True to the origin of the very discipline of Psychology from the roots of Philosophy, the Department of Psychology emerged from the Department of Philosophy in the University of Madras in the year 1943. Dr. G. D. Boaz, M.A., D.Phil (Oxon) was the Founder-Head of the Department.
Subsequently many do' yens in Indian Psychology occupied the Chair in this Department like Prof.T.E.Shanmugam.
Criminology was taught at Master level in the Department of Psychology until the establishment of Criminology Department in1983. In addition, this department has contributed to the field of psychology by producing eminent psychologists who occupied many vital and important positions in the Government, Quasi Government and Public and Private sectors.
The Department of Psychology launched its Alumni Association and brought out a directory. More than 200 members are in the Alumni who include many distinguished personalities like:
Prof. B.C. Muthayya, former Deputy Director General, NIRD, Hyderabad
Dr. S. M. Diaz, Ex I.G. of Police, Tamil Nadu
Dr.K.Chokkalingam, former Vice Chancellor, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli
Dr.Latha Pillai, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU,
Thiru.Mathivananan, I.A.S., Chennai. etc.
Currently the Department is being headed by Prof. Dr.T Lavanya. The Silver, Golden , Diamond and Platinium Jubilees of the Department were celebrated on completion of 25, 50 , 60 years and 75 years of existence of the Department with National and International level Conferences, workshops and seminars.
One of the major contribution in the field of academic and research by the Department of Psychology is the establishment of "The Madras Psychology Society" in the year 1944 followed by the publication of two international journals namely Journal of Psychological Researches and Indian Journal of Applied Psychology.
Students from medical colleges doing nursing courses, DPM course (after M.B.B.S), and students of M.Ed. were benefited by attending lectures by the faculty of the department for over few years.
Various research projects funded by the UGC, ICSSR, ICMR, BPR&D were undertaken by the Department. Currently, the department has undertaken a project on Research on Prisions and Rehabilitation of Prisioners - Phase 2, funded by Government of Tamil Nadu. Phase 1 of the project was succussfully completed under the guideship of our Former Head of the department Prof. Dr S Karunanidhi.
About 165 scholars have been awarded Doctor of Philosophy, 26 have successfully completed M.Litt, 2 Scholars were awarded D.Litt, and many number of M.Phil, degree were awarded.
Further, the Department annually organizes Endownment Lectures inviting eminent psychologist and mental health professionals to deliver a series of three lectures on varied field of applied psychology. These lectures are attended in large numbers by faculty and students from various city colleges. At present the department has instituted three endownment lectures viz., The Madras Psychology Endownment Lecturers , Psychology Department Platinium Jubilee Endownment Lectures and Dr S Karunanidhi Endownment Lecturers.
The Department has instituted the Psychology Department Platinium Jubilee Medal for the first rank holder of the M.Sc HRD Psychology post graduation.
In addition to it, the department belives in giving its students the direct exposure to learning professional skills and competencies. In this respect, the department encourages its students and scholars to mandatory go for field visits, institutional and industrial visits and participate in the weekly workshops arranged by the department in which Industrial experts are invited to train our students on specific competencies and HR skills required for effective functioning in the corporate / school sectors as psychologist.
The following are the significant contributions of the Department of Psychology. Teaching Programme
Research Projects
The Department of Psychology ever since its inception has been actively helping different segments of society through various research projects funded by Government, Non-Government and private agencies. The list of research projects carried out in the last two decades are presented below.
M. Sc HRD Psychology
The Department of Psychology offers an exclusive module on M.Sc Human Resource Development Psychology. Even though M.A Applied Psychology was offered with an objective of rendering professional service to clinical, educational, organizational and community settings, the impact of globalizing propelled the Department of Psychology to radically redesign the course curriculum to suit the needs of corporate sector by introducing M.Sc in H.R.D. Psychology. The programme was structured and the core courses were selected based on the need of the hour with the help of UGC Curriculum development. The teaching faculties of the Department framed the syllabus with a provision to modify the courses at regular intervals under the Choice Based Credit System. The students of the M.Sc HRD Psychology attend the regular classes for the first three semesters. The unique feature of the course is that the students in their fourth semester are placed for internship in different multinational organizations for a minimum of three months. They either do projects proposed by the organizations or in areas of their own interest with research guidance from the HR manager of the organization and the respective supervisors from the Department. They attend the organization from Mondays to Thursdays and on Fridays they meet their guide for reporting their progress in the project or the work allotted for them to proceeding further. Based on the performance and the merit of the students, most of them get placed in the same organizations without any formal campus recruitment. Similarly, during the first year, students are provided with the opportunity to visit different institutions, industries/organizations for hands-on experience and for the practical exposure which will be helpful during the internship. Further, in all the semesters of their course, workshops are conducted based on experiential and interactive learning on various HR topics to the students to acquire applied skills in the work set up. Students of the Department are exposed to the functioning of various Institutions and Industries namely, Delphi TVS, ICF, Britannia, American Library, UCAL fuels systems Ltd, Rane, Institute of Mental Health, Bala Vihar, V-Excel, Spastics Society of India, Sneha, Vishranthi, Vidya Sagar, SCARF etc. Such of the students of the Department who have passed SET/UGC-NET examinations and have been awarded Junior/ Senior Research Fellowships to continue their research work. Meritorious scholars are also awarded TRF/URF to further their research work.
Extension services
The Department and the Madras Psychology Society have organized workshops for Pondicherry and Karaikkal Government Employees from 2000 to 2007 on the following topics:
Professionals/ Faculties visited from Foreign Countries to the Department
Prof. Mohan Chinnapan, Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong Australia.
Ms. Swarna Gowri , Medical Scientist, Theosophical Society, U.S.A.
Dr. Kripakaran, Consultant Psychiatrist, Illinois, USA.
Mr. Helfried Krushe, Psychoanalyst, Germany.
Dr.Anitha Menon, University of Zambia. Zambia
Dr.James Morley,Professor of Clinical Psychology, New Jersey,USA
Ms. Michèle Luit, part-time faculty member at the Banff Centre and the University of Calgary, Canada
Dr. Rosanna Rooney,Senior Lecturer, Clinical Psychologist,Australia
Dr.Arpana Inman,Associate Professor,Bethlehem
Dianne Christenbery Bradley, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, USA
Dr.Lakshmi Bandlamudi, Professor, Psychology Coordinator,Social Science Department, LaGuardia Community College, New York
Dr. Jan Johannes,Franciscus, Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, University of Utrecht, Netherlands
Dr. Sindy Banga, Senior Lecturer, School of Health, The University of Northampton
Dr. Borislav Slavchov, Depratment of psychology, South West University , Bulgaria.
Conferences/ Seminar's Organized:
The Department of Psychology organizes Conferences/ Seminars/ Workshops at National level and such important Conferences/ Seminars Organized are given below:
| Fee Structure will be available soon |
| Name | Guide | Topic | Year Joined | Year Completed | Email Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Guide | Topic | Year Joined | Year Completed | Email Id |
| Ph.D | 2 |
| M.Phil | Nil |
| Ph.D | 21 |
| M.Phil | Nil |