Strengthening the Undergraduate Curriculum and Infrastructure in Biopsychology

Background: Biopsychology is an interdisciplinary major (traditionally a subfield of Psychology) that examines interactions between biology, behavior, mental processes, environment, and health. It reflects the ever-increasing interdisciplinary nature of science and incorporates rapid developments in areas such as behavioral genetics, psychoneuroimmunology, neuroendocrinology, and neuroscience. To date, about 60 colleges and universities in the U.S. offer undergraduate programs in biopsychology and the number of programs is expected to grow.

At Mills, Biopsychology was formally approved as an undergraduate major in 2003 (prior to this, it served as a college major). There has been a steady increase in the number of majors in Biopsychology, and a doubling in the last two years, from 8 to 16 majors. We expect this major to continue to attract more students in the future, not only because of rapid advances in the neurosciences, but also because of upcoming changes in medical school curriculums, which will place more emphasis on understanding behavioral and sociocultural determinants of health and health outcomes. These changes are designed to prepare physicians to serve a more diverse population and develop a clear understanding of the impact of behavior on health. Medical school entrance requirements will change to include coursework in psychology and statistics, and starting in 2015, the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will include a new social and behavioral sciences section, Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior. We predict that the new emphasis on psychosocial factors and health is likely to make Biopsychology an increasingly attractive undergraduate major for many students interested in a career in medicine.

The Biopsychology major at Mills offers several courses that are relevant to this curricular and paradigmatic shift, including Fundamentals of Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Neurobiology, Health Psychology, Stress and Disease, Psychopathology, Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, and Research Methods. Additionally, the BS degree in Biopsychology fulfills pre-med requirements. Faculty research on psychobiologic mechanisms of disease activity and mental disorders in autoimmune disease, hormone and immune alterations associated with anxiety disorders, and molecular mechanisms of learning in the model organism C. elegans are also relevant to the future emphasis of psychosocial factors in medicine and participation in this research attracts many students who wish to enter medical school.

Concerns: At Mills, the Biopsychology major is run jointly by the Psychology and Biology Departments. As such, it truly reflects the interdisciplinary nature of this major and is a unique feature of our program. However, this structure also poses significant difficulties for the major, which does not have its own budget. Budgets in the ‘parent’ departments, which have diminished in recent years, are struggling to cover the expenses of their primary programs, and are thus, unable to support the financial needs of Biopsychology. As one example, the Psychology Department is unable to support the equipment maintenance of it’s psychophysiolgocial laboratory, the Laboratory of Psychology and Health, which serves students in Biopsychology as well as Psychology. This is a precarious situation: A single repair for the – 80 degree C freezer (which stores hormone and immune samples that can be lost if thawed) can cost an average of $1,500. Annual maintenance and repair policies are similarly too expensive for the Psychology Department to absorb. Additional support would also provide balance in the major so that summer support would be available for majors working in labs from both departments.

With the increased number of Biopsychology majors, now is also an ideal time to build momentum for activities that would strengthen student cohesion in the major. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the program, our majors do not have courses that are designed solely for them, or are even populated mostly by them. Social activities, lecture series, and journal clubs are activities that students in the major have expressed interest in and we believe would develop greater cohesion and learning opportunities among the majors. Support for the Biopsychology major would also allow us to expand existing courses to include a laboratory component, e.g., in the course Stress and Disease.

Strategic Planning Suggestion: With an increased emphasis on psychosocial influences in health and medicine in medical school curriculums and new MCAT section to reflect this, Biopsychology may become recognized as one of the ideal undergraduate majors for students planning careers in medicine, along with other majors in the natural sciences. Mills already has an excellent reputation and track record for preparing students to enter the health fields. We offer one of the most long-standing and nationally acclaimed post-bac pre-med training programs in Northern California and an excellent nursing program in partnership with Samuel Merritt University.

We could market Mills as a premier institution for preparing students to enter medicine and other health fields at both the undergraduate and post-bac levels.

Strategic planning may be used to help to build support for Biopsychology as well as other programs and majors in the natural sciences. The timing of this strategy may never be better, as a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has predicted a major shortage of primary care doctors in the U.S. Mills is geographically located in a hotbed of world-class medical centers and training programs, and faculty in Biopsychology and other majors in the Natural Sciences have collaborations with programs at UCSF (Psychology and Medicine, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine), Children’s Hospital of Oakland, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis, to name a few). We are also surrounded by clinics and other health settings providing care for underserved populations and thus are in a good position align our programs with opportunities to learn about the relationships between social stratification and access to resources and health, and effect positive change.

Four Year Nursing Program

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Forbes.com and Princeton Review some of the most popular and fastest growing majors in the U.S. over the past six years are those in the health related fields.  Health related majors are also the second most popular majors for women.

In November 2011 the California Board of Registered Nurses completed a forecast of the RN workforce in California and concluded that while the nursing shortage the state of California experienced in the early 2000’s has subsided, an examination of workforce factors indicated a likely continued demand for registered nurses in California for the foreseeable future.

The current Mills College undergraduate Nursing program is a 2+2 partnership with Samuel Merritt University in Oakland whereby those entering as first year college students complete the general education curriculum as well as the pre-nursing or nursing foundation courses at Mills College before transferring to SMU for completion of the BSN coursework.  Transfer students to Mills College are required to complete the remainder of their general education and pre-nursing courses before transferring to SMU.  Over the past five years our new pre-nursing students have on average comprised 7% of our total new students.

Concerns with the current program:

·       We experience the same cost per new student enrolled to recruit pre-nursing students as we do all other new students and discount these students at the same rate, however these students generate less tuition revenue as they transfer after 1-2 years.

·       Samuel Merritt University limits the number of students we may send to their program each semester and we are therefore limited in the number of new students we may enroll.  For example in Fall 2013 it is unlikely we are able to admit any new transfer students to our program.

·       Because transfer students are required to complete a minimum of one full year of coursework at Mills we are occasionally forced to deny admission to students with considerable general education and pre-nursing coursework completed despite their eligibility for admission to Mills otherwise.

·       We are one of four colleges in the Bay Area with the SMU partnership which prevents us from establishing a unique position in the marketplace.

·       SMU has indicated a preference for students they enroll directly from community colleges rather than from the four year partner schools and is considering reducing the number of students Mills may send to their program thus reducing the number of new pre-nursing students we may enroll.

·       Ultimately the degree earned but the student is a BSN from Samuel Merritt University thus reducing their likelihood of attachment to Mills as alumnae.

·       Pre-nursing students, prior to their transfer to SMU, demonstrate stronger year one to year two persistence than the overall first year students and are more likely to live on campus as second year students.

Challenges to creating an undergraduate nursing degree:

·       There is a high cost associated with the final two years of BSN program coursework, specifically the need for unique lab facilities and simulation robots.

·       Creation of a four year BSN program and certification by the CA Board of Registered Nurses may be a timely process.

·       We do not currently have a reputation in this market and some local competitors have well established programs including: University of San Francisco, Dominican University, CSUEB, San Jose St. and UC-Berkeley.

Opportunities:

·       As the pre-nursing courses are part of the current curriculum we have the ability to enroll students while developing the facilities.

·       There may be possibilities for collaboration with other local schools.  For profit LVN schools in the area, for example, have the current lab facilities and may be willing to rent space to Mills while our facilities are in development.

·       Holy Names University in Oakland is in the process of exploring similar facility needs for their adult learner LVN to BSN program and should be approached about creating temporary shared facility space.