Graduate psychology program climbs to third in U.S. News rankings

BGSU’s doctoral program in industrial/organizational psychology has gotten a reputation—and it’s the kind that every program would like to have.

A specialty field within Bowling Green’s Department of Psychology, the industrial/organizational program is ranked third among such programs nationwide in the newly released 2006 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” published by U.S. News & World Report.

Only Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota are listed above BGSU, which was tied for fourth with Pennsylvania State University when the top programs were last rated four years ago.

Penn State is fourth in the new rankings, which are based on the number of votes received from surveyed directors of psychology departments and graduate studies programs.

BGSU’s industrial/organizational program is highly regarded for two basic reasons—faculty and students, according to Dr. Michael Zickar, who is in his second year as the program director.

“We’ve done a good job of attracting and keeping productive faculty members who have high visibility in the field,” Zickar said. Similarly, he added, BGSU has attracted many of the top doctoral students, both from the United States and abroad, for whom it competes with other universities that have top-10 programs.

Those students then “go on to do good things, and that just adds to the reputation of the program,” said Zickar, an associate professor of psychology.

Where they go, if not to academic positions, is often to private industry. There, they work for consulting companies or Fortune 500 businesses, helping develop employee testing and training programs, for example. “We do a lot of the science behind human resource management,” Zickar explained.