Areas of Specialization

The Program offers students to get a concentration in one of three areas:

Psychological counseling
Child and adolescent counseling
Research in psychology.

Completing each concentration will require:

1) completion of a minimum of 12 credits of elective courses (2 courses) in the given concentration, in addition to the required courses

2) completion of an internship related to a concentration in the amount of 500 hours

The dissertation topics of students can be but do not have to be related to the specifics of the chosen concentration. It is recommended that students choose their concentration during their first semester of study, through consultation with faculty and participation in Research Teams. Students receive supervision related to the concentration-related internships during the Internship Colloquium class and individually from qualified local and international supervisors. Students have an opportunity to get familiar with applied concentration-related work through Graduate Psychology Discussion Club, where local and international experts share their research and practical counseling experience. Upon graduation, students get a certificate on completion of the requirements of a particular concentration, supplemented with an Official Transcript and official Internship Hours Log.

Counseling Psychology provides students with coursework and internship placement aimed at development and master of a range of counseling skills, including core communication skills, work with a diverse population, ethics in counseling, and a range of treatment modalities in counseling. Students completing this concentration can pursue a career in private practice, in a hospital working with a psychiatric patient’s population providing counseling or assessment, in a community mental health center, in an addictions clinic, as a school counselor and in a range of other placements. The following electives are offered within the counseling psychology concentration:

PSY 627: Cultural diversity in counseling

MAPAP 645: Contemporary theories of counseling II

MAPAP 625: Group psychotherapy

PSY 606: Family therapy

PSY 617: Projective methods in personality assessment

PSY 628: Substance use, addiction and counseling

Child and Adolescent Counseling provides students with coursework and internship placement aimed at the development and master of a range of counseling skills applicable for working with adolescents and children. Upon completion of this concentration, students can pursue a career in a child counseling and/or crisis center, at school providing guidance and career assessment services to students and a number of other job placements. The following electives are offered within the child and adolescent counseling concentration:

PSY 613: Child psychopathology

PSY 615: Child and adolescent counseling

MAPAP 670: Applied Behavioral Analysis for Diverse Settings

MAPAP 540: Educational psychology and school environment

(TBA) Groups for children and adolescents

Applied Research in Psychology provides students with coursework and internship placement aimed at development and master of a range of research skills, such as research design, data collection and analysis, participation in a team research project, effective use of quantitative and qualitative methods, writing research grants and grant reports, applying to Institutional Review Board of AUCA. Upon completion of this concentration, students can pursue a career in a research center or institute, as a research assistant to a grant research project, as a teacher of research methods at the undergraduate level, and a number of other job placements. Participation in Research Team for at least 3 semesters and attendance of Graduate Psychology Discussion Club is required to this concentration. The following electives are offered within the research in psychology concentration:

ANTH/PSY/SOC 530: Qualitative methods in psychology

(TBA) Discursive psychology for media and social sciences

PSY 600: Research team (minimum of 3 semesters required)