School of Psychology

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Gary Burns, Ph.D., Head

Professors

Gary Burns, Ph.D., recruitment, assessment, selection, performance management, statistics.

Patrick D. Converse, Ph.D., self-regulation, cognitive ability, ability requirements of occupations, personality measurement.

Vanessa A. Edkins, Ph.D., juror decision-making, racism in the law, attitudes toward the legal system.

Victoria M. Follette, Ph.D., contemplative methods, trauma treatment.

Richard L. Griffith, Ph.D., cross-cultural competence, global leadership, response distortion on noncognitive selection procedures, advanced measurement, psychometrics.

Radhika Krishnamurthy, Psy.D., personality assessment with the MMPI-2/ MMPI-A and Rorschach, therapeutic test feedback, psychological assessment competency, gender and cultural factors in assessment and treatment.

Lisa A. Steelman, Ph.D., workplace feedback processes, employee engagement, women’s leadership, global I/O psychology.

Vida L. Tyc, Ph.D., health promotion, pediatric behavioral health issues, risk perceptions, tobacco control.

Associate Professors

Julie S. Costopoulos, Ph.D., forensic psychology, sex offender treatment, personality, criminal behavior.

Mark T. Harvey, Ph.D., BCBA-D, psychopathology, self-injurious behavior, behavior analysis in educational settings.

Maria J. Lavooy, Ph.D., diversity, confronting behavior, scholarship of teaching and learning.

Anthony LoGalbo, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, traumatic brain injuries, concussions, memory disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, neurocognitive functioning.

Barbara Paulillo, Psy.D., community psychological services.

Kristi Van Sickle, Psy.D., integrated health care, training/supervision in health service psychology, primary care psychology, patient-centered medical home, professional competence.

Jessica Wildman, Ph.D., cross-cultural variables in team performance, interpersonal trust.

Assistant Professors

Richard Addante, Ph.D., cognitive neuroscience studies of memory, metacognition, and brain states, psychology of long duration space travel. 

Patrick Aragon, Psy.D., empathy in the process of forgiveness and therapeutic necessity; chronic mental health with inpatient and homeless individuals; substance abuse prevention and intervention.

Demara Bennett, Psy.D., evaluation and treatment of early childhood disorders, autism family violence.

Danita Berg, Ph.D., Online Program Chair, Liberal Studies.

Felipa T. Chavez, Ph.D., racial/ethnic identity, substance abuse/addictions, child abuse and neglect.

Xinxuan Che, Ph.D., occupational health psychology, leadership and teams, workplace safety, patient safety and care quality in healthcare.

Travis W. Conradt, Ph.D., childhood emotion, memory and suggestibility.

Marshall A. Jones, D.B.A., Director, College of Psychology and Liberal Arts Undergraduate Online Programs.

Katrina Merlini, Ph.D., leadership, organizational culture, employee motivation, self-regulation.

Darby Proctor, Ph.D., animal behavior, nonhuman primate behavior and cognition, evolution of human cognition, behavioral economics, comparative psychology.

Robyn E. Tapley, Psy.D., clinical issues in the student population, career counseling, psychological/psychoeducational assessment, clinical training/supervision, professional ethics.

Catherine Talbot, Ph.D., primate cognition, sociality, face recognition, autism.

Amanda Thayer, Ph.D., organizational, industrial, teams, groups, collaboration, team composition, team staffing, team processes, dynamic, cohesion, trust, trust violation, trust repair, multiteam systems. 

Instructors

James K. Reynolds, M.P.A., Criminal Justice Academic Program Chair

Professors Emeritae

Juanita N. Baker, Ph.D.; Mary Beth Kenkel, Ph.D.; Carol L. Philpot, Psy.D.

Professors Emeriti

Richard T. Elmore Jr., Philip D. Farber, Ph.D.; Ph.D.; William K. Gabrenya Jr., Ph.D.; Arthur Gutman, Ph.D.; Thomas H. Harrell, Ph.D.; Frank M. Webbe, Ph.D.

Overview

The School of Psychology is located on the second floor of Harris Commons. Included are offices, classrooms, human research areas, computer facilities, conference rooms, faculty/staff/student lounges and a student meeting/reading room. Located on Florida Tech’s main campus is The Scott Center for Autism Treatment, which also houses the Psychological Services Center. The East Central Florida Memory Clinic (ECFMC) is also located in Melbourne.

The school operates The Scott Center for Autism Treatment, Center for Organizational Effectiveness, ECFMC, Family Learning Program (FLP) and Institute for Cross-Cultural Management (ICCM). ECFMC provides memory screenings as well as neuropsychological assessment and counseling. The ECFMC and FLP programs are state-supported.

The Multicultural Commitment

The School of Psychology is committed to providing students with information and training that is not restricted to one cultural or national tradition. Exposure to information on the theory and practice of psychology in different cultures and with different ethnic and cultural minorities makes graduates sensitive to cultural, national and ethnic differences, whether encountered at home or abroad.

Intensive Classroom Courses

These courses are usually one credit hour and are taught by nationally known members of our visiting and adjunct faculty. The format of an intensive course is as follows: Each registered student is given a syllabus that includes reading and report assignments. Several weeks into the term, the class meets formally with the professor for one, two or three days. Papers or tests can be given during this time, and papers and projects are usually assigned for the remaining weeks of the term. All assignments are due by the end of the semester. This format allows students to gain exposure to distinguished psychologists from throughout the world. Generally, one of these courses is available each semester.

Psychology Honors Program

Academically gifted, highly motivated students may participate in the school’s honors program. Students who plan to seek graduate degrees are strongly advised to consider this program. Students interested in university-wide honors options can find more information under Honors College in Undergraduate Academic Information .

