yale clinical psychology phd program

Fields include clinical psychology; cognitive psychology; developmental psychology; neuroscience; and social/personality psychology.

• Programs of Study
• PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
• Combined PhD
• Department of Psychology

Melissa Ferguson

Director of Graduate Studies

• [email protected]

Fredericka Grant

Departmental Registrar

• [email protected]
• 203-432-4500

Admission Requirements

Standardized testing requirements.

GRE is optional. 

English Language Requirement

TOEFL iBT or IELTS Academic is required of most applicants whose native language is not English.

You may be exempt from this requirement if you have received (or will receive) an undergraduate degree from a college or university where English is the primary language of instruction, and if you have studied in residence at that institution for at least three years.

Combined Degree Program Application Deadline

*The deadline to submit an application to a combined program is always the earlier deadline of the two individual programs, or December 15, whichever comes first.

Academic Information

Combined phd information.

Psychology offers a combined PhD in conjunction with Philosophy .

Program Advising Guidelines

GSAS Advising Guidelines

Academic Resources

Academic calendar.

The Graduate School's academic calendar lists important dates and deadlines related to coursework, registration, financial processes, and milestone events such as graduation.

Featured Resource

Registration Information and Dates

https://registration.yale.edu/

Students must register every term in which they are enrolled in the Graduate School. Registration for a given term takes place the semester prior, and so it's important to stay on top of your academic plan. The University Registrar's Office oversees the systems that students use to register. Instructions about how to use those systems and the dates during which registration occurs can be found on their registration website.

Financial Information

Phd stipend & funding.

PhD students at Yale are normally full-funded for a minimum of five years. During that time, our students receive a twelve-month stipend to cover living expenses and a fellowship that covers the full cost of tuition and student healthcare.

• PhD Student Funding Overview
• Graduate Financial Aid Office
• PhD Stipends
• Health Award
• Tuition and Fees

Alumni Insights

Below you will find alumni placement data for our departments and programs.

Message From Our President

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Friends,

I am pleased to present to you this Guide to our plans for the upcoming fall semester and reopening of our campuses. In form and in content, this coming semester will be like no other. We will live differently, work differently and learn differently. But in its very difference rests its enormous power. The mission of Yeshiva University is to enrich the moral, intellectual and spiritual development of each of our students, empowering them with the knowledge and abilities to become people of impact and leaders of tomorrow. Next year’s studies will be especially instrumental in shaping the course of our students’ lives. Character is formed and developed in times of deep adversity. This is the kind of teachable moment that Yeshiva University was made for. As such, we have developed an educational plan for next year that features a high-quality student experience and prioritizes personal growth during this Coronavirus era. Our students will be able to work through the difficulties, issues and opportunities posed by our COVID-19 era with our stellar rabbis and faculty, as well as their close friends and peers at Yeshiva. 

To develop our plans for the fall, we have convened a Scenario Planning Task Force made up of representatives across the major areas of our campus. Their planning has been guided by the latest medical information, government directives, direct input from our rabbis, faculty and students, and best practices from industry and university leaders across the country. I am deeply thankful to our task force members and all who supported them for their tireless work in addressing the myriad details involved in bringing students back to campus and restarting our educational enterprise. In concert with the recommendations from our task force, I am announcing today that our fall semester will reflect a hybrid model. It will allow many students to return in a careful way by incorporating online and virtual learning with on-campus classroom instruction. It also enables students who prefer to not be on campus to have a rich student experience by continuing their studies online and benefitting from a full range of online student services and extracurricular programs. In bringing our students back to campus, safety is our first priority. Many aspects of campus life will change for this coming semester. Gatherings will be limited, larger courses will move completely online. Throughout campus everyone will need to adhere to our medical guidelines, including social distancing, wearing facemasks, and our testing and contact tracing policies. Due to our focus on minimizing risk, our undergraduate students will begin the first few weeks of the fall semester online and move onto the campus after the Jewish holidays. This schedule will limit the amount of back and forth travel for our students by concentrating the on-campus component of the fall semester to one consecutive segment. Throughout our planning, we have used the analogy of a dimmer switch. Reopening our campuses will not be a simple binary, like an on/off light switch, but more like a dimmer in which we have the flexibility to scale backwards and forwards to properly respond as the health situation evolves. It is very possible that some plans could change, depending upon the progression of the virus and/or applicable state and local government guidance. Before our semester begins, we will provide more updates reflecting our most current guidance. Please check our website, yu.edu/fall2020 for regular updates. We understand that even after reading through this guide, you might have many additional questions, so we will be posting an extensive FAQ section online as well. Additionally, we will also be holding community calls for faculty, students, staff and parents over the next couple of months. Planning for the future during this moment has certainly been humbling. This Coronavirus has reminded us time and time again of the lessons from our Jewish tradition that we are not in full control of our circumstances. But our tradition also teaches us that we are in control of our response to our circumstances. Next semester will present significant challenges and changes. There will be some compromises and minor inconveniences--not every issue has a perfect solution. But faith and fortitude, mutual cooperation and resilience are essential life lessons that are accentuated during this period. And if we all commit to respond with graciousness, kindness, and love, we can transform new campus realities into profound life lessons for our future. Deeply rooted in our Jewish values and forward focused in preparing for the careers and competencies of the future, we journey together with you, our Yeshiva University community, through these uncharted waters. Next year will be a formative year in the lives of our students, and together we will rise to the moment so that our students will emerge stronger and better prepared to be leaders of the world of tomorrow.

Best Wishes, Ari Berman

Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis

Ferkauf graduate school of psychology.

Degree level

Course structure

Internship Match

APA Accredited

Training in

Multiculturalism and Diversity

The Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis PhD program at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology is dedicated to the goals of diversity and inclusion throughout all aspects of our program including coursework, research, clinical work, and for the students, faculty, and staff. We value diversity in all forms, including, but not limited to, age, race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, immigration status, sex (or sex assigned at birth), gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, class or socioeconomic status, religious belief and non-belief, political views or party, and level of ability/disability. Information about a range of diversity- and inclusion-related topics (e.g., multiculturalism, social determinants of health, working with diverse clients) is incorporated into our classes, our research programs, and our clinical work and supervision. We actively participate in and support Ferkauf’s ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts such as the Student-Faculty Coalition for Diversity and Social Justice and a number of affinity groups (e.g., BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, international).

Announcements

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Hannah-Rose Mitchell, who recently joined our faculty!

Dr. Hannah-Rose Mitchell, PhD, MPH, is a clinical health psychologist joining as an Assistant Professor in Ferkauf’s PhD Program in Clinical Psychology, Health Emphasis. She recently completed an NIH-funded T32 fellowship in Psycho-Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where she served as Chief Postdoctoral Research Fellow, and worked on trials examining interventions targeting cancer-related distress in patients and caregivers. She received her PhD in Clinical Health Psychology from the University of Miami and earned a Master of Public Health from Yale University. Her research focuses on the psychosocial effects of cancer on the family/family caregivers, particularly the traumatic impact and development of posttraumatic stress and growth.

