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FALL 2004 CONTENTS Call for Papers- |
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Focus
on the Life-Span Development Program in the Department of
Psychology at the University of Victoria In each issue, the SSHD Networker will focus on a different academic department that pursues scholarship pertinent to the vision and goals of SSHD. In this issue we have gone international and elected to describe the Life-Span development program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. The Life-Span Development program is one of five Ph.D. programs within the psychology department at the University of Victoria. Located on the picturesque 400 acre campus of University of Victoria, which over looks the Haro Strait and the Olympic Mountains; The Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria consists of 24 full-time faculty members and an additional 15 professionals in the community who are affiliated with the Department in a teaching, research, or consulting capacity. The department has 80 graduate students enrolled in the Department, 25 of whom are working on their M.A. or M.Sc. degrees and 55 at the Ph.D. level. The Life-Span program focuses on advancing knowledge of the processes of change for individuals across the life span. Topics of research interest include: developmental theories, methods of investigating life-span change, as well as such processes as cognition, memory, theories of mind, identity, risk-taking, social relationships, and problem behavior. Graduates from the program have gone on to pursue careers in academic and research settings, health-related institutions, and program development and evaluation. This program is directed toward a Ph.D degree. Students must first obtain an M.A. or M.Sc. degree as an intermediate step. This usually requires two years of study beyond the baccalaureate degree, a research apprenticeship with a faculty member, and thesis. The doctoral degree requires at least two years of study beyond the master's degree, comprehensive examinations in the candidate's major and minor areas of study, and a dissertation. Students participate in 3 core seminars designed to develop expertise related to theoretical, methodological and empirical issues in life-span development (PSYC 561, PSYC 562 or PSYC 568, and PSYC 563). Beyond these core seminars, students collaborate with their faculty committee to develop a program of additional courses, individual study, research, and practicum experiences designed to develop competence in the student's chosen area of specialization. The program endorses an apprenticeship model of graduate training in which students work closely with a faculty mentor. Core Faculty Members David F. Hultsch, Ph.D. (1968, Syracuse)
Dr. Hultsch's major research interests are in cognitive and personality development during adulthood and aging. He is currently involved in two major projects. The first is the Victoria Longitudinal Study, a multi-sample, multi-cohort longitudinal study designed to examine the impact of processing resources, intellectual abilities, and non-cognitive variables such as health, activity, and personality, on changes in memory function in later middle-age and old age. A major goal is to isolate those variables responsible for producing the wide range of individual differences in cognitive performance observed among older adults. The second project also involves examination of intra-individual change, but over the short-term. We are concerned with inconsistency in cognitive performance over days and weeks, and the impact this may have on the assessment of patients in the early stages of degenerative diseases or who have mild traumatic brain injury. Inconsistency produced by lawful but state-like influences such as mood states, stress, sleep deprivation, and medications may result in substantial fluctuations in performance that are clinically meaningful when the patient is near the borderline of impaired functioning. Christopher E. Lalone, Ph.D. (1997, British Columbia)
Dr. Lalone's research interests center on social-cognitive development in childhood and early adolescence. He is currently engaged in two streams of research. The first examines young children's developing theories of mind and their understanding of the interpretive nature of knowing. These studies aim to describe the nature of the cognitive competence that underpins such skills, as well as the manner in which children utilize these skills in interpersonal and social situations. The second stream of research focuses on identity formation in late childhood and early adolescence. Here he is interested in the differing ways that culture shapes young persons' thoughts about matters of identity and selfhood. In particular, he is engaged in a multi-year SSHRC funded study of identity formation in First Nations youth and its relation to suicidal behavior in adolescence. Bonnie J. Leadbeater, Ph.D. (1986, Columbia)
Dr. Leadbeater's main interest is in the study of preschool and adolescent developmental psychopathology. Her research has focused particularly on concerns of female adolescents, including depression, school dropout, pregnancy, delinquency, drug use, and high risk sexual activity. She is investigating gender-linked differences in the pathways relating depressive experiences and peer victimization to aggressive behaviors in children and adolescents. Dr. Leadbeater is also working on the evaluation of a school-based peer victimization prevention project called the WITS program. As the Chair of the Youth and Society Research Group, she is working to facilitate interdisciplinary, community-based research and student training for the study and promotion of youth well-being in changing social circumstances. See the Research Group's website for further information: www.youth.society.uvic.ca Ulrich Mueller, Ph.D. (1998, Temple)
Dr. Mueller is interested in the development of problem solving and in the developmental relation between social and cognitive development. His research on problem solving focuses on the development of executive function in preschoolers; particularly on the contribution of language and cognitive flexibility to the acquisition of more advanced problem solving skills. Dr. Mueller's research on social development examines the development of intentional communication in infancy and perspective taking skills in toddlers and preschoolers in relation to cognitive flexibility and language.
The Life-Span Development program also has a substantial number of affiliated faculty.
For more information about the Life-Span Development Program at the University of Victoria you can follow the following web links: or
contact Dr. Chris Lalonde at lalonde@uvic.ca |
