Clinical psychology Ph.D. program ranked seventh in nation in research productivity

Virginia Tech’s clinical psychology Ph.D. program, part of the university’s College of Science, was ranked seventh in research productivity in a recent study of 157 such programs across the nation. The program was ranked 19th in overall research in the same study.

The study, conducted by the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University, evaluated psychology programs based on numbers of faculty publications and citations.

“Most programs are evaluated via reputation,” said Richard Winett, Heilig Meyers professor of psychology at Virginia Tech. “This study was the first that we know of that used quantifiable measures in the evaluation process.”

In addition, Thomas Ollendick, University Distinguished Professor of psychology at Virginia Tech, was the 10th most frequently published core clinical faculty member among the institutions studied in the report.

Virginia Tech’s clinical psychology Ph.D. program ranked ahead of programs at notable peer institutions such as Duke, the University of Virginia, Rutgers, and Penn State.

The College of Science at Virginia Tech gives students a comprehensive foundation in the scientific method. Outstanding faculty members teach courses and conduct research in biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics. The college is dedicated to fostering a research intensive environment and offers programs in many cutting edge areas, including those in nanotechnology, biological sciences, information theory and science, and supports the university’s research initiatives through the Institute for Critical Technologies and Applied Sciences, and the Institute for Biomedical and Public Health Sciences. The college of Science also houses programs in pre-medicine and intellectual properties law.