Section 7: Other Specific Information

Residency

The doctoral program in clinical psychology is designed as a six-year program, including the doctoral clinical internship. Thus, our students will far exceed the minimum residency requirements as specified by the WSU Graduate School. Students are typically full-time students in residence during their first four years in the program. In some instances, those students entering with an accepted master’s degree and thesis are able to be full-time students in residence during only the first four years in the program. Students are required to apply for Washington state residency after attending graduate school at WSU for one year so that they will qualify for an in-state tuition waiver (due to a limited number of out-of-state tuition waivers available). Only under exceptional circumstances (e.g., international students) will a student be permitted to maintain out-of-state residency status after the first year.

Short Absences During Times of Program Obligation

If you have to leave town during the regular semester (fall, spring, or summer), or during your regularly scheduled work time for an assistantship, for any reason, you should clear it with each of the following people:

1. Your major professor;
2. Professors for any of the classes that you would miss during the time of your absence;
3. Your supervisor for each practicum site (if applicable);
4. Your supervisor(s) for your teaching assistantship, research assistantship, and/or clinical assistantship; and once all of these supervisors/professors have approved the absence
5. The Director of Clinical Training (DCT).

You must secure permission from each of the above people before the absence.

If you have to leave town during the interim when you have required hours at your assistantship, you need to clear the absence with both the DCT and your assistantship supervisor and you must use vacation time.

Please be mindful of expectations beyond your classes/exams when scheduling travel during semester breaks. Although your exams may end early, you still have obligations due to your assistantship or practicum/clinical duties. Check in with the DCT and/or your supervisors if you have any questions about travel dates.

If you must leave town because of an emergency, please inform your major professor and any direct supervisors as soon as possible.

Program Deadlines Falling on a Weekend/Holiday

All program deadlines that fall on a weekend or holiday are pushed to the next business day.

Resources for Graduate Students

Workspace and Equipment

Graduate students have access to their major professor’s lab space for research work. Graduate students are also assigned shared office space. Your practicum sites, including the WSU Psychology Clinic, will provide workspace and computers needed to complete your duties.

Colloquia and Seminars

The department, the clinical psychology program, and other departmental entities, sponsor speakers, colloquia, and seminars throughout the year. Students are expected to attend these events.

Grants and Funding

The ability to attract research funding reflects peer approval of a scientific research program and is an important skill for scientist-practitioners to acquire. Graduate students are therefore strongly encouraged to seek both internal and external funding to support their research under the mentorship of the major professor. Speak to your mentor about grant opportunities in your research area. There are many opportunities for students to seek funds—particularly for dissertation support—through a variety of national organizations and funding agencies.

Keys

Students receive a key to the main building and their individual office at the start of their first semester. Students in the clinical psychology program receive a main key to the WSU Psychology Clinic in spring semester of first year when they begin training on standardized testing. Upon the recommendation of your assistantship supervisor or research advisor, and the approval of the department chair, you may be assigned other keys. You should discuss this matter with your supervisor/advisor. Please return keys promptly when their use is no longer applicable for you. The department will charge you for lost keys or keys that are not returned. Under no circumstances should departmentally issued door keys be duplicated or assigned to others.

Mailboxes

Graduate student mailboxes are in the main office in JT 235. You may use your departmental mailbox to receive mail that is professional or training related. To have mail delivered to your mailbox, use this address: Department of Psychology, Washington State University, PO Box 644820, Johnson Tower 233, Pullman, WA 99164-4820. If you are a new student, check your mailbox when you arrive on campus. All students should check their mailboxes periodically. Your instructors, faculty advisor, departmental administrative assistants, various offices across campus, as well as your graduate student colleagues will be communicating with you through your departmental mailbox. Please do not have your personal mail addressed to the department.

