Psychology (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here.  

Program Overview

The department offers doctoral training in the following concentrations: Behavior Analysis, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and School Psychology. The program is a doctoral program—it is not appropriate for students seeking to complete their education with a master’s degree. We do not offer degrees in Counseling Psychology or Social Work. Appropriate departments for these programs at LSU are the School of Education and the School of Social Work respectively. If you need help determining the appropriate field of study to pursue, the American Psychological Association (APA) provides useful information.

The Department of Psychology at LSU is committed to the view that psychology is both a science and a profession. Both faculty and students in psychology endorse the model of the psychologist as a scientist-practitioner. The program’s major emphasis is on research training and experience, and the teaching of psychology. All graduate students, regardless of intended area of specialization, receive broad training to develop research capability for scholarly contributions to the discipline of psychology throughout their careers. If you are interested only in the professional application of psychology, without regard for research, you will not be comfortable in the graduate training program in this department. Graduate students in this department are expected to develop a lifelong commitment to science and to the highest social-ethical ideals of the profession of psychology.

The graduate program in psychology follows the mentor model. For this reason, it is recommended that prospective students review our faculty web pages along with this document (http://lsu.edu/hss/psychology/faculty/index.php). Each faculty member has additional information regarding his/her interests and publications listed there. This is an effective way to determine if your goals and interests match those of our faculty and our program, as well as to find examples of the research conducted here at LSU.

Administration

Admission

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School.

Review of applications begin on December 1 and applications submitted after that date have a reduced chance for admission.

Further admission requirements are presented below for the different concentrations: Clinical, Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Industrial/Organizational, Biological, School, and Behavior Analysis.

Clinical Psychology

Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, acceptable verbal and quantitative GRE scores, and three letters of recommendation. Minimum undergraduate course experience should include an introductory psychology course, a basic statistics course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program), and a research methodology course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program). International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study and three letters of recommendation. Minimum undergraduate course experience should include an introductory psychology course, a basic statistics course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program), and a research methodology course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program). International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, acceptable verbal and quantitative GRE scores, and three letters of recommendation. Minimum undergraduate course experience should include an introductory psychology course, a basic statistics course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program), and a research methodology course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program). International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

Biological Psychology

Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, acceptable verbal and quantitative GRE scores, and three letters of recommendation. Minimum undergraduate course experience should include an introductory psychology course, a basic statistics course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program), and a research methodology course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program). International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

School Psychology

Students seeking admission must hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and submit transcripts from all prior universities attended, a personal statement, and a writing sample. Minimum undergraduate course experience should include an introductory psychology course, a basic statistics course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program), and a research methodology course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program). Students must also request three letters of recommendation to be submitted directly by letter writers. International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

Behavior Analysis

Students seeking admission must hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and submit transcripts from all prior universities attended, a personal statement, and a writing sample. Minimum undergraduate course experience should include an introductory psychology course, a basic statistics course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program), and a research methodology course (preferably from a behavioral/social science program). Students must also request three letters of recommendation to be submitted directly by letter writers. International students whose native language is not English must also submit an acceptable TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE score.

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is available to some students. The department makes every effort to obtain financial support for graduate students to the extent that funds are available. Sources of funds include departmental teaching and research assistantships. The department also arranges support from outside agencies, such as mental health centers and community or industry research programs. To ensure consideration for financial aid, all application materials should be submitted in accordance with the psychology department’s December 1 deadline, and in accordance with those established by the LSU Graduate School.

Facilities

• Audubon and Johnston Halls contains numerous rooms and lab facilities for faculty and student research.
• The department’s Psychological Services Center (PSC), an on-campus facility located in Johnston Hall, is operated by the department to offer graduate training and research in various areas of applied psychology. The PSC provides diagnostic and therapeutic services for adults and children in the Baton Rouge community, including students enrolled at LSU and children of LSU students.

Graduate Faculty

(check current faculty listings by department here)

