Psychology
Program Website
If you enjoy science and you are interested in studying human behavior and mental processes, consider a major in psychology. While Stetson's Psychology Department strives to provide a strong foundation for graduate work in psychology, the program also teaches knowledge and skills important for many other areas of graduate study and a variety of careers.
You'll learn how to clarify concepts, locate and search information sources, evaluate information, do statistical analyses of data, work with computers, design experiments, and prepare clear, concise written reports. You will also have the opportunity to develop skills in communication and interpersonal relations that are vital in some careers and helpful in all.
Faculty
Stetson's small classes encourage interaction between students and their professors. Students and teachers get to know each other, and students have easy access to their teachers outside class.
Our full-time faculty and some of their teaching areas and research interests:
- Toni L. Blum, Ph.D, Ohio State University; cognitive psychology, research methods, human sexuality; research interests -- memory, decision making
- Carl D. Cochran, Ph.D, University of Georgia; statistics, research methods, psychological testing; research interests -- health psychology, industrial psychology
- William Daniel Hale, Ph.D, University of Massachusetts - Amherst; health psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, abnormal psychology; research interests -- health education, health attitudes, aging
- Alton Richard Kindred, Ph.D, Brandeis University; personality, interpersonal dynamics, ethical and professional issues in psychology, human sexuality; research interests -- the role of language in intimate communication
- Camille Tessitore King, Ph.D., University of Virginia; functional neuroanatomy of the gustatory system, neurobiology of learning and memory
- Richard G. Medlin, Ph.D, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; child psychology, childhood behavior disorders; research interests -- cognitive development, home schooling
- Carriella H. Nance, Ph.D, Florida State University; personality and social psychology; research interests -- social cognition, deception
Special Features
Two of our most distinctive educational experiences are the Senior Projectand the internship courses.
In your last two years, you will be encouraged to include a supervised internship as one of your courses. Prior to the internship, you will have taken at least five psychology courses. In a typical semester, we have 12 to 15 students doing internships at various locations in the surrounding area. A wide variety of internship placement sites is available. A sampling of these is listed below.
You will also complete research for a capstone requirement, the Senior Project. Some students do this as juniors so they will have time their senior year to publish their work in a professional journal, present it at a professional conference, or collaborate with a faculty member on additional research.
Properly planned, these two experiences can be significant stepping stones toward graduate work or entry into the workforce.
Course Information
The Psychology Department offers dozens of different courses, and we use a wide variety of teaching styles and course formats, depending upon the learning goals of the course. Additional information on the courses is available at the Psychology Department, website.
Internship Opportunities
Psychology students chose internships in many professional areas including
- psychiatric facilities
- adolescent residential programs
- juvenile detention centers
- child protective investigation teams
- public and private schools
- human resource departments
- court services programs
- summer camp programs
- military research facilities
- parenting skills programs
- crisis stabilization units
Career Opportunities
Psychology degrees can lead to careers as diverse as psychotherapy, teaching, law, personnel work, human factors engineering, biopsychological research, speech therapy, marketing, and medicine.
The Psychology Department faculty and the counselors in Stetson's Career Services Office stand ready to assist you in working out your career goals and developing the skills needed to implement those goals.
Alumni Highlights
- Varied paths chosen by some recent graduates:
- Callie DuCoin, '04, pursuing Psy.D. in clinical psychology at Nova Southeastern
- Kate Love, '04, pursuing M.S.W. in social work at the University of Michigan
- Jessica Travis, '04, pursuing J.D. at Stetson Law School
- Danielle Stolzenberg, '03, pursuing Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience at Boston College
- Cynthia Burrows, '02, pursuing R.N. in psychiatric nursing at the University of Alaska
- Amy Williams, '01, pursuing Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of Georgia
Clubs and Organizations
- Psi Chi: The National Honor Society in Psychology.
Department Awards
- Excellence in Research (awarded annually at Spring Honors Convocation).
Additional Information
Additional information on the Psychology Department, including specific degree programs and requirements, is available at the Psychology Department, website.
