Behavior Analysis
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Overview
The behavior analysis graduate program exists to train students in basic research, theory, and applications of behavior principles. Through research, course work, and practica, students develop skills in the experimental analysis of animal and human behavior, as well as a strong methodological and conceptual background for developing behavioral technologies. The basic, conceptual, and applied areas are integrated in the curriculum; however a student may emphasize either basic or applied research. The goal of the program is to produce a psychologist who is qualified to teach a variety of courses in psychology, who can function effectively in either an academic or an applied setting, and who can use the principles and findings of the science of behavior in solving significant problems of human behavior. |
The Behavior Analysis Program at West Virginia University was started in 1976, following a major reorganization of the Department undertaken by then-Chairman Roger Maley and his Associate Chairman, Jon Krapfl. Don Hake was recruited to West Virginia University to be the program coordinator, a position that he held until his untimely death in 1982. The founding faculty members of the Behavior Analysis program were Don Hake, Andy Lattal, Kent Parker, and Jim Shafer. Andy Lattal has been the coordinator of the program since Hake’s death. Of the present faculty, Phil Chase arrived in 1982, Mike Perone in 1984, Karen Anderson in 2003, and Claire St . Peter Pipkin in 2006.
Since its inception, the program has awarded 72 M.A. degrees and 68 Ph.D. degrees to students who have come from all parts of the United States and from many other countries to study with our faculty. The Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis named the Department of Psychology as the 2004 recipient of its Award for Enduring Programmatic Contributions to Behavior Analysis. This award is given to an agency, department, or facility of an organization that contributes to the ongoing and enduring development of behavior analysis. In addition, the behavior analysis program is fully accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis.
Over the years, our faculty members have been recognized for their teaching, research, and professional service through their receipt of external research grants, major teaching and research awards given by both the university and by professional societies, service on boards of national and international organizations and journals, and editorships and associate editorships of major behavior analytic journals. This information about each faculty member is available on their individual web sites.