Our graduates will serve as researchers, consultants, leaders, and teachers who can creatively facilitate transformations in a global society. The Psychology: Consciousness and Society program offered by University of West Georgia reflects three theoretical approaches to analyze the intersection of consciousness and society: Humanistic, Critical, & Transpersonal. These approaches serve as reflexive and reflective anchors to the scholarly trajectory of our students in developing their own research interests. All of the theoretic perspectives that inform the curriculum indicate a fundamental value of the program, to privilege the question of one’s subjective accounting of an event, either in experiential or discursive terms.

Beyond traditional classes in psychological theory and research, students are exposed to a variety of experiences that foster rigorous and creative scholarship alongside social engagement and transformation. The program’s strong humanistic, cultural/critical, and transpersonal foundations mean that scholarship is linked to social engagement.

Faculty encourage and guide PhD students to submit articles to national and peer reviewed journals as well as a variety of national publications for professional development. Each semester students receive opportunities to present papers and posters at regional and national conferences that represent their areas of interest and further advance the goals of evolving perspectives in psychology, human science, discursive psychology and qualitative research.