About the department

Introduction: Basic facts about the department

The Department of Psychology is part of the College of Humanities and Sciences on the Monroe Park Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The department has the largest undergraduate program in the university with more than 1,000 student majors. The graduate program consists of programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology as well as three sub-specialty divisions (Biopsychology, Developmental and Social) in Experimental Psychology. Our undergraduate program allows students to specialize in one of several particular fields of psychology. More than 30 full-time faculty and 125 graduate students teach courses and conduct research at VCU.

Training programs and research specialties

Our department can be conceptualized in two ways. This Web site allows you to explore the department's information that is organized according to training program and research specialty.

The traditional model is through the training programs. VCU offers training programs in Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Biopsychology, Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology.

A more practical approach is to conceptualize the department by research specialty. Faculty research interests typically span across programs, and faculty from different programs often collaborate on projects. By organizing the department according to research specialty, the VCU Department of Psychology can be considered one of the strongest departments in the nation in the area of biopsychology, health psychology and behavioral medicine.

Structure

The core organization consists of the chair, about 30 tenured or tenure-track faculty, 10 research faculty or post-docs, six teaching faculty, 50 affiliate faculty, a department manager, a director of the training clinic, seven administrative and fiscal staff and several student workers. In addition, the department consists of about 125 graduate students who assist in research, teaching and administration. Altogether, the department has attained prominent status within the university as a whole and also among the psychology community.

Location and facilities

Physically, the faculty, staff and graduate student offices are housed in five historic buildings along West Franklin Street (820 Bird House, 810 Hunton House, 808 Thurston House, 806 White House, 800 Williams House) in the downtown “Fan District” of Richmond, Va. These facilities include laboratory spaces for research, testing areas, classroom and seminar spaces, and conference rooms. Undergraduate facilities include a special meeting space for Psi Chi and honors students as well as the Undergraduate Center, comprised of advising offices, a reference library and Psi Chi honorary fraternity offices. Graduate student facilities include a fully equipped computer lab, graduate student lounge and testing/interviewing areas for students in the applied areas. Please click here for maps and directions to our buildings.

In addition, the Center for Psychological Services and Development is housed within the department. The CPSD is a grant-funded center serving the community and is operated by graduate students and faculty members. It provides in-house clinical training for students in the clinical and counseling programs and supports grant-funded projects in organizational behavior.