Noteworthy News and Accomplishments

• Kensei Maeda is the recipient of a research fellowship from the American Heart Association to evaluate the role of migraine in development of dementia.  This research will be conducted at the Veterans Health Administration Headache Centers of Excellence. Existing evidence regarding the risk of dementia conferred by migraine is inconsistent. The most compelling evidence is derived from cohorts including only women. However, during a one-year period, 6% of men also experience migraine. The goal of the current study is to evaluate the risk of a new diagnosis of dementia 10+ years after patients present with migraine in the Veterans Health Administration system. This research will include approximately half-a-million veterans with migraine (2/3 men) and a million matched controls. Kensei will explore the role of moderating factors such as gender, age, cardiovascular comorbidities and treatments for both migraine and cardiovascular diseases. 
• Research by Dr. Gonzalez featured in Special Issue of Diabetes Care
• Dr. Jonathan Feldman Receives National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Grant entitled "A Randomized Trial of Perception of Airflow Limitation Training to Improve Outcomes for Older Adults with Asthma"
• Dr. Jonathan Feldman Receives Grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to Create Mobile App Using Voice Biomarkers to Help Asthma Control
• Her publication that won the "Member's Choice" award for the best article published in Headache in 2022
• Her interview with CBS News Health Watch
• Dr. Roee Holtzer Receives National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Grant entitled "Central Control and Neuroinflammatory Mechanisms of Locomotion in Older Adults with HIV"
• Dr. Roee Holtzer Receives National Institute on Aging Grant for the Assessment of Cognitive Decline using Multimodal Neuroimaging with Embedded Artificial Intelligence
• Dr. Elizabeth Seng Receives National Institutes for Health/National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health Grant to Study Mindfulness Therapy for Migraine
• Dr. Jeffrey Gonzalez Receives Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Grant to Explore Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Reduce Diabetes Distress
• Dr. Jeffrey Gonzalez and the New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research (NY-CDTR) Receive Renewal Grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
• Dr. Michelle Chen Receives K23 Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health
• Dr. Amy Grinberg Wins Society for Health Psychology (Division 38) Award for Excellence in Clinical Health Psychology by an Early Career Professional
• Dr. Elizabeth Gromisch Receives the Harry Weaver Scholar Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

See more exciting news about our Alumni on our  Featured Alumni  page!

Program Overview

The primary goal of this 99-credit program is to train doctoral-level (Ph.D.) students in the ethical science and practice of clinical psychology with an additional emphasis on the interaction of physical and mental health. 

Mission Statement

The overarching mission of the program is to train qualified clinicians, academic scholars, and applied researchers in clinical psychology. Embedded in this mission statement are core values of Yeshiva University that include: (1) bringing wisdom to life; (2) love of knowledge for its own sake; (3) a commitment to excellence in teaching and research; and (4) the view that liberal arts and social sciences are compatible with high ethical and moral standards. At the graduate level of training, this mission is manifested through an emphasis on the ethical and moral principles that govern professional scientist-practitioners' search for knowledge.

The program's training philosophy is aimed at training psychologists who are both clinically and academically prepared to work as clinicians and researchers in diverse settings. This program design is based on the premise that psychologists working in mental and physical health settings need a strong foundation of clinical and research skills, to enable graduates to provide superior clinical services and make meaningful research contributions .   The foundations of psychology represent the primary base, with in-depth training in general clinical psychology. This training base is complemented by training in health psychology, physiological bases of behavior, and public health systems.  In addition to broad-based training in clinical psychology, the overarching goals of our program are briefly described below. 

• Goal 1 :  Provide sequential and cumulative training of increasing complexity in evidence-based psychological and healthcare assessment, intervention, and consultation services. 
• Goal 2 : Produce independent researchers capable of contributing to the scientific body of knowledge in the field of clinical psychology as it is applied to diverse health issues, and able to educate and mentor future researchers in the field. 
• Goal 3 : Train effective clinical providers and researchers, through comprehensive training that is cumulative and graded in complexity in psychological theories, clinical practice, and research with clinical health psychology as an emphasis.  
• Goal 4 : Provide comprehensive training in the professional values, attitudes, standards and ethics of clinical work and research with diverse individuals and groups. 

Our teaching and training philosophy is consistent with the Boulder model of the scientist-practitioner. Furthermore, in our view and interpretation of the Boulder model the integration of the functions of the scientist and practitioner is critical in advancing the science and practice of clinical psychology; and in translating empirically based assessment and treatment approaches to diverse settings.

Accreditation

The Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis was awarded the maximum seven years of APA accreditation in 2016. The program was initially granted APA accreditation effective October 2005. In 2017, the program was re-accredited for seven years. The next accreditation review is scheduled for 2023.

The APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation supports the APA Commission on Accreditation (CoA) in carrying out its responsibilities as the nationally recognized accrediting body for education and training programs in professional psychology. Contact information for the CoA as follows:

APA Accreditation Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation 750 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 Phone: 202.336.5979, 202.336.5979 TDD/TTY: 202.336.6123 Fax: 202.336.5978

Email:  [email protected]

Full Program Breakdown

Swipe to learn more!

Program Director and Faculty

Program director.

Jonathan Feldman, Ph.D. Dr. Feldman's Lab Webpage

Jeffrey Gonzalez, Ph.D. Dr. Gonzalez's Lab Webpage

Bari Hillman, Ph.D. Director of Clinical Training

Roee Holtzer, Ph.D. Dr. Holtzer's Lab Webpage

Hannah-Rose Mitchell, Ph.D. MPH Dr. Mitchell's Lab Webpage

Elizabeth Seng, Ph.D. Dr. Seng's Lab Webpage

Charles Swencionis, Ph.D. Dr. Swencionis' Lab Webpage

Andrea Weinberger, Ph.D. Dr. Weinberger's Lab Webpage

Vance Zemon, Ph.D. Dr. Zemon's Lab Webpage

Emeritus Faculty

Fred Foley, Ph.D. Dr. Foley's Lab Webpage (No longer mentoring new students)

• Prospective Students
• Current Students

Quick Links

• Admission Information
• Tuition and Fees
• Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data  -   (Updated 9/2023) - Information concerning admissions, internships, costs, graduation rates, and licensure.

Elective Courses and Minors

The ph.d. in clinical psychology (health emphasis) program minors.

Students have the option to complete a number of minors that are offered by the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Health Emphasis) Program. In order to successfully fulfill the requirements for a minor, a student must complete all required coursework with grades of B+ or higher in each course as well as any required externships and/or research projects. A summary of each minor can be found below and can also be found in the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology Academic Catalog.

*Students interested in elective training opportunities through the minors are required to schedule an in-person appointment with the faculty member who directs the minor they wish to pursue in order to discuss the training process and requirements, and to receive formal approval.

Clinical Neuropsychology Minor

Director: Dr. Roee Holtzer                                         The training in Clinical Neuropsychology is consistent with the educational and training guidelines recommended by Division 40 of the APA and the Houston Conference. Core courses in assessment, interviewing, psychopathology, therapy, statistics, and biological basis of behavior must be completed before students begin their training in the Clinical Neuropsychology Minor. Successful completion of the courses “Neuroscience of Human Behavior, Cognition and Affect” and “Physiological Health Psychology” also serves as a prerequisite for admissions to the minor. Then, concurrent with the two-semester didactic sequence (Introduction to Clinical Neuropsychology I and II) students are required to complete a formal year-long externship in Clinical Neuropsychology. The course in Psychopharmacology may be taken in parallel or subsequent to completion of the above year- long didactic sequence. As discussed above, the following courses are required for the minor: Physiological Psychology [PSH 6938], (2) Neuroscience of Human Behavior, Cognition and Affect [PSH 6014], (3) Clinical Neuropsychology I [PSH 6011], (4) Clinical Neuropsychology II [PSH 6012], (5) Psychopharmacology [PSA 6071].

Research Methodology and Statistics Minor

Director: Dr. Elizabeth Seng                                       The Research Methodology and Statistics Minor will give students an opportunity to gain advanced didactic and applied training in research methodology and statistics in the behavioral sciences. Students must take Statistics I [PSA 6280] and Statistics II [PSA 6283] as prerequisites to the minor. Students will then take coursework in Applied Statistics in Health [PSH 6284], Social Psychology in Health [PSH 6935], Qualitative Research [PSA 6289], and Test Construction [PSH 6321]. Students will also practice advanced research methodology and statistics skills through an applied project, which will consist of a written document describing the application of an advanced methodological or statistical technique in either an academic research project, an abstract submitted to a conference, or a peer-reviewed publication.

Addictions Minor

Director: Dr. Andrea H. Weinberger The Addictions Minor requires the completion of the three courses (listed below) which will provide the students with training related to clinical work in addictions (e.g., assessment, treatment), research (statistical analysis of addiction-related data), and the association of addictions to health. To fulfill the requirements of the minor, students must also complete one of the following: (1) a clinical externship with an emphasis on clinical work in addictions or (2) a research project focused on addictions. The externship and research project must be approved by the minor advisors. The following courses are required to complete the Addictions Minor: (1) Applied Statistics in Health [PSH 6284], (2) Health and Addictions [PSH 6421], and (3) the American Psychological Association (APA) Substance Use Disorders (SUD) Curriculum [https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/substance-use] . For the APA SUD Curriculum, the certificate of complication must be submitted to Dr. Weinberger in order to get credit for the course as part of the Addictions Minor.

