Want to know more?    Contact Barbara Fritzsche    407-823-5350    bfritzsc@mail.ucf.edu

June 8, 2005 -- The University of Central Florida's Industrial-Organizational Psychology faculty ranked first nationally in overall productivity in a study reported this spring at the 20th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

The productivity study shows that UCF's I-O Psychology doctoral program rated first in overall faculty productivity during the period of 2001-2004 and second for overall faculty productivity during their entire careers. The I-O Psychology program also ranked third in average faculty productivity.

The study, "Ranking of the U.S. I-O Graduate Programs," was presented by Wayne State University graduate students Ludmila Zhadnova and Malissa Carpenter and Assistant Professor James LeBreton. They calculated productivity based upon the number of quantity of high-quality research publications each faculty member authored. The study evaluated faculty productivity in four ways: the three ways discussed above and one addition measure. The first three measures awarded points for faculty publications in the top-ten highest-quality journals in the field-from 2001-2004, over each faculty member's entire career, and averaged across the program. The forth measure was similar but awarded additional points for student authorships.

The University of South Florida ranked third in overall faculty productivity, both during the 2001-2004 period and for faculty member's total careers. Florida International University ranked 14th in overall productivity between 2001-2004 and 20th for overall career productivity. The University of Florida does not offer a doctoral I-O degree and, consequently, was not included in the study.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology is the study of human behavior in work settings. UCF's I-O Psychology program specializes in the study of organizational productivity, work motivation, job satisfaction, team effectiveness, workplace mentoring and several other topics.

Though the program is only a few years old, UCF's I-O Psychology program has already received national attention for its quality. In addition to this most recent study, UCF was also ranked the fourth most productive program at the annual Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Graduate Student Conference, and two faculty members were ranked among the 100 most published authors in the Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology. UCF I-O Psychology students have won several national awards, including the 2003-04 Harold T. Gulliksen Psychometric Predoctoral Fellowship and the 2005 American Psychological Association/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology.

For more information about the UCF I-O Psychology program, go to www.psych.ucf.edu or call 407-823-3919.