Curriculum and Coursework

All students in the I/O Program take the same "core" courses during the first year of study. These include the graduate Proseminars in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I & II), as well as a course in Research Methods and a two-course sequence in Statistics required of all graduate students in the Department of Psychology. In addition, students enroll in Research during the first year of study and every year until they complete their degree.

Coursework in the second year and later is chosen from a variety of advanced specialization seminars offered by faculty in the I/O program as well as courses offered by the Psychology Department and other departments at the university. To meet the requirements of the I/O program, a student must complete at least four advanced specialization seminars. These are chosen by the student in consultation with his/her advisor from among a group of seminars representing a variety of topics in the fields of personnel psychology, organizational psychology, human factors psychology, and ergonomics (see the list of Specialization Seminars below). Although students will tailor the content of their specialization training to meet their own needs, the Industrial/Organizational Psychology (I/O) program has two general areas that students emphasize in their choice of coursework and research experiences: Personnel and organizational Psychology (P/O) and human factors and ergonomics (HF/E). In addition, students in the I/O program are advised to take one or more Quantitative/Methods courses from the list specified below (beyond those required during the first year of study). As part of the graduate degree requirements in the Department of Psychology, students are also required to complete several elective courses outside the program in order to meet the Psychology Department "breadth" requirement. Students are encouraged to select these electives in a manner that allows them to meet the American Psychological Association task force breadth recommendations for accreditation and licensing; students may also choose elective courses from other departments (e.g., Management, Communications, Engineering). Some students also take coursework that meets the requirements of relevant graduate certificate programs offered by the university: e.g., Occupational Health Psychology, Quantitative Methods, and Women's Studies.

Non-course requirements for the Ph.D. degree include completion of the M.A. degree, completion of an approved Field Research experience, passing the General Examination, and preparation and defense of an acceptable Ph.D. dissertation. The M.A. degree, which is based in part on a master's thesis, is generally completed by the end of the second year of study. After completing the master's degree, students are expected to complete an approved Field Research experience in a business, government, industrial or research setting; for many students, this occurs during the third year of study. When the M.A., the field research requirement and most course requirements have been met, the student must also pass a General Examination prior to working on the Ph.D. dissertation. The General Examination is usually taken sometime during the fourth year of study. The fifth year of study is generally devoted to the dissertation and other research projects.

Typical Course of Study

First Year Common Core Courses

• Proseminar I in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
• Proseminar II in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
• Research Methods
• Analysis of Experiments (Statistics)
• Quantitative Methods in the Behavioral Sciences (Statistics)
• Research in Psychology (both semesters)
  

  Second Year Specialization

• Two Specialization Seminars (see listing below)
• One Quantitative/Methods course (see listing below)
  
• Two Elective courses
  
• Research in Psychology (both semesters)
  
• Thesis Preparation and Completion (both semesters)
  

  Third Year (or Fourth Year) Field Research Experience

• Approved Field Research Experience

  Fourth Year (or Third Year) Specialization
  

• Two Specialization Seminars (see listing below)
  
• One Quantitative/Methods course (see listing below)
  
• Two Elective courses
  
• Research in Psychology (both semesters)
  
• General Examination
  
• Preparation of Dissertation Proposal
  

  Fifth Year Dissertation

• Research in Psychology (both semesters)
  
• Preparation and Defense of Dissertation

  Specialization Seminars

• Design & Analysis of Human-Machine Systems
  
• Leadership
  
• Occupational Health & Safety
  
• Information Processing
  
• Performance Appraisal
  
• Selection and Placement
  
• Simulation and Training
  
• Work Motivation
  
• Work Systems and Performance
  
• Seminar in Industrial Psychology (selected topics: e.g., Engineering Psychology & Human Performance, Gender & Work)

  Quantitative/Methods Courses

• Analysis of Experiments (Statistics)
  
• Causal Modeling
  
• Construction and Validation of Personality Tests
  
• Field Research Methods in Psychology
  
• Item Response Theory (Educational Psychology)
  
• Measurement and Scaling
  
• Meta-Analysis
  
• Methods of Evaluation Research
  
• Quantitative Methods in the Behavioral Sciences (Statistics)
  
• Research Methods in Experimental Social Psychology