Welcome to the Department of Psychology! Photograph by Nancy Evelyn for UGA Research Magazine (2016) My name is Dr. Jennifer McDowell and, as of August 1, 2024, I am the Head of the Department of Psychology. I am new to this position but have been in this Department for 22 years! My husband, Dr. Brett Clementz, and I co-direct the Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, and I’m affiliated with the Bio-Imaging Research Center. I also serve as the Associate Director of the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research. UGA Psychology is an outstanding place to study and work. We have one of the biggest majors on the Athens campus – over 2100 undergraduate students. Students earn a B.S. in Psychology and have an option for a neuroscience emphasis. We have excellent staff supporting this big enterprise. We also have courses at UGA Griffin. Psychology undergraduates are intelligent, curious, and committed to asking probing questions and provoking interesting conversations. They “Study Away” and are “Double Dogs.” They work on campus and off campus. They care for their families and each other. They are engaged in activities all over campus and beyond, also excelling in arts, clubs, music, sports, and service. Our psychology graduate program has roughly 90 students distributed across 3 different doctoral training programs on the UGA Athens campus: Behavioral and Brain Sciences Program, Clinical, and Industrial-Organizational. We also have a Professional I-O Psychology Master’s Program on the UGA Gwinnett campus. UGA Psychology faculty number roughly 45, and teach a wide variety of classes offered from large survey classes to smaller classes on specialty topics. Teaching and research topics are organized around the following major themes – affective science, cognitive, couple and family, developmental, health, neuroscience, quantitative and computational methods, psychopathology, sensation and perception, social and personality, and workplace. Many faculty welcome undergraduate research assistants. Semester-long Psychology 4800 courses allow undergraduates to get experiential learning (and credit hours) with graduate students, staff and faculty on ongoing research projects. Undergraduate researchers are encouraged to present work at annual events - the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) Symposium and the Psi Chi Convention. Psychology as a discipline and the UGA Psychology Department, both historically and currently, provide a welcoming space for anyone who is interested in human behavior – whether for a single elective class or an entire career. UGA Psychology faculty and students are engaged in cutting edge, innovative research dedicated to improving the lives of the people of GA and the nation. Come join us for a class or a degree program!
