Info for prospective students

I plan on accepting a PhD student for fall 2027.

The purpose of this post is to provide information for prospective PhD students who might be interested in working with me in the school psychology program at Utah State University.

USU's school psychology program

The school psychology PhD program at USU is fully accredited by APA. We have a fantastic group of faculty who are excellent researchers, psychologists, and mentors. We're located in the Department of Psychology with Emma Eccles Jones College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences . The program website linked above has important information you should consider, including faculty bios, lab information, application requirements, and links to the program handbook. In general, PhD students in the program are funded with an assistantship and provided with a tuition waiver. This is a full-time, in-person program. We are a scientist-practitioner health service psychology program.

The program provides broad training in both the science and practice of school psychology. We have a relatively strong emphasis on mental health within school psychology. We also have access to the Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence , a state-of-the-art training clinic facility on campus. The faculty generally are cognitive-behavioral/behaviorally orientated.

Even though the faculty leans behavioral (and some were mentored by behavior analysts and one is a BCBA-D), we do not have a particularly workable pathway for you to earn your BCBA while in the program. If that is a must for you, you might consider the school psychology program at the University of Utah in the neighboring Salt Lake City. We will prepare you to be a fully licensed psychologist and/or a nationally certified school psychologist.

USU has a particularly scenic campus. Logan is located in Cache Valley and is surrounded by beautiful mountain views. The town of Logan itself is a thriving semi-rural community with a lot of charm. I think it's a lovely place to live. Check out the drone video below for an overview (ha) of the campus.

The Suicidology Lab at USU

Beyond the generalist training and school mental health learning through the PhD program, students in my lab gain expertise in suicidology. I am committed to training graduates that are well versed in many aspects of suicidology, including prevention, assessment, intervention (including DBT and CAMS), and postvention. Suicidology involves many different areas and students are encouraged to follow their specific passions when pursuing research projects within the field. I tend to be very available and responsive to mentee needs.

I am committed to helping students improve their data cleaning and applied statistics skills. I can also support students in learning the basics of applying more advanced quantitative topics including structural equation modeling, item response theory, missing data methods, and analyzing data from complex sampling designs. The lab conducts all analyses in either Stata or R and students are expected to develop proficiency in either language (or both!). We publicly post our code and/or data in line with open science practices.

I am open to supervising projects across many areas of suicidology. I want to help students find a balance between their particular passion areas and the areas in which I'm able to mentor them. Broad topic areas might include: Psychometric questions related to suicide, depression, or BPD; complex survey analysis of national or state-level public health datasets with variables related to suicide; lethal means; behavior therapies like DBT; improving school-based services for youth with NSSI / suicidality / emotion regulation concerns; examining how insights from 'third wave' behavior therapies can advance our understanding of suicidal ideation; question about how to leverage single case designs in the field; or replicating adult studies with youth/family samples.

I am not a good match for someone looking to work on questions related to biology, animal models, neuropsychology, geropsychology, early childhood, qualitative or mixed methods, developmental disabilities, or non-behavioral psychotherapies/interventions.

What is health service psychology?

Health service psychology consists of three highly overlapping traditions of applied psychology that can lead to licensure as a psychologist: clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and school psychology. Health service psychology programs are particularly demanding, even compared to other doctoral programs, because it is almost as if you are completing two doctoral degrees: One for advanced research training and one for advanced practice training. In addition to research courses, lab involvement, and thesis/dissertation, you take clinically focused courses and complete anywhere from 3000-4000 hours of supervised clinical experience prior to graduation, which is then followed by another 2000 hours of postdoctoral clinical training for independent licensure as a psychologist (and passing a national licensure exam called the EPPP).

While it is a difficult path, health service psychologists come out very well trained in many areas and have considerable career flexibility. There is a national shortage of school psychology practitioners and university faculty. When fully licensed, graduates can also work in a variety of youth-focused clinical settings as well, such as outpatient, residential, hospital, and more. If you decide that clinical work or faculty life is not a fit for you, full-time research or data positions are possibilities if this is a passion of yours. There is also demand for district leadership, training, and consultation roles to help school systems improve services for all learners. A great resource for those considering applying to health service psychology programs is Mitch Prinstein's Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology . While this is geared toward clinical psychologists, it is relevant for school and counseling applicants as well.

I am of course biased, but school psychology in particular is a great field. Schools are so important to society and there is an intense need for people trained to work with youth experiencing emotional/behavioral challenges—and to prevent those challenges from developing in the first place. Schools are a public good, with incredible people doing incredible things for all youth every day—without regard for the family's insurance coverage or ability to pay. I see school psychology as a mix of clinical skills, systems thinking, and a prevention mindset.

Additional resources

Here is a list of additional resources that might be useful in your journey to grad school, many of which I learned about from Tyler Renshaw's prospective students page.

The chapter Deciding to Apply and Successfully Gaining Admission to Graduate Schools in Psychology by Mitch Prinstein from the fantastic (and free) book The Portable Mentor: Expert Guide to a Successful Career in Psychology .

Frequently asked questions about graduate schoo l from the APA

Mitch’s Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology

List of suicidology labs taking students

Information about school psychology and school psychology careers from NASP

Division 16 of the APA

ABCT website with resources for getting into grad school

UC San Diego Psych Department's how to apply to grad school

APS resource on how to write a strong CV

APA's preparing and applying for graduate school in psychology