Bachelor’s in Psychology Degree Programs in Florida – U-W

Florida is home to many accredited Bachelor’s Degree Programs in Psychology. Maybe you are looking for a Liberal Arts Education that can lead to many different areas of employment.  Maybe you hope to further your education with a graduate degree in psychology. There are programs offering what you are looking for. A Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology can be the start of a career in social work, law, medicine, business and many others. It can also lead to a career as a professional psychologist. Regardless of what path youto take, an undergraduate psychology degree is an excellent first step.

University of North Florida

The College of Arts and Sciences

The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public university in Jacksonville. It’s a member institution of the State University System of Florida. UNF is organized into five colleges which offer 53 undergraduate degree programs and 28 graduate degree programs. In 2014 US News & World Report ranked UNF as the 51st best University in the Southern Region of the United States. The Mission of the UNF College of Arts and Sciences is:

  • To provide learning opportunities of the highest quality to our students, both undergraduate and graduate, to develop their capabilities as critical and reflective thinkers, and to offer each occasions for transformative learning;
  • To promote faculty engagement in pursuit and production of disciplinarily significant and high quality scholarship — discovered and applied, global and local;
  • To offer undergraduate and graduate programs that contribute to the successful achievement of our students’ ambitions, are responsive to and engaged with the communities of which the university is a part, and continue the tradition of an excellent liberal arts education; and
  • To dedicate the college’s full range of resources to these goals.

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

The BA Degree in Psychology Program at UNF has a strong liberal arts foundation. To complete the BA degree program, students must complete a curriculum that advances their understanding of human and animal behavior. Students also gain competence in a second language through a foreign language course requirement. Finally, students seeking a BA degree are provided with hands-on and classroom opportunities to improve their problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

The BS in Psychology degree program at UNF has a strong empirically based scientific emphasis. In order to complete the BS degree program, students must complete a curriculum that was designed to advance their understanding of human and animal cognition and behavior. Students gain experience, knowledge, and skills in research methods that behavioral scientists use in modern psychology. Upon completing this program students are adequately prepared to pursue graduate studies in psychology.

Accreditations
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
Senior College and University Commission of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)

Contact
University of North Florida
The College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Barbara Hetrick, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
1 UNF Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32224
(904) 620-1000
E-Mail: barbara.hetrick@unf.edu
Program Website: http://www.unf.edu/coas/psychology/

University of South Florida

The College of Arts and Sciences

The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida and a public research university located in Tampa, Florida, USA. Founded in 1956, USF is the fourth-largest public university in the state of Florida, with a total enrollment of 47,646 as of the 2012–2013 academic year.[2][3] The USF system comprises three institutions: USF Tampa, USF St. Petersburg and USF Sarasota-Manatee.[4] Each institution is separately accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. USF is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the top tier of research universities, and is among three other universities in Florida to hold this highest level of classification. In 2014, US News and World Report ranked USF as the 170th best National University. The College of Arts and Sciences is the liberal arts center of the University of South Florida. The faculty is a community of educators, scientists and scholars “working together in the belief that broadly educated people are the basis of a just, free and prosperous society. By focusing on the big questions facing all of humanity, we prepare students for successful personal and professional lives. By conducting innovative, interdisciplinary research and scholarship, we advance knowledge in ways that prepare us to address vexing social problems and enhance quality of life for people and communities”.

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

Upon completion of the B.A. in Psychology at USF, the student should show competence in three main areas: methods, contents, and skills. To show that students have completed the Methods competency they must be able to:

  • Identify hypotheses and distinguish hypotheses from facts and opinions.
  • Formulate hypotheses.
  • Collect, analyze and interpret data relevant to such hypotheses.
  • Describe and interpret both descriptive and inferential statistics.
  • Match simple experimental designs with the appropriate analyses.
  • Identify problems with the internal and external validity of the study findings.
  • Use information about the reliability and validity of a test to make judgments about the test’s quality.
  • Distinguish between an operational definition and a hypothetical construct.
  • Identify ethical problems in the conduct of research.

To show that students have completed the Contents competency they must be able to:

  • Describe several of the major theoretical positions in psychology.
  • Describe how psychological theories can be used to practical ends.
  • Take a position on several major psychological controversies and marshal empirical research results that support the position taken.
  • Describe psychology’s place in a larger, societal context
  • Articulate degrees of interest in various sub-disciplines of psychology.

To show that students have completed the Skills competency they must be able to:

  • Conduct a computer search for prior research in an area of interest to psychologists.
  • Write clearly about the implications of empirical data for questions of psychological importance.
  • Identify flaws in the conclusions of studies presented in the popular media and can identify problems with psychology in the popular press.

Accreditations
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)

Contact
University of South Florida
The College of Arts and Sciences
The Psychology Department
4202 East Fowler Ave, PCD4118G
Tampa, FL 33620
(813) 974-2492
E-Mail: tgordon@usf.edu
Program Website: http://psychology.usf.edu/ug/advising/

The University of Tampa

College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education

The University of Tampa (UT), is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida. Each year, UT enrolls approximately 7,200 students from 50 U.S. states. Many students come from northern and northeastern states, attracted by the warm weather, the proximity to beaches and the beautiful campus. Floridians make up half of the student body and over 122 countries are represented within the student body, providing students with a rich cultural diversity. Sixty-five percent of students live in campus housing. In 2014, US News and World Report ranked UT as the 22nd best University in the Southern Region of the United States. The College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education (CSSME) promotes several qualities in each department that represents the philosophy of the CSSME, including:

