Training Emphasis

The Education and Training Committee of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the American Psychological Association) prepared Guidelines for Education and Training at the Doctoral Level in Industrial-Organizational Psychology (hereafter called, "Guidelines"). The UCF Industrial and Organizational Psychology PhD program is designed to train students according to these American Psychological Association-approved Guidelines.

The Guidelines follow the scientist-practitioner model and a competency-based approach. The Guidelines state that, "taking the scientist-practitioner model seriously means that doctoral education needs to focus on both the theory and application associated with all content areas" (p. 3). All students, regardless of whether they expect to pursue academic or applied careers, must be knowledgeable in theory, research methods, and the application of the content areas to applied practice. The competency areas to be trained include:

1. Consulting and Business Skills
2. Ethical, Legal, and Professional Context of I-O Psychology
3. Fields of Psychology
4. History and Systems of Psychology
5. Research Methods
6. Statistical methods/Data Analysis
7. Attitude Theory, Measurement, and Change
8. Career Development
9. Consumer Behavior
10. Criterion Theory and Development
11. Health and Stress in Organization
12. Human Performance/Human Factors
13. Individual Assessment
14. Individual Differences
15. Job Evaluation and Compensation
16. Job/Task Analysis and Classification
17. Judgment and Decision Making
18. Leadership and Management
19. Organization Development
20. Organization Theory
21. Performance Appraisal and Feedback
22. Personnel Recruitment, Selection, and Placement
23. Small Group Theory and Team Processes
24. Training; Theory, Program Design, and Evaluation
25. Work Motivation

Students should familiarize themselves with the description of each competency area as described on the SIOP website (www.siop.org). Students will develop knowledge and skill in these 25 competency areas through formal course work, internship, independent study, and research experiences.

Our program takes advantage of and builds upon a multitude of university and community partnerships consistent with the mission of UCF as a major urban university. There is also an infusion of diversity throughout the program that accurately reflects the surrounding society and can proactively respond to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce. The program emphasizes cultural diversity by actively recruiting quality faculty and talented students with varied cultural backgrounds, as well as by offering courses that emphasize cross-cultural perspectives and considerations.

Program Goals

Consistent with the Department's Mission Statement, the doctoral program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology's overall goals are to: (a) train and educate leaders in psychology at the doctoral level within the scientist-practitioner tradition; (b) expand and disseminate scientific knowledge about behavior at work through publications in scientific journals, conference presentations, and teaching; (c) strive to apply psychological principles to solve workplace problems and thus improve the quality of individuals' work and nonwork lives; and (d) produce psychologists who understand the ethics, principles and practice of psychology. The overall goals of the training program are consistent with that of the Mission Statement of the Department, the College of Arts and Science, Graduate Studies, and the University.

Overview of Curriculum Goals

The Industrial and Organizational Psychology Doctoral Program curriculum plan (a) provides extensive coverage of and a strong grounding in the substantive core areas of psychology, (b) develops a foundation of knowledge relevant to critical thinking, scientific methods, and data analysis, (c) develops general and specific competency areas specified by SIOP, (d) provides multiple opportunities for students to develop the necessary skills and ambition to generate new knowledge through ongoing research and scholarly activities, (e) develops a foundation of knowledge and requisite skills in career-relevant domains. The integration of science and practice is achieved in several ways. Students are actively engaged in ongoing activities related to research such as literature reviews, the design and implementation of empirical investigations, data collection and analysis, psychometric design and evaluation of measures, and program evaluation.

Diversity

We have very diverse faculty and student body in the I/O Psychology Program. Out of our 7 core faculty members, 3 are female, 1 is Native American, and 1 is Hispanic. As of Fall 2005, the Ph.D. program has 37 students. Twenty-seven of the 37 students are female, and 15 (41%) of the students are from diverse ethnic backgrounds (8 African Americans, 4 Asians, and 3 Hispanics). Three are international students (1 from Japan, 1 from China, 1 from Malaysia), and over 50% of our students did their undergraduate work outside of the state of Florida.

Internships and Employment
Some Internships and Employers of UCF Students and Graduates

• Army Research Institute
• Booz Allan Hamilton
• City of Lakeland
• City of Orlando
• Disney
• Educational Testing Service
• Ford Motors
• IBM
• Institute for Simulation and Training
• NavAir
• Orlando Regional Hospital
• Personnel Decisions Inc
• Publix
• RSK
• Sears
• Talent Keeper
• Universal Studios
• UCF Department of Psychology
• Workforce Central Florida