Internationalizing the Undergraduate Psychology Curriculum
As U.S. colleges and universities attract an increasingly diverse student body and incorporate global perspectives across the curriculum, international study has become an important part of higher education. This book offers teachers of psychology what they need most to internationalize the undergraduate curriculum: clear approaches to studying psychology across cultures, practical ideas they can use in the classroom, resources that connect students to the world beyond their home campus, and expert advice on how to develop and administer study abroad programs.
Building on the foundation laid by the APA-sponsored book Undergraduate Education in Psychology: A Blueprint for the Future of the Discipline (Halpern, 2009), every chapter includes practical, field-tested ideas for leading study abroad programs or infusing on-campus courses with global perspectives.
Contributors share ideas for developing both short- and long-term study abroad programs in psychology, and addressing practical issues such as student safety and technology use. Authors also demonstrate how to help students prepare for study abroad as well as integrate off-campus learning experiences once they return to their home campus. Personal insights from students who have studied and traveled alongside the faculty authors are featured throughout.
This book is intended for all teachers of psychology at a wide range of institutions. Department chairs and administrators responsible for internationalization will also find useful information on faculty development, program assessment, and institutional initiatives.
Contributors
I. Foundations
- The Case for Internationalizing the Undergraduate Psychology Curriculum
Dana Gross, Kenneth Abrams, and Carolyn Zerbe Enns - Beyond Borders: Faculty Development to Enhance Internationalization of the Psychology Curriculum
Neil Lutsky
II. Developing Term-Long Study Abroad Programs
- Teaching Cross-Cultural Psychopathology in Prague
Kenneth Abrams - Engaging Students in Research Abroad: A Program in Estonia and Morocco
Lawrence T. White - Experiencing Cultural Psychology in Japan and East Asia
Carolyn Zerbe Enns - Teaching Psychology Across Cultures During a Multicountry Global Semester
Donna K. McMillan and Gary M. Muir
III. Developing Short-Term Study Abroad Programs
- Studying Human Development in India
Dana Gross - Peace Studies in Jamaica: A Focus on Psychologically Relevant Service Learning
Joe W. Hatcher and Rachel Detrie - Gaining Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Environmental Psychology in Costa Rica
A. K. Ganzel and Judith Siebert
IV. Teaching Transnational/International Psychology Courses on Campus
- Placing Socioemotional Development in Cultural Context
Grace E. Cho - Teaching Cross-Cultural Psychology: Insights From an Internationalized On-Campus Course
Sharon Akimoto - Integrating Off-Campus International Experience Into On-Campus Coursework and Research
Lynette H. Bikos, Mari Yamamoto, Elizabeth Dykhouse, and Owen Sallee
V. Fostering a Campus Culture to Support Internationalizing Psychology
- Assessing Learning Goals for International Study Abroad and at Home
Kathryn M. Westcott and Jenifer Cushman - Toward Intercultural Development and a Model for Institutional Change
Paula J. Pedersen - Succeeding With Access: Studying Abroad for Students With Disabilities
Jodi Malmgren - Supporting Psychology Students Applying for Fulbright Grants
Dana Gross
Index
About the Editors
Dana Gross, PhD, associate dean for interdisciplinary and general studies and professor of psychology at St. Olaf College, has been a member of the faculty there since 1988. She is affiliated with the Asian Studies Department and the Linguistic Studies Program. She has served as coordinator of St. Olaf's U.S. Student Fulbright Program and is currently director of an interdisciplinary individual majors program. As associate dean, Dr. Gross works closely with St. Olaf's Office of International and Off-Campus Studies.
Dr. Gross received her BA in psychology from Smith College and her PhD in child psychology from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. She has coauthored and contributed to textbooks in developmental psychology and is sole author of a textbook focusing on development from birth to age 3.
Internationalizing the psychology curriculum is a major theme in her work. She has studied and traveled in China, Japan, and Norway and has developed assignments to promote global learning in her courses. She leads a short-term psychology course in India and has organized faculty workshops about developing and leading off-campus study programs.
Dr. Gross is collaborating on a multi-institution study of the factors that contribute to the transformation of study abroad/study away faculty leaders to have a positive impact on them, their students, and their institutions.
Kenneth Abrams, PhD, is an associate professor of clinical psychology at Carleton College. At three U.S. colleges, he has developed cross-cultural psychopathology study abroad programs in the Czech Republic and has led six term-long programs there. Additionally, he has made numerous presentations on internationalizing the undergraduate psychology curriculum at conferences in the United States and abroad and coorganized with Dana Gross a June 2011 conference in Northfield, Minnesota, "Finding Our Way: Strategies for Internationalizing Undergraduate Psychology."
Dr. Abrams received his BA from Dartmouth College and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. Between his undergraduate and graduate years, he taught in a small town in the Czech Republic for 2 years. At Carleton College, he teaches courses in health psychology, psychopathology, and statistics and a seminar on science and pseudoscience. He has authored or coauthored 30 journal articles and four book chapters, many of which focus on his other research area, comorbidity between substance use and anxiety disorders.
Carolyn Zerbe Enns, PhD, is a professor of psychology and a contributor to the ethnic studies as well as the gender, sexuality, and women's studies programs at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Dr. Enns was born and raised in Japan, spent 2 years as the resident director of the Japan Study Program (2006–2007 and 2012–2013), and has had a lifelong interest in intercultural learning. Her teaching and scholarship have been informed by sabbatical research and teaching experiences in East Asia as well as seminars and field study experiences sponsored by the East-West Center in Hawaii.
Dr. Enns received her BA in social work from Tabor College, an MA in rehabilitation counseling from California State University in Fresno, and her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has coedited three previous books and contributed to approximately 60 articles and chapters on gender, pedagogy, and feminist multicultural/transnational theory and psychotherapy.
In addition to assisting the reader in linking international psychology to APA's learning gold for undergraduates, this book challenges the readers to think how to integrate international psychology throughout the undergraduate curriculum to truly encourage students becoming global citizens.
—PsycCRITIQUES

