resources increase appropriately, we plan to offer such a degree to students interested in pursuing this advanced education.  Some Master's degrees, such as a general Master's in Psychology and a Master's in psychological counseling are also being considered in the long-term.

6.  Future departmental facilities.

To provide students with opportunities to conduct psychological research, the following facilities are, potentially, being considered.

Psychophysiological laboratory facilities such as:

 •     An Electrodermal Activity Measuring Instrument (to be used in research assessing the relationship between psychological functioning and autonomic arousal).
 •     An Electroencephalogram (to be used in research assessing the relationship between psychological functioning and brain activities).
 •     Space allocated for psychological research data collection and data analysis.

Library facilities including the following:

 •     Psychinfo (or a comparable comprehensive psychological database).
 •     A substantial collection of psychological journals.
 •     A substantial collection of psychology books.