InnovationCurriculum redesign in Department of Psychology

Impact Improved educational experience for undergraduates; gives faculty more time to spend on research and grant-seeking activities; the department is better positioned to recruit and retain faculty

The Department of Psychology recognized changes in the field, including that it is now largely a laboratory science. At the same time, the heavy course load was a challenge for recruitment and retention of quality faculty. The department collectively reviewed and redesigned its curriculum to meet the changing needs of graduate and undergraduate students. The redesign allowed reducing the graduate-level teaching load from two to one, while retaining the two-course undergraduate teaching load. The graduate program is more efficiently delivered. In addition, the department changed the upper-division undergraduate curriculum to create more faculty-taught classroom experiences.