In the spirit of the Jesuit, Catholic, liberal arts tradition, the Department of Psychology of Saint Joseph's University provides students with an understanding and appreciation of behavior and mental processes in all of its diverse manifestations, for the betterment of the human condition.
The Department promotes excellence through the teacher/scholar model and provides an atmosphere for students to be intellectually curious, socially responsible, to reason well, and to become independent learners. This academic experience will change the way they conceive of their world and themselves and will promote a life-long commitment to social justice and learning.
The Department serves its academic discipline and the larger community through faculty scholarship and the preparation of future scholars, as well as providing students with the intellectual, interpersonal, and communication skills that promote success in a variety of career paths.
Guided by the philosophy of science as a worldview and its application to psychological processes, the Department of Psychology supports the University's mission by:
- Excelling in teaching, scholarship, and service.
- Making a vital contribution to the general education of the University's students.
- Modeling cura personalis (care for the person) through advising, mentoring, community and professional service, and assuming positions of leadership within and outside the University.
- Preparing courses that reflect the historic roots of the discipline as well as contemporary thought, and making explicit the connections between basic science and real world applications.
- Emphasizing professional ethics of psychology as a discipline.
- Conducting and disseminating high quality research, in partnership with students.
- Providing students with experientially based learning.
- Preparing students to contribute to the common good.