Master of Arts in Industrial-Organizational Psychology California State University - Sacramento, USA

The Master of Arts in Industrial-Organizational Psychology is designed for students who wish to develop marketable career skills that allow them to apply psychological principles and research methods to work-related issues. The I-O program at CSUS was strongly influenced by the 2016 Guidelines for Education and Training in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, published by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. While we cover all 24 major competency areas in the SIOP Guidelines to some degree, we give more emphasis to some than we do others—a strategy that is common and fully expected in master’s programs according to the narrative of the SIOP Guidelines. In consideration of the typical jobs held by master’s level I-O practitioners in general and especially in the local employment market for our students and alumni, our program gives primary emphasis to topics in human resource planning and development (e.g., job/work analysis; employee recruitment, testing, and selection; employee training; performance management) and general analytical skills (e.g., research methods; measurement; data analysis). These topics are slanted more toward the “industrial” side of the I-O field. Current literature in organizational psychology topics such as work attitudes and motivation, groups and teams, and occupational health and safety have important implications for the aforementioned human resource planning and development topics, and are covered more briefly in the coursework.

Many of our students work locally in I-O-related positions while taking classes, and often have full-time employment upon graduating. Our graduates are sought for employment in various branches of the State of California, other public sector agencies, and private sector consulting firms.

At Sacramento State students in the I-O option have many opportunities to pursue their interests in the field. These opportunities include:

• Completing a supervised applied project, representing their area of research expertise and interest
• Working with I-O faculty in their research labs and presenting research at conferences or submitting work for publication
• Teaching Assistant experience
• Applied fieldwork projects

All students who complete the program requirements are expected to finish the program in 2.5 years. Students who successfully complete the I-O program will have “Industrial-Organizational Psychology” printed on their transcripts and diplomas.