Director of General Education & Psychology
Jeri List, M.S.
402.552.6286
listjeri@clarksoncollege.edu
Psychology Program Administrator
Amanda Robinson
402.552.9539
robinsonamanda@clarksoncollege.edu
The Psychology program at Clarkson College is well suited to the institution’s long history of caring for those in need. The curriculum prepares students to provide vital assistance in mental health settings or pursue advance opportunities in research and practice to further the psychology and health care fields.
Program Specific Competency Goals
Upon completion of the Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree, graduates will:
- Demonstrate a familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology. (Critical Thinking)**
- Utilize basic research methods in psychology, including research design, data analysis, and interpretation; be capable of navigating various technologies for obtaining information, conducting literature reviews, collecting data, and analyzing data. (Communication and Technology)**
- Employ critical and creative thinking, skeptical inquiry, and, when possible, the scientific approach to solve problems related to behavior and mental processes. (Critical Thinking)**
- Apply psychological principles to personal, social, and organizational issues; be capable of applying psychological principles and knowledge for the purpose of self‐ improvement and self‐development. (Professionalism)**
- Demonstrate the ability to weigh evidence, tolerate ambiguity, act ethically, and reflect other values that are the underpinnings of psychology as a discipline. (Professionalism)**
- Illustrate the ability to communicate effectively in a variety of formats. (Communication)
- Evaluate the complexity of socio-cultural and international diversity; demonstrate awareness for how issues related to culture, race, gender, class, economic status, religion, and political beliefs interact and relate to psychology. (Diversity)**
- Emerge from the major with realistic ideas about how to implement their psychological knowledge, skills, and values in occupational pursuits in a variety of settings. (Professionalism and Critical Thinking)**
**Categories denoted in the parentheses represent relationship to Clarkson College’s student success skills, which are our institutional student learning outcomes, and include Communication, Technology, Critical Thinking, Diversity, and Professionalism.
Admission Policies
Enrollment in Clarkson College degree programs is limited through a selective admissions process. Admission policies and procedures are available from: the Enrollment and Advising office, the College website, or in the Academic Policies & Procedures section (AD-1).
Service Requirements
Service reflects a holistic view that focuses on how individuals provide high quality, ethical and compassionate service in the field of health care and the community at large. Students will become familiar with service agencies, connect learning with practice and engage in civic service activities to live and demonstrate the Clarkson College Values of Learning, Caring, Commitment, Integrity and Excellence.
All students are required to complete designated service courses as a component of their program of study. Successful completion of service experiences is required to pass the designated service courses. Designated service courses are identified using the following symbol: ◊
Performance Outcomes
| 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | |
| Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, no Board exams for Psychology | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Graduation Rate* | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Job Placement/Employment Rate** | N/A | N/A | N/A |
**Employment rates taken from returned graduate surveys, employer surveys, and graduates report to program individually.
This option was new in Fall 2022.
Undergraduate Psychology Courses
This course acquaints students with the history, development, and present status of the science of psychology. Students explore areas of behavior, cognition, and learning, with special emphasis on developmental psychology, abnormal psychology, and the impact of psychology on health care.
This course provides a comprehensive exploration of the physical, psychosocial, social, cognitive, intellectual, perceptual, personality, and emotional development of individuals across their lifespan, including the effects of ethnicity, gender, and cultural factors on development.
This seminar provides a broad overview of the development of modern psychology, the crucial role of science in that development, and the educational and professional issues relevant to students majoring, or considering a major, in psychology, including an overview of career options in the field. Students build critical thinking and information literacy skills while exploring this discipline’s values, ethics, career options, and writing style. This course uses a mixture of seminar and lecture formats.
In this course, students study psychological principles, theory, and research through exploration of cultural differences and similarities, both within and across cultures. Topics include the interplay between cultural and developmental processes, cognition, emotion, communication, gender, personality development, psychopathology, and social behavior.
This course examines the theoretical and research foundations of behavioral health and illness from a biopsychosocial perspective. Course topics provide students with an understanding of Health Psychology as a specialty within psychology.
This course offers a comprehensive overview of social psychology, exploring the history of the field, reviewing major findings, and highlighting areas of current research. The course will focus on landmark studies that have profoundly changed our understanding of human nature and social interaction, and have triggered significant paradigm shifts within the field. Some of the topics covered include individuals and groups, conformity and obedience, attraction, intergroup relations, and judgment and decision-making.
The course is experiential and aimed at helping students develop a foundation as strong, effective therapeutic agents as they prepare to work in a variety of settings in psychology and healthcare fields. Topics include counseling theories and skills, therapeutic listening, empathy to client, concern conceptualization, crisis management, and reaching across cultural divides.
This course provides an overview of commonly prescribed psychotropic medications with the field of professional counseling and will prepare students for more advanced counseling courses in the chemical dependency field. It discusses causes and theories of addiction, addictive thinking, post-acute withdrawal syndrome, and adjuncts to substance abuse and alcohol treatment recovery; it also addresses medications and drugs of abuse included in the substance-use disorders section of the most current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
This course explores behavior by understanding the influences of biological processes. Why do we dream? What makes us eat? Why are some drugs so addictive? How do we form memories? What are the biological bases of mental disorders? How does the environment interact with our genes? Students explore answers to questions like these by looking at the principles governing neuronal activity, the relationship between brain activity and subjective experience, the role of neurotransmitter systems in memory and motivational processes, and the presumed brain dysfunctions that give rise to mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression.
This course provides a comprehensive overview of topics related to the information-processing mechanisms of the mind, using an evolutionary, functional perspective. Topics include consciousness, perception, attention, memory, conceptual knowledge, and emotions. It emphasizes biases in judgment, health, and economic decision-making.
The fieldwork experience allows students to combine academic theory with new, career-related experience in their area of professional interest. Students must gain permission from the advisor before enrolling.
The capstone experience requires students to conduct programmatic research and develop a service project in their area of professional interest. Students must gain permission from the advisor before enrolling.