Monday, August 21, 2006

Writer: Philip Lee Williams, 706/542-8501, phil@franklin.uga.edu
Contact: L. Stephen Miller, 706/542-1173, lsmiller@egon.psy.uga.edu

UGA Clinical Psychology program ranks sixth in the country in doctoral graduates who become academic research faculty at other schools

Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia’s Clinical Psychology Program has received high rankings in two areas, according to a study just released by a prestigious journal in the field.

UGA’s program ranked sixth in the United States in training and graduating doctoral students who then go on to become academic research faculty at other schools. It also ranked 10th in the number of publications produced by graduates of its Ph.D. program.

“We are gratified to see these results,” said L. Stephen Miller (right), director of clinical training, and also director of UGA’s Bio-imaging Research Center. “As a program, we are dedicated to developing the highest qualified clinical scientists who will make significant contributions to the field of clinical psychology.

“The JCP results are another indicator of the high level of excellence of our program, the psychology department in general and the University of Georgia. We continue to graduate excellent clinical scholars, place our students in fine internships and maintain excellent incoming classes.” Miller has been a member of the program faculty since 1991.

The study was published in the July edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Some 166 graduate programs in clinical psychology were assessed in the study to rank schools on numbers of graduates who later become faculty members. The second study, on research productivity, ranked some 1,916 individuals. 

The overall study was written by three professors at the University of Kansas. All these programs are accredited by the American Psychological Association. The team also studied rates of publications in APA journals as a standard of research productivity among academic psychologists and as an objective measure of quality.

Students in the UGA Clinical Psychology Program are involved with clinical and research activities at the same time, beginning with their first semester. All students are assigned both to clinical practicum and research teams headed by a faculty member. UGA’s Psychology Clinic is part of the program and provides outpatient services to adults and children from Athens and surrounding counties as well as students, faculty and staff of UGA.

Students also work with other UGA units, including the Institute for Behavioral Research, the Institute of Gerontology and the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute. All clinical faculty and students have offices and labs in the Psychology Building.

There are currently 34 students enrolled in the program, 79 percent of whom are women.

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