Dear colleagues, I am the person referred to in Chuck Huff's email (included below), one of two people in a psych department in a small 2-year school, whose colleague is retiring. My academic experience is limited, so I'm trying to gather different perspectives on directions a 2-person department can go.
Chuck mentioned two possibilities -- covering the two sides of the natural science/social science division, or taking a developmental perspective on everything (that would never have occurred to me, but then I'm not a developmental psychologist). Part of why I'm asking for input is that there are other divisions of coverage that I would have thought might be equally compelling, particularly the academic/clinical and counseling division, and I don't have any idea how to choose between them. Also (primarily because my graduate training was at a large university with four psychology programs, one of which combined cognitive and developmental psychology), I thought that it might make sense to look for someone with a cognitive/developmental background. But do these combinations and divisions actually describe the training of people currently on the job market? And would they meet the needs of our students? Any input you have would be greatly appreciated! Thank you very much, Paul Norris -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Huff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 5:01 PM To: [email protected]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Psych Curriculum with 2 folks Colleagues, I have just begun an email conversation with a colleague at a small 4 your school that has 2 folks in a psych department, and will soon lose the second person to retirement. Since that person is being replaced, there is thus substantial room for creativity in thinking about what a 2 person department can/should/ought to offer in a liberal arts college context. Does any one from small departments out there have comments (or better yet, articles or sharable self studies) that present creative and/or systematic thinking about this? Heck, folks from large departments are welcome to opine. This seems a fun puzzle to me. I expect there are break points in size at which expansion in FTE allows for specialization and complexity in program (e.g. 3,5,7,12,etc.). But what is the small program really to do? One can think of this from the curriculum side (e.g. what minimal courses) or from the faculty side (what interesting mix of faculty). From the faculty side, here are some thoughts: --one "natural science type" (learning, cog, S & P, Bio) and --one "social science type" (social, personality, developmental, etc.) virtues are coverage, balance, etc. vice is isolation, shallowness --two developmentalists: classes are all developmental but integrate the various areas. others? All comments appreciated, -Chuck [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- - Chuck Huff 1520 St. Olaf Avenue - Psychology & Computer Science St.Olaf College - Tel: 507.646.3169 Northfield, MN 55057-1098 - Fax: 507.646.3774 http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
