1970-2014: Psychology in the Modern Era
Moving to a new building (1973)
By the end of the 1960s, the Psychology Department had completed its transition to a program focused on scientific psychology, and had also become one of the most popular majors on campus. It was time of expansion for the department--more students, a stronger curriculum, additional faculty--and the construction of the new Peale Science Center offered an opportunity to expand the department's physical space in a new location. The psychology department moved into its new offices in the northeast corner of Peale's second floor (the lower row of windows on the right side of this photo), with extensive laboratory space taking up the entire east side of the lower level. During this period the department added developmental psychologists Dr. Jane Dickie and Dr. Pat Harrison in 1972, memory researcher Dr. John Shaughnessy in 1975 (to replace Reynierse), and developmental psychologist Dr. Thomas Ludwig in 1977 (to replace Harrison). In the 1980s Myers shifted his career focus from researcher to textbook author, which led to the hiring of a second social psychologist Dr. Charles Green in 1983. The retirements of Granberg and Brown created an opportunity to add a new clinical psychologist, Dr. Patricia Roehling in 1987.
Moving again (2004)
The 1990s was a very active period of growth in the department. Personality psychologist Dr. Margaret Kasimatis was hired in 1991 (Repacing Beach), followed by cognitive psychologist Dr. Lorna Hernandez-Jarvis in 1993 and social psychologist Dr. Stephen Spencer in 1995. Kasimatis and Spencer moved on in 1997, and were replaced by clinical psychologist Dr. Charlotte Witvliet (1997) and social psychologists Dr. Lisa Evans (1999) and Dr. Mary Inman (2000). In the late 1990s, the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Geology had outgrown the space available for laboratories and offices. A plan emerged to double the size of the Science Center and include room for the department of Nursing. The expanded building, renamed the A. Paul Schaap Science Center, was dedicated in 2004. The construction work required the psychology department to relocate to a different building (shown here) at 9 East 10th Street for two years (2002-2004).
In 2004 the psychology department moved into its new office space in the lower level of the new (west) wing of the Science Center. The psychology laboratories remained in the original (east) wing of the building, but in a new configuration. The redesigned laboratory space included a research suite dedicated to electrophysiological research (including EEG recording), a research suite designed for developmental and social research, three research suites set up for cognitive and behavioral research, and a computer laboratory designed as a meeting place for research teams. The psychology faculty added another set of active researchers, physiological psychologist Dr. Charles Behensky in 2003 (replacing Motiff) and developmental psychologists Dr. Scott Vander Stoep in 2004 and Dr. Sonja Trent-Brown in 2005 (replacing Evans). Physiological psychologist Dr. Gwenda Schmidt was hired in 2009 (replacing Behensky), and the department expanded again in 2012 with the addition of developmental psychologist Dr. Carrie Bredow (replacing Dickie), social psychologist Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren (replacing VanderStoep), and clinical psychologist Dr. Lindsey Root-Luna.
