Program Requirements

The credit hour requirements of the Ph.D. program are arranged to prepare students for teaching and research. The concentration areas and credit hours of the individual doctoral programs are listed below and include:

Behavior Analysis (78 hours)
Co-directors: Jessica Frieder and Cindy Pietra
3748 or 3762 Wood Hall, respectively

1. Applied Behavior Analysis (6 hours)
2. Experimental Analysis of Behavior (6 hours)
3. Conceptual and Theoretical Issues (6 hours)
4. Research Methods and Statistics (6 hours)
5. Professional Issues (3 hours)
6. Elective courses (15 - 27 hours)
7. Master’s Thesis or Project (6 hours)
8. Professional Experience (6 - 18 hours)
9. Doctoral Dissertation (12 hours)

Courses count toward the Ph.D. program in Behavior Analysis only after the student has completed all courses in an M.A. program, including the M.A. thesis or M.A. project requirement.

Industrial/Organizational Behavior Management (78 hours)
Director: Heather McGee
3758 Wood Hall

1. Industrial/Organizational Behavior Management Core (24 hours)
2. Behavior Analysis Core (9 hours)
3. Research and Ethics (12 hours)
4. Master’s Thesis (6 hours)
5. Doctoral Dissertation (12 hours)
6. Elective Courses (15 hours)

Courses count toward the Ph.D. program in Industrial/Organizational Behavior Management only after the student has completed all courses in an M.A. program, including the M.A. thesis.

Clinical Psychology (95 hours)
Co-directors of Clinical Training: Scott Gaynor, Amy Naugle
3530 and 3524 Wood Hall, respectively

1. General and Clinical Foundations (30 hours) 
2. Methodology (6 hours)
3. Clinical Core (15 hours) 
4. Research (18 hours)
5. Clinical Practicum and Internship (20-31 hours)
6. Research Tools (6 hours) 

The Clinical Psychology Program is designed to provide broad and general scientist-practitioner training that is decidedly cognitive-behavioral and contemporary behavior analytic in orientation. The research activity of the doctoral student is continuous and is encouraged through participation in the apprentice research program, completion of a six credit hour Master’s Thesis and completion of a twelve credit hour dissertation. The student is required to complete core methods courses, but also to demonstrate additional competence via a research tool sequence in an area such as advanced methods/statistics, grant writing, or design and evaluation of clinical trials. The doctoral candidate will also show evidence of an ability to interpret, integrate, and discuss research data by the satisfactory completion of a comprehensive examination. The clinical training of the student is accomplished via coursework in relevant foundational and core clinical domains as well as through extensive supervised practical experience. These practical experiences occur in our campus clinic, local external agencies, and culminate in a clinical internship.

The program is arranged to provide formal evaluations of the student as he/she progresses from baccalaureate apprentice to doctoral applicant with the completion of the Master’s Thesis and to doctoral degree candidate with completion of the comprehensive examination. The award of the Ph.D. degree is made following the satisfactory completion of the required hours of approved course credit, demonstration of competence in research, satisfactory completion of comprehensive examination, the oral defense of the dissertation before the student’s doctoral committee at a public presentation, and successful completion of a year-long supervised clinical internship.

The Department of Psychology offers financial assistance through Department assistantships and program fellowships. Additional information concerning financial awards and program requirements may be obtained from the department office.