Additional Minors

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Health Emphasis) students are eligible to complete several minors that are offered through the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology program or the Psy.D. in School-Clinical Child Psychology program at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. In order to successfully fulfill the requirements for a minor, a student must complete all required coursework with grades of B+ or higher in each course as well as any required externships and/or research projects. A summary of each minor can be found below and can also be found in the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology Academic Catalog.

Geropsychology Minor

Director: Dr. Richard Zweig The Ferkauf Older Adult Program (FOAP) offers a minor in the newly emerging field of clinical geropsychology comprised of didactic coursework and clinical training experiences. Didactic Training Requirement: Students who seek a minor in clinical geropsychology must complete 9 credits (see below) to meet the didactic coursework requirement; one of these must include Assessment and Treatment of Older Adults [PSC 6448], an overview of issues critical to the diagnosis and psychological treatment of psychological problems in older adults. Required Coursework: (1) Assessment and Treatment of Older Adults [PSC 6448] and (2) Two of the following courses: Neuroscience of Human Behavior, Cognition and Affect [PSH 6014]; Geropsychology Lab I [PSC 6449L] & II [PSC 6450L]; Research in Depression & Personality Disorders in Older Adults I [PSC 6459L]; Research in Depression & Personality Disorders in Older Adults II (PSC 6450L]; Clinical Neuropsychology I [PSH 6011] & Clinical Neuropsychology II [PSH 6012] (only open to students pursuing the Neuropsychology minor); Geriatric Neuropsychology Practicum I [PSC 6449] & Geriatric Neuropsychology Practicum II [PSC 6550] (open to participants in the FOAP geropsychology externship ONLY). Advanced Clinical Training Requirement: Students who seek the minor may satisfy the advanced clinical training requirements through participation in an externship that emphasizes supervised clinical work with older adults (minimum experience of nine (9) months of applied supervised training for at least ten (10) hours per week). For more information, please see the FOAP website: https://www.yu.edu/ferkauf/ degrees-programs/clinical- psychology/elective-training

Child Minor

Director: Dr. Greta Doctoroff Students in all doctoral programs have the option of completing a Child Minor. Students must contact the School-Clinical Child Program Director prior to registration for the Spring semester to apply for the child minor. Please be aware that availability may be limited based on enrollment in any given year. Students accepted to the minor will be assigned a Child Minor advisor. The Child Minor requires the completion of four courses that must be taken in the order listed below. These courses equip students with foundational knowledge to inform future supervised training outside of the minor in child and adolescent therapy. In addition to these courses, Child Minor students must also have either 1) a year-long externship which involves 75% of time dedicated to child/adolescent therapy/assessment that has been approved by the Child Minor advisor or 2) a doctoral research project which is focused on child or adolescent research that is approved by the Child Minor advisor. Required Coursework: (1) Developmental Psychopathology [PSS 6250 (Spring)] and (2) Beginning Work with Children, Parents, and Families [PSS 6610 (Spring)] and either: (3) Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy for Youth I [PSS 6213 (Fall)] (4) Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy for Youth II [PSS 6449 (Spring)] or: (3) Psychodynamic Theory [PSS 6118 (Fall)] (4) Psychodynamic Therapy for Youth [PSS 6119 (Spring)]. Please note: the Child Minor does not involve the opportunity to complete the Child Therapy Practicum courses, which are reserved for students in the School-Clinical Child Program.

Other Training Information

Our training process is sequential, graded in complexity and cumulative. Upon entering the program, each student is assigned a core faculty member as an  academic advisor,  who meets with the student at least twice per year to address academic and program-related issues. During the first month of the program, each student collaboratively identifies a  research mentor , a core faculty member who provides individual supervision to students in her/his lab about research and career development mentorship throughout the student’s tenure in the program. Academically, students first complete core courses and emphasis is placed on achievement of foundational knowledge.

Clinical training begins in the spring semester of the 1 st  year with our in-house training clinic, the Parnes Clinic, as part of the program’s Behavioral Medicine Practicum sequence. In the second year and throughout their tenure in the program students are placed in year-long externships, which are formal external clinical training sites typically located in medical centers, hospitals and outpatient clinic settings.  After the students satisfactorily achieve all academic and clinical requirements during in-residence training they are required to complete a full-time predoctoral internship (see clinical training section for further details).

The program’s robust training in research is focused on the application of clinical psychology to diverse health conditions and populations. The research lab courses, which are required throughout the tenure of the students in the program, serve as platforms for students to learn core concepts related to the specific research area and to develop, implement and successfully complete their research projects.  The student is required to achieve two research milestones, the predoctoral project and dissertation thesis.

Students are expected to demonstrate competencies in all areas of training. Our assessment of competencies is based on academic performance, direct observations of expected skill sets, indirect evaluations including but not limited to students’ evaluations by clinical supervisors as well as procedures developed by the program faculty to directly observe and evaluate core clinical and research competencies. In addition, the program has developed two independent procedures that assess competency in a manner consistent with the APA competency benchmark system.

For a comprehensive overview of the programs’ training procedures, policies and values see the  Program Manual (PDF) .

Student Resources

• Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology Academic Calendar 2023-2024
• Program Manual (PDF)
• Ferkauf Academic Catalog (PDF)
• YU Handbook (PDF)
• Parnes Clinic Manual (PDF)

Student Groups

• Association of Neuropsychology Students in Training (ANST) ANST Website
• Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) PsySR (PDF)
• The Organization of Psychology Students (OPS) The Organization of Psychology Students (OPS)  is the student organization of Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. 

Reimbursements

• Click Here to find out more about Reimbursements (PDF)
• Research Reimbursement Form (PDF)
• Conference Reimbursement Form (PDF)

Students Corner

• Student Awards
• Student First Authored Articles
• Student First Authored Presentations

• 646-592-4520

Department of Psychology

You are here, programs of study.

The Psychology Department organizes itself into five programs representing the major substantive domains of psychology at Yale. Weekly seminars for faculty and students are offered in each of these programs.

Clinical Psychology

Our program is committed to a model of clinical psychology education designed for the clinical scientist. For more detailed information regarding the program, please see:   https://psychology.yale.edu/research/clinical-psychology

Cognitive Psychology

The program in Cognitive Psychology is concerned with basic research in perception, human learning and memory, consciousness, thinking and problem solving, language, and intelligence, as well as with applications of this basic research to everyday settings. Much of the research in the cognitive group bridges across these various fields of specialization. In addition to the core faculty in Cognitive Psychology, many faculty members with other primary specializations are also interested in cognitive research. Students are encouraged to read widely both in the cognitive area and in related disciplines, such as computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and statistics. Programs of study overlapping with other areas of psychological research such as developmental, social, clinical or neuroscience, are encouraged. The cognitive group meets together as a whole every Tuesday for a presentation (with discussion) by one of its members or an invited speaker, and numerous smaller groups with special interests also meet on a regular basis for exchange of ideas. Students are encouraged to study and do research with multiple faculty members, and to develop their own program of research in an area of their choosing. The Cognitive Psychology group is highly interactive and encourages research and discussion representing diverse viewpoints within the field.

Developmental Psychology

In keeping with the distinguished history of the Developmental program at Yale University, faculty and students within this program study a wide range of populations (non-human primates, infants, children of all ages, adults) to investigate the ontogenetic and phylogenetic origins and development of cognitive and social processes. The areas of study are diverse, including conceptual development, social cognition, judgment and decision-making, moral cognition, causal understanding, categorization, and prosocial behavior. 

The heart of the program is direct involvement in research: First term developmental graduate students begin to work with student and faculty colleagues in the exploration and systematic study of problems involved with the rich variety of child behavior. In their first year, students complete a first year research project, led by the student, that includes the collection and analysis of new data, and culminates in a formal paper and presentation of their findings. Throughout their program of study, students are encouraged to attend multiple lab meetings in order to better understand the types of research going on in the department and to help nurture their own interests. In addition to considerable and diverse research experience, the developmental area offers a range of courses and seminars taught by our faculty, as well as a weekly speaker series in which our own faculty and students, as well as visitors from other parts of the university and other universities, present their recent work.

