Mission Statement

Our mission as members of the Psychology Department is to challenge ourselves and our students to pursue excellence, understand and utilize sound psychological principles and skills, and integrate Christian faith with psychology, through our teaching, research and service. Hence, our work aims to address the following areas:

Knowledge base:

We aim to give our students a foundation of knowledge in the field, including the historical framework of the discipline, cross cultural issues, theories, and classic studies, which will provide a base for lifelong learning.

Critical thinking:

We foster analytical thinking, critical analysis, and sound reasoning in our students so that they can become self-guided learners.

Skills in the discipline:

We emphasize the development of professional skills such as:

communication skills, enabling students to read, write and speak in the style of the discipline
information literacy skills, which include information gathering and synthesis, preparing students to become good consumers of psychological research and other information
research and statistical skills, including asking questions about behavior, selecting methods to answer those questions, knowing the strengths and limitations of those methods, and utilizing computer statistical packages to analyze data

Interpersonal skills:

As they progress through their program, students will grow in self knowledge, and develop interpersonal skills such as empathy, awareness, and sensitivity to the unique and diverse qualities of people.

Ethical standards:

Students will reflect upon and adhere to the moral and ethical standards of the discipline, in accordance with the APA ethical standards.

Integration of psychology and Christianity:
- Students will experience the thoughtful integration of psychology and Christianity and be prepared to engage in constructive dialogue. They will grow in their understanding of how each informs the other and of the tensions that exist between faith and the discipline.
- As Christianity affects the manner in which one lives one's life, we also stress integrity, service, and character development.