The purpose of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) accreditation program is to enhance and maintain the quality of graduate education in human factors/ergonomics and related fields. It serves the public by helping to ensure that accredited HF/E educational programs appropriately prepare students for entering their careers in the field, whether in research or practice. HFES has been accrediting HF/E and related programs since the late 1990s. The HFES website lists 90 undergraduate and graduate programs offering degrees in HF in the US. Only 19 of those programs are accredited by the HFES. This distinction is a great honor for the Department of Psychology and attests to the quality education that the program graduates receives.
The Value of Accreditation?
- Encourages confidence that an institution’s or program’s presentation of the education it provides is fair and accurate, including the description of services available to students and the accomplishments of its graduates.
- Assures that a neutral, external party (the accrediting organization) has reviewed the quality of education provided and has found it to be satisfactory, based upon appropriate peer expertise.
- Confirms that institutions and programs have processes in place to meet changes in thinking within the academy and in the public’s expectations.
- Provides for eligible students to have access to federal financial aid if they attend institutions accredited by accreditors that are “recognized” or scrutinized for quality by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).
- Assists with transfer of credits among institutions or admission to graduate school, with student mobility more likely to be successful among accredited institutions as compared to unaccredited institutions.
- Aids with entrance to a profession, when a particular field may require graduation from an accredited program or institution.
The Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology Ph.D. Program resides within the WSU Department of Psychology. It was approved by the Ohio University System Board of Regents in 1992 and admitted its first students in 1993. The program provides a unique fusion of the traditionally separate applied-psychology areas of Human Factors and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. These two areas have always shared the goal of finding solutions to practical problems associated with human and organizational performance in work settings. However, they have been, and elsewhere still are, maintained as independent academic programs with different curricula and different emphases. The HFIO program at WSU is one of the few programs recognizing that modern sociotechnical problems require practitioners who possess perspectives and skills from both of these areas. Students completing the HFIO program select a focus area in either human factors or industrial/organizational psychology and complement their focus area with a specified number of courses from the other discipline. Learn more about the WSU HFIO program.