In addition to the primary developmental faculty, many faculty in other areas of the Department also have interests relating to development (students are encouraged to consult the web pages of individual faculty). Students are encouraged to attend the courses of and/or to work with faculty members in other areas of our department: clinical, cognitive, neuroscience, and social psychology. There is also considerable developmental research at Yale beyond the Psychology Department, including, for example, the Yale Child Study Center, the Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy, and Haskins Laboratories.  In addition, students in the developmental area, routinely attend weekly talk series in clinical, cognitive, neuroscience, and social psychology as well as talk series in cognitive science. The presence of a vibrant and active community of researchers, interested in all aspects of development, enables students to construct a highly individualized program of study tailored to their specific interests.

Neuroscience

The Neuroscience program area within the Psychology department encompasses a diversity of approaches to the study of the biological basis of mental phenomena and clinical disorders. Faculty within the program use modern neurobiological techniques to study rapid learning and memory formation in rodent models, single unit electrophysiological recording and oxytocin infusion to study social decision-making in non-human primates, structural brain changes and genetic analysis to study the biological basis of mental disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, functional neuroimaging including PET and fMRI studies of decision-making, attention, and memory, and EEG studies from subdural electrodes in epilepsy patients to study visual perception. The methods used by the faculty of the Neuroscience area represent the full range of modern neuroscience, from the molecular to the molar, and the research questions to which these methods are addressed represent the full range of modern psychology and intersect all of the areas in our graduate program. Thus, the Neuroscience area is closely integrated within our graduate training program, and most of the Neuroscience area faculty also advise students in the Cognitive, Development, Social, and Clinical areas.

The Neuroscience program area organizes a Friday lunch speaker series entitled “ Current Works in Behavior, Genetics, and Neuroscience ” where program faculty, students, and invited speakers present their latest research. In addition, there are several other regular speaker series and journal clubs on campus that are particularly relevant to the Neuroscience students. One series organized by the Magnetic Resonance Research Center brings outstanding scientists from around the world to discuss research findings and new methods in functional neuroimaging research. Other relevant series are organized by the Neuroeconomic Forum, the Biological Science Training Program, and the Swartz Neurobiology Center. Special talks organized by the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program are also of great interest. Neuroscience area students can also take advantage of the rich offerings of the nearby Yale University School of Medicine and VA Medical Center.

Applicants to the Neuroscience graduate program area should identify one or more faculty from the area list with whom they are interested in working. Applicants to the other program areas (i.e., Development, Social, Clinical, and Cognitive) may also receive training in neuroscience and can indicate their interest in this by selecting Neuroscience as a second area of focus in their applications.

Social/Personality Psychology

The Social/Personality Psychology program at Yale University has trained research scholars for more than sixty years. Under the influence of Carl Hovland in the 1940’s and 1950’s, the Yale program was concerned primarily with persuasion and attitude change. This group of psychologists, some of whom continue to be active in the Department even today, set the course for the Yale program through their investigation of problems such as the links between frustration and aggression, public opinion formation, and the cognitive basis of social behavior. During these years and the decades that followed, the program remained committed to training students interested in both laboratory-based methods as well as field research. The Social/Personality program has focused on advancing both basic knowledge about intrapersonal and interpersonal processes, while at the same time encouraging applications of these theoretically driven investigations.

Since its inception, the character of the Social/Personality program has been unique in combining four training goals. First, we believe that training students in scientific fundamentals is the most effective way to influence progress in the field of psychology. Second, in addition to a strong emphasis on traditional laboratory experiments as the primary tool of the Social/Personality psychologist, the training focus has also encompassed diverse methodologies such as field experimentation, survey techniques, computer simulation, and case studies (where the “case” might be an individual, group, or organization). Third, the program attempts to foster an awareness among students of the use of applied contexts to test theoretically based ideas. Finally, the faculty in Social/Personality Psychology is committed to an integration of personality processes and interpersonal influences in the study of human behavior. We believe that meaningful analyses of human behavior can best be accomplished when researchers investigate interactions between intrapersonal processes (e.g., emotion, social cognition, motivation, attitudes, and belief systems) and social behavior (e.g., persuasion, communication, decision making, stereotyping, political behavior, health behavior, and intergroup cooperation or conflict).

We believe that research skills are best developed by a program emphasizing supervised independent research with one or more members of the faculty. Although students receive classroom training in the essentials of general psychology theory, research methods, history, and the current literature, they are encouraged from their first days at Yale to develop a program of collaborative research with members of the faculty. There are only a few course requirements, and students are expected to construct a program consistent with their own research interests that includes elective courses in other areas of psychology and in other social science fields. The Social/Personality area meets as a group every Monday for research presentations and discussion. Individuals interested in specific areas of specialization such as political psychology, health psychology, emotion, or social cognition can attend additional weekly meetings of like-minded faculty and students.

Department of Philosophy

Philosophy and psychology combined ph.d. program.

The Philosophy and Psychology Combined PhD Program is a program offered by the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology at Yale. Students enrolled in the program complete a series of courses in each discipline as well as an interdisciplinary dissertation that falls at the intersection of the two. On completing these requirements, students are awarded a PhD either in Philosophy and Psychology, or in Psychology and Philosophy.

Students can be admitted into the combined program through either Psychology or through Philosophy. Students must be accepted into one of these departments (the ‘home department’) through the standard admissions process, and both departments must then agree to accept the student into the combined program.

Students can be accepted into the combined program either (a) at the time they initially apply for admission to their home department or (b) after having already completed some coursework within the home department. In either case, students must be accepted into the combined program by each department, with procedures for acceptance determined by the department’s faculty.

Requirements

(I) Courses

(i) Eight philosophy courses: a suitable course in logic (unless the logic requirement is satisfied in some other way), the First Year Seminar, and two courses in each of the following areas (1) metaphysics, theory of knowledge, philosophy of science; (2) ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, and theory of value; (3) history of philosophy

(ii) Three psychology courses: one in statistics, one in the student’s primary research area and one outside of the student’s primary research area

(II) Empirical research

(i) A first-year research paper in psychology, due in the second semester

(ii) A pre-dissertation research project in psychology, due in the fourth semester

(III) Qualifying papers, due in the fifth semester

(i) One qualifying paper in the history of philosophy

(ii) One thematic paper that involves work in both philosophy and psychology (and would be approved by a faculty member in each department)

(IV) A dissertation prospectus, by the end of the sixth semester

(V) A single interdisciplinary dissertation, conducted under the supervision of faculty both in philosophy and in psychology

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Sarah Lowe, PhD

Contact information.

• Email [email protected]

Research & Publications

Appointments.

• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Sarah Lowe, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health, with secondary appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Nursing. Her research focuses on the long-term mental health consequences of a range of potentially traumatic events, as well as the impact of such events on other domains of functioning, such as physical health, social relationships, and economic wellbeing. Her work explores the mechanisms leading from trauma exposure to symptoms, and the role of factors at various ecological levels – from genetics to neighborhoods – in shaping risk and resilience. She uses a range of methodologies to achieve her research aims, including structural equation modeling, latent growth curve analysis, geospatial modeling, and qualitative analysis, among others. Dr. Lowe received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Boston and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training program at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Education & Training

• Postdoctoral fellow Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (2014)
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Lab members.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Bailey Holt-Gosselin  is a fourth-year PhD student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (INP) co-mentored by Dr. Jutta Joormann and Dr. Dylan Gee. After receiving a BS in Neuroscience from the University of Vermont in 2017, she participated in the Summer Program for Undergraduate Research in Life and Biomedical Sciences (SPUR-LABS) at UCLA, where she investigated effort-based decision making in adolescents under the mentorship of Dr. Adriana Galván. Afterwards, Bailey worked as a research lab manager in Dr. Leanne Williams’ clinical neuroscience lab at Stanford for three years, where she led neuroimaging studies and clinical trials in adults with anxiety and depression. Bailey’s research is focused on elucidating the neural, behavioral, and environmental factors that influence risk and development of psychopathology in children and adults.  Outside of the lab, she likes to dance, explore nature, shop at trader joes, and listen to podcasts on long walks.

