TO:
FROM:
DATE:
RE:
Members of the CPC
Meg Upchurch, Psychology Program Director
March 2, 2009
Response to the CPC’s response to the Psychology Program Review
Thank you for your review of the Psychology Program. As requested by the CPC in your
response, the following document contains (1) two tables reflecting our benchmark comparisons
and (2) a timeline for our proposed alumni survey. I apologize to not having them available in
the original draft.
Part 1: Benchmark Comparisons
Table 1. Comparison of Faculty Loads.
The table below, which concerns teaching loads, reflects the fact that in most cases we were not able to get the information about the
total numbers of psychology majors. The program student:faculty ratio is therefore presented as the program senior student:faculty
ratio. We believe that this information is at least a reasonably accurate reflection of the relative teaching loads.
As we discussed in our review, the benchmark comparisons reveal that we have a relatively high student:faculty ratio (both within the
program and the wider institution).
Benchmark
Total Student
Enrollment
Total Senior
Psychology
Majors*
77
No info
Total
Program
Faculty
13
6
Program Senior
Student:Faculty
Ratio
5.92
No info
Full
Assoc
Asst
Visiting
Adjunct/
Staff
Albion
1950
2
2
2
5
2
Birmingham 1401
2
2
2
Southern
Centre
1147
38
8
4.75
4
1
3
Denison
2100
51
15
3.40
2
8
3
2
Earlham
1184
29
6
4.83
5
1
Hanover
1000
36
4
9.00
1
3
Millsaps
1200
25
4
6.25
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Rhodes
1673
39
14
2.79
5
4
1
4
Transy
1156
34
4
8.50
1
1
2
Wittenberg
1900
No info
8
No info
3
1
3
1
Wofford
1400
16
5
3.20
2
1
2
* The numbers we do have concerning total majors are Albion – 151, Hanover – 36 (only Junior and Senior numbers reported),
Millsaps – 58, and Transylvania – 76.
Table 2. Major and Minor Requirements, and GE Service Courses.
Benchmark
Albion
Birmingham
Southern
Centre
Denison
Major Requirements
9 courses required, choice between 2 kinds
of Introductory psychology, 2 semester
sequence of research design and analysis
required. 2 menus of courses (List 1, List
2), with requirement to choose from each
menu for a total of 3 courses. History and
Philosophy of Psychology required.
Remaining 2 of the required 9 courses are
electives. 3 courses must be taken at the
300 level (these include a lab-based
component).
12 courses, including Introductory,
Statisticss, Methods, Biopsychology, 1
Social, 1 Clinical, 1 Cognitive/Learning, 2
Senior Seminars, 3 additional
11 courses required, including 1 Natural
Science/Biology course, 1 Math course,
Introductory, Experimental, Learning,
Abnormal or Motivation, 2 Psychobiology,
and 4 additional 300+-level courses.
BA requires 10 courses. Intro, Methods,
and history of psych are mandatory, and
majors must also take 2 courses with labs
(nearly all of their survey courses have a
3 hour lab), and 1 seminar course. The BS
requires 16 courses. Majors must take all
courses required for the BA, plus stats, 1
more lab course, and 4 other natural
science courses (Psychology is in the
natural science division).
Minor Requirements
5 courses required, including 1 specific
Introductory Psychology, first semester
research methods and analysis, 1 List 1, 1
List 2 course, 1 elective. List 1 is
developmental, social, abnormal,
personality. List 2 is various kinds of
cognitive and neuroscience.
Service Courses
PSYC 101 Introduction to Psychology,
PSYC 102 Introduction to Scientific
Psychology, PSYC 236 Social Psychology,
PSYC 251 Developmental Psychology,
PSYC 351 Developmental Psychology,
PSYC 272 Human Sexuality, PSYC 289
Psychology of Women, PSYC 353
Psychology of Adolescence, and PSYC
396 History and Philosophy of Psychology
meet core requirements.
5 units, including Introductory
PY 101 Introductory Psychology, PY 230
Cross-Cultural Psychology,
6 or 7 courses, including 1 Math course,
Introductory psychology, and 4 or 5
additional courses
PSY 110 Intro, PSY 210 Experimental,
PSY 220 Psychology of Learning
requires 7 courses: Intro, Methods, 1 lab
course, and any 4 other psych courses.
All students at Denison are required to take
2 lab courses from Natural Science, and
any Psychology course with a lab fulfills
this general education requirement
Benchmark
Earlham
Hanover
Millsaps
Rhodes
Major Requirements
11 courses required. Required courses for
the major are: Introduction, Social,
Developmental, Personality, Experimental,
History and Systems, a Senior capstone
seminar, and a comprehensive research
project. Also, majors must choose 1 course
from each of 3 lists: research, integration
of disciplines, and applied issues.
9.5 courses required. These include
Introduction to Psychology, Research
Design and Statistics, either
Neuropsychology or Sensation and
Perception, either Cognitive Psychology or
Learning, 2 from Personality Theory,
Childhood and Adolescence, Human
Sexuality, either Social Psychology or
Adulthood and Aging, Advance Research
(.5 credit), Research Seminar, and 1
elective.
