Newsletter
Volume 31 | 2008 | Number 2
The Behavior Analysis Program at West Virginia University
By Dr. Kennon A. Lattal
The Behavior Analysis Program in the Department of Psychology at West Virginia University (WVU) offers doctoral level training in both the experimental analysis of behavior and in applied behavior analysis. The program also will initiate in the fall semester of 2008 a terminal Behavior Analysis Master of Arts degree. Graduates of the latter program will be eligible to sit for the BCBA examination without further course or practicum work.
WVU’s Psychology Department is a recent recipient of both an APA Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology Award for Innovation in Graduate Education, for its development of the junior colleague training model, and an ABAI Sustained Programmatic Contributions to Behavior Analysis award. Both of these awards recognize the Department’s focus on its graduate students. The doctoral program also is accredited by ABAI.
The Program’s home is in the University’s new Life Sciences Building, where it enjoys state of the art classrooms, laboratories, offices, and computing facilities. There are six faculty members in the program, all holding doctoral degrees and representing a broad spectrum of behavior-analytic expertise. Their combined experience includes numerous research grants, professional organization leadership positions, journal editorial positions, and awards for teaching, research, and service. Detailed information on each faculty member may be viewed at the program’s Web site, the address for which is provided in the last paragraph below.
Currently, there are 19 doctoral students and two MA students in the program. Countries other than the United States represented among our recent graduate students and visiting students are Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, and Venezuela. The curriculum includes course work, applied practica, and research experiences that ensure students are well versed in all aspects of contemporary behavior analysis. Doctoral students are expected to participate in research throughout their time in the program, including presenting their research at professional meetings and thereafter publishing it. All students in the MA program and doctoral students seeking applied expertise participate in a range of practicum experiences in various community agencies and local school systems, arranged by faculty members.
As part of the junior colleague training model, students have a voice in program and Department governance. Every Department committee has at least one student who is a full voting member—including committees that recruit new faculty members and the committee that evaluates faculty members for promotion, tenure, and merit raises. Under this model as well, students often choose to work with more than one faculty member during their tenure in the program (although most conduct their thesis and dissertation research with their primary advisor).
Full program information, including application materials, curriculum information, and information about the faculty and present students is available at the Program’s Web site: http://www.wvu.edu/~psychology/graduateprogram/index.htm.