2008 Woodie Awards
The future of the Psychology Department is the students
Maria Gomez
Issue date: 3/19/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The first Sacred Heart Conference for the National Honor Society of Psychology took place last Friday, Feb. 24.
The conference was an event created for psychology students. Three Sacred Heart psychology professors, Dr. Rachel Bowman, Dr. Alisha Walker and Dr. Nina Tarner, talked about their careers and helped psychology students understand exactly what goes on in their fields of interest. This was an opportunity for psychology students to speak with, and get helpful advice from experts at this school.
The three teachers all have a PhD, stressed in the importance of researching when students majoring in Psychology want to apply for a PhD program.
Dr. Bowman who has been teaching at Sacred Heart University for four years has a Master's Degree and a PhD. She emphasized the weight of researching, lab and critical experience as undergraduate students.
"A PhD is very much a research training program," said Bowman. Indeed, "when one applies to PhD programs, it has to be very specific," she further said.
Not only do psychologists need to know what area they want to study, the most important quality is their ability to do the research.
Tarner explained the importance of preparation before applying to a PhD program. "The key to get into a Ph D program is research experience. Students don't realize how important experimental research is." Tarner said.
According to Andrea Picco, senior, Westchester, N.Y., "This was a wonderful event. We were so pleased to hear from such accomplished professors." As she also said, "these teachers have actually cleared up most of the doubts we had about applying for Graduate School," said Picco.
Tarner, who has been teaching at Sacred Heart since this past September, advised students to make sure what area or subject they want to work in before applying for a PhD, because some psychology students might not like either teaching or researching. Students must try to find out what they want to specialize in before they decide to apply for a PhD.
"It was definitely a success; learning about their different doctoral backgrounds was a springboard for discussion of the future of the SHU Psychology Department," said Lauren Panza, senior, Valley Stream, N.Y.
All of the professors came to the conclusion that students usually don't know what kind of program they want to apply to. There are a lot of different programs such as developmental, bio-psychological, etc. This is the reason why students should search for a program or field that they are interested in and then apply for those they like.
The average length of a PhD program is seven years; this is another reason why psychology students have to be sure that they are interested in their area of study when they apply for a PhD program. According to these speakers, applying for a master's degree before a PhD will help students to decide if they really want a PhD or not and more if they are not really convinced of what discipline to work on.
The conference was an event created for psychology students. Three Sacred Heart psychology professors, Dr. Rachel Bowman, Dr. Alisha Walker and Dr. Nina Tarner, talked about their careers and helped psychology students understand exactly what goes on in their fields of interest. This was an opportunity for psychology students to speak with, and get helpful advice from experts at this school.
The three teachers all have a PhD, stressed in the importance of researching when students majoring in Psychology want to apply for a PhD program.
Dr. Bowman who has been teaching at Sacred Heart University for four years has a Master's Degree and a PhD. She emphasized the weight of researching, lab and critical experience as undergraduate students.
"A PhD is very much a research training program," said Bowman. Indeed, "when one applies to PhD programs, it has to be very specific," she further said.
Not only do psychologists need to know what area they want to study, the most important quality is their ability to do the research.
Tarner explained the importance of preparation before applying to a PhD program. "The key to get into a Ph D program is research experience. Students don't realize how important experimental research is." Tarner said.
According to Andrea Picco, senior, Westchester, N.Y., "This was a wonderful event. We were so pleased to hear from such accomplished professors." As she also said, "these teachers have actually cleared up most of the doubts we had about applying for Graduate School," said Picco.
Tarner, who has been teaching at Sacred Heart since this past September, advised students to make sure what area or subject they want to work in before applying for a PhD, because some psychology students might not like either teaching or researching. Students must try to find out what they want to specialize in before they decide to apply for a PhD.
"It was definitely a success; learning about their different doctoral backgrounds was a springboard for discussion of the future of the SHU Psychology Department," said Lauren Panza, senior, Valley Stream, N.Y.
All of the professors came to the conclusion that students usually don't know what kind of program they want to apply to. There are a lot of different programs such as developmental, bio-psychological, etc. This is the reason why students should search for a program or field that they are interested in and then apply for those they like.
The average length of a PhD program is seven years; this is another reason why psychology students have to be sure that they are interested in their area of study when they apply for a PhD program. According to these speakers, applying for a master's degree before a PhD will help students to decide if they really want a PhD or not and more if they are not really convinced of what discipline to work on.