Alan A. Baumeister (M) • Biological—History of biological psychiatry, neuropharmacology
Melissa R. Beck (M) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—Visual memory and attention; the roles of encoding, retrieval, decision making and metacognition in the perception of a continuous and stable visual world
Phillip J. Brantley (M) • Adjunct Faculty—behavioral medicine, emphasis on the effects of stress and learning on illness
Julia Buckner (M) • Clinical—The  nature and treatment of substance use disorders in adults, with an emphasis on the transactional relations between these disorders and comorbid anxiety
Vanessa Burke (6A) • Industrial/Organizational - The intersection between diversity and the hierarchical nature of organizations. Her work centers on how demographic (gender, age, race) and behavioral (sexual harassment, emotional displays, leader errors) indicators of power and social status determine who has access to opportunities.
Matthew R. Calamia (M) • Clinical—Clinical neuropsychology; In particular, in improving the measurement of cognitive and emotional functioning in individuals with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury
Dan Capron (M) • Clinical - Suicide prevention and amelioration of cognitive biases
Owen T. Carmichael (3F) • Adjunct Faculty—Development of biomedical imaging techniques; application to brain aging and metabolic disorders.
Katie E. Cherry (M) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—Cognitive aging, especially memory processes in healthy older adults; memory interventions for cognitively impaired older adults; interdisciplinary studies of healthy aging in the old.
Danbi Choe (6A) • School–Social-emotional learning, mental health, social support, and a culturally responsive approach
Kelly N. Clark (6A) • School–Academic engagement and achievement, school belonging and climate, school mental health.
Haley Cobb (6A) • Industrial/Organizational – Work-nonwork interface; Employee well-being; Boundary management; Open Science
Alex S. Cohen (M) • Clinical—Severe adult psychopathology, leveraging objective computerized technologies to understand symptoms, social dysfunction, emotion, cognition and illness-related risk.
Christopher Cox (6A) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—Concepts, categories, and their neurocognitive representation. Machine learning, computational modeling, and neuroimaging analyses to study how concepts support cognition.
Jeanne M. Donaldson (6A) • School—Behavior analytic approach to treatments for problematic behavior in young children at both group and individual levels.
Emily M. Elliott (M) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—Memory and the development of memory in children; attention, and in particular, the interaction of attention and immediate memory
Teairra Evans (6A) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—Decision-making, health disparities
Paul Frick (M) • Clinical- Causal factors of serious emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents; develop effective interventions to prevent and treat such problems
Shawn Gilroy (6A) • School/Behavior Analysis-  Supporting preschool and school-age children with various developmental, behavioral, and learning difficulties.
Ryan Hill (6A)  • Clinical–The prevention of suicide-related thoughts and behaviors among child, adolescent, and emerging adult populations.
Mary Lou Kelley (M) • Clinical—Behavioral assessment and treatment of children and adolescents; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; behavioral pediatrics
Anna C. Long (M) • School—Treatment integrity of evidence-based practices in schools; teacher effectiveness
Heather Lucas (6A) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—cognitive neuroscience of memory; psychosocial influences on learning and memory; cognitive and brain aging; interactions among memory, cognitive control, and creativity
Janet McDonald (M) • Cognitive and Brain Sciences—Language acquisition; age of acquisition and grammatical mastery; bilingualism; language comprehension
Amy Mikolajewski (6A) • Understanding the etiology, course, and comorbidity of externalizing psychopathology in childhood, with a particular interest in psychophysiological and dispositional risk factors.
Samuel Morris (6A) • School/Behavior Analysis - Utilizing experimental manipulations of the environment to understand the causes of behavior and prescribe effective interventions to promote the development of adaptive social behaviors.
Robert Newton (3F) • Adjunct Faculty – Physical Activity & Ethnic Minority Health
Eliana Pizarro (3F) • Adjunct Faculty – Behavior Analysis, neurodevelopmental disorders
Jason Scimeca  (6A) • Cognitive control and working memory
Elia Soto (6A)• Diagnostic and intervention efforts for neurodevelopmental disorders; Executive dysfunction assessment in children; Executive function profiles within ADHD, Autism, and co-occurring ADHD and Autism.
Paul Soto (M)• Cognitive and Brain Sciences/Behavior Analysis— Laboratory animal models of psychiatric disease symptoms, behavioral and cognitive effects of drugs, identification of potential therapeutic medications.
Jas M. Sullivan (M) • Jointly Appointed Faculty— — Political psychology, racial identity, stereotyping and discrimination
Raymond P. Tucker (M) • Clinical— Clinical—Theoretical models of why adults die by suicide, novel suicide risk assessment strategies, current and historical suicide risk
Don C. Zhang (M) • Industrial/Organizational—Evidence-based employment assessment; data-driven talent analytics pre-employment job interviews; data visualization and communication

Degree Programs

LSU’s doctoral program in psychology only admits students interested in working toward a doctoral degree. The MA may be earned along the way, as explained below, but is not a terminal master’s degree program. Students desiring only a master’s degree should not apply. Training is offered in the following specialty areas: Clinical, Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Industrial/Organizational, Biological, and School Psychology.

Programs

• Psychology, M.A.

• Psychology, Ph.D.