PSYCHOLOGY: Child Clinical Faculty Request #2
1. Program strength and vitality
The graduate clinical programs in Psychology are some of the strongest programs in the
College of Arts and Sciences. The Masters programs in General Clinical (GC) and Clinical
Behavioral (CB) have been in existence for over 30 years. We have historically graduated
between 10-15 students a year in the programs combined. The doctoral program, which
began in 2001, is one of the most prestigious programs offered at EMU. Accredited by the
American Psychological Association, this program produces highly skilled clinical
psychologists who work in the field in hospitals, universities, and clinics across the country.
Additionally, our Undergraduate major is the second largest major in the University
(Nursing Intent is the largest).
Students become interested in psychology for a variety of reasons, but perhaps one of the
major reasons is because they want to help children who are struggling with mental
disorders and behavioral problems. Over the past 10 years, our graduate and
undergraduate programs have begun to attract more and more students interested in the
psychological problems of children and youth. This is evidenced in the number of students
(graduate and undergraduate) working in child research labs in the department. Currently,
there are 5 child clinical labs (Byrd, Freedman-Doan, Huth-Bocks, Lajiness-O’Neill, and
Peterson), 3 child/adolescence developmental labs (Chow, Janisse, Staples), and 1 child
neuroscience lab (Bo). All these labs have 1-3 doctoral fellows, 2-3 MS students (both
programs), and 4-8 undergraduates working on the projects.
Besides the stellar research programs available at EMU, we attract high quality clinical
students because of the clinical experiences provided to them in the programs, including
conducting clinical work with children and their families. Unfortunately, due to the
unavailability of our child clinical supervisors, we have had to hire adjuncts to supervise
students in the clinic. This leads to a lack of continuity in treatment. The Clinic has a waitlist
of child clinical cases because we lack child clinical supervisors. Having a child clinical
faculty member available for supervision would strengthen the services we provide. We
are particularly interested in finding a child clinical faculty member who has expertise in
addressing behavioral problems, providing parent management training, and developing
contingency management plans for specific problem behaviors.
2. Demand for program
The demand for the clinical graduate programs is quite high. This year, we had over 170
applicants for the PhD program (the highest ever), and anticipate such high numbers for
the MS programs this year as well. We typically accept 10-12 students into each master’s
program and 8 students in the PhD program. Consequently, we have about 40 students
enrolled in our MS clinical programs and 35-40 students enrolled in our PhD program each
year. Although we would not be able to accept more students into the programs, with the
addition of this new faculty, we would be able to provide more training to our students, and
we could offer more clinical opportunities.
Recently, the doctoral program developed some areas of emphasis that includes a child
area. Interestingly, we found that about 25% of the 30 PhD students were interested in
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PSYCHOLOGY: Child Clinical Faculty Request #2
child clinical areas. The numbers are even higher in our MS programs (about 30%), where
students typically work in child clinical settings, schools, and hospitals that serve pediatric
populations.
In terms of curricular needs, we offer one course in Child and Family Therapy, one course
in Developmental Psychopathology, and one course in Advanced Child Assessment. These
courses are extremely popular, attracting 15-20 students when offered. In fact, for Winter
2016, we are offering Child and Family Therapy (PSY720), which is a restricted elective for
the clinical programs. We had so many students interested that we had to limit the cap to
20 students and promised to offer a section this summer for the overflow.
As noted above, our clinic has many child cases on the wait list because we simply do not
have the faculty to supervise these cases. School districts and clinics in the area often
contact our clinic to see if we have openings, but we have had to turn them away.
Nevertheless, we have many PhD students who want to take these cases for their training.
They need the appropriate training in behavior and parent management to be effective
clinicians.
3. Relation to department and college goals
As noted, the doctoral program recently revised its areas of emphasis that included a
Child/Development track. Students in the doctoral program can opt to specialize in
Child/Development that includes the diagnosis and assessment of child psychopathology
and the training in behavioral and other evidenced-based practices in child clinical
treatment. Thus, this position supports the department’s commitment to quality education
and training in clinical skills that is compliant with APA guidelines. In addition, as noted,
the faculty have more recently recognized its serendipitous strength in child/early
development and is now consciously fostering this as part of an EMU Psychology
Department branding.
This position relates to several College goals. The College has a strong commitment to
increase scholarly research and dissemination (Goal 2.1) and promote student research
experiences (Goal 2.4). The department would rate highly a faculty candidate who can
attract both graduate and undergraduate students to his/her lab and involve them in
scholarly activities. Additionally, because this faculty member would help provide
assessment services to the community at large, this hire would increase and promote more
community engagement (Goal 3.2).
4. Current availability of faculty
As noted above, we have several child clinical and non-clinical faculty, but their areas of
research and/or interest are either 1) not clinical and therefore cannot meet the current program
needs, or 2) not broad and general enough to cover all student interests (e.g., Huth-Bocks works
primarily in infant mental health; Lajiness-O’Neill and Peterson are pediatric psychologists who
are needed for assessment supervision; Freedman-Doan can only supervise in the summer.). Dr.
Byrd, who teaches the Child and Family Therapy course, is the only child clinical psychologist
on faculty who specializes in the treatment of behavior problems. Dr. Huth-Bocks, who also
supervises child cases, will be taking over the practicum course that Dr. Gordon (retiring) taught,
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PSYCHOLOGY: Child Clinical Faculty Request #2
as well as coordinating the General Clinical program. Thus, her availability to supervise during
the academic year is limited. Dr. Freedman-Doan is only available to supervise during the
summer.
5. Relation to general education
The faculty member would not participate in general education.
6. Other important information
The APA wants to see that core faculty teach required courses in the program and cover
supervision at an onsite clinic. This preserves the integrity of the program and ensures that
the program is compliant with the clinical goals as outlined in the program goals. APA
understands if the program has to hire adjuncts for a short period of time to fill in, but
wants to know that the university has a commitment to maintaining the core clinical faculty
and replacing key faculty when needed. Core faculty are defined as individuals who have
credentials in the program’s objectives and goals and serve as role models for students.
They must be identified with the program and at least 50% of their professional time must
be devoted to program-related activities. The department currently has 10 core faculty
(Drs. Hoodin and Dr. Gordon are at 50% and no longer count as core). The APA requires a
student-to-faculty ratio that is stable and can adequately cover program needs as identified
in the most recent self-study. We will need to complete a new accreditations process in
2017. One issue that may come up is coverage of the areas of emphasis in terms of courses
and clinical supervision. Having additional clinical faculty will demonstrate the university’s
commitment to the program and our goals.
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