The primary objective of the doctoral degree program in industrial/organizational psychology at USF is the development of highly capable behavioral scientists who are able to apply their psychological skills and knowledge effectively to the solution of human problems in complex organizations. Our program is based on the training standards developed by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology. The Ph.D. is a research degree, thus research is an important and central focus of the program. All students are encouraged to develop an early and continuing commitment to research. The program emphasizes quantitative research methods as well as coursework in both industrial and organizational content areas.

Through a combination of research, coursework, and internship experience, the program is designed to prepare students for careers in both academic and applied settings. Internships are available at local and national sites.

The faculty in the industrial/organizational program include Tammy D. Allen, Walter C. Borman, Michael T. Brannick, Michael D. Coovert, Edward L. Levine, Herbert H. Meyer (Emeritus), Carnot E. Nelson, Louis A. Penner, Kristen Salomon, Paul E. Spector, and Joseph A. Vandello.

Tammy D. Allen (Associate Professor) received her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in I/O Psychology in 1996. Research interests include work/family issues, career development, mentoring, organizational citizenship behavior, and performance evaluation. Her work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Group and Organization Management. Dr. Allen's research has earned several awards, including the S. Rains Wallace Dissertation Research Award by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, a Best Paper Award from the Careers Division of the Academy of Management, and a Best Paper Award from the Human Resources/Careers Division of the Southern Management Association. She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior.

Walter C. Borman (Professor and Director, I/O Graduate Program) received his Ph.D. from the University of California (Berkeley). His research is in the areas of performance measurement, contextual or citizenship performance, personnel selection, person perception, personality assessment, job analysis, and assessment centers. Dr. Borman has written more than 250 books, book chapters, journal articles, and conference papers and currently serves on the editorial boards of three I/O journals. He is a past president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He and his students work on several applied psychology projects, primarily with government agencies such as the Department of Labor, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the U.S. Army Research Institute.

Michael T. Brannick (Associate Professor) received his Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Bowling Green State University in 1986. Since then, he has been on the psychology faculty at the University of South Florida. He is interested in research methods and particularly in measurement issues. He has been involved with several studies on crew resource management conducted with the Naval Air Warfare Center and the U.S. Navy. He has published articles on research methodology and teams, mostly dealing with aircrews. He recently edited the book Team Performance Assessment and Measurement with Carolyn Prince and Eduardo Salas.

Michael D. Coovert (Professor and Associate Department Chair) has an undergraduate degree in computer science and psychology, a masters in psychology, and completed a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (with a doctoral minor in computer science) at The Ohio State University. Dr. Coovert is the past editor of The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist (TIP), and is a frequent contributor to the literature with over one hundred publications and presentations. In 1998 one of his doctoral students won the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's (SIOP) S. Rains Wallace Dissertation Award for the best dissertation research in the field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Dr. Coovert is the recipient of USF’s highest award for teaching, the Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher Award. He is currently completing a book on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. His research interests include: The impact of technology on individuals and organizations, quantitative methods, and performance measurement.

Edward L. Levine (Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department) received his Ph.D. from NYU. A recipient of the diplomate from the American Board of Professional Psychology, Dr. Levine has received two research awards from the American Psychological Association. He was nominated this year for the Distinguished Professional Contribution Award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. His research interests include job analysis, personnel selection and assessment, control systems in organizations, and teams, and he has consulted with numerous organizations in the public and private sectors.

Herbert H. Meyer (Professor Emeritus) received his Ph.D. in I/O psychology from the University of Michigan in 1949. He joined the USF faculty in 1973 to direct and help develop the new Ph.D. program in I/O Psychology. He came to the university from the General Electric Company (GE) where he had directed the personnel research program on the corporate staff for over 20 years. His GE experience and subsequent consulting and grant research projects at USF enabled him to generate over 100 publications, many of which appeared in respected I/O related journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Human Relations, Harvard Business Review, Organizational Dynamics, and the Academy of Management Executive, among others. His research interests and experience have been very eclectic, but he is probably best known in the field for his seminal research on the performance appraisal process. Dr. Meyer retired from full-time teaching in the mid-1980s and was honored with Emeritus status in 1989. However, he has continued to teach one or two seminars per year and also to serve on a few doctoral committees. In professional service he has served on and chaired many APA and SIOP committees. He was the first president of SIOP and was also the 1988 winner of SIOPs Professional Practice Award.

Carnot E. Nelson (Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies) received his doctorate in Social Psychology from Columbia University. His current research focuses on program evaluation of programs designed to prevent child abuse and neglect and low birth weight and infant mortality. Typically Dr. Nelson supports 3-4 graduate students on these evaluation projects. He is the author of over 40 articles and book chapters. He serves on the Credentialling Advisory Panel of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect.

Louis A. Penner (Professor) received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Miami University (Ohio), and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology (with a minor in Personality) from Michigan State University. Dr. Penner’s primary research interest is in prosocial behavior. More specifically, he is interested in the factors that would cause a person to engage in sustained prosocial actions that benefits a group or an organization rather than an individual. This has led Penner to study volunteerism and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors among employees of large organizations. He has developed a conceptual model of the situational and dispositional variables responsible for these prosocial actions. His other major area of research is in the origins and manifestations of subtle forms of prejudice, with a special emphasis on those factors that would affect diversity in the workplace. Recently he co-authored a monograph on helping and altruism, as well as two handbook chapters on the same topic, and he is currently completing an introductory psychology textbook. Dr. Penner serves on the editorial board of three professional journals and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Paul E. Spector (Professor) received his Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in 1975 and was the first graduate of our I/O program. Research interests involve the impact of organizations on employee behavior and well-being, including counterproductive behavior, emotions, job satisfaction, job stress, and personality, as well as cross-cultural (international) issues, and methodology. Dr. Spector wrote an I/O textbook, Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice. He is an associate editor for Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, point/counterpoint editor for Journal of Organizational Behavior, and serves on seven editorial/advisory boards, including Journal of Applied Psychology and Journal of Management. In 1991 the Institute for Scientific Information identified him as one of the 50 highest impact researchers in psychology worldwide between 1986 and 1990. More information about him and his work can be seen on his website: http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~spector.