Chair: Peter S. Kaplan
Director, Clinical Health Psychology Ph.D. Program: Amy Wachholtz
Coordinator of Clinical Training: Jeffrey Rings
Program Assistant: Kim Hill
Director, Psychological Services Center: Jeffrey Rings
Office: North Classroom, 5002
Telephone: 303-315-7050
Fax: 303-315-7072
Website: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/psychology/

Overview

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, consisting of the following major areas of study: experimental psychology, biopsychology, animal behavior, developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, personality, industrial/organizational psychology and abnormal psychology.

Graduate Program

The Psychology department offers a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Psychology with an emphasis in clinical psychology that is earned en route to the doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree in Clinical Health Psychology. Our program trains students within the context of the scientist-practitioner model. That is, we value an integrated approach to both the science and practice of clinical psychology. Our training emphasizes the contribution of research to the understanding, treatment and prevention of human problems, and the application of knowledge that is grounded in scientific evidence.

Admissions

We strongly value diversity and encourage applications from prospective students with a variety of life backgrounds and experiences. The admissions committee looks favorably on courses in the biological and physical sciences, demonstrated interest and/or experience in health psychology research and clinical work, interest in a scientist-practitioner model of training and career, and interpersonal skills and abilities that are suitable for teaching, research, and clinical work in psychology.

Admission to CU Denver's Clinical Health Psychology PhD Program is competitive with an average of 6 students admitted each year. Students in the program receive the highest quality training and mentoring as well as financial assistance. More information can be found on the CHP website.

Our program has endorsed the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology statement on Preferred Pre-doctoral Competencies for Clinical Psychology (CUDCP preferred competencies). The Pre-doctoral Competencies outlined in this document represent many of the qualities that our program prefers applicants to have acquired prior to applying to our program.

Requirements for admission include coursework (or standardized assessment) in Introductory Psychology, Statistics, Research Methods, Abnormal Psychology, and History of Psychology. This must be in the last 10 years, currently being fulfilled (the Fall semester of your application year), or planned to be fulfilled (the Spring semester of your application year). Offers of admission are conditional upon completion of requirements.

These requirements can be met in the following ways:

• Introductory Psychology: B- or greater from an accredited university in Intro Psyc, or a 3 in Psychology AP Exam.If you have taken the class but have a lower score or the class is beyond the 10 year timeline, you could achieve the requirement with at least a 50^th percentile in a valid Psychology GRE Subject Test
• Statistics: B- or greater from an accredited university in Statistics or a 3 in Statistics AP Exam
• Research Methods: B- or greater from an accredited university in Research Methods (social sciences or psychology specific). If you have taken the class but have a lower score or the class is beyond the 10 year timeline, you could achieve the requirement with at least a 50^th percentile in a valid Measurement/Methodology subtest of the Psychology GRE Subject Test
• Abnormal Psychology: B- or greater from an accredited university in Abnormal Psychology (e.g., Abnormal Psychology, Psychopathology). If you have taken the class but have a lower score or the class is beyond the 10 year timeline, you could achieve the requirement with at least a 50^th percentile in a valid Clinical subtest of the Psychology GRE Subject Test
• History of Psychology: B- from an accredited university in History of Psychology (must be named as a separate course; a history component of Intro Psyc is not sufficient). Because some undergraduate institutions do not offer a course in History of Psychology, we will consider plans for students conditionally accepted to the program to take this course in the Summer prior to matriculation or during the program prior to Internship. The program does not pay for this course.
• We also require a BA or BS from an accredited undergraduate institution with a preferred minimum GPA of 3.5. Finally, we require a fully completed application.  See Application Information for details regarding what must be included in this application.  We do not require the GRE at this time.

Application Materials

More information can be found at: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/psychology/graduate-studies/application-information

• Complete Graduate admissions application (e.g., contact information, other basic fields).
• Personal Statement: In the application, you will be asked to identify a core Clinical Health Psychology faculty member who would be a good fit with your research interests. If there is more than one such faculty member, you are allowed to choose up to three such faculty members. The written statement should be a total of 3-4 double-spaced pages in length and should address the following (please use the following four headers in your statement):

1. Fit- describe your fit with our program. Specifically, discuss your (a) relevant clinical, research, and/or educational experiences, (b) why our scientist-practitioner program in Clinical Health Psychology is a good fit for you, and (c) which core faculty member(s) you most want to work with and why
2. Accomplishment - Tell us about a project or goal you set for yourself that took you a great deal of time and/or effort to accomplish. What challenges and obstacles did you face and how did you overcome these?
3. Future Impact - What impact do you hope to have on the field in the long term (after acquiring a Ph.D.)
4. Diversity - The University of Colorado Denver’s CHP program is committed to promoting diversity and fostering an environment of inclusion within our program.  This is part of our mission to equip future researchers and clinicians to be culturally responsive as they engage in the science and practice of psychology. Please comment on your commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion within the program and growth in cultural responsiveness, and how any of your experiences and/or interests might contribute to fostering a culture of inclusion in the program.

• Resume or Curriculum Vita: Include education, employment, publications, theses, research and other activities related to clinical health psychology. Applicants upload their resume or CV directly into the online application.
• Letters of Recommendation: Three letters of recommendation, at least two of which must be academic references, are required. Once applicants submit their applications, their recommenders receive email instructions from CU Denver on how to upload their letters into the online application. 
• Transcripts: One official transcript from each college and university attended. Transcripts are mostly sent electronically on the applicants' request via the online application or are scanned and uploaded into the online application. If these methods don’t work, you may use the following: Standard mail and express delivery(that requires a receiver signature: Graduate Admissions, University of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 167, 1201 Larimer Street, Suite 1005, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80204.
• Application Fee: $50 for US citizens; $75 for international students. Until the fee is received, your application will not be officially submitted. There are many ways applicants may be eligible for an Application Fee Waiver. Requests for waivers must be submitted at least 1 week before the final application deadline. For a list of who may be eligible for a waiver please see here. Contact graduateadmissions@ucdenver.edu if you have questions or are ready to apply your application fee waiver.
• International Students - The additional admissions requirements for international students can be found at CU Denver International Graduate Admissions. Conditional admission is not offered.

Programs

Faculty

Professors:

Elizabeth Sandlin Allen, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Richard Allen, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  
James Grigsby, PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mitchell M. Handelsman, PhD, University of Kansas
Peter S. Kaplan, PhD, Indiana University
Kevin S. Masters, PhD, Brigham Young University

Associate Professors:

David Albeck, PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder
Sondra Bland, PhD, University of Texas
Benjamin Greenwood, PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder
Kristin Kilbourn, PhD, University of Miami
Erik Oleson, PhD, Wake Forest University
Krista W. Ranby, PhD, Arizona State University
Jonathan Schaffer, PhD, St. John’s University
Amy Wachholtz, PhD, Bowling Green University
Jason Watson, PhD, Washington University
 

Assistant Professors:

Carly Leonard, PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Melissa Simone, Ph.D., Utah State University

Professor, Clinical Teaching Track:

Joan Bihun, PhD, Wayne State University
Kevin Everhart, PhD, University of South Carolina
Vivian Shyu, PhD, University of Denver

Associate Professor, Clinical Teaching Track:

Jeffrey Rings, Ph.D., University of Denver
 

Senior Instructors:
Bethann Bierer, PhD, University of Denver

Instructors:

Christina Collins, Ph.D., Meridian University
Laurel Hyslop, Ph.D., Syracuse University

Jeremiah Ramos, M.S., University of Texas at Dallas
Paula Schmidtlein, Ph.D., University of Denver

Emeritus Professors:

Rick M. Gardner, PhD, University of Nevada
Barbara Walker, PhD, The Ohio State University
Michael Zinser, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Psychology (PSYC) Courses