A note from the Undergraduate Program Director, Dr. Mark Zrull
Wow, Psychology at Appalachian. It is nice, and a great opportunity, to be able to write about the Department of Psychology and undergraduate education in psychology at Appalachian. Right up front, a couple of things should be said. First, I will likely drift in and out of first person in this piece (it has to do with how I think about our department and majors), so I apologize for any confusion or writing faux pas. Second, here is my contact information in case you have questions, Undergraduate Program Director, Dr. Mark Zrull, zrullmc@appstate.edu.
Overview of the Psychology Department
The Department of Psychology is home to 31 tenured and tenure-track faculty, 6 full-time non-tenure track faculty, 2 administrative staff, 1,100 to more than 1,200 undergraduate majors, over 500 undergraduate minors, and about 80 graduate students. Faculty (https://psych.appstate.edu/faculty-staff) represent a diverse array of areas within psychology, and maintain active research programs, are engaged in applied work, and/or engage in a variety of service activity all of which are things that provide opportunity, in varying ways, for undergraduate as well as graduate students. While the Department’s four graduate programs are active and important, providing solid training and experiences for undergraduate students are central to the Department’s mission and values.
Undergraduate Degrees and Student Experience
Undergraduates can choose either a BA or BS degree in psychology with both providing the same breadth training across areas of psychology and opportunity to seek depth in specific area(s) of choice. Content components are tied together by research methodology and a requirement to “do psychology” outside of the classroom. The psychology curriculum begins with an introductory course and Careers in Psychology, which is a 1-hour course focused on what one can do with the psychology major as well as how to navigate the major at Appalachian. During the first year, psychology students typically also take statistics, first year writing, and General Education courses that may provide foundations for the minor or concentration. Subsequently, students take the second year writing course either concurrently or before Research Methods in Psychology. At this point, students take courses to represent the four foundational ways that psychologists study and strive to understand behavior and mental processes (biological, cognitive/learning, developmental, group behavior/individual differences). Students also choose two from a group of courses representing areas of applied psychology.
Majors must “do psychology”: they choose a lab course related to a foundational course, and they earn credit for a service learning course, doing research with a faculty member, or doing an internship. Two electives are required allowing students to broaden their experience with psychology or pursue depth in a particular area. The psychology curriculum finishes with a capstone course: either a historical look at psychology or a study of contemporary issues in psychology. Both BA and BS students complete the same psychology course requirements. BA students complete coursework for a minor, and BS students complete one of seven multidisciplinary concentrations focused on a particular broad area: Business, Education Studies, Health Studies, Human Services, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, or Sustainability. The choice of concentration allows a student to target the degree at a particular post baccalaureate goal, which might be a particular job market or specific graduate training program.
The curriculum also includes a course to prepare for applying to graduate study, and a course designed to aid entering the workforce. There is an honors program that requires more extensive research and a thesis and allows students to explore more specific areas of faculty interest through colloquium courses. All students have the opportunity to engage in more scholarly research than is required for graduation and many do so. Research teams of most faculty members are populated by undergraduate students as well as graduate students with the former being greater in number. These research opportunities frequently result in state, regional, and national conference presentations with undergraduates often presenting as contributing and first authors. Undergraduates also earn authorship on manuscript publications, albeit less frequently than presenting at conferences.
Student Engagement
A belief about the value hands-on training is woven into the psychology curriculum and shared by the faculty: engagement outside the classroom is a critical component of the undergraduate experience in psychology. In general, outside of class engagement is taking what one learns in class and applying it in some real world situation in a way that is supervised and appropriate for an undergraduate student. At the curricular level, students are required to receive course credit for at least one service learning, internship, or research experience in addition to taking a lab course in a foundational area of psychology. Opportunities for engagement created and led by faculty range from service learning experiences in some individual classes to internships guided by on-site and departmental supervision (https://psych.appstate.edu/students/undergraduate/internships) to doing research with faculty (https://psych.appstate.edu/faculty-staff) through research teams and labs (https://psych.appstate.edu/research-labs). For students in our departmental honors program (https://psych.appstate.edu/academics/undergraduate-honors-program), engagement means working closely with a faculty member to complete an honors thesis.
