Chapter Two Appendices Academic Program Profiles
Unit Name: Psychology Program
Download 3.94 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Coordinator/Director: Matthew Smith-Lahrman Contact Information: (435) 652-7825
- Unit Governance, Leadership, and Faculty
- Courses offered
- Assessment and Effectiveness
- Major Changes and Significant Trends
- Department Resources, Strengths, and Limiting Factors
- Plans for the Future
Unit Name: Psychology ProgramContact: Dannelle Larsen-Rife, Social Science Department Chair Description, Mission and Values: The Psychology program is the crossroads of multiple disciplines and perspectives. While we are currently a part of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department, which is a part of the Humanities Division within the School of Arts and Letters, our program transcends even these broad boundaries. Our program understands its role in accomplishing the larger mission and goals of the institution. First, our program values the strong foundation in the liberal arts and sciences provided by the College’s general education program. Two of our own courses fulfill Social Science Breadth and Depth Requirements in the General Education program; PSY 1010 General Psychology, and PSY 1100 Human Development Across the Lifespan. Both of these courses also fulfill the Global and Cultural Perspectives Requirement in the GE program. While our majors are required to take one of these two courses, many of the students in these courses are non-majors. It is in these two courses that we serve the broad spectrum of students who attend Dixie State College. Our support for GE goes beyond the courses we currently offer for GE credit. In fact, we emphasize to our majors that a strong GE foundation fosters more focused study in psychology by providing them with exposure to the multiple perspectives (biological, philosophical, etc.) that converge in psychology. The general education program also provides a foundation of essential academic and intellectual skills that will be further developed in psychology, including critical thinking, effective communication, information literacy, and statistical literacy. Of course, our program is also designed to provide psychology majors with knowledge, skills, and abilities within the discipline of psychology. All of our majors are required to complete a 6 course sequence of core psychology courses. Beyond this core, our majors are expected to explore the depth and diversity of psychology through upper-division course-work in primary research areas which include social, developmental, biological, cognitive, clinical/counseling, and applied psychology. Furthermore, our degree programs were designed to allow our majors significant freedom to explore multiple disciplines in-depth according to their own interests through the pursuit of non-psychology elective courses. This allows our majors to deepen their foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM MISSION: The Psychology Program at Dixie State College is committed to: *Developing students who value the search for knowledge by means of scientific methods and research and to providing students with the knowledge and skills to do so. *Developing students who appreciate and understand that behavior results from a complex interaction between physiological systems, genetic influences, experiential and environmental factors and social forces. *Developing students whose understanding of psychology reflects an integration of a variety of theoretical perspectives. *Developing students who appreciate the power of applied psychology to foster physical, psychological, and communal well-being *Inspiring students to act ethically as scholars and as future practitioners of psychology. *Inspiring students to value and to use critical thinking as students, scholars, consumers of media, and targets of influence. *Inspiring students to commit themselves to a lifetime pursuit of knowledge and understanding. The above departmental aims fall under the umbrella of the DSC Mission Statement Summary: “Dixie State College is a publicly supported institution of higher education that strives to enrich its community and the lives of individual students by providing associate and baccalaureate degrees and certificates, by fostering lifelong learning, and by sponsoring activities and events that meet the educational and cultural needs of its regional constituents. Dixie State College accomplishes these objectives directly by delivering excellent teaching in a learning environment recognized for its personal relationships, values, service, diversity, and open access, and by creating strategic partnerships for learning opportunities.” (2011-2012 Catalog –Dixie State College) We seek to align our objectives to Core Theme One of our current Accreditation Review which is A Culture of Learning, and the objectives of that theme: Students possess the knowledge and skills to succeed in a rapidly changing and competitive world. Students achieve their desired educational goals. It is our view that because our program encourages students to appreciate the relationship between general education, psychology requirements, and elective exploration, that they are more likely to develop the broad-based knowledge and skills they will need to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world. Furthermore, we believe that our holistic emphasis will inspire students to achieve their immediate educational goals and give them a foundation for a life-time of learning. Unit Governance, Leadership, and Faculty: John T. Jones II, PhD., Personality and Social Psychology, State University of New York, Buffalo fulltime tenured Associate Professor of Psychology. Robert Carlson, PhD., Cognitive Psychology, University