- Class sizes and Class Offerings
- Advising
- The first two years
- Degree Structure
- Special Opportunities
- Who should consider Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Psychology Program?
The Psychology Program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College has 8 full-time faculty and around 100 undergraduate majors. The Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees are offered. The BS has options in Business and General Science. Minors are available in many areas, including a recently developed minor in Civic and Community Engagement. In addition we have a certificate program in Crime, Psychology, and Public Policy. In either major, students take a core, three-course methodology sequence where students design and carry out their own research project. Students then present their project at an on-campus or regional undergraduate psychology conference.
Class sizes and class offerings
The class sizes are typically small (20-45 students) even for the Introductory courses. Course offereings are broad with core courses offered every semester and different 400-level courses cycled across several semesters.
Advising
Students are assigned a psychology faculty member as an advisor when they declare intent to major in psychology. Students typically keep the same advisor until they graduate. Students may also go to the Division of Undergraduate Studies for advising assistance. The campus Career Center maintains additional resources for internship and career advising. The Psychology Program maintains a listserv for announcements about events and programs related to psychology.
The first two years
As in other Penn State Psychology programs, students in their first two years focus on lower-division courses, General Education, and completing prerequisites for more advanced courses. There are no entrance-to-major (ETM) requirements. Students may either enter into Behrend or change location to or from another campus after their first two years.
Degree structure
The Penn State Behrend Psychology degrees provide a broad background at the lower -division levels. Students are required to take courses in several categories. Students may opt to take their First Year Seminar in psychology. All students take 3 400-level courses in areas they would like to specialize. In addition to the Statistics (PSYCH200) and Basic Research Methods (PSYCH301w) courses required at all campuses, all students at Behrend also take an Advanced Research Project course (PSYCH406w). In this course students develop and carry out their own research project. Students also present their research at one or more undergraduate conferences and their project is written up for publication in the Behrend Psychology Journal. Students may count 3 credits of internship or research experience toward the requirements of the major. In the Bachelor of Science degree students choose one of two options: General (Science) or Business. These options consist of non-Psychology courses taken in consultation with an advisor to meet the needs of each student.
Special opportunities
Behrend provides a very supportive environment for student researchers. All faculty at Behrend are active researchers. Undergraduate students are encouraged to work with faculty in their research. Many students take advantage of these opportunities. Behrend has a well-funded Undergraduate Research Office that makes funds available to students to pursue their own research or to work with faculty on their research. Funding is also available for travel to research conferences when students co-author a presentation. Students at Behrend present their research at one of the local undergraduate research conferences. Students have the opportunity to work at the Center for Organizational Research and Evaluation, an campus-based research center. In addition, the Behrend Psychology Program is affiliated with the national headquarters of the Ophelia Project, which provides many opportunities for mentoring and outreach activities. Students may also participate in off-campus internships. Students work with faculty and the Career Center to arrange the internships. There are opportunities to intern in many companies and organizations including human services, child-care and education, human resources, marketing, and management. Penn State Erie has an affiliation with Mercyhurst College so that students interested in Elementary Education can earn their four-year Psychology degree and then attend Mercyhurst for a year after graduation to earn their certification.
Who should consider the Penn State Erie, Behrend College Psychology program?
The Behrend program is designed to have broad appeal across many areas of psychology. There are many great opportunities for close collaborations with faculty mentors. There are also opportunities for cross-disciplinary studies with many fields. Approximately half of our students go on to graduate school immediately while others begin exciting careers.