History Of The Psychology Department

The Psychology Department at City College has a distinguished history. It was founded in 1939, however, psychology courses were offered at the college as early as 1881. Contributing to the Department’s distinguished history is the fact that it has been home to several well-known psychologists. Three of these famous psychologists were Drs. Kenneth Clark, Joseph Barmack and Gardner Murphy. Dr. Clark was known for his research with his wife Dr. Mamie Clark, on the identity of African descent children and his testimony during the groundbreaking civil rights trial, Brown vs. the Board of Education. Joseph Barmack developed pioneering studies on auto safety related to personality characteristics and driving performance. Dr. Murphy, a world-renowned scholar who was noted for research on personality theory, parapsychology and the history of psychology, was the first chair of the Psychology Department. Dr. Murphy and Dr. Clark were also presidents of the American Psychological Association.

CCNY also includes among its earliest alumni several well-regarded psychologists only partially listed here, including: Albert Ellis, Leon Festinger, Sarnoff Mednick, Donald Meichenbaum, Richard Lazarus, Walter Mischel, Henry Gleitman, Murray Glanzer, Julian Hochberg, Irvin Rock, Julian Hochberg, Jacob Cohen, and Richard Herrnstein. Data from 1984 showed that City College led the nation with the largest number of eventual Ph.D.s in psychology—1889—from graduates with a CCNY Bachelor degree psychology major.

Student Alumni and Previous Colleagues

Dr. Albert Ellis

Dr. Morton Deutsch

Dr. Leon Festinger

Dr. Gardner Murphy

Dr. Henry Gleitman

Dr. Herman Feifel

Dr. Richard Herrnstein

Dr. Julian Hochberg

Dr. Jerome Singer

Dr. Richard Lazarus

Dr. Lauren Eron