of California, Irvine, fulltime tenure track Assistant Professor of Psychology. Dannelle Larsen-Rife, PhD., Human Development, University of California, Davis, Program Director and fulltime tenure track Assistant Professor of Psychology. Palwasha Ahad, PhD., Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, part-time Assistant Professor of Psychology. Michael Rahilly, PhD., Human Development, University of California, Davis, fulltime tenure track Assistant Professor of Psychology. Kristine Olson, PhD., Industrial/Organizational Psychology, University of Washington, Vancouver, fulltime tenure track Assistant Professor of Psychology. Christine Chew, PhD., Counseling Psychology, University of Denver, fulltime tenure track Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. John Jones is a past Chair and current member of the GE Committee. During his time as GE chair he spearheaded a comprehensive review and restructuring of the GE program, re-writing the mission statement and learning goals to be more consistent with the College’s Mission and to make the program more assessable. In the last five years Dr. Jones has represented the psychology program at the annual state-wide majors meeting four times. Dr. Jones is also a former elected member of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and a former member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Institutional Effectiveness Committee. Dr. Robert Carlson is a current member of the Accreditation Steering Committee and a former member of the Institutional Review Board. Dr. Kristine Olson is a current member of the Institutional Improvement and Efficiency Committee. Dr. Christine Chew is a current member of the Institutional Review Board and the Best Practices Committee. Courses and programs offered: The Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in psychology offer students a common core of psychology courses and advanced courses in three main topical areas representing the broad spectrum of modern psychology. All majors are required to complete a common core consisting of PSY 1010: Introduction to Psychology, PSY 2000: Writing in Psychology, PSY 3000: Statistical Methods in Psychology, PSY 3010: Research Methods in Psychology, PSY 4000: History of Psychology, and PSY 4910 Capstone Research in Psychology. Students are also required to complete two of five courses in each of the three topical areas: Social/Developmental, Behavioral Neuroscience/Cognitive, and Clinical- Counseling/Applied. A complete list of program requirements is available at http://www.dixie.edu/humanities/psychology.php. Assessment and Effectiveness: Assessment is a cornerstone of the proposed Psychology program. The Department of Psychology’s academic curriculum is organized around four learning goals that represent knowledge, skills, and values consistent with the science and application of psychology. Each broad learning goal is accompanied by multiple specific learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are organized in a developmental framework with three levels: (a) Basic (knowledge and skills that students should acquire in the introductory psychology course); (b) Developing (knowledge and skills that should emerge as students progress through lower and upper-division courses in the psychology curriculum); and (c) Advanced (knowledge and skill levels consonant with students nearing the end of the psychology program). From a cognitive perspective, “Basic” represents retention and comprehension, “Developing” represents application and analysis, and “Advanced” is associated with evaluation and creation. These specific outcomes will be the primary focus of student assessment, as they represent what the faculty intend for students to know, or be able to do, as a result of their education and training in the Psychology program. The Psychology faculty intends to use multiple assessment tools to gauge the extent to which students are achieving these proposed learning outcomes in individual courses. This requires that each course in the Psychology curriculum be aligned with specific learning outcomes for that course (and to list these in the course syllabus). Faculty then have a responsibility to both the student and the program to assess the degree to which these learning outcomes have been achieved, and then to use this feedback to make improvements as needed (a complete matrix of the alignment between the Psychology curriculum and program goals/outcomes is available upon request). This continuous approach to assessment will allow faculty to more specifically direct the continual progression of students toward attaining the standards expected of them, and thus to target interventions and curricular adjustments more directly and effectively. The program’s second means of student assessment will be achieved through the required Senior Capstone courses, which are intended to allow students to demonstrate and integrate the knowledge, skills, and values they have attained through the course of their studies. The final projects in each of the capstone courses will represent valuable qualitative assessment tools of program learning goals/outcomes. Finally, the Department of Psychology Senior Survey will be distributed to all graduating seniors a few weeks before graduation during the Senior Seminar course; a high response rate is expected. The survey will query students about their experiences as Psychology majors, using both rating scale items and open ended questions. Departmental members will conduct a statistical analysis of the rating scale items and a content analysis of the open ended questions. A report summarizing the results will be written. Using the results: Departmental faculty will produce an annual report based on the