10 courses required. These include
Introduction, Experimental I & II,
Cognitive, History and Systems, 1 from
each of three groupings (clinical/applied,
physiological/learning,
cognitive/developmental), and 2 electives.
11 courses required. These include
Foundational Issues in Psychology,
Research Methods and Statistics,
Statistical Methods, 1 writing-intensive
course in Advanced Research Methods, 3
content area courses, 1 course in applied
psychology, 2 additional courses, and
Senior Seminar.
Minor Requirements
requires 6 courses: Introduction to
Psychology, Social, Developmental,
Personality, Experimental, plus any 1 other
psychology course. Earlham’s psychology
curriculum offers several GE
6 courses required. These include
Introduction; 2 from Personality Theory,
Developmental Psychology, Social
Psychology, Behavior Disorders, Human
Sexuality, Counseling and Psychotherapy,
or nonlaboratory special topics; 2 from
Research Design and Statistics,
Neuropsych, Learning, Human Factors,
Sensation and Perception, Cognitive
Psychology, Research Controversies, and
laboratory Special Topics.
5 courses required. These include
Introduction to Psychology and excludes
undergraduate research, directed readings,
and internship.
6 courses required. These include
Foundational Issues in Psychology,
Research Methods and Statistics, and 4
additional psychology courses, at least 1 of
which should be at the 300 or 400 level.
Service Courses
PSY 342 satisfies the Scientific Inquiry or
the Quantitative requirement; PSY 362 or
PSY 366 will satisfy the international
component of the Diversity requirement;
PSY 364 satisfies the domestic component
of the Diversity requirement; and PSY
365, PSY 373, or PSY 374 will satisfy the
wellness requirement.
PSY 162 Neuropsychology, PSY 163
Politics, Society and Film, PSY 163 The
Individual, Society, and Film, PSY 164
Sensation and Perception, PSY 165
Psychology and the Family, and PSY 166
People in Groups meet core requirements.
Introduction to Psychology. The majority
of the courses that fulfill their “Core
Requirements” have a specific prefix so it
unclear which are psychology classes.
Three psychology courses meet
requirements for the Foundations program:
Special Topics (fills a writing
requirement), Foundational Issues (fills a
"systematic analysis of human interaction"
requirement); and Statistical Methods (fills
a mathematical reasoning requirement).
Students also required to take 3 courses in
the social sciences, for which 17 of the
major's 29 courses may be taken.
Benchmark
Major Requirements
Transylvania 11 courses including General; a methods
requirement that can be fulfilled by
Research Methods, Experimental
Psychology of Learning, or Experimental:
Sensation & Perception; a statistics
requirement that can be filled by the math
course Elementary Statistics or the
psychology course Statistical Analysis for
the Social Sciences; and Senior Seminar.
The 7 remaining courses are electives.
Wittenberg
contains a B. A. track and a B. S. track.
Both require [1] proseminars in
Physiological, Learning, Developmental,
Differential, Abnormal, and Social
Psychology; [2] 1 course in Experimental
Design and a Statistics requirement that
may be satisfied by statistics courses in
psychology, management, or mathematics;
[3] research or independent study at the
400 level. Students completing the B.S.
must also take a Junior Seminar, an
additional 400-level course, and science
and math courses. Intro does not count.
Wofford
12 courses. Students follow a strictly
defined core program of 7 content courses
(Experimental Methods, Sensation &
Perception, Abnormal, Biopsych,
Development, Social, and Learning), 3
electives, a statistics course in the math
program, and an empirical senior thesis.
Intro does not count toward the major.
Minor Requirements
any 7 psychology courses.
Service Courses
General Psychology meets Area II
requirements. There are 22 courses that
meet Area IV and 10 of these also meet
AREA V requirements.
requires at least 4 of the proseminars, 12
other semester hours in psychology,
content not specified, and statistics.
Students may use courses in psychology to
satisfy general education requirements in
Quantitative Reasoning, The Natural
World and Social Institutions, Processes,
and Behavior. Psychology Statistics
satisfies a Quantitative requirement. 6
psychology courses may be used toward
the Natural World requirement and 5 may
be used toward the Social Institutions
requirement. 4 psychology courses are
Writing Intensive and meet a GE writing
requirement.
not offered.
PSY 200 Experimental Methods, PSY 210
Sensation and Perception, PSY 230
Biological Psychology, and PSY 300
Learning & Adaptive Behavior may count
toward the Natural Science component of
the general education curriculum.
Part 2: Timeline for Alumni Survey
By end of 2008-2009
academic year
Draw up the survey questions and finalize the survey format.
(We are well on our way to doing this).
Fall Term of 2009-2010
Identify at least 10 former psychology majors living in the area
and ask them to participate in a pilot administration of the
survey. Also pilot the survey with seniors in the psychology
senior seminar. Revise the survey on the basis of the survey
takers' feedback.
Winter Term of 2009-2010
Meet with personnel in the alumni office to discuss logistical
issues with survey administration. Determine how the survey
reproduction and mailing will be paid for. Once this is resolved,
mail out the surveys. Follow up with reminders to
nonresponders, mailed out at two week intervals until four
reminder mailings have been sent.
May Term 2009-2010
Compile and discuss the results. If necessary, discuss modifying
through Fall Term 2010-2011 program characteristics in response to the results.