Psychology Faculty Search FAQ

There are two primary reasons for our search: (1) continued and increasing popularity of the psychology major, with each graduating class eclipsing the last in size; and (2) ensuring coverage of our Methods and Statistics in Psychology (PSY 260) course, which is a foundational course in the psychology curriculum. This tenure-track line is to replace a faculty member who recently left our Department on good terms.

For this search, we are only able to hire applicants at the rank of assistant professor. Candidates with rank or tenure from another institution may be able to negotiate for a reduced tenure clock, but all hired faculty for this open position must come in at the rank of assistant professor.

For this position, we’re looking for someone with a doctorate in psychology who has strong quantitative and research methods skills that would allow them to successfully teach our Methods and Statistics in Psychology (PSY 260) course, as well as other courses in their specialty area. So, for this position, it’s less about the specific subdiscipline in psychology and more about your ability to teach research methods and statistics and to have a program of research that is accessible for undergraduate participation as research assistants. If you have experience teaching undergraduate research methods and statistics, we’re interested in your application!

Although we truly are open to all psychology disciplines, we are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in cognitive psychology. Regardless of psychology subdiscipline, successful candidates must demonstrate excellence in undergraduate teaching and a commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in and outside of the classroom. In addition, candidates must either already possess a Ph.D. in psychology or be ABD (all but dissertation) who will complete their degree by the start date.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

• Applications due October 1, with shortlisted candidates then being asked to respond to the Providence College mission statement (responses due October 21). After that, we will conduct phone/Zoom interviews with shortlisted candidates to determine our top three candidates. We are planning to conduct the three on-campus interviews between late-November and mid-December, with the goal of extending an offer to our top candidate shortly after the final interview.

Either! You can choose to write a separate statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion and/or you may include that in any of your other statements (i.e., teaching, research, service) if it relates to other content in those statements. There are many resources about how to write a diversity statement online if you choose to include one in your application.

Once candidates make the short list, they will be asked to write a response to the Providence College mission. Responses to the mission will be reviewed before candidates are invited for phone/Zoom interviews, and from there, three applicants for each position will be invited to campus interviews.

We are planning to conduct in-person interviews on the Providence College campus in Providence, RI. The interview typically lasts a full day, with meetings with administrators, faculty, and students; a research talk (geared toward an undergraduate audience and which also gives us a glimpse into your teaching style); and dinner with some members of our department. We will take care of your travel and hotel accommodations and will send along the interview schedule in advance to better allow you to prepare. Although we do our best to include breaks in the schedule, we understand that some interviewees may have additional needs and we are ready to accommodate (just let us know your needs and we’re happy to adjust).

Candidates should be prepared to teach during the Fall 2025 semester and August 1 is usually the contracted start date for new faculty. The semester typically begins late August or early September, and new faculty will have trainings and informational sessions before the start of the school year.

The psychology major at Providence College requires students take 11 courses total, with only two being required (Introduction to Psychology – PSY 100, Methods and Statistics in Psychology – PSY 260) and the rest needing to come from different “buckets”. This ensures that students experience sufficient breadth during their undergraduate psychology careers. To ensure sufficient depth of students’ studies, juniors and seniors also take an upper-level research class in their desired subdiscipline and a 400-level in-depth course of their choosing. All faculty contribute to our core psychology curriculum, and we tend to spread out responsibilities, so everyone teaches a combination of required courses (PSY 100, PSY 260), 200- and 300-level survey courses, upper-level research courses, and 400-level in-depth courses in the faculty member’s area of expertise. For this current open position, we are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in cognitive psychology and candidates should expect to regularly teach two sections of PSY 260 per year, as well as courses in their specialty area. Typical teaching load is 9-credit hours per semester with a cap of 15–25 students per class

Particularly in the first few years on the tenure track, we try to reduce the number of course preps that individual faculty have when possible. When creating our schedules for the upcoming academic year, we work together as a department to distribute course offerings throughout the day and to provide a variety of courses based on student needs. Although we get to choose which courses we teach, sometimes we make edits to ensure all needs are covered.

