Paul A. Toro, Program Director
(313) 577-0806 phone
p.toro@wayne.edu fax
(313) 577-7636 e-mail

Wayne State University is one of the nation's premier "urban research universities." Set in the university/cultural district near downtown Detroit, there is ready access to a wide range of community organizations, including schools, hospitals and clinics, mental health programs, juvenile justice facilities, and services for homeless people. There are also many connections with local policy makers. The program in community psychology brings together students from our doctoral programs in clinical, social, developmental, and industrial/organizational psychology (see curriculum description below). Many students in the community program take advantage of resources in other training programs at the University, including Medicine, Law, Urban Affairs, Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice, and Africana Studies.

Among the nation's largest cities, Detroit has one of the largest percentages of African-Americans (about 70% of the city population, 20% of the larger metropolitan area). Aside from the nation's traditionally black colleges, Wayne State University has one of the largest percentages of African-American students, many from the Detroit area. The Detroit area and the University also have significant numbers of Arab-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics. The University also draws a large number of international students, especially at the graduate level. The University and faculty in the community program have extensive contacts with various organizations serving the ethnically diverse population in Detroit. As in the larger student body at Wayne State, each entering class of students in our doctoral programs typically includes a sizeable percentage of persons of color (especially African-Americans). Ongoing research projects include ones on homelessness and poverty, urban children and youth, and community treatment programs for the mentally ill and substance abusers.

As a sub-field within clinical psychology, community psychology takes an ecological perspective toward the understanding and resolution of important social problem. Community psychology is concerned with the development and evaluation of various community-based interventions, fostering prevention, the empowerment of disadvantaged groups, and social policy. Through this specialization, students are expected to obtain theoretical, research, and practical experience in community psychology. Wayne State University indicated that hey consider government settings to be a least common training site.

Curriculum: Community Psychology, Theory & Practice in Evaluation Research and one course to be selected from the following; Practicum in Community Psychology, Multicultural Perspectives in Psychology, Prevention of Maladjustment, another course relevant to community psychology and to the student's interests (e.g. Developmental Psychopathology, Interpersonal Processes and the Environment)