Letter from Marsha Weinraub, Department Chair 

Welcome to the Psychology Department Website! 

Located in the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University located in Philadelphia, our mission is threefold – to answer questions on the cutting edge of the science of Psychology, to provide training to undergraduate and graduate students in the broad field of Psychology, and to provide individuals and the community with psychological services based on current best practices in psychology. 

In this letter, I provide an overview of what we offer and how we are organized as a Department. 

Undergraduate opportunities. For undergraduate students in our BA degree program, we offer a vast array of undergraduate courses and research opportunities in Psychology. By Fall 2008, undergraduate students at Temple will be able to major in Neuroscience with a specialization in Psychology. A dedicated advisor in the Psychology Department can assist students in selecting courses and identifying possible career paths.  There is a Psychology Majors Club and Psi Chi Chapter.  Students at the undergraduate level are encouraged to work in faculty research labs, and they can take up to four semesters of collaborative research working in the laboratories of individual faculty members.  We also offer a specialized Psychology Honor’s Program in the student’s junior and senior years, at the end of which students complete an independent study.  Many of our students are listed as authors or co-authors on professional presentations or publications. Some students go on to graduate study in Psychology. Others go on to professional schools, research or helping professions. Still others go on to careers in business and the arts.

Graduate Opportunities.  The Department offers full time graduate training programs leading to the Ph.D. in 4 major areas: Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, and Social Psychology. The Program in Clinical Psychology is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). Graduate students have the opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary program in Developmental Psychopathology and an interdisciplinary certificate program in Neuroscience. All entering graduate students are supported by fellowships or teaching/research assistantships receiving stipends, full-tuition, and health benefits for a minimum of four years of full-time study.

Some numbers to orient you to our department:

• •The Department consists of over 30 faculty members, nearly all of whom are tenured or tenure track faculty.
• • We have over 1000 undergraduate majors and nearly 100 graduate students.
• • We are located on floors 3 through 10 of Weiss Hall, a dedicated Social Sciences building at 13th and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, just 20 minutes walking distance from Center City Philadelphia.
• • As of September 2007 the department held 34 extramural research grants totaling approximately $46 million. (Click here to view these grants).  
• • The Department ranks 4th in the country -- U of Wisconsin -Madison, Penn State U, U of Oklahoma, Temple -- in extramural funding, according to the National Science Foundation rankings of total 2001 R&D expenditures in psychology.
• • Both the Clinical Training Program and the Developmental Training Program are listed among the Top 10 programs in the United States. (We hope that the Neuroscience program will be listed among the best in the country within a few years!)
• • Each semester, the Department offers between 60 and 80 different undergraduate course sections and between 15 and 20 graduate course sections.

Department Organization. The Department is organized into two clusters.  The Brain, Behavior and Cognition Cluster includes faculty in the areas of Behavioral Analysis, Cognition and Neuroscience.  The Developmental, Clinical and Social Area has faculty in the areas of Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology.  Graduate students apply to one of these Areas; faculty members often belong to multiple areas, reflecting the current emphasis on collaborative and cross disciplinary research in today’s fast changing world. 

Faculty.  Newly hired faculty, who constitute about a third of our faculty, come from distinguished programs and provide new ideas, fresh levels of excitement, and promise for the future.  Experienced faculty members are leaders in their fields with prestigious credentials and significant accomplishments.  Psychology faculty serve or have recently served as Editors or Associate Editors of a wide variety of major research journals. They have also served as presidents of professional associations, including Division 7 (Developmental Psychology), Division 12 (Clinical Psychology), Division 25 (Behavior Analysis), and Division 53 (Clinical Child Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the Society for Research on Adolescence, and the Jean Piaget Society, and the Eastern Psychological Association. Psychology faculty have been professionally recognized by Election to Fellow status in scientific organizations such as APA, APS and AAAS, and they have received awards such as the 2007 G. Stanley Hall Award for Contributions to Developmental Psychology and the 2007 Distinguished Career Award (Click here to view these awards). Psychology faculty also engage in significant professional and public service. Our senior faculty members mentor junior faculty members in their research and teaching, with the goal that junior faculty members will join the tenured faculty rank.  Senior faculty members are dedicated to Temple, having been at Temple on average for more than 20 years.  This longevity means that our faculty members are highly collegial and promise students continuity in their studies.

Facilities and Resources. Weiss Hall contains extensive human, animal, and neuroscience laboratory space, along with classrooms, and faculty and graduate office space. A Psychological Services Clinic in the building provides Clinical Psychology graduate students opportunities for supervised clinical experiences.  By summer of 2008, the entire building will have wireless access. Currently, Ethernet access in every room in Weiss Hall insures faculty, student, lab, and classroom interaction with Web resources. A number of rooms are equipped for multimedia use and many support wireless access to the Web. Many labs are also networked for audio and videotape recording. Data from the MRI scanner are transmitted directly to faculty labs for structural and functional MRI analyses. The Psychology Department has collaborative arrangements with other departments in the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Health Professions, the College of Education, the College of Science and Technology, and the Medical School. As a part of the collaboration with the Medical School the department has a research functional brain imaging facility (fMRI) available that recently was developed through the interdisciplinary efforts of faculty and staff in psychology, radiology, neurology, and neurosurgery.

The Metropolitan Area.  The metropolitan area of Philadelphia (Olde City, Society Hill, Queen Village, Fairmount Park, China Town) and its suburban area (Chestnut Hill, the Main Line, Swarthmore, Chester County, Bucks County) are characterized by a unique mixture of resources. Within these boundaries can be found historical preservations, parks and woodlands, world renowned museums, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Ballet, restaurants representing a rich variety of culinary backgrounds, and a multitude of terrific places to stroll, bike, shop, and attend outdoor concerts and other festivities (e.g. Reading Terminal, the Italian Market, Logan Square, the walkway along the Delaware River, Franklin Mills, the Philadelphia Museum concourse). Philadelphia is a serious sports town, with Phillies baseball fans, Eagle football fans, and Sixer basketball fans cheering most loudly. At the same time, the banks of the two rivers along the city's eastern and western boundaries (the Delaware River and the Schuylkill) provide an idyllic setting for bikers and joggers. Other inviting areas within an hour by car include the Pocono Mountains and the Atlantic seashore.

With this as a background and an introduction, I invite you to explore and to learn more about us and our programs. Our Program Directors and support staff are available to answer your questions. Please introduce yourself and make an appointment if you would like more information about the department. Even better, once you’ve visited our website, clicked around and maybe even talked with us on the web or on the telephone, come meet our faculty and students in our laboratories. We’ll be glad to show you around!

With best wishes,

Marsha Weinraub, Ph.D., Psychology Department Chair and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology