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Frequently Asked Questions
Please be sure to check
out the FAQ maintained
by the department of psychology.
1. General
2.
Funding
3.
Faculty
4.
Academic Related Questions
1. General
What is developmental psychology?
The graduate program in Developmental Psychology prepares individuals for
careers aimed at enhancing our understanding of human development across the
lifespan. Consistent with the scientist-practitioner model guiding all
graduate programs in the department, Developmental students are encouraged to
cultivate a broad, basic knowledge of psychology, to obtain a solid
background in statistics and research methodology, and to be involved
actively in research efforts throughout their course of study.
What are
the admissions requirements for the developmental psychology program?
Students are admitted who are strong academically, show an aptitude for
research, and whose interests match well with the interests of a program
faculty member. Students who are particularly interesting in working with a
specific faculty member are encouraged to contact that faculty member.
Students whose interests do not coincide with the foci of the developmental
program will generally not be considered for admission.
What are
the career options available to developmental psychologists?
The flexibility in program design offered by the individual committee system
provides a range of opportunities to develop competence in areas such as
college/university teaching and research in basic and applied settings.
How are
graduate students selected for the NC State Developmental program?
In selecting students for the graduate program in Developmental Psychology,
both traditional academic qualifications and relevant research-related
experiences are considered, along with the match between the applicant's
research interests and those of the faculty.
How do I
apply?
NC State University no longer distributes/uses paper application packages;
all applications are handled through the Graduate School and the on-line
application system at: http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/grad/applygrad.htm If you need
to contact the Graduate School for any other reason, you may do so by
telephone (919-515-2872) or by writing to: The Graduate School, NC State
University (Box 7102), Raleigh, NC 27695-7102.When is the
application deadline?
The deadline for Fall enrollment is Jan 15. (Important Note:
Applications and all supporting documents must be received on or before the Graduate
School Deadlines or the Program Deadlines, whichever is earlier. In
cases where deadlines shown below do not explicitly distinguish international
from domestic deadlines, the Graduate
School deadline for
internationals takes precedence where it is earlier.)
Who is the
Psychology Graduate School Program Director? How can I contact the director?
Psychology Graduate School
Program Director: Donald H. Mershon
Campus Box: 7801, North Carolina
State University, Raleigh,
NC 27695
Phone:(919) 515-1724
Fax: (919) 515-1716
Email: psych@ncsu.edu
What exams
are required?
GRE required, Psychology GRE recommended. The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is
not required but is strongly encouraged.
What are
the steps to earning a graduate degree?
Consult pages 9-16 of the Psychology
Graduate Student Handbook for a detailed table of the process.
2. Funding
What are the different types of financial aid available for
graduate education?
There are a variety of funding opportunities available to graduate students.
The four basic types of assistance are fellowships, teaching/research
assistantships, federal work study and loans. Please view information
provided by The Graduate School about the types of funding
available for graduate education.
Where can
I find out more about financial aid available to NC State students?
NC State provides information on financial aid through the Office of Scholarships
& Financial Aid. There is also information available through the College
of Humanities & Social Sciences (CHASS) Financial Aid. You can
also find fellowship information available to NC State
Graduate Students.
What
external agencies provide funding?
Funding is also available through the National
Institutes of Health or the National
Science Foundation.
What
national fellowships are available?
Nationally Competitive
Graduate Student Fellowships
Where can
I get the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)?
The FAFSA is available online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/index.htm.
3. Faculty
Who are the faculty and what are their research interests?
Dr. Jason Allaire
Dr. Allaire's primary research interests are in the field of aging and can be
characterized by four main foci: 1)the real-world functioning of older
adults, with an emphasis on the relationship between basic cognitive
abilities, everyday cognition, and everyday functioning; 2) antecedents of
individual differences in elders' basic cognitive functioning; 3) the
modifiability of the aging mind, with particular interest in the adaptive,
real-world outcomes of cognitive intervention; 4) and short-term
intraindividual variability in cognitive functioning.
Dr. Lynne Baker-Ward
Dr. Baker-Ward is a cognitive developmentalist whose interests remain at the
intersection of basic and applied research.
Her work focuses on issues in memory development, including
children’s abilities to provide legal testimony. With graduate students
in the M&ND (Memory and Narrative Development) Laboratory, she is
currently examining the development of autobiographical memory. Their on-going projects include: (1) an
examination of changes across the life span in narrative coherence and the
inclusion of internal states language in reports of emotional experiences;
(2) investigations of age-related changes in memory representations and their
implications for memory and suggestibility; (3) explorations of memory for
trauma; and (4) research on autobiographical memory in special populations,
including children with Asperger Syndrome.
More broadly, Dr. Baker-Ward remains intrigued with questions
regarding cognitive diagnosis, the malleability of cognitive development, and
the origins of cognitive competence.
Dr. Amy Halberstadt
Dr. Halberstadt is a social psychologist and she studies how individuals
develop their behavioral and emotional styles and their social interaction
skills. Her newest interest is in family relationships. Specifically, she is
interested in a) anger within families and how it is experienced and
expressed in the various parent-parent/parent-child relationships;
b)children's and adult's beliefs about emotions, and c)raising children in
more gender-free ways. For all of these domains, she is interested in
process. For example, with regard to children's beliefs about emotion, she is
interested in how parental emotional expression affects children's beliefs
and how that in turn affects their behavior with others.
An early but continuing
interest is how individuals develop their nonverbal behaviors and nonverbal communication
skills. She has investigated the development of gender, race, class, and
power differences in spatial behavior, eye gaze, smiling, multichannel
messages, and decoding (judging) and encoding (sending) skill. Also, as
co-developer of a gender-roles inventory for children, Dr. Halberstadt
continues to be interested in gender-role issues in general.
Dr. Thomas Hess
Dr. Hess is primarily interested in the effects of aging on cognition.
Specifically he is studying normal changes that occur with age in cognitive
functioning in adulthood, and the relationships of these changes to
performance in other domains. An overall goal is to identify the extent to
which changes in cognitive performance reflect aging-associated deficits or
normal adaptation. He is currently interested in examining how age-related
changes in cognitive skills affect functioning in social contexts. For
example, he is examining how changes in both the individual's knowledge of
the world and their cognitive skills affect the impressions they form of
people and what they remember about them. He is also studying the role of the
social context in determining age differences in cognitive performance. Of
specific interest is the impact of stereotype threat on older adults' memory
performance. Secondary research interests involve older workers and human
factors and aging.
Dr. Shevaun Neupert
Dr. Neupert’s research interests are in the
field of adult development and aging, with an emphasis on the contexts and
predictors of well-being across the adult lifespan. She examines not only the
cross-sectional differences between people, but also the changes within
people over time. Her research often incorporates daily diary designs to
answer questions regarding the importance of daily stressors, beliefs,
appraisals, and sociodemographic characteristics on differences and changes
in well-being. In particular, her
program of research focuses on three main themes: (a) cognition and
metacognition; (b) the impact of stressors on health; and (c) statistical and
methodological techniques for examining change and intraindividual
variability.
What are the backgrounds of the
developmental faculty?
Dr. Jason Allaire
Dr. Allaire's joined the faculty in August of 2003 as an Assistant Professor
in the Developmental Psychology program. Dr. Allaire earned his Ph.D. in
Lifespan Developmental Psychology in 2001 from Wayne State
University in Detroit, Michigan.
Upon completion of his doctorate, he completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at
the Center for Developmental and Health Genetics at The Pennsylvania State
University.
Dr. Lynne Baker-Ward
Dr. Lynne Baker-Ward, Professor of Psychology, joined the faculty in
1985. Dr. Baker-Ward grew up in rural Western North Carolina, and became interested in the
effects of early experience on cognitive development when she was a student
volunteer with a Head Start program.
This experience led her to major in psychology when she enrolled at Wake Forest
University. Following work experiences in developmental
assessment and contract research, she continued her training in basic and
applied developmental psychology at UNC-CH and at the Frank Porter
Graham Child
Development Center,
earning her Ph.D. in 1985. Her teaching responsibilities include
undergraduate courses in child psychology and graduate courses in theories of
development, and cognitive development.
Dr. Baker-Ward serves as the area coordinator for the developmental
psychology program, and has been active in a number of University service
activities focused on teaching improvement.
She is a member of the executive committee for the Center for
Developmental Science and currently serves on the editorial board for the
journal Child Development.
Dr. Amy Halberstadt
Dr. Halberstadt received an A.B. from Colgate University
(1976) and an M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1981) from The John Hopkins University.
