In accordance with the goals of the University of Miami, the mission of the Department of Psychology is to acquire, advance, and disseminate knowledge within the Psychological and Biobehavioral Sciences. In order to achieve these goals the Department seeks a balance among several academic endeavors including: teaching, research and service to the community, while being mindful of diversity, equity and inclusion issues in all of these activities.
Teaching
In its undergraduate programs, the Department seeks to provide students with exposure to and a fundamental understanding of the psychological sciences. It seeks to deliver an integrative and inclusive educational experience by promoting interactions among faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students in basic and applied psychological inquiry, advising, mentoring and community outreach.
In educating undergraduate students, the Department aims to:
- Introduce students to the psychological and behavioral sciences to help them develop a fundamental knowledge base in the field with emphasis on its scientific nature.
- Help students develop research skills by providing opportunities for supervised laboratory practice.
- Provide a curriculum that will help students prepare for graduate school in psychology, the social sciences, or in related fields such as Law or Medicine.
In training graduate students for a career in the psychological sciences, the Department aims to:
- Promote advanced understanding of behavioral, psychological, and biological processes, with an understanding of the limitations of existent research in this domain relative to historical underrepresentation of diverse persons in such research.
- Provide rigorous training in research design and analysis and stimulate advanced research skills.
- Provide detailed scientific knowledge about psychology as well as clinical psychology training, cultural competencies and practical experience for those students seeking applied training in a career as a clinician scientist, in accordance with the American Psychological Association guidelines for accreditation in Clinical Psychology.
- Foster independent learning, enabling the graduate to contribute to the scientific field of Psychology, including Clinical Psychology.
Research
As a center for research in the psychological and behavioral sciences, the Department will strive to:
- Conduct rigorous scientific research, which will elucidate both basic and applied principles of human behavior and psychological processes.
- Foster international communication of scientific information and values.
- Acquire extramural resources necessary to conduct internationally respected psychological research.
Service
Service on the local, state, and national levels, will be accomplished by Departmental faculty and/or graduate students who:
- Provide psychological services to culturally diverse populations in clinical training settings and research settings.
- Serve within state and national professional organizations, and scientific review/policy committees.
In pursuing these activities, the Department seeks to attract and retain the highest quality faculty and students, nurture curiosity, insist upon high standards of thought, study, and communication and foster respect for differences among people.
