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About UPSIDE
We focus on mentoring and other opportunities to improve the number of students entering the field of psychology from under-represented groups. We focus on the full development of students in psychology from high school to college, college to graduate school, and graduate school to early career.
From the beginning, early educational disparities contribute to having a smaller pool of Black students moving on from high school to majoring in psychology at the college level (APA, 2012).
According to Luebbe and Ogbaselase (2018), the percentage of students who pursue graduate training in psychology remains significantly low; although they represent 12% of bachelor’s degrees in psychology, only 7.1% are then admitted to doctoral programs in psychology.
As noted by Callahan et al. (2018), there is a ‘leaky pipeline’ for students with diverse backgrounds in moving from graduate training to employment in the field (Callahan et al., 2018).
Aware of these disparities, the Psy.D. program at Marywood University established a faculty-student organization, UPSIDE: Underrepresented Psychology Student Inclusion, Development, and Empowerment. The significant role played by the students in the development of UPSIDE must be emphasized. The founding members created the organization’s name and logo, as well as continue to play an active role in planning and executing events and goals for UPSIDE.
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We bring together multiple resources on this website for diverse students majoring in psychology, and those in clinical psychology graduate programs.
Students and faculty who are not from under-represented groups, but are interested in becoming better allies, may also seek mentoring.
UPSIDE is engaged in community outreach and is available to visit regional colleges and universities, as well as meet remotely. If you are interested in learning more about UPSIDE, or have any questions, please contact us!
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