Northcentral University

In the beginning of December 2019, the Department of Psychology held its annual virtual winter symposium. We invited several guests to the symposium, among whom was Dr. Rebecca Collins. Dr. Collins joined us to introduce the NCU Grants office and her vision on how we can collaborate to establish new avenues for building a true research culture at NCU. We also invited the leadership of our Student Advisory Board (SAB) to join us this year. It was the first time we invited the SAB Leadership. We had a productive discussion and it became very apparent to me that we can learn much from each other, and in my mind, this will be an ongoing conversation and collaboration. We will be adding two new Master of Arts specializations: a specialization in Sport Psychology and one in Applied Behavior Analysis. The Master of Arts specialization in Sport Psychology will be a 36-credit program. For this specialization, we will develop 12 new courses, among them two field work courses. The curriculum for the Sports Psychology specialization will cover the eight knowledge areas as suggested by the Association for Applied Sports Psychology, meaning that our students will be able to pursue the certification to become a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC). The plan is this specialization will launch in April 2020. We will also develop a Master of Arts specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis. For this specialization, we will develop eight new courses, but more importantly, we will be seeking verification of the curriculum by the Applied Behavior Association International; meaning that students can pursue the certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. It is our plan to launch the new Master of Arts specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis in July 2020. In addition, on the doctorate (PhD) level, we are continuing to revise the gender studies specialization. The new specialization is titled Psychology of Gender and Sexual Fluidity. This revised specialization will be launched in April. I hope you had a great start to the year, and I wish you great enjoyment and success in 2020. Dr. Bettina Shapira Department Chair, Department of Psychology School of Social and Behavioral Sciences 11 The Psychology Bulletin Looking Forward DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE Bettina Shapira, PhD

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