The PhD program in the Department of Psychology covers a wide spectrum of contemporary behavioral science within a close-knit community of faculty and students. The program offers four overlapping areas of experimental emphasis: behavioral neuroscience, cognition, perception, and social/personality. The program does not offer training in clinical or counseling psychology. The objective of the PhD program is to prepare students to become experts in research and teaching in psychology. To accomplish this goal, the department takes a mentoring approach whereby the graduate students are apprentices in faculty laboratories, working closely with their faculty mentors throughout their time in the program. The basic apprenticeship relationship is supplemented by other activities, such as required courses (concentrated in the first and second years), advanced seminars and/or course work in this as well as other departments or universities, a colloquium series, assignments as teaching assistants, the master’s project, and the dissertation and its oral defense. After the first year, the structure of the doctoral program, including course work, is flexible and assumes that the process of learning and scientific discovery must be individualized. Graduate students also have an opportunity to develop their teaching and research skills through close mentoring of undergraduate research assistants. The PhD program is a five-year, twelve-months-per-year program.
The dissertation committee must include at least three tenured or tenure-track faculty members from within the psychology department—two from the student’s interest area and one from another area. The oral defense committee consists of the dissertation committee plus additional tenured and tenure-track faculty members from the psychology department.
Students who do not qualify for the doctoral degree, but who have completed required coursework with a cumulative GPA of 3.000 or better, may be eligible to receive a terminal MS Psychology degree. Note that no students will be admitted directly into the Psychology program to pursue a masterʼs degree.
Bachelor's Degree Entrance
Complete all courses and requirements listed below unless otherwise indicated.
Milestones
First-year paper
Master’s proposal
Master’s paper
Master’s presentation
Annual review
Dissertation committee
Dissertation proposal
Dissertation
Dissertation defense
At least two assigned courses as teaching assistant
Core Requirements
All graduate courses within the Department of Psychology are graded S/U. A grade of S is required in each psychology department course.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Proseminar | ||
| Complete 12 semester hours from the following: | 12 | |
| Proseminar in Psycholinguistics | ||
| Proseminar in Cognition | ||
| Proseminar in Sensation | ||
| Proseminar in Perception | ||
| Proseminar in Biology of Behavior | ||
| Proseminar in Clinical Neuroscience | ||
| Proseminar in Personality | ||
| Proseminar in Social Psychology | ||
| Quantitative Methods | ||
| PSYC 5180 | Quantitative Methods 1 | 3 |
| PSYC 5181 | Quantitative Methods 2 | 3 |
| Ethics | ||
| PSYC 7302 | Ethics and Professional Issues | 3 |
| Research | ||
| PSYC 7301 | Research Methodologies Psychology | 3 |
| Project | ||
| Take the following (repeatable) course three times: | 9 | |
| Research Project | ||
| Thesis | ||
| Take the following (repeatable) course twice: | 6 | |
| Thesis | ||
Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete 11 semester hours from the following: | 11 | |
| Note: Proseminars not taken to fulfill core requirements and courses outside the department may be taken if approved by faculty adviser and Director of Graduate Studies. | ||
PSYC 7200 to PSYC 7300 | ||
| Proseminar in Psycholinguistics | ||
| Proseminar in Cognition | ||
| Proseminar in Sensation | ||
| Proseminar in Perception | ||
| Proseminar in Biology of Behavior | ||
| Proseminar in Clinical Neuroscience | ||
| Proseminar in Personality | ||
| Proseminar in Social Psychology | ||
Dissertation
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Dissertation Term 1 | ||
| Dissertation Term 2 | ||
| Complete the following (repeatable) course until graduation: | ||
| Dissertation Continuation | ||
Program Credit/GPA Requirements
50 total semester hours required
Minimum 3.000 GPA required
| Year 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer Full Semester | Hours |
| Complete 6 semester hours of the following: | 6 | Complete 6 semester hours of the following: | 6 | PSYC 8401 | 3 |
| Elective | 6 | ||||
| Complete the following: | 6 | Complete the following: | 6 | ||
| 12 | 12 | 9 | |||
| Year 2 | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer Full Semester | Hours |
| PSYC 7990 | 3 | Complete one of the following: | 3 | PSYC 7996 | 0 |
| Elective | 5 | ||||
| Complete the following: | 3 | ||||
| 8 | 6 | 0 | |||
| Year 3 | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer Full Semester | Hours |
| PSYC 9990 | 0 | Complete one of the following: | 3 | PSYC 9996 | 0 |
| Complete the following: | 0 | ||||
| 0 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Year 4 | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer Full Semester | Hours |
| PSYC 9996 | 0 | PSYC 9996 | 0 | PSYC 9996 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Year 5 | |||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer Full Semester | Hours |
| PSYC 9996 | 0 | PSYC 9996 | 0 | PSYC 9996 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total Hours: 50 | |||||
The PhD program in the Department of Psychology covers a wide spectrum of contemporary behavioral science within a close-knit community of faculty and students. Advanced Entry is for students who enter possessing a master's degree in psychology or another acceptable field. The program offers four overlapping areas of experimental emphasis: behavioral neuroscience, cognition, perception, and social/personality. The program does not offer training in clinical or counseling psychology. The objective of the PhD program is to prepare students to become experts in research and teaching in psychology. To accomplish this goal, the department takes a mentoring approach whereby the graduate students are apprentices in faculty laboratories, working closely with their faculty mentors throughout their time in the program. The basic apprenticeship relationship is supplemented by other activities, such as required courses (concentrated in the first and second years), advanced seminars and/or course work in this as well as other departments or universities, a colloquium series, assignments as teaching assistants, the master’s project, and the dissertation and its oral defense. After the first year, the structure of the doctoral program, including course work, is flexible and assumes that the process of learning and scientific discovery must be individualized. Graduate students also have an opportunity to develop their teaching and research skills through close mentoring of undergraduate research assistants. The PhD program is a five-year, 12-months-per-year program.
For students who enter the program with a suitable master’s degree, degree candidacy is established through completion of a set of requirements determined on an individual basis. An additional 20 semester hours beyond the master’s degree are required for the PhD degree. The dissertation committee must include at least three tenured or tenure-track faculty members from within the psychology department—two from the student’s interest area and one from another area. The oral defense committee consists of the dissertation committee plus additional tenured and tenure-track faculty members from the psychology department.
Complete all courses and requirements listed below unless otherwise indicated. Individual programs of study will be tailored to acknowledge students' previous coursework.
Milestones
Master’s presentation
Annual review
Dissertation committee
Dissertation proposal
Dissertation
Dissertation defense
At least two assigned courses as teaching assistant
Core Requirements
A grade of S is required in each psychology department course.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Consult your faculty adviser and director of graduate studies for acceptable coursework. | 10 | |
Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Consult your faculty adviser and graduate director for acceptable electives. | 10 | |
Dissertation
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Dissertation Term 1 | ||
| Dissertation Term 2 | ||
| Complete the following (repeatable) course until graduation: | ||
| Dissertation Continuation | ||
Program Credit/GPA Requirements
20 total semester hours required
Minimum 3.000 GPA required
Note: The number of semester hours to complete this program may be more than 20. The number of semester hours and the specific required courses will be determined by a review of previous coursework by the graduate director and faculty adviser.