Dr. Judith Gere - Studies personality and romantic relationship processes that influence people's self-growth and subjective well-being (i.e., happiness).
Dr. John Updegraff studies cognitive and emotional processes that underlie health, well-being, and adaptation to stress.
Dr. Yossef S. Ben-Porath - Objective personality assessment with emphasis on the MMPI instruments, including applications in a variety of settings (clinical, correctional, forensic, and pre-employment screening) and computerized adaptive testing.
Dr. Jeffrey Ciesla - The processes and course of depressive disorders.
Students are encouraged to become involved in undergraduate teaching. During the beginning of the 3rd year, students are enrolled in a teaching seminar and, with the supervision of a faculty member, teach one or several undergraduate courses.
Research training is designed to develop students into highly skilled adult clinical psychology scientists. Graduate students are actively involved in research throughout their training. Across faculty members, there is a strong track record of extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Coursework in the Adult Clinical Specialty is designed to provide students with foundational knowledge in the field of clinical psychology. Consequently, students complete the course requirements for the clinical training program. Students seeking to further develop their quantitative skills have the opportunity to participate in our Department's strong quantitative psychology minor.
Psychology majors can also pursue graduate education in a number of non-Psychology fields like nursing, law, business, and more.
We encourage you to look at the links below but please note that, although we vet the websites featured on this page, they are tools and the information from them is meant to help students explore potential options, not serve as guides.
There are several doctoral degree paths in psychology. For students interested in the treatment of mental health disorders, there is a Clinical and/or Counseling Ph.D. or Psy.D. There are also experimental or “psych sciences” subdisciplines which include social psychology, health psychology, industrial-organizational psychology and more, and some students pursue medical degrees to become psychiatrists or other medical doctors.
At the master’s-level, most Psychology majors go into fields related to the discipline of psychology such as counseling or social work. Students interested in pursuing a master’s degree are encouraged to research programs and speak with academic or faculty advisors regularly throughout their search. Unlike doctoral degrees, master’s degrees tend not to be funded and can be very expensive, however, many schools offer Graduate Assistantships which usually allow masters students to take on jobs at the university in exchange for tuition coverage and a stipend.