The psychology honors program is available to juniors enrolled in all undergraduate psychology programs (B.A., B.S., psychology; B.A., forensic psychology, and B.A., applied behavior analysis). The honors program includes six credit hours of  PSY 4515 Psychology Honors Thesis  taken in place of PSY 4000 Field Internship and Research Project . Students must also complete a minimum of three (3) credits of PSY 4590 Psychology Honors Seminar , usually taken in place of lower-level courses in the concentration area or in place of free electives. Only honors students may write a thesis.

Admission Requirements

Prospective honors students must have reached their junior year. Applicants should have completed a minimum of 12 hours of psychology (BEH, PSY, PSF) courses and have a minimum overall GPA of 3.4. These courses may be taken at Florida Tech or transferred from another four-year university. Community college courses will not be included in the GPA calculation.

To earn the honors distinction, students must successfully complete the program with a graduating overall GPA of 3.4. Only courses taken at Florida Tech will be included in this calculation. A minimum average GPA of 3.0 in PSY 4590  is required. Successful students will receive a certificate indicating completion of the requirements.

Required Courses

PSY 4515 Psychology Honors Thesis  Credit Hours: 3 (taken twice for 6 credits)

PSY 4590 Psychology Honors Seminar  Credit Hours: 1 (3 credit hours required)

Fast Track Master’s Program

The program is available to undergraduates who have completed a minimum of 35 credit hours at Florida Tech with an earned GPA of at least 3.3, and who have completed at least 95 credit hours toward their undergraduate degree by the time the approved student begins taking graduate-level courses. The credit hours are treated as transfer credit (GPA does not apply) when applied toward the master’s degree. Interested students should consult the School of Psychology for more information about this program.

Policy Regarding Graduate Admissions

The following statement is specific to the agreement assumed between a prospective psychology graduate student and the School of Psychology. A resolution adopted by the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States, and supported by 362 universities and colleges, reads as follows:

Acceptance of an offer of financial aid (such as graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship or assistantship) for the next academic year by an actual or prospective graduate student completes an agreement that both student and graduate school expect to honor. In those instances in which the student accepts the offer before April 15 and subsequently desires to withdraw, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer. It is further agreed by the institutions and organizations subscribing to the above Resolution that a copy of this Resolution should accompany every scholarship, fellowship, traineeship and assistantship offer.

Academic Dismissal for Graduate Students

Students will be dismissed from further graduate study under the following circumstances:

1. A grade point average below 3.0 (doctoral students) or 2.0 (master’s students) at any stage of the doctoral program.
2. Two or more grades of C, D, F or U.
3. Unsatisfactory grades for nine credit hours of internship.
4. Nonadmission to doctoral candidacy as defined under “Degree Requirements.”
5. Failure to abide by the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Ethics of the American Psychological Association.
6. Hampering the academic efforts of other students.
7. Failure to maintain satisfactory progress in coursework and/or research, regardless of grade point average.
8. Violation of the legal and ethical standards of the university, including, but not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, knowingly furnishing false information to the university or forging, altering or misusing university documents or academic credentials.
9. Failure to demonstrate adequately those personal and interpersonal skills and attributes deemed suitable for the profession, as delineated in the psychology graduate student handbook.

Graduate Academic Information  presents information concerning dismissal and the rights of the student to appeal dismissal decisions.

Minor Programs

Minors in psychology and forensic psychology are offered through the School of Psychology. A complete policy statement regarding minors can be found under Undergraduate Academic Information .  Information about current minor offerings is available through the individual colleges/departments.

Research

Applied behavior analysis (ABA): Faculty and graduate students in the ABA program are actively engaged in a variety of research topics including the assessment and treatment of problem behaviors, skill acquisition techniques, and the assessment and improvement of staff performance.

Doctor of Psychology: Faculty and doctoral students in the Psy.D. program are engaged in a number of research topics including personality assessment, self-knowledge, gender and multicultural issues, traumatology, child maltreatment, parent-child interactions, adaptation to aging, forensic issues and neuropsychological assessment.

Industrial/organizational psychology (I/O): Faculty and students in the I/O program engage in innovative applied and basic research. Current research areas include feedback and coaching processes, emotions at work, team processes and team leadership, trust across cultures, cross-cultural competence, global leadership, workplace incivility and mistreatment, organizational citizenship behaviors, leadership in healthcare settings, occupational health psychology, self-regulation and personality, employee engagement and women’s leadership.

Organizational behavior management (OBM): Faculty and graduate students in the OBM program are actively engaged in a variety of research topics including the assessment and improvement of staff performance, behavior-based safety in organizations, and pay-for-performance.

Psychology/forensic psychology: Faculty and undergraduate students engage in a wide variety of research. For the forensic psychology program, faculty research programs cover topics such as plea bargaining, murder charges and the use of the death penalty in Florida; the relationships among psychiatric diagnoses, personality variables and deviant or criminal behavior; criminal case analysis; racial profiling; and leadership emergence and development. In the B.A and B.S. psychology programs, faculty research focuses on memory, perception and cognition in extreme environments; employee emotions and motivation in the workplace; cross-cultural psychology, in particular, cross-cultural competency, socio-psychological processes among East Asians, and value change; cognitive, behavioral and physiological correlates of exercise and sport; neuropsychology research on methods for detecting mild traumatic brain injury; and the creation of assistive technology for the support of Alzheimer’s caregivers.

Programs

• Applied Psychology, A.A.

• Applied Psychology, B.A.
• Forensic Psychology, B.A.
• Psychology, B.A.

• Psychology, B.S.

• Forensic Psychology Minor
• Psychology Minor

• Organizational Leadership, M.A.

• Industrial/Organizational Psychology, M.S.

• Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Ph.D.

• Clinical Psychology, Psy.D.

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