Wisteria Deng  is a fourth-year PhD candidate in clinical psychology, co-mentored by Dr. Jutta Joormann and Dr. Tyrone Cannon. After graduating from the University of Michigan, she worked under Dr. Daphne Holt at the Mass General Hospital, where she studied the altered fear mechanisms in people with persecutory beliefs and helped develop mindfulness-based interventions for at-risk college students. Wisteria’s research focuses on examining the cognitive mechanisms shared between psychosis and affective illnesses (e.g., belief inflexibility, emotion regulation), especially at the at-risk stage. She is a clinical extern at the Yale Gender Program and the Behavioral Medicine Service of Yale New Haven Hospital. 

Email:  wisteria.deng@yale.edu  

Jessica (Jessie) Duda is a third-year PhD student in clinical psychology. She obtained her B.A. from Tufts University in 2015 with dual degrees in Economics and International Relations. She worked for several years in the financial services industry before launching her psychology research career. Prior to starting at Yale, Jessie worked with Dr. Diego Pizzagalli at the Laboratory for Affective and Translational Neuroscience at McLean Hospital, where she investigated the neural correlates of stress reactivity in major depression. She is interested in the effects of trauma and life stress across development on cognitive and neurobiological functioning. In her spare time, Jessie enjoys playing the fiddle and hiking in the New England woods.

Email : jessica.duda@yale.edu  

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Yueyue (Lydia) Qu  is a third-year PhD student in the neuroscience area. She earned her BA in Cognitive Neuroscience and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis in 2021. As an undergraduate, she worked with Dr. Ryan Bogdan on projects exploring associations between brain structure and different forms of psychopathology in the ABCD study. She also worked with Dr. Deanna Barch to study transdiagnostic functional connectivity markers of cognitive and clinical symptoms. In her first two years at Yale, her work with Dr. Avram Holmes utilized machine learning models to predict internalizing and externalizing psychopathology from functional connectivity in the ABCD study. Here in the ARC lab, she is interested in studying the neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms by which exposure to early-life stress and traumatic events shapes internalizing symptoms in mood and stress disorders. 

Email:  lydia.qu@yale.edu

Olivia Siegal is a first-year PhD student in clinical psychology. She obtained her B.A. in psychology and Russian from Wesleyan University, where she examined the relation of rumination and emotional memory under the mentorship of Dr. Charles Sanislow in the Cognitive Affective Personality Science Lab. After graduating from Wesleyan, Olivia was a postbaccalaureate IRTA fellow in Dr. Daniel Pine’s Section on Developmental and Affective Neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health, where she studied the transdiagnostic role of inhibitory control in pediatric anxiety. Broadly, Olivia is interested in parsing forms of repetitive negative thinking, such as rumination and worry, in order to understand their impact on executive function as well as their role in mood and anxiety disorders. Outside of the lab, Olivia can be found reading, hiking, doing yoga, and exploring New Haven.

Email:  olivia.siegal@yale.edu

Jihyun Hur is a first-year Ph.D. student in clinical psychology. She is broadly interested in using language, neuroimaging, and behavioral data to understand and predict depression. After graduating with a BSBA in Accounting from Washington University in St. Louis, she completed her MA in Clinical Psychology at Seoul National University supervised by Dr. Woo-Young Ahn. In her MA research, she investigated the association between worry and model-based reinforcement learning. Afterwards, she worked with Dr. Robb Rutledge at Yale for two years and applied computational modeling and language processing to study mood dynamics and future symptom severity in people with depressive symptoms. Jihyun hopes to develop tools to systemically translate multi-dimensional, naturalistic information into low-dimensional data and use them to help individuals with depression and anxiety.

Email : jihyun.hur@yale.edu

Kelley Gunther  was a Susan Nolen-Hoeksema Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale and worked with Drs. Jutta Joormann and Dylan Gee. She completed her B.S.  in Psychology at the University of Maryland working with Dr. Nathan Fox, and post-bac training with Dr. Dima Amso at Brown University. She completed her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Penn State University in 2022, working with Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar and Dr. Charles Geier. Kelley is interested in the interaction between temperamental, attentional, and contextual risk factors for anxiety disorders in children. She also aims to emphasize ecologically valid testing paradigms to better understand how these processes unfold in the “real world” and beyond laboratory environments. Outside of work, Kelley enjoys hiking, traveling, and rock climbing. 

Ashleigh Rutherford  was a 2023 graduate of the Clinical Psychology PhD program at Yale. She graduated from Amherst College in 2016 with an honors degree in Psychology and English. Before arriving at Yale, Ashleigh worked under the supervision of Dr. Diego Pizzagalli at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School multi-modally studying differential reward processing abnormalities that contribute to unipolar and bipolar depression. Her research focuses on cognitive mechanisms—particularly working memory—that may contribute to anhedonia in major depression.

Reuma Gadassi-Polack  was a Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellow in the ARC lab. She received her doctoral degree in Psychology from Bar-Ilan University, and her M.A. in Educational and Clinical Child Psychology (with honors), and B.A. in Psychology and Literature (with high honors) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Reuma’s research focuses on the affective and interpersonal aspects of depression and personality disorders. In the ARC lab, she worked on a project investigating risk factors for depression development. Specifically, she examined affective reactivity and regulation in response to interpersonal events in adolescents at familial risk for depression. To approach these questions she utilized various methods, including cognitive tasks, experience-sampling methods, and brain imaging.

Abigail (Abby) Beech is currently a lab coordinator in the Psychology Department at Tufts University. She graduated from Tufts in 2020 with a B.A. in Biopsychology and Child Study and Human Development, and completed her Master’s in Research in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology at University College London and Yale University in 2022. Overall, she is interested in multimodal research examining internalizing disorders and their biomarkers.

Erica Ho  is a 2022 graduate of the Clinical Psychology PhD program at Yale, and completed her clinical internship at VA Puget Sound, Seattle Division. She received her BA from Cornell University in 2013, with a major in psychology and minors in cognitive science and music. As an undergraduate, she studied the impact of ambiguous social exclusion on mood, under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Zayas. She then worked as a research coordinator under Dr. Michael Milham at the Child Mind Institute’s Center for the Developing Brain, on large-scale studies aiming to discover biological markers of mental health across the lifespan. Here in the ARC Lab, Erica’s dissertation examined ways in which intra- and inter-individual contexts associate with the perception and interpretation of social-emotional signals from others. She uses a range of methods including functional neuroimaging, computational modeling, online behavioral experiments, as well as daily diaries. As of 2022, Erica is a postdoctoral fellow in Rehabilitation Psychology at VA Puget Sound, Seattle Division. There, she is pursuing advanced clinical and research training in service of enhancing the wellbeing and social role participation of individuals with disabilities and chronic medical conditions such as cancer.

Ema Tanovic received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Yale in 2020. She completed her clinical internship at Pennsylvania Hospital/University of Pennsylvania Health System. Before coming to Yale, she graduated with high honors from Wesleyan University in 2014. Broadly, Ema’s research investigates the cognitive, affective, and behavioral mechanisms of anxiety. She is particularly interested in understanding how people respond to uncertainty and how heightened sensitivity to uncertain situations may confer risk for the development of internalizing psychopathology. Her dissertation focused on the development of a novel paradigm to study avoidance under uncertain threat. Ema currently works at The Boston Consulting Group.

