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Psychology has a long history at The University of Arizona, with the first psychology course having been taught (by university President Theodore Comstock, a mining engineer and geologist!) in the Fall Term of 1894. Psychology was taught almost every year after 1898, justified for its relevance to teaching. Around 1914, the Department of Philosophy and Psychology was established, and after 1925 there were three faculty members in this department, offering primarily undergraduate classes. A Master’s Program was added, which during the 1930s produced eight psychology theses. Class enrollments increased, particularly with more advanced students yearning to become psychologists. From 1945 through 1958, 275 bachelor’s and 20 master’s degrees in psychology were awarded. During this time, there was little space or support for research, and no one had any external grants. Authority to grant the doctoral degree was added in 1958, and Psychology split away from Philosophy, each becoming separate departments. Neil Bartlett served at the Chairman of Psychology from 1958 to 1974, to be succeeded by Lawrence Wheeler (1975-1982), Lee Sechrest (1984-1989), Lynn Nadel (1989-2002), and Al Kaszniak (2002-present). Throughout these years, the Department of Psychology continued to grow and increase in its reputation as a center for excellent undergraduate and graduate education, and increasingly, for cutting-edge psychological research. Table 1 provides a brief quantitative summary of our Department’s teaching and research grant activity in recent years.
Of the 35 faculty members currently in the Department 22 are Full Professors, 5 are Associate Professors 7 are Assistant Professors, and one is a Senior Lecturer. All of our ranked faculty members are actively engaged in research and scholarship (see Table 2 for a quantitative summary), and more than half currently hold external grants. Our faculty members are also thoroughly engaged in instructional activities, at all levels of the curriculum
(1) Much of the information here on the early history of Psychology at The University of Arizona comes from: Bartlett, N.R. (1988). Unplanned birth: Psychology at The University of Arizona. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 24, 57-63.
Table 1. Teaching and Grant Activity in Psychology
AY 96/97 - 01/02
Table 2. Faculty Scholarly Productivity (Total Count)
1996-2001
As a way of summarizing the current status of the Psychology Department, we highlight our accomplishments according to the criteria recently developed by The University of Arizona Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee (SPBAC), as follows:
- Educational Excellence. The Psychology Department offers an undergraduate major leading to either a B.A. or a B.S. degree, plays a major role in both Tier I (Freshmen) and Tier II (Sophomores) of the university general education curriculum, and provides a graduate program leading to the Ph.D. with a concentration in one of six distinct program areas and two sub-program specializations.
- Student and peer evaluations of our courses and faculty are strongly positive.
- Our graduate students are highly productive in research while they are in our program, and remain so after they graduate. Of the students who graduated from all departmental programs since 1996, all but two are professionally employed. Approximately 66% hold academic/research appointments or postdoctoral fellowships in psychology departments and medical schools. Of the graduates who are currently not on post-doctoral position, 53% hold academic appointments. In comparison, a 1999 survey of graduates of doctoral Psychology programs in the U.S. showed that only 28% of all the surveyed graduates held academic appointments.
- Research and Creative Excellence. Measures of most all relevant outcome criteria, including publications, grants, prestigious journal editorships, and awards, indicate that our department is competitive with the very best departments in the nation. The quantity and quality of our teaching, research, and service compare very favorably to our peer departments.
- The majority of faculty serve on editorial boards of one or more professional journals. In addition, 13 current faculty members in the department serve as editors or associate editors for major professional publications.
- Student Demand. We presently have more than 1900
undergraduate majors. We have more than 100 graduate students, and our ratio of graduate applicants to accepted graduate students (6%) is lower than national average for psychology graduate programs. Our Department provides 65% of all of the Tier I (Freshmen) Individuals and Society General Education seats offered at the University. Our undergraduate major and our graduate program attract students of both sexes and diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds.
- Vital Public Impact. Our faculty members are active in research on a range of both basic and applied problems in psychology. Faculty research has contributed to new understanding and intervention strategies regarding a range of important public concerns, including: memory change in aging, Alzheimer’s disease, language impairment following stroke, depression, behavioral aspects of heart disease, smoking cessation, crime and violence, the evaluation of substance abuse treatment, law and public policy concerning expert witnesses in the courtroom, stereotyping and discrimination, and the enhancement of athletic performance, to name only a few. Our faculty members also make important contributions in service on a range of government and community boards and panels, and provide public education on regional, state, and national levels.
- Revenue Generation. Over the past six years, Psychology Department faculty members have generated an average of $3.8 million per year in external research grants and contracts (and over $5 million last year). This is significantly greater than any other unit in our College, and places us among the most active grant-generating departments at the University. Our number of external grants exceeds the average for the top-ranked Psychology Departments in the nation.
- Interdisciplinary Need. Very large numbers of undergraduate and graduate students from other Departments and Colleges take our courses. Our faculty members belong to a wide range of Interdisciplinary Programs and Centers, and collaborate in research with faculty from several different Departments across the University. Our faculty members hold joint appointments in several other Departments, and 35 faculty members from other departments hold joint appointments in Psychology.
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