Department of Psychology
Previously named: Education and Psychology; Psychology and Sociology
Established: 1967
History: As early as 1870, Psychology was first mentioned in a UNB academic calendar when Cousin's Psychology was listed as a book for senior honours students. Psychology was also studied in the form of Plato and Aristotle under the heading of Mental and Moral Philosophy, which was associated with a number of other disciplines over time. The study of the Greek philosophers and their theories on Psychology was a mandatory part of the third year of a Bachelor of Arts degree. Starting in 1891, Clark Murray's Psychology and James' Psychology became mandatory components of the second and third year curriculum at UNB, though still falling under their already established department of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy. Over the next forty years, Psychology continued to be studied under the heading of Philosophy as a mandatory subject of study for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts program.
In the 1939 calendar, Psychology was included on the Course of Study for a Bachelor of Arts list for the first time, but consisted of a single elective course for students in second, third, or fourth year. This continued until the 1945-46 academic year when the study of Psychology, while still falling under the Department of Philosophy, was expanded from one elective course to five. The following academic year, Psychology was listed in the name of a department for the first time as the Department of Education and Psychology, continuing to offer five elective courses. This remained the same until 1950, when Psychology was separated from Education and the discipline of Sociology was elevated to departmental status to create the Department of Psychology and Sociology and eleven courses in Psychology were offered as electives to second, third, and fourth year students. While the two disciplines remained connected they grew very slowly and by the 1966-1967 academic year there were sixteen Psychology courses offered. However, the next year Psychology was separated from Sociology and given its own independent chair and the department grew steadily to twenty six courses in 1970 and to fifty-four by 1980. The department has continued to increase its offerings as the years have passed, offering sixty-six courses by the year 2000; however, the size of the department has remained relatively static since and sixty-one courses were offered in the 2012-2013 academic calendar.
Physical location: Keirstead Hall
Faculty: Arts
Notes: The year that a certain department was established can be a subjective figure. For the purpose of this wiki, the year that a department is considered first established is the first year it was listed in the academic calendar as an independent chair with no other affiliation, unless there is documentation to demonstrate otherwise.
Source(s):
- UNB Calendars (UA RG 86), 1880,1883, 1886, 1890-1893, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1939, 1946, 1950, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1980
--TonyGoss 6 March 2013 (ADT)
© UNB Archives & Special Collections, 2014