Psychology is one of the most rewarding career fields around, offering opportunities to help others both in large-scale scenarios and face-to-face counseling. An article in Black Issues in Higher Education named the five programs producing the most African-American psychology graduates in the country. Three of those five were HBCUs, which we’ll review here.
Florida A&M University: Department Of Psychology
Florida A&M was named in not only Black Issues in Higher Education, but also Diverse: Issues in Higher Education and the Tallahassee Democrat as the top-producing psychology HBCU in the country.
The school was founded in 1837 and is home to over 13,000 students on its urban campus. Florida A&M’s Department Of Psychology programs include four degrees with a Black psychology and multicultural emphasis: Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Science in Community Psychology and an Educational Specialist degree (Ed.S.) in school psychology.
On campus, students can participate in a number of organizations to enhance their psychology education. These include academic organizations, professional organizations and organizations with a focus on psychology-based community service.
Hampton University: Department of Psychology
Located on a suburban campus and averaging 5,000 students, Hampton University’s Bachelors degree in Psychology is one of the school’s most popular. In addition, Hampton’s Department of Psychology it is one of the nation’s leading departments for producing African American undergraduate psychology majors.
Hampton’s Graduate College offers two Psychology degrees programs, a traditional Master of Science and a Master of Science with a focus on Marriage and Family Psychology.
Hampton’s School of Education and Human Development currently offers a traditional Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, a Bachelor of Science with a concentration in Marriage and Family Psychology, and will soon be offering a Master of Science in Psychology.
Howard University: Department of Psychology
Founded in 1867, Howard University offers an urban campus setting and the broadest variety of psychology degrees with an emphasis on the African American historical experience.
Their popular Bachelor of Science degree is unique in that highly achieving students can gain admittance into the Ph.D. program. A Masters degree can’t be obtained on its own; it must be obtained through the Ph. D. program. This Masters focuses on clinical psychology, which involves the research, diagnosis and non-drug treatment of emotional and mental disorders, among other things. However, Howard’s Department of Psychology provides psychology degree programs that offer a very diverse range of choices which give students the opportunity to tailor their education to their eventual professional goals.
These focuses are offered at a graduate level and include Cognitive, Developmental, Experimental, Neuropsychology, Physiological and Social Psychology and Personality studies.
Choosing Psychology Degree Programs
While a Bachelors or Masters from any of the numerous HBCU psychology degree programs is extremely valuable, obtaining one from a school known for their psychology department will be an asset throughout your career. It will be especially helpful in seeking your first professional job. Potential employers will have little to base your qualifications on, aside from your degree-related activities, community service activities and, perhaps most importantly, the reputation of the school from which you obtained your degree.
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If you were me, what would you do?
Jocelyn McSayles
Aspirant Auteur
I’m entirely the artist, tired and wearied, yet observant, hopeful, eager to alter the world for a lighter version. My novels are filled with poetry, heart, art, and tales of darkness, depth, homelessness, depression, intimate partner violence, all based upon my interpretations of real events.
I have always had the gift of being a storyteller, and, I have funneled that gift into five manuscripts which I have a desire to publish (as the sixth is a compilation of my poetry), so that the world may have another message, another tale that might inspire, change, and advance this world. I also want to work to end homelessness on a world scale. I just have to find the right way in which to do it.
I have six books that I’m seeking representation and publishing for! I hope to soon follow in the steps of Khaled Hosseini, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, and Richard Wright for the following reason.
I’d say that my books have the realism of Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns), the shock and boldness and accuracy of Richard Wright (Black Boy, Native Son), the poetry of Dr. Maya Angelou and Robert Frost, the bildungsroman of J.D. Salinger, and the perilous romance of Ian McEwan (Atonement). But, too, the passion of myself, the words of a 21st century youth, on the brink of adulthood with the ambition and hopefulness everyone first holds. I hope that you might be able to help me.
In the words of my architecture professor, my desire to be published is like “Horton Hears A Who… you know, you have to believe in it… at some point (praise the Lord ^.^) you’re going to have to hear a Who… at some point, you’re going to have to believe in what you’re doing” and, I believe in this. Thank you for seeking to connect!
. I am 22, right now, and, I have a passion: writing. I have six books in my belt but no one who will actually do anything about helping me in my struggle to have those words published outside of giving me advice to find a literary agent; a seeming impossibility when no one wants to take a risk on the 22 year old newcomer that has not a name. Everyone says be young, follow your passion, yet, when I say that I want to follow my passion, no one wants to help me unlock the door, though they see that my arms are full. What am I to do? Self-confidence and patience won’t help me with loan-repayment. Must I settle in a ten-year job I hate just to pay the bills when I could just do what I love, which is continue writing, if only I could share it with someone other than my jump drive device?
For we who are 22 could use a bit more help and less advice in our lives. I have four years of University and a degree worth of advice from the world’s best scholars and writers, etc. What I need, being currently 22 with six books that no one wants to help publish, is not more words, not more encouragement or people telling me to stick with it, that I can publish the books if I just hold out, or to work a job outside of my interest, just to at least start paying back loans that I cannot afford. What we, the current generation of 22-year-olds, need is not our parents and the prior generations telling us to live and be young, or simply telling us what to do or to believe and hold out. What we need is a bit more than faith in our abilities or that everything will turn out right. Surely, we have that. What we need is someone who has walked the path we are currently treading upon to give us a hand up, not a hand out. Help us to achieve our goals, don’t simply tell us that we c
This is a wonderful article, and thanks very much for sharing! Please, what’s the title of the original article in Black Issues in Higher Education which named the five programs producing the most African-American psychology graduates in the country? I’d like to know the other two programs mentioned. Thanks!