If your future goals consist of presenting your original research at a conference, studying psychology in another country, or conducting an internship in a local hospital (or even all of the above!) Knox provides plenty of opportunities to enhance your classroom studies.

Research
College Honors
Clinical Term
Internships
Off-Campus Programs

Research
One of the most valuable aspects of majoring in psychology at Knox is the opportunity for independent research, and as a psychology student, you'll be able to take full advantage of that aspect—indeed, a senior research experience is part of the psychology major.

Our students routinely represent Knox at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and publish co-authored papers in scientific journals. More than 30 papers co-authored by Knox students have been published in psychological journals or presented at professional meetings in the past 10 years. See a list of some of these papers on the psychology department's Web page. Examples of some recent student research projects include:

• "Infant Cognitive Development," Tanya Ferguson '08.
• "Forensic Psychology," Rachel Megibow '07, psychology major.
• "A Young Life Experience," Sarah Brookings '06, psychology major
• "Mental Illness and Torture in Iraqi Kurdistan," Nathan Ewigman '06, psychology major, independent study/senior research funded by Richter program.
• "Culturally Competent Therapy," Nathan Ewigman '06, psychology major.
• "Further Learning of Forensics," Tina Gallinati '06, psychology major.
• "Adolescents and Pharmaceuticals," William Hamlet '06, psychology and biology major.
• "Future Time Perspective and Its Influence on the Personal Goals of College Students," Elizabeth Nolan '06, psychology major, independent study/senior research funded by Richter program.
• "Flow, Brain Waves and Consciousness," Michael Prentice '07, psychology major.
• "Biology of Eating Disorders," Jessica Watson '06, psychology major.
• "Forensic Psychology," Robert Woolridge '06, psychology major.
• "Magic: Psychology of Deception," Neil Young '06, psychology major.

In recent years, two Knox psychology majors have won prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowships for graduate study. A partial list of doctoral programs in psychology that have accepted Knox students in the past 10 years includes: 

Yale
Duke
MIT
UCLA
Michigan
Northwestern
University of Illinois
University of Iowa
University of Minnesota
University of Texas
Penn State
Washington University
University of Chicago

Many other students have pursued graduate work at the master's level in social work, counseling and other fields.

College Honors
Our students often elect to undertake College Honors in their senior year, carrying out an advanced research project over the course of a year and presenting and defending it to a faculty committee that includes a distinguished outside examiner. Some recent examples of such projects in psychology include:

• "The Health and Social Effects of Writing Behind a Mask: Towards Clinical Interventions and a Literary Science," by Matthew Anders Andersson '07.
• "Turned Off with the Lights On: Factors Mediating the Relationship between Body Image Spectatoring and Sexual Functioning," by Alisha Carroll Oscharoff '07.
• "'Psychological Consequences of Exposure to Pharmaceutical Advertisements': An Application of Self-Discrepancy Theory to Advertisements for Anti-Depressant Medication," by Nathan Ewigman '06.
• Neuropsychology: "The Effect of Stress on Spatial Memory Performance and Hippocampal Tissue in Rats," by Lana Fryer '05.
• "When Students Feel Autonomous: A Cross-Cultural Test of Self-Determination Theory in the Education Domain," by Yuna Engle 04.
• "A Laboratory simulation of Hagen's Defection Hypothesis: Determining the Role of Future Reproductive Opportunity and offspring Quality in Parental Investment," by Stefanie Turner '04.
• "Are Hormones Alone? The Effects of Sex and Sexual Orientation on Bodily Fluctuating Asymmetry," by Stacie Miller '03.

Clinical Term
An integral part of the Knox curriculum is the idea of "experiential learning," (learning by doing) and one of the psychology department's most unique offerings for experiential learning is Clinical Term.

Students interested in the areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology or social work can spend a term immersing themselves in the field by taking two courses, (PSYC 277, Clinical and Abnormal Psychology, and PSYC 279, Counseling Processes), while simultaneously completing an internship in the Galesburg area that is related to clinical psychology.

In Clinical Term, you'll gain an increased knowledge of clinical psychology through the integration of academic information and assignments in the two classes with the hands-on experience of working in settings typical of clinical psychologists, counselors and social workers. Students in the program have worked with the chronically mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, families and children experiencing a variety of difficulties in adjustment, and women and children who are the victims of domestic abuse.

Internships
As a student of psychology at Knox, you'll have the opportunity to expand your education—to get that valuable "real world" experience you hear so much about—by taking an internship for course credit either during the academic year or in the summer. The Galesburg area offers a variety of opportunities for clinical experiences, ranging from alcohol treatment to play therapy to working with the chronically mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. Recent examples of psychology-related internships include:

Brookfield Zoo
Domestic Violence Shelters
Bridgeway Community Mental Health Center
Mailman Center for Child Development, University of Miami School of Medicine
Stanford University, Department of Psychology
University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Mindfulness Clinic
Galesburg Public Schools (School psychology and social work)
I AM Cares, Chicago (Supported Employment for Disabled Workers
The Newman Psychiatric Clinic
St. Mary's Square (for the developmentally disabled)
Allstate Insurance (Human Resources)
State Farm Insurance (Marketing)

Few experiences can prepare you better for life after Knox than conducting an internship. As a Knox psychology student, you can conduct an internship for course credit either during the academic year or the summer, working closely with a faculty supervisor while engaging in fieldwork and completing an academic paper. Recent internships by psychology students include:

• Intern, Flora Residential, Springfield, Ohio. Sarah Brookings, '06, psychology major.
• JET Teaching Program, Japan. Tara Converse, '05, psychology major.
• Human Resources Intern, FBOP Corporation, Chicago, Illinois. Aisha Nurse, '05, psychology major.
• Human Resources Intern, Lowe's, Galesburg, Illinois. Aisha Nurse, '05, psychology major.

Off-Campus Programs
While Knox offers top-notch research facilities, you'll want to consider taking the opportunity to work in a research facility somewhere halfway around in the world, in one of Knox's many off-campus study programs.

In recent years, students have attended programs ranging from the Urban Studies semester in Chicago, to the exchange program with the University of Aberdeen, where students interested in biopsychology have the opportunity to take specialized classes in neuroscience. Many students also go abroad  to collect data for cross-cultural research projects; Spain, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Egypt, and India are among the recent nations in which our students have studied.