Psychology

Are you interested in applied psychology and careers such as a counselor, school psychologist, or social worker? Or are you interested in experimental psychology, and advanced graduate training in neuroscience, clinical, cognitive, or other sub-fields within psychology? Here is some advice for planning your undergraduate coursework and experience.

Research experience is a key aspect of preparation for graduate school and for many careers in psychology. Here is some information on different types of research experience opportunities for students, and some information on the capstone research experience for both on-campus and online students.

Earning the Psychology Degree at a Distance

Contact Person: Prof. DeAnna Timmermann, dtimmerm@eou.edu  541 962-3679

Course Sequences

Plan your Psychology degree program early in your undergraduate career.  The Psychology Program has been purposively designed to follow a course sequence model.  General Psychology (PSY 201 & PSY 202), Writing in  Psychology (PSY 222), and Introduction to Laboratory Methods (PSY 223) should be taken during your first year at EOU.  Writing in Psychology (PSY 222) should be completed either before or concurrently with your first 300-level psychology core knowledge elective course.  After the completion of those courses, PSY 303, Statistics & Experimental Design (STAT 327) and one other 300-level Psychology elective course, you should submit an Admit to Program form (listed under “Psychology Online”) for approval.  All 25 credits of 300-level Psychology electives should be completed before you take the capstone course(s).

Please contact Dr. Timmermann for any advising questions specifically related to the online Psychology program.

Program Requirements

1. EOU Online students must be admitted to the Psychology Program. Program admission requires the successful completion (a grade of C- or higher) of the following courses: PSY 201, PSY 202, PSY 222, PSY 223, STAT 327, PSY 303, and one other 300 level psychology course offered by Eastern.

• Transfer courses from another college or university must be approved by a member of Eastern’s psychology faculty. This approval must be documented on your program admission form.
• The program admission forms are available from the Advising website list (“Admit to Program Psychology Online”) and should be completed with your advisor.  Admit to Program forms should be submitted to Dr. Timmermann (dtimmerm@eou.edu) as soon as the required coursework for program admission has been successfully completed; do not submit the form if the required courses have not been finished. Psychology program admission is used to plan for the offering of the capstone courses. It is very important to complete the required coursework and the Admit to Program form early in the student’s program of study. 

2. All psychology majors are required to take STAT 327, statistics. Upper division (300 or 400 level) statistics courses taken at another college or university may substitute for STAT 327. If you want a course to be considered a substitute, contact the chair of the EOU Psychology Department. This substitution must be documented on your program admission form.

3. All 400 level psychology courses have 300 level prerequisites.     These prerequisites must be completed before enrolling in a 400 level course and can not be taken concurrently.  If you have taken an upper division (300 level) course at another university that you believe meets the prerequisite for a 400 level course at Eastern you must receive this approval in writing (or email) from the 400 level course instructor before registration.

4. All of Eastern’s programs require the completion of University Writing Requirements (UWRs). UWRs are writing intensive courses. For psychology these are: PSY 222 (writing for psychology), PSY 461 or 450 (capstone course), and either PSY 335 (cognitive psychology) or PSY 370 (personality). The PSY 222 course should, if possible, be taken prior to the upper-division psychology courses.

5. The Psychology capstone has three options: PSY 461 which has a prerequisite of PSY 460, PSY 450, or PSY 403 (additional criteria). The 460 and 461 courses are currently offered Fall (PSY 460) and Winter (PSY 461) terms, respectively, and are limited in enrollment. PSY 460 is the prerequisite course for the degree capstone course PSY 461. Another option is the PSY 450 capstone course which is offered in Spring term.  A third possibility is the PSY 403 Honors thesis option, but this requires that students meet a GPA requirement within Psychology and have a full-time faculty member in Psychology who is willing to advise their individualized project. The 460, 450, or 403 courses have a prerequisite of all the courses needed for an approved Admit to Program Psychology online form (see Advising website) AND the completion of 25 credits of 300-level PSY electives.   Thus, a student must complete the required coursework to submit an Admit to Program form, as well as 25 credits of 300-level PSY electives, before the first term of the capstone sequence (for PSY 460/461) or before the term of the capstone (PSY 450).

Process to Request Registration for Restricted and Closed Online Psychology Courses

A. Restricted Courses: If a course has open spaces available, a student may find that he/she cannot register for the course through Webster because of a Student Attribute Restriction. A course may be restricted due to class level (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.), a needed major/minor declaration, a needed modality status (online vs. on campus), a suppressed CRN, or some other reason. Currently, for online PSY 222 and PSY 223 courses, as well as for upper-division online psychology courses, students need to be online students who are declared as Psychology majors or minors to register through Webster. If a student would like to request instructor permission to register for a restricted online psychology course with available spaces, an email needs to be sent to the instructor of the course with the following information:

• Name and EOU ID#
• Whether you are primarily an online or on-campus student
• Expected graduation date
• The psychology course in which registration is requested
• The reason(s) for the need for that particular course (for program requirements, course not offered in another modality, personal interest, counts for other program, etc.)
• Institution and term at which any prerequisites for the course (as stated in the EOU catalog) were completed with a grade of C- or higher.

B. Closed Courses: If a course does not have open spaces available, a student can email the instructor of the course to request permission to register for the course. The information in the above list needs to be included in the email request. If permission is granted to add the course, a completed Registration Form (available here) needs to be emailed to the instructor as an attachment. Please note – although Psychology faculty try to accommodate needs for graduating Seniors and new Transfer students, faculty load issues limit the ability of faculty to add students to courses over their set limits.