At its Nov. 1 meeting, Grand Valley State University’s Board of Trustees approved the addition of a graduate program in school psychology, a job market that’s expected to show significant growth over the next decade.

Psychology professor Amy Campbell will be the director of the new program. Campbell said that one of the reasons for creating the program was the shortage of school psychologists in the state of Michigan.

“We wanted to be able to address a community need by training well-qualified school psychologists and also provide a graduate program for students in an area that is in-demand,” Campbell said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market for psychologists is opening up not only in Michigan, but also across the nation. Average employment of psychologists in any field is expected to increase by 22 percent from 2010 to 2020. School psychologists are right in line with the 22 percent industry average but higher than the projected increase of all occupations across the nation at 14 percent.

Campbell said one of the main reasons for the shortage in Michigan is because there are only five graduate psychology training programs in the state. She added that she hopes the new GVSU program will not only fill the void but also shape students who will lead the way in the field of school psychology.

“We wanted to create a unique program that will create leaders and innovators in the field of education,” Campbell said. “Students will be able to gain expertise in important areas such as autism, school discipline and prevention of academic difficulties.”

The final reason that Campbell said drove her team to develop the graduate program was student interest. According to GVSU’s Office of Institutional Analysis, the number of students in the bachelor’s program of psychology has grown 15 percent over the past few years. In 2009, there were 986 students enrolled, and as of this fall, there are a total of 1,133.

Campbell said that although the graduate program will not directly affect the current undergraduate program, it will be beneficial to all undergraduate students to have a graduate program on campus.

According to the BLS, the median annual wage of clinical, counseling and school psychologists as of May 2010 was $66,810, which was slightly below the average for all psychologist positions at $68,640. On average, psychology jobs in 2010 still received higher compensation than the average of all occupations in the country, which was $33,840.

The GVSU program is full-time and will require 66 credits to graduate. For the first two years, students will be enrolled in graduate classes in both the psychology department and the College of Education, as well as engaged in practicum hours at local schools. During the third year of the program, students will have a full-time internship in an actual school.

The psychology department will begin accepting applications for the program in January 2014, and the program will begin next fall. Each year, the psychology department will accept a new group of students to begin the program in the fall.

If students are interested in enrolling in the new graduate program, or have questions about it, Campbell asked that they contact her at [email protected].