MEMORANDUM
FROM: Kathleen Row, PhD
Chair, Psychology Department
TO: Graduate Curriculum Committee
DATE: January 10, 2010
Attached you will find the following items for your review:
1. Revised catalog copy
a. The copy includes proposed modifications to the degree requirements for the PhD in
Health Psychology. These modifications are to ensure that the clinical behavioral
medicine concentration, which is being renamed the clinical health concentration, is
consistent with the American Psychological Association (APA) Standards for
Accreditation for Clinical Psychology Programs. Also, the revised catalog copy
reflects the correction of typographical errors. A typographical error listed the
original number of required hours for the clinical health concentration at 100, when it
was actually 103. The changes we propose would reduce the number of required
credit hours by 3, thus requiring a total of 100 credit hours for the concentration. In
addition, the proposed changes would reduce the number of hours required for the
pediatric school concentration by 2, which would change the required total number of
courses from 106 credit hours to 104 credit hours. Also, PSYC 6442 is listed as a
required course under the Pediatric School concentration, but that course was
converted to PSYC 7442 during the 2005-2006 academic year and no course by the
number 6442 currently exists. Lastly, the professional standards and ethics courses
are listed in two places in the catalog copy.
b. The copy includes proposed modifications to the degree requirements for the MA in
Clinical Psychology. These modifications are to indicate that the degree program is
no longer a free-standing program, that this degree is now designed to be earned as
part of the training in the Clinical Health concentration of the PhD in Health
Psychology, and that the degree no longer offers separate concentrations in child and
adult clinical psychology. The hours required to complete the program have not been
changed and no additional sections of courses will need to be offered beyond what is
already required for the clinical health concentration for the PhD program. Thus,
these changes will require no additional resources or teaching time.
c. The copy reflects inclusion of a new course (PSYC 6414) as an option for the MA in
General-Theoretic Psychology. The hours required to complete the program have not
been changed and Psyc 6414 is being added as an elective option and not as a
required course. Thus, no additional teaching time beyond what is currently used to
accommodate the existing options to satisfy these requirements will be needed.
d. The copy includes proposed changes to PSYC course descriptions.
2. Clinical Course Proposals – We are proposing a new course and modifying two existing
courses to account for the variety of clinical training experiences offered by the clinical
health concentration of the PhD program, ensuring compliance with APA Standards for
Accreditation of Clinical Psychology Programs. Specifically, each of the three courses will
be used to provide experiences for the students to develop skills in individual psychotherapy,
group psychotherapy, and/or assessment with adults and children. However, they differ in the
amount of clinical training students complete per week. Psyc 6462 will require students to
complete 4 hours of clinical training per week, Psyc 6463 will require students to complete 8
hours of clinical training per week, and Psyc 7995 will require students to complete 12 hours
of clinical training per week. Separate courses were proposed to allow students to
concurrently complete different training experiences that require different clinical training
time commitments. Also, the titles of the courses have been changed to reflect the
consistency in overall goals of the three courses. PSYC 6462 is “Advanced Clinical
Psychology Practicum I”, Psyc 6463 is “Advanced Clinical Psychology Practicum II”, and
Psyc 7995 is “Advanced Clinical Psychology Practicum III”. Lastly, all of these courses are
listed as options for Psychology Practicum experiences and we plan to balance when these
are offered with one another. Thus, by adding Psyc 6463 as an option, it will reduce the
number of sections of Psyc 6462 and 7995 that will be offered and will ensure that no
additional resources and teaching time beyond what is currently used to accommodate the
two existing courses will be needed.
a. PSYC 6463 – new course
b. PSYC 6462 – course revision
c. PSYC 7995 – course revision
3. Additional Course Proposals - We are also proposing another new course and revisions to
existing courses to ensure compliance with APA Standards for Accreditation of Clinical
Psychology Programs.
a.
b.
c.
d.
PSYC 6414 – new course
PSYC 8500 – new course
PSYC 6475 – course revision
PSYC 8995 – course revision
The new course, Psyc 6414, is a 3 credit course and will be added as an option to satisfy the
biological basis of behavior requirement for the PhD in Health Psychology program as well
as an elective option for the MA in Clinical Psychology Program, and the research and
academic concentrations of the MA in General Psychology Program. As Psyc 6414 is only
being offered as an option among multiple options and not as a required course, no additional
teaching time beyond what is currently used to accommodate the existing options to satisfy
these requirements will be needed.
The new course, Psyc 8500, is a 1 credit course. By reducing the number of times students
are required to take another 1 credit course (Psyc 8001), we plan to free current teaching time
to cover the additional course.
4. Rename PSYC 6485. The current title is “Personality Assessment” and the proposed new
title is “Clinical Assessment”. The renaming of this courses stems from the need to
demonstrate that this course fully reflects the content required by the APA Standards for
Accreditation. There will be no changes to the content of the course (see syllabus attached).
5. PSYC 8001 - Change “may be repeated for a maximum of 4 s.h.” to “May be repeated. May
count a maximum of 4 s.h.”. We want students to have the option of taking this course
numerous times during their training as it is focused on up to date research, practice, and
ethical issues in health psychology. However, we do not plan to offer additional sections
beyond what will be required to complete the minimum number of hours for any student.
Instead, after students needing these courses have enrolled, if additional seats are available,
students who have fulfilled their requirement will be allowed to join the courses.
6. PSYC 8460 - Change “may be repeated for a maximum of 12 s.h.” to “May be repeated. May
count a maximum of 12 s.h.”. We want students to be able to take numerous times during
their training, though only 12 s.h. are allowed to count toward any degree program. However,
we do not plan to offer additional sections beyond what will be required to complete the
minimum number of hours for any student. Instead, after students needing these courses have
enrolled, if additional seats are available, students who have fulfilled their requirement will
be allowed to join the courses.