WASHINGTON - The American Psychological Association's (APA) Board of Educational Affairs in collaboration with the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP) selected two graduate psychology-training programs for an award that recognizes new, innovative and creative approaches to the training of graduate students in various areas of psychology. One of the programs focuses on integrating neuroscience into the traditional areas of graduate study and the other focuses on training psychologists in combating terrorism and coping with its consequences.
In their innovative program, Pennsylvania State University developed an interdisciplinary course of study that emphasizes a specialization in cognitive and affective neuroscience into all areas of the psychology graduate program. In a collaborative effort, Pacific Graduate School and Stanford University created an innovative center that emphasizes the need to train students on post-terrorism interventions and research in terrorism and disaster relief. Both programs will receive $2,500 each as part of the Award for Innovative Practices in Graduate Education. The award will be given at COGDOP's Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas in February, 2004.
"At no time in recent decades has more attention been given by the higher education community to the purposes and practices of graduate programs than now," said psychologist Paul Nelson, Ph.D., Deputy Director of APA's Education Directorate and Director of APA's Graduate and Postdoctoral Education and Training office. "A major impetus for establishing an annual award for innovation in graduate education for psychology is to prepare graduates for new demands of employment including the ability to function in interdisciplinary contexts."
The BEA award recognizes graduate training programs that are creative, forward-looking and have improved the quality of education and training within the psychology department, said psychologist Emanuel Donchin, Ph.D., Chair of the BEA award committee and Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of South Florida.
"We encourage innovations because graduate training is constantly evolving - the discipline changes, the needs of the students change, the direction of the research changes and the nature of the practice can change too. We hope that these innovations lead to improvements in the field and that these successful departments will provide other psychology departments with models to emulate," said Donchin.
Honorable Mentions were awarded to Florida State University for its innovative clinical research laboratory and the University of New Hampshire's Preparing Future Faculty initiative. A certificate affirming the Honorable Mentions will be given to these two programs at the COGDOP
Meeting.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.