Brief History of the Department of Psychology

 Up to then, the undergraduate psychology program and the graduate counseling program were part of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences. The department established a Student Enrichment and Psychological Services Center in 1999.  Other innovations include being the first department in the state to offer an online degree completion program for the B.S. in psychology degree in 2005. That year the department also established an Experimental Track in the graduate program. Both the Counseling and Experimental Tracks were discontinued in 2017, and an online MA graduate program in general psychology was established in 2018. The first department chair was Dr. Doreen Hilton (1998-2004) with the three subsequent department chairs on permanent appointments being Dr. Jeffrery Cassisi (2004-2008), Dr. Timothy Moore (2012-2016), and the current chair, Dr. Pius Nyutu who was appointed in August 2019. Other faculty in the department have served as interim chairs at various times including Dr. Susan Franzblau (2008), Dr. Thomas Van Cantfort (2008-2010), Dr. Maxwell Twum-Asante (2011-2012 and 2017-2019), and Dr. Daniel Montoya (2017).