APA Funds Three Universities to
Develop OHP Curricula
Heather R. Fox, Towson University
APA Science Directorate
The APA Science Directorate is pleased to announce that Colorado State
University, the University of South Florida, and the University of Texas at
Austin have received awards for their proposals to develop and implement core
curricula for graduate students in occupational health psychology. The funds
were provided by a 5-year cooperative agreement between APA and the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which will conclude at the
end of 2002.
Occupational health psychology (OHP) is a new specialty area within
psychology. In the broadest terms, OHP refers to the application of psychology
to protecting and promoting the safety, health, and well-being of workers, and
to improving the quality of worklife. The current cooperative agreement builds
on earlier efforts by APA and NIOSH to promote research, education, and training
in the field of OHP.
Peter Chen, PhD, will direct the activities of a steering committee to
develop a cluster of graduate courses for the OHP program at Colorado State
University. Although the program will be housed in the psychology department,
students will also be actively recruited from the Department of Environmental
Health and the Department of Occupational Therapy. Faculty envision the
potential of building a joint graduate program between the Department of
Psychology and the Department of Environmental Health to produce doctoral-level
educators in occupational safety and health, with a concentration in OHP.
Interested students should contact Dr. Chen at chenp@lamar.colostate.edu
for specific information about the program.
Paul Spector, PhD, at the University of South Florida will oversee the
development of an interdisciplinary concentration in OHP based on a joint effort
between faculty from the psychology department and faculty from the College of
Public Health. Students will initially have the opportunity to minor in OHP, and
the university plans to eventually seek recognition for the concentration by the
university as a certificate program. Future plans also include the formation of
an interdisciplinary OHP research group including faculty and students across
the USF campus. Interested students should contact Dr. Spector at spector@chuma.cas.usf.edu
for specific information about the USF program.
Charles J. Holahan, PhD, with co-investigator James Pennebaker, will direct
the OHP program at the University of Texas at Austin. The grant will finance the
development, implementation, and evaluations of a new OHP training track in the
Department of Psychology. The training track will include a seminar course, a
research practicum in OHP, an intervention practicum in OHP, and a new
interdisciplinary minor in OHP. The seminar class will target students from a
variety of departments and will serve as a prerequisite for the other
educational components in the program. Interested students should contact Dr.
Holahan at holahan@psy.utexas.edu
for specific information about the University of Texas at Austin OHP program.
The awards will support the development of the OHP program in 2001 and 2002
in preparation for course offerings in 2002 and 2003. Eight other universities
received awards in previous years: Bowling Green State University, Clemson
University, Kansas State University, Portland State University, Tulane
University, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Houston, and
the University of Minnesota. Descriptions of their programs and faculty can be
found at the OHP Web site: www.cdc.gov\niosh\ohp.html.
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