Houghton College online is proud to introduce three new online tracks for its Bachelor’s in psychology degree starting in January 2018, according to a press release distributed by the college. The three tracks offered will be clinical/counseling, social/developmental, and neuroscience.
According to head of the psychology department, Dr. Paul Young, the tracks have been in place since 2009, and the proposal to add them to the online course offering was an exciting proposition for his department. In fact, Young was quite pleased by his department’s commitment to finding ways to service more nontraditional students. At Houghton College Buffalo, the first cohort to receive a Bachelor’s degree in psychology is looking forward to graduation this semester.
While the tracks have long been a part of the on-campus program, they have now been retooled and given updated names that are more relevant to the modern professional world. In addition, the psycholinguistics track was dropped due to low enrollment numbers and dwindling interest. According to Young, “We’ve been changing curricular components since I’ve come, and students have been able to do more research rather than sit and listen to lectures.” The shift helps fulfill Houghton’s mission of hands-on learning and genuine experience for students at the undergraduate level.
The newest addition to the Houghton College psychology department, Dr. Anna Pettway, offered a fresh perspective as someone who has worked in many colleges affiliated with the CCCU (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities). Her unique position allowed her to view the department, and the college, with fresh eyes. She mentioned that Houghton offers a surprisingly large number of options for a school its size, which allows students to tailors their educational focus within the department. She was excited to work somewhere where students are only required to take a handful of core classes and are allowed a variety of electives and personalized options. According to Pettway, this is an advantage for both professors and students, since both are able to pursue academic material in which they have a vested interest.
Dr. Pettway said, “When you have more choice, you take more ownership of what you are learning.” She was pleased that students both on campus and online have that opportunity, and seemed confident that these new possibilities would broaden and refine education at Houghton. She was also impressed with the college’s desire for students to personalize their degree and education. As someone who has taught at multiple institutions, Pettway appreciated the opportunity to teach at a institution where students can create majors through interdisciplinary studies, or make their more generalized major more suitable for their needs through concentrations and diverse electives. Overall, she saw the proposed addition of these three tracks to be an advantage to the college, its professors, and its students.
Houghton College psychology department graduates have pursued careers such as drug rehabilitation counselor, chiropractic doctor, nurse, and school psychologist and have attended such graduate institutions as Colorado State University, Ohio State University, and Northeastern University. With the addition of new opportunities to the online program Houghton hopes to see even more successful results from the department.