Being that we are on 9-month contracts (although our pay is spread over 12 months), there are no summer teaching requirements. If faculty opt to teach during the summer, we are paid an overload for those courses. You don’t have to teach in the summer unless you choose to, and many of us opt to use that time to focus on research and/or rest and recharge.

Providence College is on the semester system, with full-time faculty typically teaching a 3-3 (i.e., three classes in the fall and the spring). The Fall semester runs from late August to mid-December, and the Spring semester runs from mid-January to mid-May. Faculty members teach 18 credit hours per academic year (average 9 credits per semester). Typically, this means you will teach 2 or 3 courses per semester. Most courses in the Department of Psychology are 3 credits each, although lab courses are 5 workload credits and PSY 178—our Introduction to the Psychology Major course—is only 1.5 credits. Although not required, faculty may opt to teach summer courses or mentor research assistants during the school year through PSY 395 (Research in Psychology) for overload pay. At their discretion, faculty may also oversee up to three students’ independent study projects per semester through PSY 490 (Independent Study) with additional compensation for each student enrolled.

The Development of Western Civilization (DWC) program is a four semester, interdisciplinary exploration of the intellectual foundations and contemporary expressions of western civilization from the perspective of history, literature, philosophy, and theology. Required of all undergraduates, it serves as a cornerstone of a Providence College education. During the fourth semester, faculty from the core humanities often pair with interested faculty from other disciplines, including psychology, to offer students topical seminars across a range of interests and issues.

Psychology is one of the most popular majors at Providence College and the top major in the School of Arts and Sciences. Moreover, the number of majors has steadily increased from 102 graduating majors in the Class of 2024 to 88 already declared in the incoming Class of 2028. With all undergraduates being required to fulfill a social science requirement as part of the core curriculum, many students opt to take Introduction to Psychology (PSY 100), with our Department offering about 10 sections of this course (25 students in each course) each semester.

Most courses in the Department of Psychology are capped at 25 students, with exceptions being our lab courses (which are typically capped at 20) and upper-level in-depth courses (which are capped at 15). Faculty may also take on up to three independent study students per semester and may also opt to mentor up to 15 undergraduates for course credit in their laboratories.

All tenure-track faculty conduct research, but what this looks like differs by subdiscipline and research specialty. At PC, we do not have a graduate program in psychology, so all our research assistants are undergraduates. In some cases, if faculty have external funding, their labs may also include post-bac and post-doc staff. Regarding quantity of work, our goal is not to set an arbitrary standard (e.g., you must have X publications for tenure), but instead we evaluate the work in the context of quality and recognition. Critical in this evaluation, however, is that scholarship is active and continuing with an appropriate level of productivity being documented. To ensure faculty know where they stand throughout the tenure-track process, probationary faculty have annual review meetings with the Chair to discuss progress and plan for the future. Our departmental tenure guidelines and Faculty Handbook detail all our procedures for each stage of evaluation (third-year review, tenure and promotion), and all new faculty are provided with these documents.

All faculty are provided with an office computer (PC, Mac, or laptop based on your preferences) which is replaced at the College’s expense every few years, and have access to a long list of software provided by the College. Beyond those basic needs though, there are lots of different sources of research funding that faculty may need. Here are some of the funding sources commonly utilized by faculty:

Faculty start-up packages. To promote faculty research success, new tenure-track faculty receive start-up packages to fund their research in the first few years. Although faculty needs may vary considerably, it’s important to us that you have the materials you need to conduct your research successfully at a small liberal arts college. During contract negotiations for candidates who receive an offer, we may assist you by suggesting additional items to include and which research materials may be covered through other means. These materials may include (but are not limited to): instruments/equipment, stimuli, hardware or specialized software, computers, participant compensation, recruitment materials, etc.

