Department Description - OU Department of Psychology

The Department of Psychology

Contact Information

Faculty Roster

Professors: Devenport, Gilliland, Gronlund, Mendoza, Mumford, Rodgers, Toothaker;

Associate Professors: Brown, Connelly, Cox-Fuenzalida, Day, Hahn, Showers, R. Terry;

Assistant Professors: Carvallo, Judice-Campbell, Kisamore, Mayeux, Snyder, Steinheider, C. Terry, Thomas;

More Information

Degrees Offered

Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Master of Science
Doctor of Philosophy

Information on both undergraduate and graduate programs is included. However, the general information contained in this section mainly covers undergraduate study. For additional information on graduate programs, individual documents detailing each graduate program are available from the Graduate College and their website at http://gradweb.ou.edu/. This information is updated yearly and should be referred to for graduate program requirements

General Information

The Department of Psychology was founded in 1928. Over the years, the primary focus of the department has changed from clinical psychology to scientific psychology. At the present time, the department is focused in the areas of cognitive, developmental, social/personality, quantitative psychology, and a rapidly developing industrial / organizational program.

The teaching missions of the undergraduate psychology program are:

to provide a major that presents psychology as a laboratory and rational science of behavior and cognition;
to provide a major that is consonant with the general requirements of the College or Arts and Sciences and exemplifies the best of a liberal arts degree by serving as a bridge between the scientific-quantitative modes of thought and the more traditional arts and humanities, and
to maintain requirements and offer coursework that will prepare undergraduate majors for a wide variety of graduate training in the behavioral sciences, as well as professional training in the health professions and law.

The teaching missions at the graduate level are:

to provide a required core of survey courses in experimental psychology and statistics that serve to give a broad knowledge of scientific psychology and research methodology, and
to provide conditions that will foster a research training program for behavioral and cognitive scientists that is comparable to the best experimental psychology programs in the country.

The department provides research training by means of a curriculum that requires graduate students to be involved in research beginning with their first enrollment and continuing every semester thereafter.

Facilities and Programs

The laboratory and teaching facilities of the Department of Psychology are housed primarily in a social science complex. In this complex modern research laboratories exist for animal behavior, human learning, cognitive processes, physiological experimental personality, social psychology, and quantitative analysis and measurement. Additional facilities are available for research in animal behavior in conjunction with the Department of Zoology. The I/O psychology program has a large amount of dedicated research space. This space is designed to support a variety of relevant research activities. Specifically, this space provides graduate students with the resources needed for data collection, data management, data analysis, and general computer use.

The department maintains a small-animal colony and instrumentation shop, staffed with a full-time Computer Instrumentation Specialist.

The Department of Psychology possesses excellent computing facilities and state-of-the-art electronic instruments for psychological research. Laboratories are equipped with over 50 networked PCs. A dedicated system administrator maintains the departmental computer resources.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

At the undergraduate level, the department offers scholarships of $350 annually. The TOPS-General Psychology and TOPS-Quantitative Psychology scholarships have a December 1 application deadline for the following year. Students with at least junior standing and a superior record in coursework are encouraged to apply through the department. Outstanding students with a career interest in psychology are strongly encouraged to join the Psi Chi National Honorary Society and/or to become student members of one or more of the state, regional and national psychological associations.

At the graduate level, the department has been able to support most of those wishing to be supported in recent years. Summer support is available on a competitive basis. Each applicant is automatically considered for a graduate assistantship in the department. Graduate assistantships are typically accompanied by partial or full waiver of the out-of-state tuition differential.

Links of Interest

Research Areas

Research Facilities

Graduate Study

Undergraduate Study