American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo: BS in Psychology
“Earning a BS in psychology provides the best possible foundation for a wide range of careers and graduate programs,” explains Professor Arne Dietrich, chair of the Department of Psychology at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Beirut, Lebanon. “It opens doors.”
Dietrich says that the undergraduate program in psychology at AUB Mediterraneo will be enriched by the university’s location in Cyprus. “You cannot isolate human behavior from its social context,” he says. “So, we will be offering courses that address issues that are important to Cyprus and to the region – issues related, for example, to trauma, forced migration, and war.” In addition to being able to select from a number of courses, all BS psychology students will also work closely with a faculty member on a final-year research project – a chance to delve into a particular topic and, even more importantly, to hone skills related to critical thinking, working with data, and project management.
All undergraduate students at AUB Mediterraneo will also be required to take general education courses outside their major – a key feature of the “AUB experience” that generations of AUB students have enjoyed. “What we do at AUB in Beirut – and will be doing at AUB Mediterraneo – is offer students a fuller educational experience that better prepares them for today’s challenging and uncertain world and the rapid transformation of professional roles and opportunities,” says Bana Bashour, Director of the General Education Program. This means that BS psychology students will take courses focused on “understanding our cultures and histories, the scientific investigation of the world around us, and analyzing our changing societies in addition to courses focused on ethics and civic engagement, which supports our goal to develop responsible citizens, committed to serving their communities and the world,” explains David Currell, chair of the Department of English.
Another attraction of all undergraduate degree programs at AUB Mediterraneo is the chance to participate in a three-week orientation and induction program at the start of the first year. “The AUB experience that we will be offering at AUB Mediterraneo will be new for many – perhaps all – of our students,” explains Dr. Wassim El-Hajj, the executive director of the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo project. “The purpose of this program is to provide incoming AUB Mediterraneo students with the tools they need so they can take full advantage of all the opportunities that they will enjoy.”
“Students who graduate from the BS in psychology program will be eminently employable,” says Dietrich. They will also be strong candidates for top graduate programs in many fields including medicine, law, journalism, business, and clinical psychology. “We hope that some of the first cohort of AUB Mediterraneo students will enroll in the MS in clinical psychology program that we will begin offering at AUB Mediterraneo in the next couple of years.”