PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

STUDENT ADVISING GUIDELINES

You and your advisor track your coursework in the Psychology Major, as well as in GE. Your advisor helps you plan coursework in line with your interest areas and goals, and discusses career and graduate school options with you. See your advisor early to midway through each semester to be sure you’re on track with your coursework and graduation requirements. If you have another major or a minor, an advisor in that department tracks your progress in that area.

Your advisor must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member chosen from this listing:

• Glenn Brassington / Health psychology, peak performance, clinical psychology
• Eleanor Criswell (on leave Sp 09) / Somatic psychology, humanistic psychology, child psychology and lifespan development
• Victor Daniels (on leave Sp 09) / Gestalt psychology, humanistic and transpersonal psychology
• Mary Gomes / Ecopsychology, humanistic and transpersonal psychology
• Maria Hess / Clinical psychology, humanistic and transpersonal psychology
• Susan Hillier / Gerontology, later-life development
• Laurel McCabe / Jungian psychology, women's development, clinical psychology
• Geri Olson, Chair / Expressive arts, humanistic psychology
• Heather Smith / Social psychology, research methods
• Susan Stewart (on leave Fall 08)/ Somatic psychology, expressive arts, humanistic psychology, lifespan development
• Elisa Velasquez / Child development, community psychology, cross-cultural psychology
• Art Warmoth (on part-time leave Fall 08, Sp 09) / Humanistic psychology, community psychology
• Gisela Wendling / Organizational psychology, humanistic and transpersonal psychology

You may choose your advisor from the listing above; you choose whom you would like to see. When possible, we recommend that you see one advisor consistently, as this person comes to know you and your interest areas. If your advisor is on leave for a semester, it's fine to see someone from the listing above who can fill in.

Follow these guidelines when seeing your advisor:

1. Sign up for an advising appointment on the advisor’s office door. Advising meetings are 15 to 20 minutes long.
2. Print out a copy of your Degree Progress Report from Peoplesoft and bring it to the meeting. This goes into your advising file to keep it up-to-date.
3. Before your meeting, request a copy of your advising file from Mary or an assistant in the Psychology office.
4. Fill out the GE Pattern sheet before the meeting. Keep it in your advising file and up-to-date for each meeting; this helps your advisor track your GE. Students attending SSU from the freshman year complete the 51 unit GE pattern sheet; transfer students complete the 48 unit GE pattern sheet. The pattern sheets are in the Psych office, or download from www.sonoma.edu/sas/advising/ge/gepattern.shtml. Transfer students must check their Degree Progress Report to see which GE courses they have been given credit for at their prior school/s.
5. Use the Advising Major Requirement form to track your Psychology major courses. Fill it out before the meeting. Keep it in your advising file and up-to-date for each meeting; this helps your advisor track your progress in the major. You will copy the courses from this form when you apply to graduate.
6. Use the Checklist for Psychology Majors form to keep track of the major requirements Checklist for Psychology Majors (pdf).

GE Information

The GE requirements differ according to the time you’ve attended SSU. Students attending from their freshman year complete 51 units of GE; transfer students complete 48 units of GE. All the GE requirements are listed on the pattern sheets found on this website. Your Degree Progress Report will list all your requirements and tell you which you've met and which you have yet to meet. The headings in bold indicate you still have requirements to meet in that area. Your Transfer Credit Report tells you which GE areas you've gotten credit for, but it doesn't always list the specific course. All in all, the Degree Progress Report is the more valuable piece of information.

When you reach Junior status (the semester you reach 60 units) you must take 3 upper division GE courses—save room for them when you plan GE.

Psychology Major Information

There are 4 required classes for the Psychology major: Introduction to Psychology; Statistics; Psy 306; Psy 307. Students are advised to take Statistics and Psy 306 as early as possible, as early as the second semester of the sophomore year. The Psychology major requires 40 units of Psychology courses. At least 34 units must be upper-division Psychology; 6 units may be lower-division courses or transferred from a Junior College. All courses in the major must be passed with a minimum grade of C. Statistics is required in addition to the 40 units. Students are strongly recommended to take a Research Methods course, as well as courses that enhance knowledge of diversity and multiculturalism, such as Psy 328, Cross-Cultural Psychology. See suggested Methods courses at www.sonoma.edu/users/s/smithh/methods/courses.htm .

Department Learning Goals

The Department is committed to students developing the following skills while being a Psychology major. Individual courses within the curriculum target one or more of these skills. Students are encouraged to take courses which develop all of these competencies.

1. Be familiar with the major concepts, theories, and perspectives in psychology.
2. Be able to apply psychological theories, concepts, and principles to individual experience as well as to broader social issues and social systems.
3. Be able to reflect on personal experience in light of psychological knowledge.
4. Be able to recognize and understand the complexity of cultural diversity, in light of psychological knowledge.
5. Be able to understand and apply basic research methods in psychology and the social sciences.
6. Be able to demonstrate skills that promote behavioral change at the individual, organizational, and community levels.