A Brief Note to Prospective Applicants to SMU’s Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology

Thank you for your interest in our program. We have an exceptional training program for students who are interested in both research and clinical practice. Below are several features of our program, which as a group, help distinguish it from many of the other fine programs in clinical psychology across the country.

Faculty
Our Department has an outstanding, energetic faculty committed to both research and teaching. Many core faculty members are internationally recognized scholars who publish their research in the field’s top academic outlets. Many of our core faculty members have grant support for their research. Over half have been honored by a national and/or international scientific organization (e.g., American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Anxiety Disorders Association of America, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Society for Psychophysiological Research, Psychiatric Research Society).

Importantly, from the perspective of an incoming graduate student, our faculty members are conducting important, innovative research on a variety of topics. Details about faculty research interests and recent publications can be found on faculty web pages. Topics of interest include family violence, anxiety disorders, psychophysiology of respiratory disease, health disparities, couples’ therapy, stress and memory function, and parenting.

An additional positive feature of our program is that we are continuing to build our faculty. We have added four new faculty members in the past two years and we hope to add 3 or 4 new faculty members. With our current faculty and projected growth, Southern Methodist University is and will be a very exciting place.

Clinical Training
We work with a number of external agencies in the Dallas community to offer our students an array of clinical training experiences. Students can receive training in empirically supported assessment and treatment techniques in a variety of real-world settings, including Parkland Hospital, North Texas VA Hospital, and Presbyterian Neuropsychology Center.

Students also have opportunities to be trained as therapists on federally-funded clinical trials. Currently, we have several trials being conducted by faculty members (Renee McDonald, Jasper Smits, Thomas Ritz, and Alicia Meuret). There is also an Assessment Practicum for all second-year students.

Facilities
We have new state-of-the-art research and training facilities. This includes a brand new campus facility equipped with digital observational equipment and state-of-the-art computer technology, high-tech observational equipment; and several faculty labs equipped for psychophysiological assessments. We have multiple interview/therapy rooms for research and clinical training, and we have established a new virtual reality laboratory, which can also be used for both research and clinical training.

Ernest Jouriles, Ph.D., Chair                  Buck Hampson, Ph.D., Director of Graduate Studies