After 19 continuous years of being a student, she apprenticed with a master
cabinetmaker for a year, but returned to Hopkins to complete her dissertation
(1981). She served time as an Assistant Professor at Vassar College
(1981-1988) with a sabbatical at the Institute for Child Study at the University of Maryland, College Park (1986-1987). At NCSU, she
teaches developmental psychology and the psychology of gender at the
undergraduate level, and social development through the life span and
psychology of gender at the graduate level. A socialization perspective
characterizes her orientation to her research areas: beliefs about emotion,
experience and emotion expression; affective social competence, and gender in
language. She is co-editor of Explorations in Social Psychology (1994) and
Social Psychology Readings: A Century of Research (1990). At NC State she is
also on the Executive Council for Women and Gender Studies and is a
University Harassment Resolution Officer. Besides psychology, her interests
include her two children, gardening, and working on her new home.
Dr. Thomas Hess
Dr. Hess received his M.A. (1977) and Ph.D. (1980) in Developmental
Psychology from Southern Illinois University, and obtained his B.S. from Pennsylvania State University.
Prior to joining the faculty at NCSU, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow for two
years at the Duke
University Center
for the Study of Aging and Human Development. Dr. Hess teaches courses at
both the undergraduate and graduate levels in developmental psychology (e.g.
aging, lifespan development). He and his wife, Erica Wise, currently reside
in southern Durham
County. When not too
busy with his children (Stephanie and Peter), Dr. Hess spends his time pursuing
his non-psychology interests, which include introspective studies concerning
variable-ratio reinforcement effects in golf, messing around on his
12-string, and contemplating the New River.
Dr. Shevaun Neupert
Dr.
Neupert joined the faculty in August of 2005 as an Assistant Professor in the
Developmental Psychology program. Dr.
Neupert earned her B.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University
(1998), her M.S. in General Psychology from Western Washington
University (2000), and
her Ph.D. in Family Studies and Human Development (2003) from the University of Arizona. Upon completion of her doctorate, she
completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Psychology at Brandeis University.
For faculty outside of
the developmental department consult pages 5-8 of the Psychology
Graduate Student Handbook.
4. Academic Related Questions
How many credit hours are required for full-time graduate
student status?
A full-time course load in fall and spring semesters is 9-15 credit hours
(including audits). Students enrolled for summer session are considered full
time when taking 3-6 credit hours per session (including audits).
What
courses do I need to take?
All developmental students must take PSY 584 within their first semester of
enrollment. Students are also required to take PSY 785 (offered even-numbered
Springs) within the first two years of study. Developmental students are also
required to take PSY 786 (even-numbered springs), PSY 787 (odd-numbered
springs), PSY 788 (even-numbered falls) and PSY 789 (odd-numbered falls)
during the first three years of their program. Students should be aware that
PSY 584 satisfies one of the Departmental core course requirements. In
addition, PSY 785 will fulfill the additional statistics/method course
requirement at the doctoral level. Students are also strongly encouraged to
take PSY 591 (History & Systems) if they have not had such a course prior
to entering the NCSU graduate program.
There are separate plans
of study for both the M.S. and Ph.D. which include a minimum of 36 credit
hours. Students who have obtained their master's degree from another
university must have a minimum of 54 hours in their Doctoral plan of study.
Each plan must include at least 24 hours of courses (not directed study,
research or teaching).
How do I
register for courses?
Students utilize the TRACS
Schedule of Courses to determine the courses that are available. Then
students utilize the TRACS
Link system to register.
What is
the Developmental Area Seminar?
Developmental students are expected to attend and participate in the
Developmental Area Seminar, an informal series (held on Wednesdays from 12:15-1:30 every other week) at
which students and faculty meet to discuss ongoing research, development
projects, and professional issues. Every member of the Developmental program
will be responsible for presenting at one session, with sessions assigned
according to seniority; faculty first, followed by senior and then junior
students. Students will register for 1 credit of PSY 820D during the Spring
semester, with an S/U grade being assigned based on attendance and
involvement during both semesters.
The Developmental Area
Seminar is a biweekly meeting of all faculty and registered students in the
Developmental program. There are several goals for the seminar. Its primary
intent is to provide an intellectual community for Developmental scientists
at NC State. A secondary goal is to enhance the professional development of
students within a collegial group, and a tertiary goal is to allow faculty to
provide formative feedback regarding the quality and direction of students'
research programs at a time when it is most valuable.
Student presentations
should focus on their current and planned research, with an emphasis on the
generative aspects of the research process. That is, their presentation
should focus more on thoughts about specific issues that are relevant to the
formulation of their conceptual and empirical framework for future work than
on reports of completed research.
What is a
Plan of Work?
