Life-Span Developmental Psychology

The Life-Span Developmental Psychology Program (LSDP) offers substantitive training in cognition, socialization, and health across the life-span. Recognizing the diversity of life-span developmental psychology, the Program allows students to design their own course of study within our guidelines (see LSDP Handbook).

The LSDP provides students with a mastery of the knowledge and methodological skills necessary for a successful career as a teacher/researcher in an academic setting or as a researcher in a non-academic setting on problems and issues of life-span developmental psychology.

We are very proud of the graduates from our program. They have gone on to a variety of research and teaching positions. To give just a few examples,

• Steffen Pope Wilson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Eastern Kentucky University.

• Andrew S. Walters is Associate Professor at Northern Arizona University.

• Keith Dooley is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Murray State University.

• Jay Silverman is an Associate Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard University. Jay's work on dating violence has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and featured in Time Magazine and USA Today.

Click here for a listing of current developmental graduate students.

Life-Span Developmental Psychology is a prime meeting ground for disciplines in the behavioral, social, and biomedical sciences. Our program's strengths lie in the breadth of training available to our students and the broad range of resources available both within our department and in other programs with whom we collaborate. We draw added support from Child and Family Development and Educational Psychology.

Facilities and Resources

The LSDP program has research facilities housed in the Psychology Building and elsewhere on campus.

• Infant Research Lab

• Child Cognitive Development

• Family Relationships in Late Life Project

LSDP students also benefit from faculty affiliations with the multidisciplinary Institute for Behavioral Research (IBR) and the Gerontology Institute. Both sponsor numerous colloquia and seminars on topics of interest to psychologists.

Admission Requirements and Procedures

To gain acceptance into the program, an applicant must obtain approval from the faculty of the LSDP program and the Graduate School. Selection is based on a variety of criteria including: undergraduate academic record, GRE scores, previous research experience, letters of recommendation, other relevant experience, and the faculty ability to provide guidance in the applicant’s stated area of interest. Prospective students should identify one or more members of the LSDP faculty (including adjuncts) who could serve as mentor(s) based on mutual research interests.

For more on Psychology graduate admissions click here.

Financial Assistance (see financial aid)

In addition to departmental financial support, students may also work directly with the University’s Office of Student Financial Aid (706-542-6147) for assistance in securing student loans.