Our Department has the largest doctoral program at VCU and the second largest undergraduate major at VCU. We offer 4 PhD programs: Clinical, Counseling, Health, and Experimental (Biopsychology, Developmental, Social). We have over 1600 undergraduate majors, over 130 graduate students, and 40 full-time faculty. Last year, our faculty published over 100 articles and chapters, and our undergraduates provided over 7,600 hours of service to the community.
During 2010-11, our faculty received nearly 6.2 million in new funding, including $1.3 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is double the funding in 2005. Ten faculty are the Principal Investigator on major federal grants from the NIH, CDC, SAMHSA, or Department of Education. In addition, seven graduate students had NIH funding through an F31 Predoctoral Training Grant, an R36 Dissertation Research Grant, or a minority supplement on an NIH grant.
Research comes naturally to Shanice Coleman because she is at heart a questioner. As soon as she became a psychology major, she knew she wanted to pursue a research internship. She started working with Dr. Natalie Shook on a study on freshmens' relationships with their interracial roommates. Since VCU is such a diverse community, Shanice knew there would be a wide range of responses. read more...
The CPSD has several new initiatives designed to enhance children's success and development. The new Associate Director, Dr. Beth Heller, has continued to build our capacity to provide cognitive, academic, and ADHD/LD evaluations. The CPSD also contracts with Community Service Agencies (CSAs) to serve children with academic and behavioral needs. And, Drs. Heather Jones and Josh Langberg are developing a research center to evaluate and treat children with ADHD.
We are excited to share our latest newsletter! We distribute a regular newsletter to alumni, former and current faculty, current students, and friends of the department as a way of letting you know about all of the exciting things happening along the 800 block of West Franklin Street. Alumni are encouraged to complete our survey to share updates in future newsletters. view newsletter ...
VCU undergrads from Psychology, Sociology, and Criminal Justice serve as tutors to incarcerated youth in Juvenile Correctional Centers (Service Learning PSYC/SOCI/CRJS 491). Besides helping with English and math, the VCU students serve as mentors and role models. Last year, 52 VCU students provided over 1200 hours of tutoring — and they gained as much as the residents.