feedback collected. Members of the department will then make recommendations addressing issues that arise from the assessment of the undergraduate experiences of Psychology majors. Changes will be implemented in a timely fashion. Regrettably, our assessment intentions, as noted above, have yet to be implemented in any significant way. We hope to make progress with implementation in the coming months. Dr. Jones has agreed to spearhead this effort as the informal assessment coordinator for the program. Major Accomplishments, Significant Trends, and Changes: In the time since our last review the Psychology Program has changed dramatically. The most obvious change is represented by the approval of the two psychology baccalaureate degrees in the spring of 2010. One of our most significant accomplishments came in the spring of 2011, after only a single year of official existence when we graduated 17 students from the program. Since the program was approved our enrollments have increased dramatically, especially in our upper- division courses. Our pre-degree majors numbered near 40. The most recent count has this number approaching 340. To keep up with this rapid expansion, we have added six full-time tenure track faculty in the past four years, all holding the terminal PhD degree. As a result, we have been able to significantly increase our course offerings and curriculum. In fact, in the last five years we have added more than two dozen new courses in psychology. This has allowed us to provide our students with both great breadth and depth in their engagement with the discipline.
As mentioned previously, we have added six full-time tenure track faculty in the past four years, all holding the terminal PhD degree. While this is a significant increase in full-time faculty it has not allowed us to keep up with our astonishing growth over the same period. For example, in each of the last 3 semesters many of our courses have filled to capacity on the first day of registration (seniors only). This is despite the fact that we have reduced the proportion of lower-division courses that full time faculty teach. One consequence of this shift has been increased reliance on adjunct faculty at the 1000 and 2000 level. Unit Resources: Personnel: We share a full-time administrative assistant, Janeene Cowley, and a part-time administrative assistant, Rose Jensen, with the rest of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department and the English Department. Student Support: Advisement – The department has added two lecture-advisors in the past five years. These individuals provide dedicated and targeted guidance to psychology majors to assist them in meeting degree and graduation requirements. Library - A keyword search of the DSC library for psychology provides a list of 4,636 books, 181 media titles, 427 full text electronic journals, as well as a variety of subject dictionaries and encyclopedias. The current Browning Library electronic and print holdings have been augmented in the past two years to support the expanded Psychology curriculum. Tutoring Center – Since the approval of the Psychology degree program we have worked directly with the tutoring center to provide a psychology tutor to our students. The highest demand thus far has been for assistance with PSY 3000 Statistical Methods in Psychology. In the near future we hope to have one tutor dedicated to this course and another dedicated to all other topics/courses in psychology. Facilities, equipment and technology: Most program courses are offered at the McDonald building (although due to our extensive growth we teach more and more courses in the Udvar-Hazy building, the Jennings Communication Building, and the North Instructional Plaza, among others). The McDonald building is shared with faculty in English and Social Sciences. Because many program faculty choose to integrate the use of technology into their classes, all of our classrooms are equipped as smart rooms with Destination Systems (ceiling projectors with connected computers) and VCRs. All McDonald faculty offices are equipped with a desktop computer with a printer, multiple filing cabinets and bookshelves for storage. Most faculty offices also have sufficient office furniture, although it is eclectic in nature and dated. Adjuncts share an office with two desks and two computers with filing cabinets for storage. All offices have internet capability. Community connections: At this juncture in the development of the psychology program community connections remains an area of self-identified weakness. We plan to develop a more significant array of internship opportunities in the near future. Unit Strengths and Limiting Factors: Our most significant strength is the quality of undergraduate teaching and mentoring we are able to provide to our students. While our growth has been extraordinary, we pride ourselves in continuing to offer every student a personalized educational experience. The psychology faculty is absolutely dedicated to our program mission. We also feel very good about our curriculum. Our most significant areas of deficiency include a lack of research opportunities for students and the lack of consistently available internship opportunities for students. Plans for the Future: In the next five years we hope to: Hire enough new fulltime tenure track faculty to keep pace with our increasing enrollments. Expand research opportunities for our majors. Develop more internship opportunities for our majors. Implement our assessment program and use the results to strengthen our program. Explore options for offering our students graduate education and training opportunities. Explore option for offering our students well-defined and developed emphases within the undergraduate major.
