The Clarkson family crest in stained glass occupies the window of the second floor staircase landing in Holcroft House.
Clarkson Universityis New York state’s highest ranked small research institution with rigorous programs in engineering, arts, sciences, business and health sciences. At Clarkson, 3,000 students learn and live in a close-knit residential environment augmented by award-winning career service and experiential learning initiatives.

Psychology Professor Dowman and student

Psychology

Over the past 20 years, virtually every Clarkson psychology graduate has found employment in a degree-related field or gone on to graduate school. How is that for results? Our emphasis on teamwork, rigorous preparation, and real-world learning contributes to this success.

Your career could involve investigating and treating psychological disorders; designing and organizing the workplace to improve productivity and morale; designing efficient, healthful interfaces between humans and machines; analyzing human relationships and how they can be made more fulfilling; or identifying and changing behaviors that lead to disease.

Clarkson combines two distinctive strengths that will help you pursue your goals: personalized teaching and high-powered research. As one of the smallest nationally ranked universities (according to U.S. News & World Report), our faculty get to know students as individuals. They also conduct research in areas of vital importance — and involve undergraduates in the process. The psychology curriculum at Clarkson will give you a solid foundation — both the depth and breadth of knowledge needed for success in business, industry or graduate school. You will also pursue one of five areas of interest:

  • Health Psychology — The psychological factors important in maintaining and/or regaining health.
  • Cognitive Psychology — The nature of conscious and unconscious thought processes (includes the study of learning and memory, motivation, perception and conscious states).
  • Social Psychology — How people can influence and be influenced by their social environment.
  • Physiological Psychology — How biological and physiological processes interact.
  • Business Psychology — The science of putting psychological theory and research to practical use in business and industry.
  • Clinical Psychology — Preparation for graduate training and jobs in social work, counseling and clinical psychology. Choosing elective courses from liberal arts, science and/or business will enable you to concentrate in areas of psychology of interest to employers. These include attitude formation, personnel selection, individual thinking processes, information processing, group dynamics, and the effect of the work environment on people's feeling and attitudes.