Psychology graduates may choose from a variety of careers, some requiring further study in graduate school. Employment opportunities include private practice, research, mediation, human resources, industrial psychology, education, public mental health, and staff or case work in juvenile homes, welfare, probation, and parole departments. Manchester's psychology program has particular strengths in conflict resolution and diversity training. Workshops and classes are available, as well as peer mediation opportunities. The psychology program blends course work with research and practicum experiences to help students investigate opportunities and challenges in the field. The Mediation and Conflict Resolution Service (MCRS) gives students hands on experience with conflict resolution skills. The program is especially strong in the areas of counseling and research. Nearly half of graduating psychology majors go on for a graduate or professional degree.
Career Options
Travel Opportunities
Field Placement Opportunities
Student Research Projects
Co-Curricular Activities
Hands-On / Service Learning Opportunities
Career Options
In addition to the critical thinking, writing, and public speaking skills that psychology majors acquire from their psychology and liberal arts courses, psychology graduates have several distinctive skill sets:
- extensive knowledge about human behavior
- the ability to conduct research
- an appreciation for and active involvement in diversity issues, and
- listening skills that can be utilized in everyday, therapeutic, or conflict settings.
Therefore, psychology graduates are well-suited for a wide variety of professional settings, including social service agencies, schools, mental health centers, human resources in businesses, student development in colleges, and non-profit agencies. Some of these and other professions may necessitate additional graduate school work.
Travel Opportunities
Psychology professors regularly teach Social Psychology or Cross-Cultural Psychology as an off-campus course in Jamaica, Hawaii, or France during the three-week January Session. In addition, through Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA), students may choose to study abroad for a semester or an academic year in such locations as: Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Cheltenham, England; Cochin, India; Dalian, China; Marburg, Germany; Strasbourg, France; Quito, Ecuador; Sapporo, Japan; Xalapa, Mexico; and Northern Ireland.
France 2007
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Field Placement Opportunities
Psychology majors have interned with a wide variety of professionals, such as: mental health workers, school psychologists, human resource personnel, student development professionals, elementary school counselors, neuro-psychologists, probation officers, hospice workers, residential school counselor, social workers, and marine animal trainers.
Student Research Projects
All psychology majors design and conduct research projects in Research Design I. Students may choose to work collaboratively with 1 to 2 other students or conduct a project independently. In addition to projects that occur on campus, students have chosen to work collaboratively with local community agencies to conduct research to meet a pressing community need. We have collaborated with the Community Foundation of Wabash County and Education for Conflict Resolution as well as with Manchester Elementary School, Manchester Junior High School and Manchester Senior High School to conduct these projects. In the past five years students have presented their research at national American Psychology Association meetings, the Midwestern Psychological Association meetings, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the Butler Undergraduate Research Conference, the Midwest Institute for Students and Teachers of Psychology, the Manchester College Dean’s Research Symposium, and the Annual Psychology Research Conference co-sponsored by Bluffton University, Goshen College, and Manchester College.
In the past five years students have won four awards for their research, and received five summer research fellowships. These include one National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates, two Indiana Campus Compact Student Fellowships, and two summer research fellowships funded by the Lilly Foundation.
Typically, students who present research at national or regional conferences also take an advanced research course, Research Design II, focused on providing additional education in research and helping them prepare for conference presentations.
2007 Research Conference (left to right):
1st Row: Jenna Rogers, Melissa Webb, Lindsey Bryant, Russell Coulter-Kern
2nd Row: Ayana Brown, Melissa Bower, Leticia Bitner
Co-curricular Activities
Psychology majors have enjoyed participating in a variety of co-curricular activities and work opportunities, such as: Psychology Society, Psi Chi (The National Honor Society in Psychology), Resident Assistant in a residence hall, Student Orientation Leader, college mediation trainer, research assistant, office assistant, and school peer mediation professional. Service learning in many other sites is also available.
Hands-On / Service-Learning Opportunities
Psychology students receive hands-on, experiential training in applying the principles they are learning by participating in service projects. The service-learning experiences are designed to help students connect psychological concepts to community needs. Students generally choose a project with a recognized service or educational organization (e.g., Vernon Manor, Education for Conflict Resolution, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Timbercrest Retirement Community). In the Introductory Psychology classes all student participate in a service project. These hands-on experiences facilitate student thinking about cognitive, physical and social concerns in the community. They also provide a springboard for class discussion and student research ideas. |
