Michael- We too are listed as "social science" along with history, political economy, sociology/anthropology, education, and (wait for it) business. It isn't the most comfortable position and our division discussions often appear to be a series of non sequiturs. J We just don't have that much in common with most of those disciplines (methods, quantitative focus, labs- no other dept in our division has those- thus our budget seems to put us in some kind of "favored status". To top it off, our major has gone from the low middle of departments in size to being number 2 for the last five years! What is interesting is that the members of my department, while demanding to be "seen as a science" would not even consider moving to the science division (part of that has to do with relationships and we are a very small college so it really does matter here).
I think the only thing that would trouble me about the situation you have described is that it appears that the decision to move psychology to an "art" wasn't one of considerable debate or reasoned argument among academics but one where you were assigned this new status by the web-gurus and/or communications folk at the university. Or am I completely misreading the situation. If that IS the case . . . I really don't know how I'd feel or react to that but it might not be all that well! J Was the department included in discussions that lead to this change or was it foisted upon you by higher powers is the question that comes to mind? Tim ______________________________________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD email: ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Phone- (208) 459-5840 Chair and professor of psychology Albertson College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 teaching interests: Neuropsychology, psychopharmacology, history and systems, forensic psychology, psychology and the movies Department of Psychology, Environmental Studies Department -----Original Message----- From: Lavin, Michael [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 8:18 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Lavin, Michael Subject: [tips] Categorizing Psychology as a major Tipsters: Recently, with the modification of the university web page, Psychology was moved from its two category status (social science and science) now to the arts. The rationale, as stated to me, was that it was more appealing to have an Arts label than Science for 16 and 17 year old potential students. I personally find this to be the ne plus ultra example of "selling out." My question to you folks: how is Psychology classified at your college or university? Mike Michael J. Lavin Professor Emeritus St. Bonaventure University [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://web.sbu.edu/psychology/lavin 914-366-8006 Tarrytown, NY 716-375-2488 SBU Office --- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang= english ---
