Introduction

Please click here to see Psychology department information.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences also offers a Gardner Psychology Research Scholars BA degree.

The Gardner Psychology Research Scholars Program consists of a rigorous set of criteria centered around a research project working with a Psychology faculty mentor.

These degree requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult regularly with their major advisor and CLAS advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them.

Program Delivery

• This is an on-campus program.

Declaring This Major

• Secure approval from Psychology Department Gardner Program Director.

• Click here to go to information about declaring a major.

General Requirements

To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the three areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.

• CU Denver General Graduation Requirements  

• CU Denver Core Curriculum   

• College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Graduation Requirements  

• Click here for information about Academic Policies

Program Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum of 57 credit hours, including a minimum of 28 PSYC credit hours and a minimum of 23 credit hours in ancillary course work.

2. Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the major and must achieve a minimum of B (3.0) in the 3 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research courses and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.5. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to major requirements. 

3. Students must complete a minimum of 16 upper division (3000-level and above) PSYC credit hours with CU Denver faculty.

Program Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations

1. An experiential learning component is required and must be approved by the Bachelor of Science academic advisor. To fulfill the experiential learning requirement a student must have a minimum overall GPA of 2.5 or higher. Fulfilling this requirement with a project outside of the Psychology Department requires prior approval by the Bachelor of Science academic advisor. Independent study or internship credit hours taken outside of the Psychology Department will not count as Psychology credit hours.

2. Successful (final grade of B or better) completion of PSYC 4680 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar, PSYC 4681 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar II and PSYC 4780 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research: Ethics & Issues fulfills the experiential learning requirement for the Bachelor of Science in Psychology department core graduation requirement. It is required for students to have instructor permission to enroll in both PSYC 4680 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar and PSYC 4681 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar II

3. Students with transfer credit for PSYC1005 that was awarded zero credits will need to take an additional three credit Psychology Elective course to reach the minimum credit hours required for the Psychology Major.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete all of the following required courses:		19
PSYC 1000	Introduction to Psychology I
PSYC 1005	Introduction to Psychology II
PSYC 2090	Statistics and Research Methods
PSYC 2220	Biological Basis of Behavior
PSYC 3090	Research Methods in Psychology
PSYC 4054	Behavioral Neuroscience
Complete two of the following Group A elective courses:		6
BIOL 3104	Behavioral Genetics
PSYC 3222	Principles of Learning and Behavior
PSYC 3254	Introduction to Animal Behavior
PSYC 3262	Health Psychology
PSYC 3263	Hormones and Behavior
PSYC 3264	Exercise, Brain and Behavior
PSYC 3265	Drugs, Brain and Behavior
PSYC 3724	Developmental Neuroscience
PSYC 3810	Neuropsychology
PSYC 3822	Aging, Brain and Behavior
PSYC 3832	Neural Basis of Learning
PSYC 4164	Psychology of Perception
Complete one of the following Group B elective courses:		3
PSYC 3205	Human Development I: Child Psychology
PSYC 3305	Psychopathology
PSYC 3415	Experimental Social Psychology
Complete required ancillary coursework from Biology and Chemistry:		23
Biology
Chemistry
Upper Division Biology/ Chemistry electives
Complete Gardner Psychology Research Requirements: 1		6
PSYC/MARC 4680	Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar 2
PSYC/MARC 4681	Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar II 3
PSYC/MARC 4780	Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research: Ethics & Issues 2
Total Hours		57

¹

Students must earn a minimum grade of B or better in all of the following courses. It is required for students to have instructor permission to enroll in both PSYC 4680 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar and PSYC 4681 Behavioral & Biomedical Sciences Research Seminar II

²

Take in the Fall.

³

Take in the Spring.

Additional Research Requirements

• The faculty mentor will work with students to guide fulfillment of these co-curricular requirements

• begin this course of study with at least 2 semesters remaining at CU Denver before graduation
• find a CU Denver Psychology faculty member who will mentor this project
• devote a minimum of 180 hours of work on this research project, completed during two semesters or more
• write a scientific paper describing the research
• present the results in an oral format
• present the results in poster format

Biology

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Take the following:		8
BIOL 2010	Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio)
or BIOL 2030	Honors Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio)
BIOL 2011	Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio)
or BIOL 2031	Honors Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio)
BIOL 2020	Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio)
or BIOL 2040	Honors Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio)
BIOL 2021	Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio)
or BIOL 2041	Honors Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio)

Chemistry

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Take the following:		9
CHEM 2031	General Chemistry I
or CHEM 2081	Honors General Chemistry I
CHEM 2038	General Chemistry Laboratory I
or CHEM 2088	Honors General Chemistry I Laboratory
CHEM 2061	General Chemistry II
or CHEM 2091	Honors General Chemistry II Lecture
CHEM 2068	General Chemistry Laboratory II
or CHEM 2098	Honors General Chemistry II Laboratory

Upper Division Ancillary Electives

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Take two of the following upper division level ancillary elective courses:		6
BIOL 3226	Human Physiology
BIOL 3240	Human Anatomy Lecture
BIOL 3445	Introduction to Evolution
BIOL 3611	General Cell Biology
BIOL 3621	Introduction to Immunology
BIOL 3650	General Microbiology
BIOL 3832	General Genetics
BIOL 4134	Human Genetics
BIOL 4165	Neurobiology
CHEM 3810	Biochemistry
CHEM 4810	General Biochemistry I
CHEM 4820	General Biochemistry II

To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.

To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.