Applying to Our Program
Address correspondence to:
Contact: Dr. Michael J. Miller
Director of Psychology Training
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
SUNY Upstate Medical University,
750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210-2375
Phone: 315-464-3120
Fax: 315-464-3163
Email: millermi@upstate.edu
Our program uses the APPIC Application for Psychology Internships (AAPI). Applicants should register for the APPIC Match online at www.natmatch.com/psychint/. More information on the APPIC match may be accessed atwww.appic.org. To access the Applicant Portal for AAPI Online go to: www.portal.appicas.org/.
This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC Policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking related information from any intern applicant.
Seven interns are admitted to the program annually (4 adult-track and 3 child-track). In your cover letter please indicate to which track you are applying.
Applicant Selection:
We look for applications that demonstrate a strong desire to learn one or more of the theoretical orientations taught by supervisors in the program (psychoanalytic, humanistic, psychodynamic, and third wave CBT are the most well-represented). Our didactics are diverse, but are heavily influenced by psychology as a human science, psychoanalysis, and philosophical psychology. We invite you to research our faculty in advance of your application to assess how we might fit you! At the same time, it is important that you are interested in learning to function as a professional in one or all of the training settings in our medical center.
To be clear, we do not limit ourselves to students who already feel they are expert in any of these things--what we value most is connecting with interns who are enthusiastic and open learning, and drawn to critically-minded inquiry!
As the focus of the internship training year is clinical, all applications are reviewed to ensure that applicants have had a sufficient amount of prior face-to-face clinical experience (minimum: 400 intervention hours and 100 assessment hours) with a variety of patients, preferably in a variety of settings, to adequately prepare them for more advanced clinical work.Candidates invited to interview often have more than 700 clinical (practicum) hours (intervention and assessment combined) with more than 10 individual therapy clients.
Consistent with the internship’s scientist-practitioner and scholar-practitioner foundation, we review applications for evidence of scholarly activity beyond the thesis and dissertation. This includes evidence of critical-mindedness and an interest in research or scholarly activities, such as a record of publications and/or scholarly presentations which focus on either quantitative or qualitative research or theoretical concerns. In addition, as we would like our interns to be fully free to engage with the internship experience, we hope that applicants will have made significant progress on or already defended their dissertations.
Commitment to Diversity:
Our program is marked by its deep commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our engagement with the university, the local community, and each other is informed by constant reflection about questions of identity, difference, and power. Three of our faculty (Drs. Mbuqe, Miller and Vanderhoff) have been awarded recognition for contribution to diversity at the university level, and a fourth (Dr. Saletsky) is a member of the SUNY Faculty Senate Committee on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. All four of the above faculty members helped found our department’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the first in our medical school. Our year-long curriculum privileges deep critical engagement with questions of culture, diversity, and analysis of social power.
We also value diversity of points of view about diversity itself, as we feel that difference is vital to honest intellectual engagement, and that such engagement is integral to good psychological theory and practice.
We strongly encourage applications from candidates of diverse and under-represented backgrounds, including but not limited to people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA people, and people who have lived in poverty. Diversity is a key component of decisions regarding invitations to interview and rankings, as we know that diversity adds to the richness of the internship experience and edifies all of us in the Psychology Division and Psychiatry Department.
If you wish, we would encourage you to let us know in your application letter whether you identify as a member of a minority or underrepresented group.
Consistent with the programs commitment to diversity, The State University of New York Upstate Medical University at Syracuse does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, color, creed, age, national origin, handicap, marital status, or status as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era in the recruitment and employment of faculty or staff, in the recruitment of students, or in the operation of any of its programs or activities, as specified by federal and state laws and regulations. For more information, contact the center's Affirmative Action Officer at 315-464-5234, Rm. 309 of the Campus Activities Building. Also, see http://upstate.edu/diversityinclusion/ for detailed information about Upstates commitment to diversity and related policies. See also https://uupinfo.org/contract/pdf/20162022NYSUUPAgreement.pdf for UUP non-discrimination policies.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS IS DECEMBER 1st AT MIDNIGHT
Please submit materials as early as possible so that your application can be carefully considered by the selection committee.
After review of application materials, the program invites applicants for personal interviews. Applicants will be notified by December 15th of their interview status.
Questions?
Applicants or others with more specific questions about the internship program or its policies (e.g., intern selection, evaluation, retention, termination, grievance, etc.) should contact Jamie Murphy, Program Administrator at murphjam@upstate.edu.