I agree with what Barbara is saying here, but a recent TIPS thread on
what we should be conveying in the psychology curriculum left me with the
impression that personal relevance, not depth is what the modern psych prof
is expected to present. Issues and topics that require analytical reasoning
and hard work to think and study were not mentioned. Knowing how the brain
organizes visual information, understanding the measurement and
methodological challenges of comparing data from survey instruments to
psychophysical scaling methods, etc., did not seem to crop up in the
discussion.
Psychology remains a popular major. The challenge is to have a clear
idea as to the curricular mission of the department and the resolve and
political leverage to support it. We have a faculty union, but continually
face the challenge of too many adjuncts (about 12 and we still have trouble
covering some classes), but we also have support for departmental growth.
We do not handle class advisement and scheduling for students...we have an
academic advising office that does that. This means that psych faculty are
more available to help students with career planning. We have a good psych
student manual, good networking via Psych Club and Psi Chi (not perfect),
require a "C" as passing for major classes, an annual career/grad school
preparation seminar, an elective (but thinking of making it a requirement)
class in Career Preparation, and about 200 majors and 275 minors in Psych.
My suggestion is to build these and other contacts. If you are forced to do
academic course advising yourselves, at least think about
alternatives---hiring an academic advisor, working with other departments on
possible pressure on the administration to help resolve the problems,
computer advisement and registration, student workbooks where they hand you
a completed sheet which you enter into the computer to check for psych
criteria/prerequisites being met, etc.
If you feel the program is attractive because it is weak and fluff (some
of the posts presumed this?) then there are probably reasons for this that
go beyond merely adding stiff, basic science type classes. That is, the
department may not have a desire or the talent to offer that kind of program
(alas, an alarming trend). Thus, I would examine carefully what you are
trying to convey in the curriculum, and seek alternative ways to handle the
advisement of your students. Regards, Gary Peterson
Gerald (Gary) L. Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, MI 48710
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
1-517-790-4491
--
>Kristina and TIPSters,
>I'd be interested in hearing more about your college's psychology
>program: number of requirements, types of requirements, cognates, etc..
>I wonder whether there is a perception among your students--as there is
>at many institutions, I believe--that psychology is a "fall-back"
>major. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a student say something
>like, "I can't do science, so I'll major in psych," or "I don't know
>what to study, so I guess I major in psych"...but then again, they get
>to my stats class, and THAT myth is shattered! ;)
>
>But seriously, I strongly advocate for a minimum GPA for entry into the
>program, as well as for a minimum GPA to remain and to graduate with a
>psych major. The program should be rigorous in its emphasis on stats,
>methods, critical thinking, computing, and so forth. Psychology
>increasingly is influenced by advances in genetics and neuroscience.
>If presented in this way, you may "weed out" students who are not
>serious about the field. Of course, I'm sure that we all still want
>students to take at least one psych course, regardless of their majors.
>Indeed, they should! But I'd suggest that you think about your
>program's requirements, and students' perceptions of them.
>
> Barbara
>
> Dr. Barbara Watters
> Mercyhurst College
> 501 E. 38th St.
> Erie, PA 16546
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>Dr. Kristina Lewis wrote:
>>
>> Tipsters,
>> Our department is trying to address a "problem" that may be facing some
of
>> you....we are a department of 7 full-time faculty (6 tenure-line and a
one
>> 2-year visiting position) and 320 majors at last count. This is a
college
>> that prides itself on small classes and individual attention.....I think
you
>> see the problem....we're dying here! We have 50 advisees each, our
classes
>> are bursting at the seams, we can't offer upper-level seminar classes
>> because we have to offer so many sections of lower level classes to meet
>> demand, we can't require upper-level seminars because we can't offer
them.
>> The administration's response so far has been adjuncts; currently we have
>> 11-13 adjunct sections per year.
>>
>> We have been tossing around ways to a) get the administration to take us
>> more seriously; b) make our situation more workable. One alternative is
to
>> limit the number of majors by imposing minimum criteria to be met to be a
>> major. The criteria we have come up with are C in general psych and C in
>> research methods and/or overall GPA of 2.5.
>>
>> My question (finally).....do any of you have such criteria in place? How
>> well do they work? Any other suggestions? How have you dealt with the
>> influx of majors?
>>
>> If you respond to me I will compile the responses and post them to the
list.
>> But if this is an issue of wide interest, I would love to see some
>> discussion....
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kris Lewis
>> Saint Michael's College
>> Colchester VT
