Western Kentucky University

Steven J. Haggbloom, Head
Department of Psychology
1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, KY 42101
270-745-4427; [email protected]

http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/~psych/

Western Kentucky University is the largest comprehensive university in Kentucky with a combined undergraduate and graduate student enrollment of approximately 16,000 students. Western offers more than 75 undergraduate degree programs and about 40 graduate degree programs. The campus is situated on a hill overlooking the city of Bowling Green and has been acclaimed as one of the most beautiful in the nation.

The Psychology Department at Western is housed administratively within the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences. Psychology is the second largest undergraduate major at Western, with approximately 425 students, and is the largest full-time graduate program. The 32 full-time and 6 regular part-time and adjunct faculty support an M.A. program with options in clinical, experimental, industrial/organizational, and general psychology, an Ed.S. in school psychology, and a comprehensive undergraduate program offering a selection of 35 different courses. The Psychology Department also administers an interdisciplinary gerontology minor.

Within the past year, Department faculty published approximately 50 journal articles, technical reports, books and book chapters and gave about the same number of conference presentations. The University Award for Excellence in Research was given to a Psychology faculty member in both 2000 and 2001. The inaugural University Diversity Award, and the College teaching and service awards also went to psychology faculty in 2001. Current extramural funding is in excess of $2 million. This includes a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates award. Only 12 other psychology departments in the nation have a funded REU center; Western’s is the only one in Kentucky in social and behavioral sciences, and the only one in the nation with an emphasis in lifespan developmental psychology. Interested undergraduate students can obtain information about Western’s REU program at http://edtech.tph.wku.edu/~smutter/REUIndex.htm.

Graduate Programs
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
The two-year, 49-credit-hour, graduate program in clinical psychology offers a broad professional foundation for students who will function as professional psychologists and psychological associates at the MA level. It also prepares students for entry into a PhD program. The program offers thesis and non-thesis options, a supportive faculty all of whom are licensed and graduates of APA approved doctoral programs, small classes, and applied practical experience working with clients across the life-span in an excellent clinical training facility. Graduates obtain employment in mental health centers, rehabilitation centers, college counseling centers, and various other mental health agencies.

APPLIED EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
The 2-year, 48-hour, applied experimental MA program prepares individuals for positions where strong research and methodological skills are needed and/or for continuation in a PhD program. Students are actively involved in research throughout the program. Program faculty are professionally active. In addition to very productive research programs with substantial extramural funding, faculty are ad hoc reviewers for at least 18 professional journals, and one is a consulting editor for Perception … Psychophysics. Consequently, faculty can draw on a large professional network to help place students into PhD programs as well as professional jobs. The quality the program is shown by our continued success in placing our students in highly reputable doctoral programs in a variety of areas in psychology. Since 1995, over 95 percent of our graduates who applied to PhD programs were accepted into at least one program.

INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
This 45-hour program prepares students to work as MA psychologists in business, industry, service organizations, consulting firms, or government agencies. Program objectives include the development of marketable skills in test construction and validation, personnel selection and placement, performance appraisal, and training, work motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational development. Applied skills are acquired through the integration of practical experience and formal course work under a scientist-practitioner model of training. In particular, the program is designed to train personnel specialists.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
This 75-hour program leads to a Specialist in Education degree (Ed.S.). The program is fully approved by the National Association of School Psychologists and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. Graduates are prepared to deliver a wide range of psychological services including consultation, assessment, intervention, prevention, education, and program evaluation. Program strengths include a faculty all of whom are licensed and graduates of APA approved doctoral programs, faculty experienced working as school psychologists in school settings, small classes and a low student/faculty ratio. The third year of the program is spent on a (typically) paid internship under supervision of a school psychologist. Program completion can lead to national certification as a school psychologist. In recent years, 100 percent of the program’s students have passed their certification exam on the first attempt.

Undergraduate Program
The psychology major at Western offers courses, opportunities for research experience, and opportunities for experience in applied settings that contribute to the professional and pre-professional training of students. Core requirements for all students include an integrated six-credit hour statistics and experimental methods course, psychological tests and measurements, and history and systems of psychology. The remainder of the core experience consists of the selection of one course from each of four categories comprising developmental, social/industrial, abnormal/personality, and experimental psychology. To complete the 33 credit-hour major, students select psychology electives from a wide assortment of options.

Many undergraduate psychology majors take advantage of the opportunity to involve themselves in a research project either as a volunteer assistant or for independent study credit. A community placement course offers students an opportunity to obtain practical experience in a supervised psychology-related work setting with cooperating psychological or human service agencies, private business or industry, or a school.