Our Psychology Ph.D. Program is designed to train all students in the fundamental areas of psychology. The department extends this training to concentrations in (1) Behavioral Neuroscience, (2) Bilingualism, Language and Cognition, (3) Health Psychology, (4) Legal Psychology, and (5) Social Psychology. Students with a Legal concentration have the opportunity to conduct research in areas such as mental health and the justice system, juvenile delinquency, legal decision making, and police officer decision making. Ph.D. candidates are required to complete 60 semester hours.

The main program milestones are thesis, comprehensive exam, and dissertation.

Course Requirements

Legal Psychology Curriculum

Transfer Students with Graduate Credit

Students accepted into the Ph.D. program with graduate credit from another university must satisfy the same requirements as those beginning their Ph.D. graduate training in Psychology at UTEP without previously earned graduate credits. The student may petition the Graduate Program Committee to accept a maximum of 24 hours of graduate credit completed at another institution.  Students who have completed an empirical thesis prior to entering the UTEP Ph.D. program may petition the Graduate Program Committee for waiver of the thesis requirement.