The basic form for submitting a Plan of Work (including the identification of
one's Graduate Advisory Committee, the topic of the thesis or dissertation,
and the courses which need to be taken) is a university document. To submit a
POW for approval by the Director of Graduate Programs, students must also
provide a properly completed and signed Checklist. These checklists are
intended to confirm that both the student and his/her Committee Chair have
determined that all departmental requirements have been met. The DGP will
assume that the signatures of all Committee members on the POW certifies that
any/all program-specific requirements have been met. The Plan of Work
document is available on the Forms
page.
What is
the research requirement?
First-year students at the Masters or Doctoral level are expected to become
involved in research activities upon their enrollment in the program. This
requirement can be fulfilled in two ways:
- A student who has either a 9
or 12-month research assistantship associated with a psychologically
oriented research program will automatically satisfy this requirement.
The assistantship must involve a minimum of 10 hours per week (1/4
time).
- Students who do not have an
assistantship may satisfy this requirement by affiliating themselves
with the research team of one of the Developmental area faculty and
serving a 9-month apprenticeship. Typically, this would involve getting
"hands-on" experience in all phases of ongoing research
projects. The expected level of involvement is 6 hours during the Fall
semester and 10 hours during the Spring semester. In many cases,
students can use this apprenticeship in developing ideas for their
thesis or dissertation.
The
expectation is that this apprenticeship will develop into a continuous
involvement in research that forms an integral part of the student's training
throughout graduate school.
What is
the portfolio?
The following represents a nonexhaustive list of materials or activities that
should be included and/or documented in the area exam portfolio.
Goal 1
- Continuous involvement in research
activities (e.g., attendance at lab meetings, participation in
first-year apprenticeship, conducting independent and/or collaborative
research).
- Well-articulated research
interests and direction (e.g., statement of research interests, thesis
proposal).
- Basic methodological and
quantitative skills (e.g., coursework, thesis proposal, research papers,
participation in design of studies and analyses of data).
- Mastery of current literature
(e.g., coursework, bibliography of independent readings).
- Demonstrated computer
literacy (e.g., ability to use statistical program packages or to use a
programming language/package to design experiments.
Goal 2
- Written communications (e.g.,
samples of class papers, all research manuscripts, including conference
presentations).
- Oral communications (e.g.,
thesis proposal/defense, presentation at Developmental Area Seminar,
in-class presentations, research presentations at meetings, teaching
evaluations).
Goal 3
- Participation in and contribution
to the psychological/intellectual community at NCSU (e.g., attendance at
colloquia, participation in seminars/classes, service on student or
departmental committees).
- Participation in the
psychological/intellectual community outside of NCSU (e.g., attendance
at Consortium colloquia, association membership, conference attendance,
participation in graduate student professional organizations).
- Self-evaluation and vita.
What are
preliminary exams (prelims)?
The purpose of the preliminary examination process is to establish a
student's readiness to undertake dissertation research. Successful completion
of prelims marks the end of formal training in content area, as the
dissertation constitutes an independent and original contribution to the discipline's
body of knowledge. Hence, students must demonstrate that they are prepared to
advance the understanding of developmental psychology and function as
professionals within the field. Specifically, performance must provide
evidence of the following skills and competencies.
- Content knowledge: Mastery of major work in
the area of developmental psychology. Identification and application of
current research and familiarity with recent developments (including
contemporary debates). Thought is at the cutting edge, at least in the
area of broad specialization. Information follows from review of primary
sources.
- Application of a conceptual
framework:
Constructs are clearly and defensibly defined and operationalized.
Issues are addressed within an appropriate theoretical context.
Developmental issues are given full consideration. Historical and
philosophical perspective are provided. Recommendations for practice
follow from theoretical and empirical bases.
- Methodological expertise: Critical review of research
design and analysis is an integral component of literature review.
Potential confounds, measurement issues, potential for generalizability
addressed in presentation of research.
- Original thought: Work reflects student's
analysis and synthesis of literature. Material from different specialty
areas and/or traditions is integrated. Directions for furthering
understanding of topic are identified.
- Highly-developed
argumentation:
Underlying assumptions articulated. Clear conclusions are reached, based
on the evidence presented. Conclusions are well-supported. Rationale for
further research is provided.
What is
Course e-reserves?
Additional required reading, including book chapters and journal articles for
classes are available online through the University’s electronic reserve
collection. Course e-reserves are available online at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/rbr/
What are
the requirements for thesis/dissertation committees?
One of the core Developmental area faculty must be included as either chair
or co-chair of both the Master's and Doctoral committee. In addition, both
committees must also include at least two members (including the chair or
co-chair) of the primary Developmental area faculty.
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Please be sure to check
out the FAQ maintained
by the department of psychology.
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