There are many other, noncurricular ways for a psychology major to be engaged with other students and faculty. A few of these ways include the Psychology Club, the Industrial-Organizational Psychology club, membership in the local chapter of Psi Chi (the national honor society in psychology), and becoming a peer adviser in our Undergraduate Advising Center. There are psychology-related opportunities outside the department, too: for example, Mental Health Ambassadors, Wellness Educators, the Appalachian Neuroscience Organization, and more.
Transfer Students
We work with transfer students to give the most credit possible for pre-Appalachian coursework and ensure quality training in psychology. What coursework is available for transfer is, of course, dependent upon what a student takes prior to being at Appalachian. Some coursework that is typical and helps includes an introductory psychology course, a course that meets our statistics requirement, and the first and second year writing courses. We work with students to transfer any additional psychology courses in a way that works best to keep them on track to meet degree requirements
Please allow me to use some words as if I was talking to one of our transfer students.
One really important thing to remember is that your connection to our department will certainly begin during orientation, but you can start the process sooner by contacting us for a visit or email exchange. Once at Appalachian, the Undergraduate Advising Center (https://psych.appstate.edu/students), where you can get professional and/or peer advising, and Undergraduate Program Director (UPD, zrullmc@appstate.edu) are important resources.
Another thing to think about from the beginning is how you plan to be engaged and make connections while at Appalachian. It could be clubs or becoming a peer adviser for the Advising Center or doing research with faculty. Our department might seem really big; I mean 1,200 majors. I am always surprised and pleased when I walk into a senior seminar and discover that many of the 20 students in my class know each other, even with just being 20 of 1,200 majors. You want to take the time to meet your peers and your psychology professors. Learn about your professors (https://psych.appstate.edu/faculty-staff), and start thinking early about how to complete the “doing psychology” requirement in our major. Will it be service learning, research, or an internship? Remember that the Advising Center, UPD, and the faculty are there to help.
If you are transferring into psychology at Appalachian and have excellent grades, think about our departmental honors program. You can wait until you have a GPA at Appalachian and apply, or you can reach out when you first start at Appalachian. The second FAQ for our honors program addresses how to get started (https://psych.appstate.edu/academics/undergraduate-honors-program/honors-faq).
Remember, there is some coursework that you can take before getting to Appalachian that is typical and includes an introductory psychology course, a course that meets our statistics requirement, and the first and second year writing courses. We work with each student to transfer any additional psychology courses in a way that works best to keep them on track to meet degree requirements.
Please know that the Department of Psychology is home to many transfer students, many from outside the University and many from other majors within Appalachian. You are not alone and we know you are here. As a Department, we are used to students transferring into our major and degree programs and have plenty of experience helping new students become part of our department. Many psychology faculty are faculty transfer mentors (https://transfer.appstate.edu/about/faculty-transfer-mentors).
Closing
Let me close by saying that the Department of Psychology has always considered the education of our undergraduates as central, and our majors experience training that our professional organizations would likely consider exemplary. The department continues to update curriculum updates to enhance undergraduate training and opportunities and to promote preparation for next steps after graduation. Providing excellent training and experiences are central features of the department’s activities and is reflected in department’s mission, vision, and values. “The mission … is to engage in teaching, scholarship, and service … to promote and advance the understanding of the science of psychology, its application, and its utility to our students, …”. The psychology faculty clearly value teaching undergraduate students both in the traditional classroom and outside the classroom through research, service learning, and internship opportunities. Our hope is to produce well-educated undergraduates who can think critically and creatively, can appreciate and function in a local and globally connected world, and are prepared to be successful in the next phase of their lives.