Elizabeth (Libby) Lewis  is a 2020 graduate of the Yale Clinical Psychology PhD program. Libby completed internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She received her BA from Cornell University in 2012, with a major in psychology and a minor in music. Before coming to Yale, she worked at NIMH in the Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience with James and Karina Blair, with whom she investigated the neural and cognitive underpinnings of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobia in adults. She uses multiple methodologies, including eye tracking, peripheral psychophysiology, and neuroimaging, to approach questions involving the relation between cognition and emotion in processes that are cardinal to mood and anxiety disorders, such as worry and rumination. Libby is currently a post-doctoral fellow at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

​ Michael Vanderlind received his B.S. in Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin in 2011 and completed his internship at Weill Cornell Medical College/New-York Presbyterian Hospital. His research examines how people respond to positive emotion and how individual differences in the regulation of positive emotion relate to affective psychopathology, particularly major depression. Michael also studies how clinical disorders and emotion dysregulation more generally affect cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and executive control. Michael uses multiple research methods, such as neuropsychological tests, clinical interviews, and electroencephalography, to address these aims. In his spare time, Michael enjoys eating his way through New York City, running along the East River, and returning to New Haven to visit his lab mates.​

Hannah Raila   is currently a postdoctoral research at Stanford University, where she studies visual attention to obsession-related cues in OCD. She received her PhD in 2018 from Yale University, where she bridged cognitive and clinical labs to study how the visual “diet” of information that we consume underlies both positive emotion and psychopathology. To explore such topics, she primarily uses eye tracking, continuous flash suppression (CFS), and behavioral tasks.

Meghan Quinn  is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University. She received her PhD in 2017 from Northwestern University. Her research examines individual differences in stress-sensitive cognitive processes and physiological systems. The goal of this work is to identify factors contributing to depression.

Kimberly Arditte   graduated in 2016 from the University of Miami. She is currently an Advanced Research Fellow in Women’s Mental Health at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Her research focuses on identifying and attenuating transdiagnostic risk, including cognitive, emotional, and trauma-related factors, for affective disorders in women. She is also increasingly interested in trauma-related rumination as a factor that may explain the comorbidity between PTSD and depression and may represent a transdiagnostic target of intervention. She continues to collaborate with Dr. Joormann and other members of the ARC lab on projects related to these interests.

Vera Vine  is currently an NIH T32 Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh/Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. She graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. As a graduate student at Yale, where she earned a doctorate in 2016, she studied the role of emotional awareness in emotion regulation, depressive rumination, and mood-related disorders. Currently her work focuses on the role of self-awareness of emotional and physiological states in predicting emotion regulation difficulties and the prospective onset and course of depression among at-risk individuals.

Catherine D’Avanzato  is currently a psychologist in the Rhode Island Hospital Partial Hospital Program, within the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University Medical School.  She graduated from Northwestern University in 2005 and was a graduate student in the lab from 2007 to 2012.  Her research investigates the role of cognitive and biological processes in difficulties with emotion regulation among individuals with depression and anxiety disorders.  Her dissertation examined the relation between cognitive biases with the effectiveness of reappraisal, indicated by self-reported mood and physiological indices.  Her current research focuses on integrating empirically supported assessment and intervention techniques into routine clinical settings, with the goal of enhancing effective emotion regulation among individuals with these disorders within a partial hospital setting. 

Tanya Tran  is currently a Staff Psychologist at the Rhode Island Hospital Mood Disorders Program.  She graduated with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami in 2012. She recently completed a research fellowship in the Psychosocial Research Program at Butler Hospital through the Alpert Medical School of Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium. The primary goal of her research is to gain a better understanding of how basic cognitive processes and individual differences in emotion regulation (ER) increase vulnerability to, maintain, and hinder recovery from mood and anxiety disorders. By examining cognitive factors which contribute to the onset and maintenance of depression, she also hopes to develop more effective treatment and prevention programs. Currently, she is examining the role of social media sites, such as Facebook, on emotion regulation and their subsequent impact on emotional well-being. She intends to apply this line of research to develop a novel, Internet-based intervention for depression to reach a broader population.

Joelle LeMoult  received her doctoral degree from the University of Miami in 2012 and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University. The overarching goal of her research is to further our understanding of the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of major depressive disorder. Using a multimodal approach, she examines cognitive, biological, and comorbid factors that, in interaction with environmental stressors, contribute to depressive symptoms. A related line of her work aims to translate this knowledge into clinical applications that improve treatment for depression.  

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Post-Doctoral Training Opportunities

In any given year there are typically a substantial number of Yale or Yale-Affiliated Post-Doctoral Fellowships available for psychologists who have completed their pre-doctoral internship and received their doctoral degree. Posted below is a list of the Fellowships that have been identified. Additional Fellowships are added as information becomes available.

The name of each Fellowship is a link to additional information. Efforts are made to periodically update this information, but it may be outdated, particularly if you are accessing this webpage after positions are filled in the spring and before updated descriptions are posted late fall or earlier winter. For the most up-to-date information, reach out to the contact person listed in the Fellowship description. General questions can be directed to the Department's Psychology section office ( [email protected] ).

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In addition to post-doctoral fellowship programs, research centers and individual faculty also offer post-doctoral associate positions within their research programs and centers . Please contact psychology faculty and individual center directors directly to inquire about upcoming openings for additional post-doctoral opportunities.

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Yale Psychology Department Clinic

The Yale Psychology Department Clinic (YPDC), formerly named the Yale Center for Anxiety and Mood Disorders (YCAMD), has operated as the primary departmental clinic for over 25 years. YPDC is located at 40 Temple Street in New Haven, just a few blocks from the Yale Psychology Department. Advanced doctoral students in clinical psychology provide evidence-based assessment and psychotherapy under the supervision of licensed clinical psychologists. Individual, group, couples, and family approaches to treatment are offered. Therapists work collaboratively with clients to identify treatment goals, and draw from a variety of theoretical orientations (cognitive behavioral, dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness and self-compassion based, interpersonal, emotion focused, etc.) to support clients in broadening and deepening skills to reduce distress and move forward in valued directions.

It is important to us that everyone who seeks services at YPDC is treated in a welcoming way. We stand against injustice and racism in all its forms, seek to reduce the psychological burden created by social inequities and discrimination, and strive to build a world that is just and equitable. For resources related to minority mental health and allyship, please see our Diversity and Anti-Racism Resources page.

Fees are determined on a sliding scale. For further information regarding clinic services and/or to set up an initial appointment, please email us at ypdc@yale.edu or call us at (203) 432-4520.

If you would like to deepen skills on your own, please visit our Self-Help Resources page.

If our clinic does not sound like a good fit for you, please visit our Referrals page for other resources in New Haven.

A cartoon of the 5 emotion characters from Pixar’s Inside Out (L to R: Fear, Sadness, Disgust, Joy, Anger) being welcomed into the Yale Psychology Department Clinic. Illustrated by Sonia Ruiz (one of our clinicians!).

Master’s Study in Psychology

Develop the understanding, professional skills and empathetic approaches that are critical for success in psychology with a master’s degree in psychology from Adelphi University in New York.

Three Degree Options

Choose from MA programs in general psychology, mental health counseling, and school psychology. Each offers optional specializations and valuable field placements.

Making Your Degree Affordable

Adelphi and the Derner School of Psychology offer many ways to help you pay for master’s study, including graduate merit scholarships, scholarships for master’s psychology students, teaching assistantships and even employer tuition reimbursement.

A master’s degree in psychology opens doors to a wide variety of careers and can serve as a pathway to a doctorate.

Derner’s master’s in psychology programs give you the knowledge, training, critical reasoning skills and cultural competence you’ll need to excel in your career. Each includes optional specializations to help you focus on your interests:

• General Psychology: Human Resource Management, Substance Abuse Counseling
• Mental Health Counseling: Global Mental Health, Substance Abuse Counseling
• School Psychology: Bilingual School Psychology, Autism Specialization

Our rigorous master’s programs also offer part-time options and flexible schedules to meet our students’ work or family responsibilities.

Graduate Psychology Programs

Exceptional hands-on training.

As a master’s student at the Derner School of Psychology, you’ll gain clinical skills through practica and internships in local healthcare settings, schools, agencies and organizations, and community services offered by Adelphi. You can also gain valuable experience—and earn money to help cover tuition—in graduate assistantships.

Field Placements

Field experience is a vital part of our master’s degree programs, helping you develop the professional skills and the cultural competence to thrive in any working environment.

Graduate Assistantships

Working with faculty, staff and students helps cover the cost of your graduate education. Choose from research, testing or departmental assistantships.