Conference travel. Tenured or tenure-track faculty who have an official role in a conference have a travel allocation of $2,200 per academic year. To further encourage providing these valuable learning experiences for students, faculty may receive an additional $400 in travel funds per year for taking students to the conference as co-authors or co-presenters.

Departmental operating budget. Every year, we have a departmental budget, which covers basic expenses like printing, stationery, phone lines, IT services, and basic office supplies. Each faculty member also has an individual office supply budget of $100 per year and may request departmental funds for other basic operating needs (e.g., participant compensation, funding for summer research assistants, teaching materials).

Internal awards. The Committee on Aid to Faculty Research (CAFR) provides research support funding to m​​​​​​​embers of the Ordinary Faculty through a competitive review of research applications by fellow PC faculty. CAFR grants typically range in size from $1,800–15,000, with $5,000 being average. There are also informational meetings held in the Fall to help interested faculty with these applications.

External grant awards. Our faculty have been incredibly successful at receiving external funding, with common sources of funding including the Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE), EPSCoR, the Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood, the Rhode Island Foundation, among others. The RI-INBRE and EPSCoR programs are an especially unique opportunity to secure funding that is only available in a few states that are underrepresented in funding from the NIH and NSF (e.g., RI is an IDeA-funded state, but MA is not). Many of our faculty have been successful in securing funding from these sources which are fortunately less competitive than direct applications to NIH and NSF. To aid faculty in securing external funding, we have an incredibly helpful Office of Sponsored Research & Compliance (SPaRC) that helps faculty find and apply to external funding sources.

Discretionary fund. Each full-time faculty member also has $1,000 in discretionary funds to use over the course of each two-year period. These funds may be used to support research, teaching, and other related professional activities. For example, these funds may be used to cover professional development opportunities, professional membership fees, software, extra lab materials or equipment, teaching materials, or academic books for your personal collection.

Just in time resources. As an additional funding source, Academic Affairs also offers “Just in Time” resources to faculty. This means that faculty may receive up to $500 to cover expenses related to scholarly activity (e.g., interview transcription, travel to a site, research software).

Undergraduates can get involved in research in several ways. Although not required of our majors, participation in research is encouraged. Further, students who present at conferences with a faculty member may receive up to $750 from PC per year for conference travel, and faculty also receive a monetary bonus for providing students with these experiences.

During the academic year, students may earn course credit for conducting research with faculty, complete an independent study, or volunteer in a faculty member’s research lab. All these opportunities are at the faculty member’s discretion, and faculty often conduct interviews with prospective students before agreeing to these collaborations. Because we are a small liberal arts institution, undergraduate research assistants are essential to faculty research, and faculty can be selective in choosing our teams. Once accepted into a faculty member’s research lab, students may work as volunteers (typically 3–4 hours per week) or for course credit through Research in Psychology (PSY 395/495) on a faculty member’s research project. Students may enroll in PSY 395/495 for variable credit (1–3 credits), with 3–4 hours of work in lab per week for each credit. So, if a student is enrolled for 3 credits, they’re expected to work in lab 10–12 hours per week.

Alternatively, students may propose their own projects and conduct this research through independent study for course credit. Independent studies are typically conducted during students’ junior or senior years and interested students may also apply for additional research monies (up to $500) through the Center for Engaged Learning to fund these projects (e.g., assessment materials, participant compensation).

During the summer, students may participate in research through paid research assistantships or as volunteers. The Center for Engaged Learning provides competitive grants to fund students’ summer research and provides discounted campus housing for interested students (these grants pay students about $5K for 10 weeks of summer research). Many of our faculty also use INBRE funding to pay undergraduate students about $5K for 10 weeks of summer research. For juniors interested in conducting their own novel research during the summer before their senior year, the Clint Anderson Research in Psychological Science Award is our Department’s prestigious undergraduate award and comes with a research stipend, up to $500 in supplies funds, and the keynote address at our biannual research conference.

