Special Opportunities

Interdisciplinary Learning

Trinity’s Psychology Department emphasizes interdisciplinary study and collaborates with other departments, including engineering, biology, sociology, and economics, to provide Psychology majors with a larger context.

The Department offers a series of integrated tracks involving the study of another discipline as it relates to psychology. For example, the Human Movement track includes a study of movement from the perspectives of engineers, athletes, and dancers, as well as psychologists.

Independent Study

As a student’s interest in psychology grows, independent study and the Open Semester option become a viable pursuit in which Trinity’s psychology faculty participate fully and enthusiastically. Such independent inquiry enables students to engage in research or specialized studies – often in areas not covered by traditional course work – either on campus or elsewhere.

Internships

The College’s beautiful campus in a metropolitan setting offers the opportunity for testing cutting-edge theories and practices learned in the classroom.

Trinity is only blocks from Connecticut’s state court system, as well as city offices and health-care providers – such as Hartford, St. Francis, and Mt. Sinai hospitals; the University of Connecticut Health Center; and the Institute of Living – ensuring rich ground for internships and independent study and research.

Classroom experience is also enhanced by off-campus learning. The neuropsychology class visits the neuropathology section at Hartford Hospital, the class studying the psychology of the criminal justice system sits in on a series of proceedings of the Connecticut Superior Court, and the Social Psychology of Educational Systems class attends hearings on related suits brought against the State. Internships at the Institute of Living have involved the teaching and counseling of adolescents, and the testing of individuals with brain damage has been observed at area hospitals.

Prospects for Success

The avenues open to Trinity’s psychology majors are diverse. In recent years, students have been accepted for advanced study at such institutions as the University of Virginia, Brown University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Michigan, Boston College, Rutgers, and the Smith College School of Social Work. Their career paths have included market researcher, parole counselor, child care researcher, lawyer, software engineer, director of college counseling, developmental specialist, and business administrator. Some go on to teach at the elementary or high school level; many have become college professors themselves.