The vision of the FIU Psychology Department is to achieve recognition as a leading department in the field. The goal is to be nationally competitive and locally relevant -- to attain the balance in teaching and research needed to achieve the University’s goal of serving the people of Southeast Florida, the state, the nation and the international community. In achieving this vision, the mission of the Psychology Department is to:
- Create new knowledge about human behavior
- Apply what we know of human behavior to improve the human condition
- Attract and support top scholars in our discipline
- Educate, train and humanize students
- Serve the community in which we live
- Serve our department, the University, and our discipline
The Department’s vision builds on and contributes to the University vision of FIU one of America's top public urban research universities (FIU: Millennium Strategic Planning). The Department has already made considerable strides in achieving its goal of recognition as a leading department in the field. Within the University, the Department has a distinguished record of scholarly production second to none. Additionally, we have been one of the leading departments in generating external funding for faculty research, the majority of which has been for federally funded knowledge development research programs in the basic and applied arenas. These research accomplishments have contributed to the Department’s growing national and international recognition as a research department of first rank.
The Department contribution to developing innovative programs and models of teaching as well as knowledge development has also been substantial - its undergraduate program is outstanding and its graduate programs have ben rapidly achieving recognition across the discipline. In its degree programs, the Department strives to attain the balance in teaching and research by imparting knowledge through excellent teaching, creating new knowledge through research, and fostering creativity and its expression. To this end, the Department offers a full range of degrees to serve the Department’s over 2400 undergraduate majors and over 150 graduate students.
For its undergraduate program, the Department offers a BA degree in psychology. At this level, the Department offers a full range of courses at both the lower and upper division undergraduate levels. Moreover, the upper division courses include a diverse array of advanced laboratory courses for seniors that offer direct hands-on experience in both the basic and applied arenas of psychology.
At the graduate level, the Department offers an MS and Ph.D. in Psychology, organized into the following five foci: life span developmental science, legal psychology, industrial\organizational psychology, mental health counseling, and behavioral analysis. We offer a terminal masters degree in mental health counseling, behavioral analyses and industrial-organizational psychology. The Ph.D. is offered in life span developmental science, legal psychology and industrial\organizational psychology.
