COURSE OF STUDY
The Ph.D. degree requires a total of 60 earned credits, plus meeting various research and examination requirements. Courses are generally small seminars which cover core areas of developmental study (such as developmental theory, research design and methods life course studies, language, social, and cultural development, especially in contexts of practice. Other seminars are related to emerging faculty and student research interests. In addition students are encouraged to enroll in course offerings in other programs and disciplines which may relate to their interests.
Exams including first and second doctoral examinations, as well as an oral defense of the dissertation. The first doctoral examination taken at the end of the first year of study assesses the student’s general knowledge of psychology. The second doctoral examination taken on completion of course work, tests general knowledge of developmental psychology and specialized knowledge of a major area. The third doctoral examination is the oral defense of the doctoral dissertation.
There are two formal research requirements. The second year research project represents a more independent study where the major initiative in conceptualization and study design is taken by the student. The Ph.D. Dissertation is the third research requirement and represents an original contribution to the research or theoretical literature.
The organization of the curriculum and requirements reflects a commitment to produce broadly-trained graduates who are prepared to pursue academic careers or to assume research positions in a variety of settings related to children, adolescents and adults.
Recent Course Offerings
The curriculum is composed of a number of core courses covering basic areas of developmental psychology, as well as seminars which reflect more specialized interests of students and faculty.
Developmental Psychology: Developmental Psychology I & II, Theories of Development, Seminar in Developmental Psychology, History and Systems in Developmental Psychology, Developmental Seminar - Special Topics, Advanced seminar on special topics of Piaget's theory, Piaget, Vygotsky and Werner, Proseminar in Developmental Psychology I & II
Research Methods: Research Methods I & II, Second Year Research Seminar, Statistics I & II, Multivariate Analysis I: Regression and Correlation, Advanced Topics in Multivariate Statistics, Developmental Evaluation, Evaluation Research, Qualitative and Interpretive Methods
Culture and Cognition: Cultural Aspects of Human Development, Mind and Society, Acquisition of Culture, Cultural Psychology, Development in Culturally Structured Environments, Ecological Psychology, Infancy, Family and Community: Psychological Studies of Minority Children;
Language and Literacy: Language Development, Semantic Development, Children's Narrative and Conversational Competence, Narrative and Self-Development, Language and Thought in Development, Literacy and Language Development, Children's Writing.
Social and Psycho-social Development: Parent-child Relations, Civic Engagement, Childhood Play, International Perspectives on Child and Youth Development, Moral Development, Development of Self from a Sociocultural Perspective, Discourse Theory and Analysis
Cognitive Development: Cognitive Development I & II, Seminar on Piaget’s New Theory, Functional Approaches to Cognition, Social Interaction and Cognitive Development, Aesthetics and Development, Activity Theory Seminar, Conceptual Development, Learning and Development
Life Span Studies: Infancy, Children’s Rights, Moral Development, Youth in Society, Psychology and Work.
Special Topics: Children and Migration; Developing Systems; Autism Studies; Workplace Studies; Forensic Studies; Developmental Foundations of Education; Socio-Cultural and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory; Human Development in the Context of War and Political Transition, and numerous other topics of student and faculty interest.
Within and beyond the framework of requirements, students and faculty work together to create individualized programs of study toward the dissertation.
