Spotlights
10 Year Anniversary of School Psychology M.S./Psy.S. Graduate Program
The School Psychology M.S./Psy.S. graduate program celebrated their 10-year anniversary this year. To commemorate the occasion, the program hosted an event that brought together faculty, current students, alumni, field supervisors, community partners, and university administration. In addition to remarks by graduate program director, Dr. Kristen Schrauben, K-12 partners, Terri Metcalf from Fennville Public Schools and Steve Johnson from Cedar Springs Public Schools, spoke of the high-quality training the program provides and the value districts see in their partnerships with GVSU.
The program has undergone some changes over the past ten years, but the program’s mission has always remained the same: to prepare our graduate students to become knowledgeable, innovative, culturally competent school psychologists who, as scientist-practitioners, can improve outcomes for youth through evidence-based work in school systems. The faculty and field supervisors put significant time and effort into collaboration and problem-solving to accomplish this goal with a new group of students every year. The students work extremely hard to juggle an intensive academic program while navigating the challenges of K-12 public education and trying to find work-life balance. The students complete 68 credits and over 1900 fieldwork hours in K-12 schools across 3 years.
Since the program started in 2014-2015, it has had 82 (soon to be 91) students graduate with a 100% employment rate. While many students work in K-12 schools in Michigan, the program has had students or alumni complete internships or work in 13 other states. In addition to school psychologists, the program has had 15 individuals go on to become Board Certified Behavior Analysts. Alumni have also become special education directors, a researcher, a school crisis prevention and response trainer, a Fulbright Scholar, adjunct university faculty, and children’s book authors. A few have completed or soon will complete a PhD. The program has grown to be the largest specialist-level school psychology program in the state of Michigan and currently has its largest first year cohort in the program’s history with 15 students.
A special thank you to the GVSU Career Center, Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center, and Psychology Department for helping support this celebratory event. Photo credit: Ashley Cefali for GVSU University Communications.
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