OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENT EXCHANGE

Through its goal of serving as an information exchange network among graduate programs, the Council of Program Directors in Community Research & Action (CPDCRA) has compiled information on programs interested in hosting a visiting graduate student for a semester through student exchange.

For those of you unfamiliar with the student exchange concept, it is a wonderful opportunity for graduate students to participate in coursework and research settings different from those of their own programs, and to be exposed to the views and practices of community research and action faculty in greater depth than experienced via conferences or publications. CPDCRA supports strongly student exchange ventures as they represent professional collaboration and promote graduate education and professional affiliation in community research and action.

All arrangements are negotiated among the student, home program director, and host program director. For example, visiting students may arrange to register as unclassified students in their host program and pay for tuition, housing, transportation, etc. Another possibility is to register in their home program, but take the courses in their host program. The host program director would then inform the home program director of the student's performance. In either case, credits earned and other requirements met (e.g., practicum, research experience) during the semester should count in the student's home program.

A list of possible host programs for student exchange is provided below. If program directors, faculty or students have any questions or would like additional information, please contact:

James G. Emshoff, Ph.D., Chair
Council of Program Directors in Community Research & Action
Department of Psychology
University Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
404/651-2283
PSYJGE@langate.gsu.edu
Possible Host Community Graduate Programs for Student Exchange:
 
Host Program Contact Information Program Description
Rutger's University Cary Cherniss, Ph.D

Professor of Applied Psychology

Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology

Rutgers University

152 Frelinghuysen Road

Piscataway, NJ 08854

(732) 445-2187

(732) 445-4888 FAX

cherniss@rci.rutgers.edu

There are many community psychology faculty at Rutgers, representing many different theoretical viewpoints and intervention approaches. They include Brenna Bry and Nancy Boyd-Franklin, who are engaged in the fourth year of a school/ community intervention in a predominantly African-American community. Also there is Maurice Elias, whose Social Problem Solving Program is one of the oldest and most respected school-based prevention programs in the country. Paul Speer and Andy Peterson are involved in grass-roots organizing on the neighborhood and community level. John Kalafat is studying the institutionalization of innovations; more specifically, he is doing research on organizational variables that characterize high schools that have sustained peer programs over a period of years. Finally, I am co-chairing a research consortium that focuses on emotional intelligence in the workplace. I expect that any of the faculty here would welcome having a student join their team. Also, I think that an exchange student would be able to have some contact with all the faculty I've identified.
University of Hawaii Professor Clifford R. O'Donnell

University of Hawaii

Department of Psychology

2430 Campus Road

Honolulu, HI 96822

808-956-6271

808-956-4700 FAX

cliffo@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu

We would be happy to host an exchange student. Our program offers an integrated curriculum in community and cultural psychology with faculty strengths in delinquency prevention, disaster management, disabilities, organizational consultation, and cultural training. For information on our Community and Culture program, please visit our web page:

http://www2.soc.hawaii.edu/psy/candc.html

University of Utah Barbara Brown 

Family & Consumer Studies/AEB

University of Utah

225 S. 1400 E.

Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA

brown@fcs.utah.edu 

Our program is willing to host a visiting student for any length of time. See our description under Interdisciplinary Community Programs at the CPDCRA website: http://www.msu.edu/user/lounsbu1/cpdcra.html or see our

department website: http://www.fcs.utah.edu/

We are an interdisciplinary program, not a psychology department, although we have several community, environmental, social, and developmental psychologists in the department and work closely with faculty in the psych dept. Our strengths are research, teaching, and community/government

contacts in three broad areas: (1) environment and behavior, community development, urban planning, housing, and crime issues, (2) lifespan development, family policy, and early childhood education, (3) consumer studies and family economics.

University of Waikato Neville Robertson, PhD

Psychology Department

The University of Waikato

Hamilton

Aotearoa/New Zealand

voice: +64 7 838 4466 ext 8300

+64 7 856 2158 FAX

scorpio@waikato.ac.nz

At the University of Waikato, community psychology is offered within the Masters of Social Science degree (M.Soc.Sci.), as a specialist three-year Diploma (PGDip. Psych (Com)), or as a specialised area of doctoral study (PhD). Graduates of the post-graduate Diploma (for which Masters is a co-requisite) are eligible for registration as a psychologist under the statutory licensing system. At the undergraduate level, a year three paper

is offered.

Training in community psychology are Waikato has a number of distinctive features. (1) A strong commitment to cultural justice. In the context of Aotearoa, this means developing models of culturally safe practice which support Maori development.

(2) A high priority on developing the skills needed for professional practice, including a process of supported professional development. (3) A gradual transition from primarily university-based training to primarily community-based training over the three years of the programmes.

(4) Collaboration with community organisations leading to job opportunities. Particular strengths of the programme are bicultural approaches to the practice of psychology, the use of psychology to promote Maori development, feminist approaches, programme evaluation and qualitative research methods. For further information visit the programme web page at

http://130.217.157.6/people/nev/a-home.html

Wayne State University Paul A. Toro, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology

Wayne State University

71 W. Warren Ave.

Detroit, MI 48202

(313) 577-0806 or -0767

(313) 577-7636 FAX

p.toro@wayne.edu 

The program in community psychology at Wayne State draws students from our APA-approved doctoral clinical program as well as our doctoral social and developmental programs. Ongoing applied research involves a variety of topics, most focused on Detroit's urban population (which includes many

African Americans and other ethnic groups). There are studies on homelessness and poverty, including evaluations of community-based interventions, longitudinal research, and cross-cultural studies (involving homeless adults, families, and/or adolescents). There are also a number of ongoing developmental studies focused on various other populations of urban

children, families, couples, youth, and elders. Some of these are

investigating the impact of family characteristics, social support, and/or substance abuse. One of the key courses in community psychology (Program Evaluation, taught by Dr. Toro) will be offered in the Fall of 2000. 

Wichita State University Greg Meissen, PhD

Professor & Director, Self-Help Network

Center for Community Support & Research

Department of Psychology

Wichita State University

Wichita, KS 67260-0034

(316) 978-3039

(313) 978-3593 FAX

meissen@twsu.edu

We would be glad to consider an exchange student at Wichita State University. The Self-Help Network would provide a setting with ongoing self-help group research and activities as well as research projects involving community based initiatives, leadership, consumer run mental health programs and others. are other possibilities within our Community Program including underage and college student drinking issues, end of life

issues, student evaluation of teaching, prevention of health risks in minority populations, health interventions in religious settings and others.