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| SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES |
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| DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY |
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About
Meet The Chair
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 Dr. Scott came to UST in 1989 with an extensive background in Catholic education and a strong commitment to social justice. His love of teaching and commitment to scientific psychology has helped shape the psychology department’s research-based curriculum and culture.
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The UST Psychology curriculum focuses on research by providing thorough training in research methods. Majors complete an innovative, two-course sequence in statistics that insures comprehension of complex analyses and skill with SPSS software. Subsequently, Experimental Psychology's research proposal assignment invites students to design a complete project. Lab courses are research-enriched, four-hour courses that integrate research activities with lecture/discussion. Interesting electives draw students into research opportunities: Abnormal Psychology, Child Psychology, Theories of Personality, Paranormal Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Psychology of Religion. Majors complete two capstone courses, often based on group research projects; some students complete internships in a variety of service/research settings (e.g., Texas Medical Center, Children’s Assessment Center, HISD).
Graduates are well prepared for further schooling or for work that requires data-based decisions. Psychology students often pursue professions in business (joint majors in business administration/marketing), medical, or legal arenas. Recent graduates study at UTMB (M.D.), South Carolina (Ph.D.), Texas A&M (Ph.D.), and UH (M.A., M.S.W., Ph.D.), and work at the Menninger Clinic, U.T. Health Science Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and various school districts. |
The Psychology department supports student research through a research-oriented culture.
Two National Science Foundation Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement grants awarded to the faculty brought additional technology for student research. The psychology computer lab/classroom in O’Rourke 104 is the descendant of the first grant. A newly updated video-coding lab in ORK 102 offers new opportunities for research with a variety of media materials, building on the second grant.
Students find that their research experiences strengthen their graduate school and employment potential. Capstone research projects allow students to work with a research team or to complete an individual project. The annual Research Symposium presents the results of student research to the UST community. Many students present their projects at the Southwestern Psychological Association meeting each spring. Over the past three years (2004-06), 42 Psychology students have presented projects at the annual SWPA meetings in San Antonio, Memphis, and Austin. Of these, seven students were co-authors on prize-winning papers.
The Psychology department’s faculty members support undergraduate research in various ways. They have diverse backgrounds of expertise, excellent methodology training, extensive research experience, and are student-oriented and accessible. Their helpful counsel regarding careers and graduate training are instrumental in helping students find rewarding projects and post-graduation niches. |
Psychology is a frontier science.
Research questions arise from personal interests and important societal problems. Students can become expert more quickly in psychology because: (a) There is a smaller body of prior research to master before starting, (b) our methodological training for majors is thorough, and (c) faculty members guide students to accessible measurement methods. Topics of recent student-faculty research projects are: psychological perspectives on torture, cultural intelligence, knowledge of child development, evaluation of the Habitat for Humanity program, and religious variables and prejudice. |
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