“A number of professors in this program have made a profound impact on my development. The coursework, practica and internship experiences helped prepare me to obtain a job prior to graduation.

Mentoring Future Psychologists

• Our Inclusive Community
• Apply to the Program

Awards & Recognition

Earn Your Master’s Degree at the Derner School of Psychology

Graduate program contacts.

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Educational Psychology: Counseling Psychology PhD

UWM’s PhD specialization in Counseling Psychology follows a scientist-practitioner model that integrates theory, practice and research to give you the scientific knowledge and skills needed to work with multicultural populations across diverse settings.

Our program sets up students for success. Placement rates for our graduates is 100%, and 87% of our graduates are licensed psychologists in various states.

Program Type

Program format, why choose our program.

• Commitment to diversity: In 2013, the Department of Educational Psychology won the American Psychological Association’s prestigious Bersoff Presidential Cultural Award for its success in recruiting and graduating doctoral students from racial/ethnic minorities as well as other countries.
• Location: We’re located in the state’s economic, cultural and career capital, just 10 minutes from downtown Milwaukee and 90 minutes from Chicago.
• Career prep: Since 2008, 88% of our counseling students were matched in internships, compared with the national average of 80%. Most years, it’s 100%.
• Research: Work alongside internationally known faculty as an integral member of their research teams. You may have the opportunity to present your work at national conferences.

Our PhD students are expected to conduct research and to advance the science of counseling psychology through scholarly inquiry. You’ll learn how to apply your scientific knowledge using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Our program, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association through 2029, will prepare you to work as a counseling psychologist in a variety of settings, including universities, hospitals, mental health clinics and private practice.

Note: Due to pending and recent retirements, and funding restrictions that prevent post baccalaureate students from serving as teaching assistants, most faculty will not consider admitting students for 2024 and into the Fall 2024 semester who do not already have a master’s degree.

Counseling Psychology Handbook

For additional information about the program, see the  Counseling Psychology PhD Program Handbook (PDF) .

Student Data

Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data (PDF)

We will assign you a temporary advisor when you are admitted to the program. Once you enter the program, you are free to choose a new advisor who will be the chair of your dissertation committee, or continue with your assigned advisor.

Stipends for teaching or research assistantships at or above 33% time include tuition remission. Stipend salaries vary according to type of assistantship (e.g. teaching, research) and type of student (doctoral, dissertator). For an academic year (nine month) appointment for 2023, stipends are $15,000 for 50% time assistantships and $9,900 for 33% time assistantships.

The following table indicates the type of support given to each cohort of students for the 2022-23 academic year. Assistantships are allocated based on availability of positions, with priority given to first year students, then second year students, and then third year. Students in the counseling psychology program have successfully applied for assistantships in other schools and colleges. After the third year in the program, students are strongly encouraged to seek assistantships through faculty grants or off-campus sources.

Learn more about the Graduate School’s  current assistantship salary schedules .

Counseling Psychology Student Association

Open to all doctoral students in the Counseling Psychology PhD Program, CPSA focuses on student advocacy, professional development, and socialization/peer-to-peer mentorship. Members are also active at the national level (e.g., ACA, APA, APAGS). We encourage all students to get involved.

Career Resources

• Careers as a Counseling Psychologist
• Society of Counseling Psychology
• American Psychological Association
• Licensing Information

The Graduate School provides a range of  resources for student professional development  on its website.

Program Requirements

If you already have a master’s degree, the program involves three years of coursework, a year of dissertation and a year of internship.

Students are required to take 15 credits of courses toward discipline-specific knowledge (psychological foundations), 18 credits of practicum, 13 credits of statistics and 12-18 credits of courses designed to provide profession-wide competencies as a counseling psychologist (Ethics, Interventions, Advanced Multicultural Counseling, Vocational Psychology, Supervision/Consultation and Research).

In keeping with our scientist-practitioner model, we require all students to participate on a faculty member’s research team for two years, registering for ED PSYCH 838 for 12 credits. Many students participate on more than one faculty member’s team, and most students stay involved in research for the entire four years that they are on campus.

Our program is recognized by the state licensing board, and you will be eligible for licensure as a psychologist once you complete the doctorate and the post-doctoral hours required by the state and successfully pass the national licensing exam and state jurisprudence exam.

Application Process

All applications must be completed fully online through the UWM Graduate School’s Panthera Application System .

You should plan to apply a year before you intend to start. Be sure to pay careful attention to the program’s specific deadline.

Final Deadline for Fall Admission : Final application deadline is  Dec. 1  for Fall admission.

Applicants who are invited for interviews will be notified by early January. Applicants will be notified of admissions decisions by mid-February.

• The program requires three letters of recommendation. These letters must be submitted through the application’s electronic recommendation feature by the recommenders themselves. Letters uploaded or sent by the applicant will not be accepted.
• Applicants are also required to submit a writing sample completed within the last five years.

• Associate Professor , Educational Psychology
• Program Director , School and Clinical Mental Health Counseling, MS
• [email protected]
• Enderis Hall 791

• University Distinguished Professor , Educational Psychology
• Mary and Ted Kellner Endowed Chair of Educational Psychology , Educational Psychology
• Program Director , Counseling Psychology, PhD
• [email protected]
• 414-251-8328
• Enderis Hall 773

• Assistant Professor , Educational Psychology
• [email protected]
• Enderis Hall 789

• [email protected]
• 414-251-7057
• Enderis Hall 793

• [email protected]
• Enderis Hall 729

• Professor , Educational Psychology
• [email protected]
• Enderis Hall 753

Kelsey Autin, PhD, Assistant Professor University of Florida Dr. Autin’s research interests include how people find fulfillment in their occupations and how this relates to overall well-being. Within this, she focuses on how people’s identities along with their sociopolitical contexts shape their beliefs about their freedom of work choice and barriers to obtaining decent work.

Nadya A. Fouad, PhD, ABPP, University Distinguished Professor and Mary and Ted Kellner Endowed Chair of Educational Psychology University of Minnesota Dr. Fouad’s research interests include cross-cultural vocational assessment, career development, interest measurement, role of race and social class in development, and cross-cultural counseling. Dr. Fouad is board certified in counseling psychology, and a licensed psychologist in the State of Wisconsin. *Note : Dr. Fouad is not taking on any new doctoral advisees at this time.

Xu Li, PhD, Assistant Professor University of Maryland, College Park Dr. Li’s research interests include (1) the process and outcome of individual and group psychotherapy, particularly in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts, (2) the development and training of therapists and the measurement of therapist competency, and (3) the career development and mental health of college students. With a bachelor’s degree in mathematical sciences, Dr. Li is keenly interested in exploring the use of advanced and novel quantitative methods in counseling psychology research.

Ankita Nikalje, PhD, Assistant Professor Purdue University Dr. Nikalje’s research focuses on systemic issues within the South Asian diaspora and their impact on lived experiences and mental health. She is particularly passionate about the issue of casteism and how caste discrimination continues to be experienced on an institutional, interpersonal and internalized level outside of South Asia. She has theorized Caste Critical Theory (CasteCRIT) and is developing instruments to measure the impact of caste in the diaspora. Similarly, her research also focuses on the impact of colonization, especially as it relates to internalized colonization or colonial mentality among South Asians.

Leah Rouse, PhD, Associate Professor and Electa Quinney Scholar University of Wisconsin-Madison Dr. Rouse’s research interests include trauma psychology, suicidology and mental health issues facing corrections, EMS and military populations, as well as cancer patients, survivors and their families, and American Indian communities. She works from a qualitative and Indigenous framework in research and practice. Dr. Rouse is board certified in counseling psychology, and a licensed psychologist in Wisconsin.

Stephen R. Wester, PhD, ABPP, Professor University of Florida Dr. Wester’s research interests include male gender role conflict, multicultural expressions of masculinity, gender and emotion, and counseling men, as well as the training of counseling psychologists and counseling supervision. Dr. Wester is board certified in counseling psychology, as well as a licensed psychologist in Wisconsin.

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UMass Boston

• Counseling Psychology PhD

Preparing counseling psychologists for advanced careers as scholars and practitioners.

Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association since 2015, UMass Boston's PhD in Counseling Psychology prepares doctoral-level professional counseling psychologists for careers as scholars, university faculty, and practitioners.

Our scientist-practitioner training model prepares students to:

• deliver high quality, evidence-based psychological services and interventions
• employ applied research skills to improve practice and explore social and psychological issues
• serve as effective instructors and teachers
• use innovative approaches to solve problems related to educational and mental health care disparities, improve services for underrepresented populations, and employ systems-level change strategies to advance local and global social justice

Why Apply to UMass Boston's Counseling Psychology PhD Program?

The UMass Boston Counseling Psychology program prepares the next generation of counseling psychology scholars, teachers, and social justice advocates. We believe in the benefits of working with a variety of research methods and theoretical approaches, receiving guidance from multiple mentors, and understanding how to think about human rights and social justice as they apply to local and transnational contexts.

Start Your Application

Plan Your Education

How to apply.

Applicants must meet general graduate admission requirements in addition to the following program-specific requirements:

• Test Scores: Effective 2021, GRE scores are no longer required for admission to the PhD program
• Letters of Recommendation: 3
• Writing Sample: Yes
• Applied master's degree required. We are accepting applications from candidates who will have completed an applied master's program with supervised clinical experience (e.g., Mental Health Counseling, School Psychology, School Counseling, Social Work, and other programs) prior to the Fall admission.
• Minimum of five social science classes (preferably psychology, human development, and statistics)
• Completed project or academic paper
• Statement of purpose: The Statement of Purpose is your opportunity to tell the faculty why you are interested in counseling psychology, to share the reasons why you are applying to UMass Boston in particular, and to describe your training and career goals, as well as how our program may support your progress toward those goals. Many people link their interest to specific faculty expertise as that helps us match applicants to specific faculty for interviews on the interview day.
• Transcripts
• Résumé/Curriculum Vitae

Deadlines & Cost

Deadline: December 1 for fall

Application Fee: The nonrefundable application fee is $75. UMass Boston alumni and current students that plan to complete degree requirements prior to graduate enrollment can submit the application without paying the application fee.

Program Cost Information: Bursar’s Website

Graduate training at the UMass Boston Counseling Psychology Program will prepare students for taking the EPPP (Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology); however, requirements for sitting for the EPPP vary by state licensing boards. The Counseling Psychology Program has reviewed the licensing requirements for all U.S. jurisdictions to determine eligibility (see below). Please note that not all graduates choose to take the EPPP.

U.S. Boards of Psychology in Which Graduates Would Be Eligible to Sit for the EPPP Upon Completion of the Doctoral Program

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia (DC), Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

U.S. Boards of Psychology in Which Graduates Would NOT Be Eligible to Sit for the EPPP Upon Completion of the Doctoral Program Without Additional Coursework

• California: additional coursework in human sexuality; alcohol/chemical dependency detection and treatment; child abuse assessment; spousal/partner abuse assessment, detection, and intervention strategies; aging and long-term care; and suicide risk assessment and intervention is needed.
• Maine: additional coursework in family or intimate partner violence screening and referral and intervention strategies, including knowledge of community resources, cultural factors, evidence-based risk assessment, and same-gender abuse dynamics is needed.
• New York: Unable to determine if a graduate is eligible. The doctoral program must be registered by the New York Licensing Department as licensure qualifying or determined by the department to be the substantial equivalent in accordance with the Regulations of the Commissioner. Please contact the New York Office of the Professions for specific details on the licensure requirements. Note: We have many alumni who are licensed in NY but historically this state has had additional requirements.

The program is designed to take five years of full-time study, including a full-time internship. Students who enter with a master’s degree in counseling or another applied field will have a reduction in required course credits to the extent their master’s level courses match our required courses, however, it is required that students complete a minimum of three years on campus plus internship. The majority of students have completed the program with four years on campus plus one additional year of internship.

Foundational Courses (18 Credits)

• COUNSL 608 - Psychopathology and Diagnosis 3 Credit(s)
• COUNSL 620 - Life Span Human Development 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 641 - Cognitive and Affective Foundations 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 660 - Physiological Bases of Behavior 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 680 - History & Systems in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 705 - Social and Cultural Psychology 3 Credit(s)

Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention Courses (6 Credits)

• COUNSL 614 - Counseling Theory and Practice I 3 Credit(s)

Complete one of the following:

• COUNSL 613 - Vocational Development and Career Information 3 Credit(s)
• COUNSL 615 - Counseling Theory and Practice II 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 706 - Personality Assessment 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 713 - Advanced Career and Group Theory and Practice 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 717 - Advanced Theory and Practice in counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 752 - Health Psychology: Current Theory, Research, and Interventions 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 780 - Supervision and Training in Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 783 - Practicum in Counseling Psychology I 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 784 - Practicum in Counseling Psychology II: Evidence-Based Practice 3 Credit(s)
• PSYCLN 727 - Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy 3 Credit(s)
• SPY G 602 - Standardized Assessment and Report Writing 3 Credit(s)

Research Courses (18 Credits)

• CSP 703 - Research in Counseling and School Psychology 1-6 Credit(s)
• CSP 704 - Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 708 - Intermediate Statistics in CSP 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 770 - Advanced Statistics in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 891 - Dissertation Seminar 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 899 - Dissertation Research 1-9 Credit(s)

Teaching Requirement Course (3 Credits)

• CSP 782 - Teaching in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)

Social Justice & Systems Change Courses (12 Credits)

• CSP 701 - Social Justice in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 702 - Foundations and Ethics in Counseling Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 787 - Advanced Practicum III in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)
• CSP 801 - Transnational Social Justice in Counseling and School Psychology 3 Credit(s)

Graduation Criteria

Complete 73 credits from 19 courses including six foundational courses; two prevention, assessment, and intervention courses; six research courses; one teaching requirement course; and four social justice and systems change courses. Students who enter with a master’s degree in counseling or a related field will have a reduction in required course credits to the extent their master’s level courses match our required courses.

Capstone: Students starting with a Bachelor’s degree must complete a capstone project based on CSP 704 and 708 consisting of a literature review paper on a topic approved by the faculty advisor. Doctoral candidacy: Completion of a qualifying paper, a critical and synthetic review of a focused body of literature in the area in which the student plans to complete the dissertation. Dissertation: Compose and defend a research project (quantitative or qualitative) that makes a substantive contribution to the knowledge base in counseling psychology or school psychology. It is usually completed by the end of the fourth year, although students may choose to complete the dissertation during or following the internship year. Practicum: Participate in two semesters of practicum. Internship: Complete one full-year of Internship. During the fourth or fifth year after having met all course requirements. Teaching: Co-teach at least one semester. Research Team: Participate on at least one faculty-student research team for five semesters.

En Route Master’s Degree: Students may, with the approval of the program director, apply to receive an MA degree en route to the PhD. To qualify, students must complete 36 credits of course work and the capstone project.

Statute of limitations: Eight years.

Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data

Counseling Psychology PhD Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data

Contact & Faculty

Graduate Program Director / Director of Training Sharon Horne sharon.horne [at] umb.edu (617) 287-7495

Counseling & School Psychology Graduate Programs csp.admissions [at] umb.edu

Counseling Psychology PhD Faculty

• Gonzalo Bacigalupe
• Laura A. Hayden
• Sharon Horne
• Sharon Lamb
• Meredith Maroney
• Takuya Minami
• Kerrie Wilkins-Yel

Learn more about faculty, students, alumni, and the program with the Counseling & School Psychology newsletters .

About Our PhD Programs

Hear why our students chose UMass Boston's Counseling & School Psychology PhD programs.

Counseling & School Psychology

Learn more about UMass Boston's Counseling & School Psychology department, our research, and our faculty.

College of Education & Human Development

Learn more about the faculty, research, and programs that make up our College of Education & Human Development.

Accreditation

The Counseling Psychology Program has been continuously accredited since 2015 by the American Psychological Association Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation. Questions related to the program’s APA accreditation status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation American Psychological Association 750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002 Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: [email protected] / Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation