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The Department of Psychology offers two graduate programs, the Psychology Graduate Program and the Clinical Psychology Graduate Program, leading to the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. The Psychology Graduate Program offers specialization in five different research areas and the Clinical Psychology Graduate Program offers training in four different tracks. Most of our students complete both a Masters and PhD; however, some students with psychology or related Masters degrees from other institutions can apply directly to our PhD program. All graduate programs in Psychology are full time. Most students complete a Masters within 2-3 years and a PhD within 4-5 years. After graduating, our students embark on a variety of successful careers in practice, industry, and academia.

In my role as the Psychology Graduate Program Chair (GPC), I am responsible for overseeing our two graduate programs. In addition, in my capacity as GPC, I chair the Psychology Graduate Studies Committee (GSC), whose membership includes faculty representatives from each of the research areas and student representatives from each program. The GSC is responsible for graduate student admission, allocation of scholarships and other sources of merit-based funding, curriculum changes, annual evaluation of progress, disciplinary issues and student support. It is also a part of my role to facilitate growth and development of the Psychology graduate programs and to respond to the changing needs of graduate students in our programs.

As GPC in the department, I work very closely with the Psychology Graduate Program Assistant (GPA). The GPA supports the GPC and all aspects of running the graduate programs in Psychology. It is an incredibly busy job and essential to the smooth functioning of our two graduate programs. The GPA is often the first point of contact for prospective applicants, graduate students, and faculty for questions regarding admission requirements, and program policies and procedures. You can contact the GPA at psycgrad@sfu.ca.

All the best for the 2023-2024 academic year!

Dr. Ralph Mistlberger
Psychology Graduate Program Chair  

GPC Responsibilities:

As GPC, I fill the role of one of two Associate Chairs of the Dept. and, in this capacity, I liaise and consult with the Department Chair (Dr. Tim Racine) and the Chair of the Undergraduate Psychology Program (Dr. Matt Sigal). I also sit on the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Graduate Studies Committee, which deals with all FASS-level graduate program issues. In addition, I liaise and consult with the Dean and Associate Deans of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) and the GPS staff.

Another important part of my role is to consult directly with graduate students about any challenges or difficulties they are experiencing in the program. I am available to meet with students on an individual basis or as a group. Note that while I will act as a support person and source of information for students, I am not an advocate solely for students. Rather, my role is to help students access the resources they need, explain policies and procedures, and help facilitate resolutions to problems that students are encountering. Very importantly, anything students share with me is treated confidentially. The range of issues that students might wish to discuss with me includes challenges with graduate student life, workload, courses, TA’ing, and communication with academic or course supervisors.

The best way for current graduate students to contact me is to email me (mistlber@sfu.ca) to set up an appointment.