2024-2025 Academic Catalog 
    
    Oct 14, 2024  
2024-2025 Academic Catalog

Psychology, PhD


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Overview of the PhD in Psychology


General Requirements


Course Work

Students typically take four courses each semester for the first two years, including one semester of History, Theory and Method: Research Design (PSYC 301), and two consecutive semesters of Statistical Methods (PSYC 302). In subsequent semesters in residence, students take two or three content courses and research or reading courses. A minimum of 16 one-semester courses is required for the Ph.D., depending on the program of study.

Independent Research Project

Each student must be actively involved in research from the beginning of their graduate training. At the end of their first year, students will present their work-in-progress in poster format at an annual Graduate Research Conference. At the end of their second year, they will present this work at the Conference as an oral presentation. The project will be deemed complete when it is written up in the format of a journal article. Students wishing to obtain a formal M.A. should consult the university website for M.A. requirements.

Portfolio

Students demonstrate qualification to begin dissertation work by completing a portfolio of elements totaling 6 points during the first three years. Examples of elements include conference posters, papers, journal submissions, and grant proposals.

Ph.D. Dissertation

The student demonstrates the ability to conduct research by the presentation of an acceptable dissertation. A dissertation committee of three faculty members is formed to supervise all phases of the research. A dissertation proposal is first written and defended at a meeting with the dissertation committee. Once the dissertation is completed and approved by the committee, it is presented publicly to the psychology faculty, graduate students, and appropriate guests, and is open to questions from the faculty. The format of this oral examination is that of a professional presentation. The candidate is expected to demonstrate the ability to address questions on their work and on related matters. This oral includes at least the committee and two additional faculty member readers.

Additional information on the Psychology Department doctoral programs can be found on the department website: https://www.clarku.edu/departments/psychology/phd-programs/.

Graduate Studies in Clinical Psychology


The mission of the Clark University Clinical Psychology Program is to train scientist-practitioners as socially engaged clinical scholars. In keeping with the motto of Clark University to “Challenge Convention and Change Our World,” the Clinical Program aims to train scholars who will use their work to improve the lives of the people in our communities. Thus, the Clark University Clinical Psychology Program adheres to the Scientist-Practitioner model in which our students are trained to be skilled scientists and clinicians who can integrate the science of psychology with its professional practice.

To achieve our goals, we provide training in research methods, clinical practice, and their integration. This training is sequential, cumulative, and graded in complexity, and occurs through a variety of integrated and coherent educational experiences in the classroom, laboratory, and practicum settings. In order to produce competent clinicians, the Clinical Program provides training in the basic principles and processes of psychological assessment, evidence-based psychotherapy, and an array of general professional skills. This training occurs in coursework and clinical practica, and is provided by both core clinical faculty and affiliated faculty.

Our program involves four years of coursework and practicum experiences. During their first three years in the program, students receive close supervision and broad-based training from core clinical faculty in adult and child assessment (Years 01 and 02), individual therapy (Year 02), and couples therapy (Year 03). In addition, during their second through fifth years, students participate in off-site clinical practica and externships where they receive more focused training in particular areas of interest. Most often, students apply for internship during the fall of the fifth year. The fifth year is also typically used to work on and potentially defend the dissertation before going on internship. The final stage of the student’s clinical training is the completion of an APA-approved clinical internship, which usually takes place in the 6th year.

While our training model is relatively simple, there are a number of rules and requirements developed to ensure that (1) students receive top-quality training; (2) training conforms to the guidelines of the department, university, and American Psychological Association (APA); and (3) students satisfactorily complete coursework and required experiences in a timely fashion.

The clinical psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). For more information, contact the APA Committee on Accreditation at 750 First St., NE, Washington, DC 2002-4242 or 202.336.5979. For further information, contact the Director of Clinical Training, Dr. Abbie Goldberg.

Graduate Studies in Developmental Psychology


A pioneer in the study of human development, Clark’s Ph.D. program in Developmental Psychology focuses on the development of psychological processes in societal and cultural contexts. With faculty expertise across the lifespan, faculty unite in studying the links between intra-individual and inter-individual change over time. How do interactions between individuals, ecological contexts, and cultural patterning result in new ways of being in the world? Currently faculty examine areas such as bilingualism, pretend play, racial experiences, identity, structural violence, youth organizing, and malleable factors influencing learning and subsequent academic achievement in schooling and college populations. For additional information about study in developmental psychology, please contact the Developmental interim program head, Dr. Alena Esposito.

Graduate Studies in Social Psychology


This program focuses on the social psychology of social and political issues in communities, societies, and around the world.  At Clark, we study social cognition, stereotypes and prejudice, health psychology, and political psychology while also focusing on critical approaches to social psychological scholarship, such as intersectionality, queer theory, critical race theory, and liberation psychology. Our faculty and graduate students examine societal conflict and resistance, power and violence in intergroup relations, systems of oppression, social categorization and normative beliefs about groups, gender and sexuality, and community health. More generally, we examine the interactions between individual psychologies and societal structures and norms in producing social attitudes, behaviors, and health. Students and faculty in the program use a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative methods, including lab experiments, field and community research, interviews and focus groups, and advanced quantitative techniques, such as multilevel and structural equation modeling. The program encourages theoretical work, contextualized and interdisciplinary research using multiple methods,  and work with diverse community samples in different parts of the world.

For further information, contact Dr. Andrew Stewart, head of the Social Psychology program.

Psychology Faculty


Program Faculty


Michael Addis, Ph.D.
Michael Bamberg, Ph.D.
Nancy Budwig, Ph.D.
Esteban Cardemil, Ph.D.
James Córdova, Ph.D.
Alena Esposito, Ph.D.
Samantha Francois, Ph.D.
Jessica Glazier, Ph.D.
Abbie Goldberg, Ph.D.
Amy Heberle, Ph.D.
Ana K. Marcelo, Ph.D.
Nicole Overstreet, Ph.D.
Kathleen Palm Reed, Ph.D.
Andrew Stewart, Ph.D.
Johanna Ray Vollhardt, Ph.D.

Clinical Faculty


Abbie Goldberg, Ph.D. - Director of Clinical Training
Amy Heberle, Ph.D. - Associate Director of Clinical Training
Michael Addis, Ph.D.
Esteban Cardemil, Ph.D.
James Cordova, Ph.D.
Kathleen Palm Reed, Ph.D.

Developmental Faculty


Ana K. Marcelo, Ph.D. - Head of Developmental Program
Nancy Budwig, Ph.D.
Michael Bamberg, Ph.D.
Alena Esposito, Ph.D.
Samantha Francois, Ph.D.

Social Faculty


Andrew Stewart, Ph.D. - Head of Social Program
Jessica Glazier, Ph.D.
Nicole Overstreet, Ph.D.
Johanna Ray Vollhardt, Ph.D.

Visiting Faculty


Justin Laplante, Ph.D.

Michael Miller, Ph.D.

Research Faculty


Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Ph.D.
Joseph de Rivera, Ph.D.
Rachel Joffe Falmagne, Ph.D.
Lene Arnett Jensen, Ph.D.
Elena Zaretsky, Ph.D.

Faculty Emeritus


Joseph de Rivera, Ph.D.
Rachel Joffe Falmagne, Ph.D.
Wendy Grolnick, Ph.D.
Nicholas Thompson, Ph.D.
Jaan Valsiner, Ph.D.
Marianne Wiser, Ph.D.

Affiliate Faculty


Ashley Hart, Ph.D
Christina Hatgis, Ph.D.
Phoebe Moore, Ph.D.
 

Psychology Graduate Courses


Courses offered within the last 2 Academic Years

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