WSU Email Account

Once your university email account is established, please provide your e-mail address to the DCT and the clinical program administrative assistant. You should check your “@wsu.edu” account regularly or ensure it is forwarding information to another email address that is checked. Be aware that WSU faculty and staff are required to communicate with WSU students through their WSU email account only. We ask that you use your WSU email account for all official business related to your role as a graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program, including when you communicate with undergraduate students as a TA, RA, or instructor. It is imperative that your WSU email account be used in any written materials for collection of data with human subjects, per the IRB regulations.

Clinical Psychology Program Listserv and Website

A considerable amount of program information (e.g., notices of policy changes, program events, upcoming deadlines) will be communicated through our Clinical listserv. All students will be subscribed to this listserv by the DCT prior to their arrival in the program. Once subscribed, please check your email regularly for any announcements. Students should also feel free to post relevant announcements to the listserv (send email to clinical@lists.wsu.edu). In addition to the listserv, information is available on the clinical psychology program website.

Psychology Graduate Student Listserv

A considerable amount of departmental information relevant to all graduate students in psychology is communicated from the department chair’s office via the psychology graduate student listserv. All students should subscribe to this listserv. Again, please check your email regularly for any announcements from this listserv. To post to this listserv, send an email to psychgrad@lists.wsu.edu.

Membership in Professional Organizations

Most clinical psychology graduate students at WSU affiliate with regional or national psychology organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), or with other organizations with more specific missions such as the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), among others. Many of these organizations also provide reduced rates for student membership. Many students also join Psi Chi, a psychology honor society, or Sigma Xi, a science honor society. Both Psi Chi and Sigma Xi grant funds for graduate student research projects.

Students with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodations are available for students with documented disabilities or chronic medical conditions. If you have a disability and need accommodations to fully participate in your classes, please visit the Access Center website to follow published procedures to request accommodations. Students may also either call or visit the Access Center in person to schedule an appointment with an Access Advisor. Location: Washington Building 217; Phone: 509-335-3417. All disability related accommodations MUST be approved through the Access Center. Students with approved accommodations are strongly encouraged to visit with instructors early in the semester during office hours to discuss logistics. For more information contact a Disability Specialist on your home campus.

WSU Access Center Contact Information

• WSU Access Center online
• Pullman phone: 509-335-3417
• Pullman location: Washington Building 217
• Email: Access.Center@wsu.edu.

Per the Graduate School’s stated Rights and Responsibilities, graduate students with identified disabilities should contact the Access Center before the semester that they plan to initiate the accommodations process. Accommodations are unique for each individual and some require a significant amount of time to prepare for, so it is essential that students notify the Access Center as far in advance as possible. Students with a disability that is identified during the semester should contact the Access Center as soon as possible to arrange for an appointment and a review of their documentation by an Access advisor.

Recommendation to Retain your Syllabi

It is recommended that you permanently retain a copy of the course syllabus for each of the graduate courses you take during your program of study at WSU, as well as a copy of the Graduate Bulletin. Such information is occasionally useful to various state licensing boards, to the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, or to other agencies as they review your application for licensure or other credentialing.

A date you may need to know in the future.

Our graduates occasionally call to obtain the date the clinical psychology program at WSU was initially accredited by the American Psychological Association. Such information is sometimes called for on various application forms. The WSU doctoral program in clinical psychology has been fully accredited by the American Psychological Association since February 14, 1956. That information may also be found in the listing of accredited programs that appears each year in The American Psychologist and on the APA website (accredited clinical psychology programs).

For information about our accreditation status, you can contact the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association, which can also be reached at:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979
TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
Fax: 202-336-5978
apaaccred@apa.org

A Final Request

Please keep your address, e-mail, and telephone number current with the DCT, clinical program administrative assistant, the Department of Psychology, and the WSU Alumni Office after you graduate! The program or the department occasionally finds it necessary to contact its graduates, and it is important that we maintain up-to-date contact information, particularly to gather information from our past graduates that is needed for reaccreditation and for the annual report required by APA.