Established in 1900, the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri (MU) is the oldest academic department of psychology in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River. Our department is composed of tenured and tenure-track faculty, teaching faculty focused on instruction, clinical faculty who staff the affiliated Psychological Services Clinic, and dedicated staff supporting the department’s mission.

Each year, more than 1,000 undergraduate students pursue their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree in the Department. Our doctoral program has emphasis areas in clinical (nationally accredited), cognition and neuroscience, developmental, quantitative, and social/personality psychology.

Our Mission

The mission of the Department is to increase understanding of the mind, behavior, and mental health and to produce, disseminate, and use science to improve the lives of the citizens of Missouri, the nation, and the world. The Department pursues this mission through:

Research

  • Faculty and students in the Department produce and convey discoveries that increase understanding of human experiences and enrich the lives of Missourians.
  • In the past five years alone, our acclaimed faculty have received more than $33 million in research grants and contracts to support scientific discoveries, and have authored almost 1,000 scholarly publications describing those discoveries.
  • Scholarly publications authored by our faculty have been cited in the scientific literature nearly 500,000 times, reflecting their significant impact on the field.
  • The prominence of our faculty is also reflected in their status as Fellows in professional organizations and their receipt of numerous honors and awards.

Teaching

  • Psychology courses provide students with a fundamental understanding of human behavior, ranging from basic motivations that shape all of human experience to pathologies associated with specific mental health conditions.
  • Psychology is among the top majors at MU, serving students from all over the world and preparing them for a wide range of career options.
  • Our faculty offer first-rate instruction in courses that serve more than 8,000 students each year.
  • With approximately 80 graduate students, our Ph.D. program prepares students for high-impact professional careers in academic, healthcare, and industry settings.

Service

  • Our faculty engage in numerous community-directed service activities to enrich the lives of Missourians and enhance MU’s impact locally, nationally, and internationally.
  • Several of our faculty serve on federal scientific advisory panels, federal grant review panels, executive boards of national and international scientific and professional organizations, and national and international editorial boards. Several of our faculty are the lead editors of top scientific journals in the field.
  • The Department operates the Psychological Services Clinic, which provides high-quality, affordable, evidence-based mental health services for members of the campus and the local community, and which provides a highly valuable training atmosphere for our Clinical Psychology doctoral students.