It depends! Mentorship of students is highly valued and expected at Providence College, with 36% of 2020 graduates having worked with a faculty member on a research project. Although individual mentoring capabilities may vary semester-to-semester, faculty are encouraged to mentor research assistants or supervise independent study students as they are able. Faculty may supervise up to three independent study projects per semester, and typically mentor anywhere from 3 to 10 students in their labs each semester (depending on lab needs and number of active projects).

Because mentoring students in our research labs for course credit often falls outside our contracted responsibilities, faculty are compensated for these additional duties. Specifically, faculty are compensated $500 for each independent study student they supervise (with a maximum of three students per semester), and $1,558 per credit for undergraduate courses (with a minimum of three enrolled students) over our contracted teaching duties.

As a small liberal arts college, the collective service of faculty members at Providence College is imperative to our continued success. We are also faculty governed, with faculty contributing their voices through the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate is an elective assembly representing the faculty in the process of determining academic policy. Although this is one way faculty may shape PC, faculty may also serve on Provost- or President-appointed committees around campus. The roles and commitment of these positions vary and are completely at the faculty member’s discretion. This means that we get to be selective about the service initiatives we get involved in and may select positions in line with our goals and interests. Typically, faculty take on fewer service commitments early on the tenure track and may slowly scale up service over time. Additionally, roles may start small (e.g., in the Department) and then expand out to the College and field more broadly. For example, departmental service may include managing our SONA research system, updating our departmental website, serving as the faculty mentor for our local chapter of Psi Chi, supervising our student newsletter (Analyze This), bringing outside speakers to campus to present to students and faculty on current issues in the field of psychology, or contributing to departmental job searches (like these ones!). There are lots of ways to get involved.

One of the benefits to Providence College students is that they have an academic advisor who is a faculty member related to their major. With psychology being one of the largest majors on campus, this means we have a lot of advisees. Students meet with their advisors twice per year—usually just before registration time—to discuss their proposed class schedule for the upcoming semester and to discuss any questions the student has about their progress with the major, toward graduation, or about post-grad plans. Beginning in Fall 2022, first- and second-year students have been advised by the Student Success Center (SSC), reducing our Department’s overall advising load and allowing us to spend more time on the developmental advising we love. New tenure-track faculty typically do not do any academic advising during their first semester, and after training with others in the Department, may take on a significantly reduced load of advisees beginning in the second semester.

The posted salary for this position is between $78,000-$82,000, with candidates being expected negotiate their salaries and start-up packages with the Provost. To help you get on the strongest financial footing possible to start your career at PC, the Department of Psychology is also happy to offer advice on what to include in your start-up (and what would already be included by the College).

Providence College offers support for faculty development through research start-up funds, a pre-tenure research leave, competitive internal grants for faculty research, professional development funds, conference travel funds, and funding for collaborative research with undergraduates through the Center for Engaged Learning. Faculty in our Department often receive additional funding for participant payments, office and lab supplies, and teaching materials through our normal annual operating budget. Our Center for Teaching Excellence provides ongoing programming for professional development, with particular attention to helping new faculty make a successful transition to working at PC.

Tenure-track faculty appointments offer competitive salaries and full benefits including health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, flexible spending accounts (FSA), retirement contributions, tuition benefits, parental leave, and an Employee Assistance Program. Additionally, the College provides reimbursement of relocation costs, and financial support for faculty development. Faculty may also apply for a semester-long paid sabbatical to support their scholarship before tenure. Beyond the employee benefits, the Department of Psychology promotes wellness and work-life balance for its faculty, with many of us in the Department having young children and families.

We’ve got it pretty good in the Department of Psychology at Providence College. We’re a genuinely collegial bunch, and all care deeply about our teaching, scholarship, and service. Our faculty wear many hats, and we have connections all over campus, including with Faculty Senate; the Center for Engaged Learning; the Center for Teaching Excellence; Institutional Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; the Institutional Review Board; the Personal Counseling Center; and more.

