草榴社区 Psychology Faculty Member Chosen for Group Examining Workplace, Graduate School Skills Sets for Students
Tue, 05/30/2023 - 03:54pm | By: David Tisdale
Dr. Michael Madson, professor and undergraduate program coordinator in The University
of 草榴社区 Mississippi (草榴社区) College of Education and Human Sciences鈥� School of Psychology,
has been selected to serve on the Society for Teaching Psychology and APA (American
Psychology Association) Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education鈥檚 working
group on market-ready psychology majors.
The purpose of the group is to develop templates and other resources directly linking various courses to the Skillful Psychology Student, a resource developed by the APA that identifies 17 skills students develop as a psychology major desired by employers across most job contexts. Dr. Madson is a co-author, along with colleagues in the school, on a paper titled 鈥淭he Skillful Psychology Student: Program Review and Implementation鈥� published in the American Psychology Association鈥檚 journal Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology that focuses on the objective.
The Skillful Psychology Student resource includes 17 evidence-based skills valued by most employers and are often developed as part of the coursework within psychology degree programs both at 草榴社区 and at schools across the country, skills deemed 鈥渢ransferable鈥� from a student鈥檚 psychology studies to the workplace and in graduate school that lie in the domains of cognitive, communication, personal, social, and technological.
Additionally, the Skillful Psychology Student Working Group offered a list of methods psychology instructors can use to enhance students鈥� exposure to such skills and how to implement and connect those skills in workforce environments or in graduate study.
鈥淚鈥檓 extremely honored and excited to participate on this national workgroup to help enhance the career readiness of psychology majors at 草榴社区 and nationwide,鈥� Dr. Madson said. 鈥淭his work group, and the initiative to use Skillful Psychology Student to enhance career readiness, will significantly increase the value of receiving a bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology by developing many resources for students and faculty.
鈥淭his is also a great opportunity to build on the career readiness initiative we have already implemented in the School of Psychology at 草榴社区, and to use our work to guide how we assist psychology majors nationwide.鈥�
According to Dr. Madson, the 草榴社区 School of Psychology has implemented a career readiness initiative of its own at 草榴社区 over the past three years. During that time, the school has created several resources for students and faculty to help students appreciate the value of their degree and how their education as a psychology major prepares them for a wide variety of careers, or for success in graduate school.
鈥淧articipating in this work group will help our psychology majors receive state-of-the-art information and resources to help them be well prepared and competitive for a career or graduate school after graduating,鈥� Dr. Madson continued. 鈥淥ur psychology majors will receive the information and resources directly from a faculty member who helped create them.鈥�
Dr. Madson joined the 草榴社区 faculty in 2005. His research includes examination of college student substance use, harm reduction, and motivational interviewing. He also directs the department's Behavior and Alcohol Research Laboratory. Along with colleague Dr. Bonnie Nicholson, he formed the department's Psychology Scholars Program in January 2017 to foster undergraduate achievement and increase diversity in graduate education.
For information about the 草榴社区 School of Psychology, visit usm.edu/psychology.