  • Faculty who are excellent teachers and scholars
  • Intensive student mentoring
  • Experiential learning/undergraduate research opportunities
  • International education emphases
  • Opportunities for service learning and applied learning
  • Links to the Tampa community
  • State-of-the-art equipment; access to technology

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

The mission of the psychology department is “to enable students to think scientifically about human behavior, appreciate the diversity of human behavior and experience, and pursue a variety of post-graduate career options”. The psychology department provides all majors with a strong liberal arts background in modern psychological theory and research. Students are offered a unique educational experience in psychology as a behavioral, cognitive, social science and applied discipline. The BA in Psychology Degree is for students who will seek employment at the baccalaureate level. It is also for those  who will pursue additional training in applied graduate programs in areas such as:

  • counseling
  • clinical
  • industrial/organizational
  • social work
  • organizational behavior
  • business administration,
  • school psychology
  • guidance and counseling
  • law

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

All psychology majors are required to complete a set of core courses that teach the history and breadth of the field. Students can also select one of five concentrations:

  • cognitive
  • social
  • clinical
  • organizational
  • biopsychology

If students want a more generalized psychology curriculum, they can also select a general curriculum covering all five areas. The BS Degree Program is intended to prepare students for graduate programs in the research areas of psychology such as:

  • clinical
  • social
  • cognitive
  • biopsychology
  • human and animal experimentation
  • developmental.)

It also prepares students for other graduate programs related to psychology that also require a strong natural science and mathematics background. These include:

  • medicine
  • genetic counseling
  • neuroscience
  • cognitive science

Accreditations
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)

Contact
The University of Tampa
College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education
401 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33606-1490
(813) 253-3333
E-Mail: admissions@ut.edu
Program Website: http://www.ut.edu/psychology/

University of West Florida

The College of Arts and Sciences

The University of West Florida, (West Florida or UWF) is a mid-sized public university located in Pensacola. UWF is a member institution of the State University System of Florida. It’s a comprehensive research university without departments of law or medicine. The space-grant institution was established in 1963. The University of West Florida sits on the third largest campus in the State University System. The College of Arts and Sciences aspires to “be nationally recognized for its exemplary and innovative educational experiences across the humanities, the sciences, and the arts”. They work together to develop and maintain a plethora of effective programs that can help meet the needs of the community.

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

The BA in Psychology Degree Program helps students understand how to evaluate and understand behavior and experience, and to apply their knowledge to various clinical settings. The BA program gives an overview of the psychological discipline and provides ways to apply the knowledge. It also develops research skills in the discipline. Within the program, students have ample opportunity to pursue those aspects of psychology they find most interesting. Psychology Majors receive:

  • an overview of the biological, cultural, and social aspects of behavior
  • learning, and behavior changes
  • and typical patterns of development and adjustment
  • All students in the department will develop skills in:
  • Recognition and application of discipline specific concepts
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving
  • Communication and interpersonal interaction
  • Professional integrity
  • Design and implementation of psychological research

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with Human Development Concentration

The BA in Psychology degree program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to focus on the specialty field of human development. This is an excellent option for students who plan to pursue a career path or who plan to pursue advanced degrees in psychology or related fields. Students in this concentration program have many opportunities for conducting research with faculty mentors in areas such as:

  • Successful aging
  • Parenting styles and child discipline practices
  • Everyday problems and affective reactions among adolescents
  • Social isolation and victimization by bullies
  • Perceived social support among adult caregivers of senior adults
  • Creating classroom environments to foster critical thinking

Accreditations
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)

Contact
University of West Florida
The College of Arts and Sciences
The Department of Psychology
11000 University Parkway
Bldg. 41/Rm. 250
Pensacola, FL 32514
(850) 474-2000
E-Mail: psych@uwf.edu

Warner University

The Department of Behavioral Sciences

Warner Southern College was founded in 1968 by the Southeastern Association of the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana. In 2008, the name was changed to Warner University (WU). WU is a co-educational, accredited private Christian liberal arts college in Lake Wales, Florida, affiliated with the Church of God. Warner has received commendation for Campus Diversity by U.S. News & World Report‘s “America’s Best Colleges” for four consecutive years. Throughout the university Warner works to create an atmosphere of:

  • diversity
  • multiculturalism
  • multidisciplinary study.

The Department of Behavioral Sciences provides study in:

  • Communications
  • Psychology
  • Social Work
  • Sports Communication

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

The BA in Psychology Degree Program offers a curriculum to help psychology majors advance their knowledge about human behavior. Psychology is the second largest major throughout United States colleges and universities because of the diverse options available to graduates. Students completing this degree program are prepared  to enter grad school to pursue a professional career in psychology, such as counseling. Students can also opt to enter the work force upon graduation in areas such as:

  • sales
  • mental health technician
  • human resources and many other areas of employment

Accreditations
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)

Contact
Warner University
13895 Highway 27
Lake Wales, Florida 33859
(863) 638-7212
E-Mail: dawn.meadows@warner.edu
Program Website:

Throughout the state, a variety of colleges and universities offer undergraduate studies in psychology. Students can choose an academic institution that offers online or hybrid degree programs. This allows greater flexibility for students as well as the unique opportunity for students with limitations on attending a traditional program.  Individuals with disabilities, military personnel overseas, those with small children and many other groups can now earn their degree. Students can also choose to pursue a degree in general psychology or to find a degree program that offers specialization in one of the many sub-fields of psychology. No matter what your career and academic goals, there is a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in Florida that is right for you.