Not to brag, but our facilities are simply stunning. The Department of Psychology is housed in the Science Complex along with Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Engineering-Physics-Systems, and Neuroscience. Opened at the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester, the Providence College Science Complex addition is a four-level, 37,000-square-foot structure adjacent to Albertus Magnus, Sowa, and Hickey halls. The Caiafa Center for Psychological Science at Providence College features flexible human lab space, state-of-the-art classroom facilities, an enlarged vivarium space, modern faculty offices and laboratories, student research and study spaces, and an administrative office suite.

We can’t wait to show off to you how beautiful our campus is! Providence College is a private, Catholic institution of higher education founded in 1917 at the request of the Bishop of Providence. Since its beginning, it has been sponsored and staffed by the Dominican Friars, a religious order whose motto—veritas—is the College’s as well. This dedication to truth is central to its mission and ensures that faith and reason are seen as complementary, mutually supportive and challenging, and united in a common pursuit. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Providence College offers 49 undergraduate majors and 17 graduate programs with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio. We had 4,807 enrolled undergraduate students in Fall 2023 and PC has consistently been ranked among the top five regional (north) universities according to U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.” To learn more about our demographics, check out our Fast Facts. Did we mention that campus is GORGEOUS and our students are FANTASTIC?!

In athletics, Providence College competes in the NCAA’s Division I and is a founding member of the original Big East Conference and Hockey East. Our Men’s Hockey team were the 2015 NCAA Division I champions, and our Men’s Basketball team made it to the Sweet 16 in 2022. Our student section—who were known to loudly sing Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” during the March Madness Tournament—even got a shout-out from T-Swift herself (who also happens to have a house in Rhode Island). Our student–athletes have gone on to play in the NHL and NBA, the Olympics, and even include one exceptional ESPN sports analyst (hey, Doris Burke!).

Providence College is located in Rhode Island’s capital city of Providence. One of the oldest cities in the United States, Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Puritan theologian and religious exile. In modern times, the city has gained a reputation as an LGBTQ+ friendly community and received a perfect score of 100 on the HRC index. With a population of over 190,000, Providence is the third-most-populous city in New England after Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts.

Much of Providence culture is synonymous with the culture of Rhode Island as a whole. Providence also shares Rhode Island’s affinity for coffee, with the most coffee and doughnut shops per capita of any city in the country. Rhode Island is also home to several breweries, distilleries, and vineyards. Providence is also reputed to have the highest number of restaurants per capita of major US cities, and is the birthplace of grilled pizza (Al Forno). In essence, if you like to eat or drink, Providence should be on your list.

Providence also boasts a thriving arts and culture scene. Known as “the Creative Capital,” during the summer months, the city regularly hosts WaterFire—an environmental art installation that consists of about 100 bonfires which blaze just above the surface of the three rivers that pass through the middle of Downtown Providence—and PVDFest—Providence’s free outdoor signature arts festival. The city is also the home of the Tony Award-winning theater group Trinity Repertory Company, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, and several performing arts centers, such as the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, the Providence Performing Arts Center, and Festival Ballet Providence. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum located in Downtown Providence contains the 20th-largest collection in the United States.

Historically and architecturally, Providence also claims the oldest enclosed shopping center in the US (the Westminster Arcade), and the fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world (the Rhode Island State House). The Providence Athenæum—the fourth-oldest library in the United States—was frequented by literary giants like H. P. Lovecraft, Sarah Helen Whitman, and Edgar Allan Poe (and was the location where the latter two met and courted). The East Side neighborhood, in particular, includes the largest contiguous area of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the US, with many pre-revolutionary houses.

For families with children, Providence offers numerous playgrounds, parks, splash pads, and year-round kid-friendly activities around the city. The Roger Williams Park Zoo, Botanical Center, Carousel Village, and Providence Children’s Museum are favorites of some of the kiddos in our department, as are Food Truck Fridays and farmer’s markets. Rhode Island also has some fantastic beaches, and the Mystic and New England Aquariums are both within an hour’s drive.