Coordinator/Director: Matthew Smith-Lahrman Contact Information: (435) 652-7825Description, Mission and Values: Sociology at Dixie State College offers four classes, three of which are lower-division. The main purpose of the program is to provide students with Social Science General Elective courses. Secondarily, Sociology provides students who are interested in the social sciences with a breadth of electives to round out their studies at the college, electives they can transfer to other four-year colleges if they choose. Unit Governance, Leadership, and Faculty:Sociology at Dixie State College consists of four instructors, one of which is full-time: Matthew Smith-Lahrman (full- time), Logan Reid, Christina Duncan, and Anne Greathouse. Smith-Lahrman serves the campus in a number of ways: Humanities and Social Science Faculty Senate Representative, Promotion and Tenure Committee, Diversity Committee, Faculty Advisor for the Gay Straight Alliance (student club), Faculty Mentor for players on the baseball team.
Courses offered:Sociology 1010, “Introduction to Sociology” provides students with a general and brief understanding of the field of sociology. It fulfills a Social Science General Elective and core components of GLOCUP. Sociology 1020, “Social Problems” provides an understanding of social movement organizations and the typical processes successful social movements go through. It fulfills a Social Science General Elective and core components of GLOCUP. Sociology 1200, “Sociology of the Family” is a sociological examination of family forms and processes. It fulfills a Social Science General Elective and core components of GLOCUP. Sociology 3020, “Social Psychology” is a symbolic interactionist look at the social construction of meaning and meaningful behavior. It fulfills a core component of GLOCUP. Assessment and Effectiveness:The assessment of the effectiveness of the Sociology program rests with pre- and post-tests given once per year in sociology courses. Based on the outcomes of these tests, instructors emphasize some elements of their courses over others in order to ensure that students are coming away with a strong understanding of core sociological principles. Data is available at the office of Dr. Matthew Smith-Lahrman in the McDonald Center. Major Changes and Significant Trends:Student enrollment in sociology courses has increased dramatically in the past five years. Five years ago Sociology offered roughly seven courses per semester. In 2011 it is offering thirteen or more, and at least ten of these are at full capacity. In these years Social Psychology has been moved from lower-division to upper-division in accordance with its offerings at other Utah schools. A second upper-division course, Organizations in Society (Soc 3550) will be offered beginning Fall 2012. Department Resources, Strengths, and Limiting Factors:Personnel. A main weakness of the Sociology program is lack of full-time instructors. The program cannot grow, cannot offer many more courses, cannot offer a four-year degree without several more full-time faculty. Student support. Student support is great as measured by the proportion of Sociology courses that are at capacity enrollment. Facilities and equipment. Facilities and equipment are adequate for the department’s purposes. Technology. Technology is adequate for the department’s purposes. Institutional support. There is little institutional support for growing the Sociology program. Plans for the Future:The plan is to keep pressing the administration to hire more full-time Sociology faculty so that it can offer more courses and, eventually, create a Bachelor’s Degree.
Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> sites sites -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 sites -> Medical Radiography Program sites -> Background on the Haitian Earthquake sites -> Desk review yemen sites -> Safe Transitions for the Elderly Patient (step) sites -> District profile Haripur Introduction sites -> Germanie VanTrease and Tyler Tetzloff sites -> For more information sites -> To be completed by the cerf secretariat. Type of submission sites -> Sponsor Content Above the Clutter with Pete Krainik Download 3.94 Mb. Share with your friends:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||