A Word from the Chair

Welcome to the Psychology Department Website!

My name is Ruth Ann Atchley and I am serving as interim chairperson for the department of psychology.  I have taken on this role because our fabulous chair of the last ten years, Dr Greg Simpson is now serving as the interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  The psychology department as a whole is sad to lose Greg as our chair given that he has been such a supportive, fair-minded, and visionary chairperson, creating an atmosphere in which students and faculty can all thrive.  However, we know that he will know bring all these skills to his new role and a larger portion of the University community will now benefit from his strong leadership.

Our mission in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas is to further our understanding of behavior and the physiological, cognitive, and social processes associated with behavior. Psychology is also the profession that applies the science of behavior to practical problems, such as clinical, psychological disorders. This mission includes the discovery and dissemination of laws and principles pertaining to both individual and group psychological functioning and its development. In addition to doing this critical empirical research, we expend great effort in training students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels so that students will be well equipped with the knowledge and methods that will place them at the forefront of progress across a broad range of the psychological disciplines.

In this letter, I provide an overview of what we offer as a Department.

Undergraduate opportunities. At the undergraduate level, we offer a B.A. and B.G.S. in Psychology and a B.S. in Cognitive Psychology (and a BA/BGS in Developmental Psychology at the Edwards Campus). Serving over 1000 majors each year, Psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate programs on campus. Undergraduate Psychology Majors enjoy many rich opportunities to gain valuable research and training experience by assisting faculty members and graduate students with their research and conducting research of their own. A dedicated advisor in the Psychology Department can assist students in selecting courses and identifying possible career paths.  There is a Psychology Club and Psi Chi Chapter.   We also offer a specialized Psychology Honor’s Program in the student’s senior year, at the end of which students complete an independent study.  Many of our students are listed as authors or co-authors on professional presentations or publications. Some students go on to graduate study in Psychology. Others go on to professional schools, research or helping professions. Still others go on to careers in business and the arts.

Graduate Opportunities.  At the graduate level, our Department offers a Ph.D. in Clinical, Clinical Child, Cognitive, Developmental,  Quantitative, and Social Psychology. Our Clinical Ph.D. program is the only one in Kansas accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) and has been recognized by APA as one of the finest graduate clinical programs in the country.  Students admitted to one of these 6 programs enter with the expectation of continuing graduate study through the Ph.D. as the department does not admit terminal master's students.

Some information to orient you to our department:

• The Department consists of over 30 faculty members, nearly all of whom are tenured or tenure track faculty.
• We have over 1000 undergraduate majors and nearly 125 graduate students.
• We are located on floors 3 through 6 of Fraser Hall at the top of the beautiful Mount Oread.
• Grant funding for faculty research has a running average of over $5 million per year.
• According to the annual rankings of graduate programs conducted by U.S. News and World Report the department’s graduate program overall was ranked 21st in the country among public institutions, and 40th among all universities.
• Both the Clinical Training Program and the Child-Clinical Training Program have full APA accreditation
• Each semester, the Department offers between 60 and 80 different undergraduate course sections and between 15 and 20 graduate course sections.

With this as a background and an introduction, I invite you to further explore our website, clicked around and maybe even talked with us via email or on the telephone, come meet our faculty and students in our laboratories. We''ll be glad to welcome you to the Department of Psychology here at the University of Kansas!

With best wishes,