Graduate Programs

The Clinical Psychology program follows a well-balanced scientist-practitioner model, and is fully accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association. Students have access to a wide variety of practicum placements (e.g., child, adolescent, adult, family, community-based out-patient services, university-based counselling services, hospital-based in-patient services, and forensic services). Our students benefit from having close working relationships with their research supervisors, and usually secure their top choices of pre-doctoral internship placements. Our website contains many details about the program.

• Clinical Psychology

The Applied Social Psychology stream is an innovative area of concentration emphasizing the integration of theory, research and practice in an effort to understand social problems and improve social conditions through program and policy development. Students are trained to carry out basic and field research and to serve as research and evaluation consultants in a variety of community and organizational settings. Programs of study are available at both the Master's and the Ph.D. levels. In addition to course work and independent research, each student completes supervised practica and internship placements available in a wide range of areas including health, mental health, education, and criminal justice.

• Applied Social Psychology

The Cognition and Neuroscience stream is intended for students who wish to focus primarily on basic experimental research and theoretical issues, as opposed to applied training. Most faculty in this area have research funding from national granting agencies and they work very closely with graduate students in a wide variety of research topics. Facilities are state-of-the art for working with human subjects. Current faculty interests range broadly within cognitive processes, psycholinguistics, fMRI, neuropsychology, and behavioral and systems neuroscience.

• Cognition and Neuroscience

The Culture and Human Development stream seeks to understand developmental processes in cultural context and across the lifespan. It is built upon interdisciplinary research and training with primary strengths in developmental, social, and clinical psychology as well as cultural and medical anthropology. The program emphasizes qualitative as well as quantitative research approaches, and research in both the local and global contexts.

• Culture, Health and Human Development

The Department of Psychology and Health Studies is committed to increasing the teaching skills of its graduate students, and recognizing the hard work and talent of students in our graduate program.

Graduate Teaching Fellowships (GTFs) and related top-up awards serve the following purposes:

• Giving students teaching experience, preferably in a developmental sequence of tasks such as marking assignments, consulting with students outside of class, developing lab activities and assignments, lecturing, and compiling grades.
• It is the hope of the department that teaching assistantships will cumulatively be a valuable developmental experience for graduate students, leading toward teaching and leadership.
• Helping to fund the cost of graduate studies for many of our students.
• Giving the department access to skilled administrative assistance.
• Helping to cover the undergraduate teaching needs of the department

A "full" GTF consists of approximately $18,000, with a 240 hour work requirement during the September through April period.

The fundable years are as follows:

• Clinical Psychology and Cognition and Neuroscience: 1 year in the M.A. program plus 3 years in the Ph.D. program
• Applied Social Psychology: 2 years in the M.A. program plus 2 years in the Ph.D. program
• Culture and Human Development: A student transferring from a M.A. to a Ph.D. after 1 year is eligible for 1 year of M.A and 3 years of Ph.D. funding, while a student transferring during their second year is eligible for 2 years of M.A. and 2 years of Ph.D. funding

Students are expected to apply for external awards with the support of their supervisors.

GTF requirements and duties GTF holders must be full-time students in good standing making satisfactory progress in their program; for entering students, their GPA will be calculated on the last two complete years of coursework or equivalent and be at least 80%. The GPA for courses done during the period in which the GTF is held must be at least 75%. For students continuing in the program, the GPA will be based on courses taken while in the graduate program.

The work performed by Graduate Teaching Fellows requires very high standards of integrity and professionalism. In their role as Teaching Assistants (TAs), graduate students are expected to keep scheduled appointments and to complete work assignments in a professional, meticulous, and timely manner. TAs are obliged to provide rigorous and fair evaluation of student performance, and to maintain strictly professional relationships with students while they are under TA tutelage. It is important to avoid any personal bias in marking. TAs should communicate clearly their expectations and demands, and be responsive to the requests and needs of the students. Any difficulties that arise in connection with work assignments or student interactions should be brought to the immediate attention of the work supervisor (e.g., the course instructor). Specifically, if they have difficulties with solving a problem, they should always contact the instructor and inform him or her about the students' requests, together with the decisions and promises they communicated to the students.

Students serving as TAs may be asked to:

• Prepare and teach one or more class sessions, with assistance from the instructor
• Attend specific class meetings
• Mark exams, papers and assignments based on standards provided by the instructor
• Provide consultation or tutoring on course material to individuals or small groups of students
• Help to assemble course material
• Proctor exams (supervise writing, vigilance for academic dishonesty, ensure all necessary exam materials are returned to instructor)
• Develop the skills and knowledge needed to teach an undergraduate course independently after the comprehensive exams are completed

Students serving as teaching assistants should take an active role in communicating about the work with the instructor. For example, they should negotiate dates and times for work to be done, and let the instructor know about their other work demands (coursework, research and practicum) so that these can be taken into account in assigning duties. That said, TAs should recognize that their work will not always come at the ideal time and it has to get done anyway. TAs should not be expected to work more than an absolute maximum of 20 hours in any single week (counting all TA obligations together), as this would interfere with their work on their own studies and would contravene their obligations as full-time students. This maximum should not be reached more than once in a term. The normal limit should be 10 hours or less. Instructors in charge of TAs should plan to accommodate these limits.

1. The supervisor arranges for the Advisory Committee to meet and agree that the thesis is ready for the oral examination, as required by CGSR.
2. The supervisor provides information to the Graduate Administrator for the approval of appointing an external examiner. CGSR must be notified a minimum of three weeks prior to the desired oral defence date.
3. The supervisor informs the Graduate Administrator of the date and time of the oral examination, and she will book a Zoom meeting or book a room if it will be in-person.
4. The student will email the Graduate Administrator their thesis in PDF format for distribution.
5. The Graduate Administrator will create the necessary forms for the defence.
6. Following a successful defense, it is the responsibility of the student to apply for graduation and upload their thesis to the ETD site.

1. The supervisor arranges for the Advisory Committee to meet and agree that the thesis is ready for the oral examination, as required by CGSR.
2. The Graduate Administrator will find a Committee Chair.
3. The supervisor advises the Graduate Administrator as soon as the student's Advisory Committee determines the student's thesis is ready for defence.  The supervisor provides her with the following: a CV and email address for the first of choice of External Examiner to be submitted to the CGSR, date and time of the defence five weeks prior to the defence.
4. The Graduate Administrator will book a Zoom Meeting or a room if the defence will be held in person.
5. The student emails the Graduate Administrator their thesis in PDF format for distribution.
6. At least seven days prior to their defence, students must provide a Dissertation Summary to a CGSR Programs Advisor.
7. Following a successful defense, it is the responsibility of the student to apply for graduation and upload their thesis to the ETD site.

Note: It is important that the student have no contact with the external examiner prior to the defense.