Speaker Series
The Speaker Series (PSYC 2020) is a zero-credit-hour course graded on a pass/fail basis, where students attend talks by various professionals on topics related to psychology. These talks must be approved by the department in order to satisfy the requirement of the course. This helps ensure that students get exposure to the field of psychology from many different vantage points.
For each Speaker Series unit in which a student is enrolled, s/he simply attends two talks, where one's presence is documented by signing the attendance sheet at the talks sponsored within the department or by printing out relevant notices of talks and having officials at the talk sign to attest to one's presence (which must be turned in at the main office in 420 Rogers Stout).
All majors taking the Speaker Series should make sure they are enrolled in the first section: PSYC-2020-001. The only students who should be in PSYC-2020-002 or PSYC-2020-003 are those taking multiple sections within the same semester. Whether taking a single or multiple sections, a student must make sure to enroll in Section 001, as it is the only one where the D2L Calendar is maintained (the official location where one finds talk opportunities to attend).
All major students should be included on the PsychTalk listserv , for a variety of reasons, including that talk opportunities are announced via the listserv as they arise during the semester. A student can be added to or removed from the PsychTalk listerv at any time simply by emailing a request to the Department Chair (Wallace Dixon, dixonw@etsu.edu) or our Executive Aide (Michael Gray).
It is the student's responsibility to locate and attend speaker series presentations. Students will be informed of speaker series opportunities regularly, both through the PsychTalk listserv, and by postings on the D2L website for the 001 section of PSYC 2020. The psychology department will regularly provide speaker series opportunities at least 5 times per semester. In addition, certain other talks across campus will be identified as Speaker Series eligible as we are notified of their occurrences. All will be posted to PsychTalk and D2L as they are deemed eligible.
Students are also responsible for insuring that they can provide proof of attendance. For Psychology Department sponsored presentations, a sign-up sheet will be provided at the talk. Students must sign these sign-up sheets to earn credit. For other talks across campus, students must get a person of authority at the presentation to sign-off on either the printed-out email notification of the talk, or the printed out D2L announcement of the talk. Students are expected to keep copies of these signed-off documents for their own records.
Speakers Series Requirements for Psychology Majors
- Students who have completed fewer than 31 hours when they declare Psychology as their major must take six (6) sections of Speaker Series (PSYC 2020) before they graduate;
- Students who have completed 31 to 60 hours when they declare must take five sections of (5) sections of Speaker Series (PSYC 2020) before they graduate;
- Students who have completed 61 to 75 hours when they declare must take four (4) sections of Speaker Series (PSYC 2020) before they graduate;
- Students who have completed 76 to 90 hours when they declare must take three (3) sections of Speaker Series (PSYC 2020) before they graduate;
- Students who have completed 91 or more hours when they declare must take two (2) sections of Speaker Series (PSYC 2020) before they graduate.
Students are always encouraged and welcome to attend any talk regardless of whether credit is needed.