The mission of the Department of Psychology is to educate students in the core concepts of psychology and research methodology, to foster written and oral communication skills, to encourage connections across the subfields of psychology, and to build skills related to careers in the field. The department aims to provide a variety of experiences that contribute to a multilayered education in both foundational knowledge and diverse application of psychology through various processes (e.g., direct instruction, observational learning, hands-on experiences, contact with professionals in the field, high impact learning environments).

Learning Goals

  1. Critical evaluation of the core concepts of psychology
  2. Research skills
  3. Written and oral communication skills
  4. Ability to make connections across the subfields of psychology and other fields
  5. Acquisition of skills applicable to a wide range of career opportunities

Measures

Annual department outcomes will be assessed, in part, with the senior capstone experience.  Seniors will complete their senior seminar in the Fall semester and complete a two part senior comprehensive examination.  The first part is the ETS Major Field Test for psychology. We use the total percentile score as one third of the student’s grade on the comprehensive examination. We review all of the students’ data to evaluate understanding in the major subfields of psychology. The second part, and the other two thirds of the student’s grade on the comprehensive examination, is a poster presentation of a research proposal developed during the senior seminar. Each poster presentation is graded by three faculty members using a common rubric, and scores are discussed by the departmental faculty to finalize grades. Both of these components aid us in evaluating whether we are effectively meeting our learning goals for our majors. High percentile scores on the ETS test show that our curriculum has provided students with a significant amount of content, and high quality performance on the poster presentations shows that our students are able to effectively apply their understanding of the field, as well as their research and communication skills. 

Updated fall 2019