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| Origin The origin of the Department of Psychology was one of the significant contributions by Padmashree N. D. Sundarvadivelu, the Beacon Light of education in Tamil Nadu and the former Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras. The Department was one of the four Departments started to constitute the Madras University Autonomous Post Graduate Centre, Coimbatore in 1974. Prof. C.R. Paramesh, M.A., M.Litt., Ph.D., Dip in Anthro., was the first Professor and Head of the Department. Professor C.R. Paramesh left the Department to take up assignments in Kansas, USA by 11th September 1976. Subsequently, Prof. S. Narayanan, M.A., M.L.., Dip in Stat. Ph. D., then assumed charge as Head of the Department of Psychology. Since then, Prof. P.Ananthakrishnan, M.A. Ph.D. and Dr. V. Natrajan, M.A, Ph.D., D, Litt., had served as Readers in this Department at different periods of time. Prof. Dr. V. Ganesan, M.A., Ph D, and Dr. R. Venkatachalam, M.A, M.Phil., Ph.D., joined the Department as Faculty in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Dr. R. Venkatachalam took voluntary retirement in 2003. Dr. S.John Michael Raj M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. joined the Department as a member of faculty in 1988. At present, the Department is headed by DR. S. SUBRAMANIAN M.A., M. PHIL., AND PH. D., who has joined the Department as Professor on 11/06/2007. The Bharathiar University was instituted by the Act of Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1982. The Department of Psychology along with other Departments belonging to Madras University Autonomous PG Centre was transferred to the Bharathiar University by the above Act. Significant Contributions The following are the significant contributions of the Department of Psychology. Teaching Programme 1. M.Sc Applied Psychology (with Clinical/ Industrial Practicum) Research Projects:
1. “A survey on psycho-social determinants of potential youth’s intentions to join Indian defense services (2 Years from July 2008) sponsored by DRDO-DIPR, New Delhi. 2. Psychological factors Influencing the knowledge of cancer causing Plastics (2 years from March 2009) sponsored by UGC, New Delhi. 3. Psychological Dynamics of Academic Resilience among SC/St Students in Higher Education in Tamil Nadu (2 years from October 2008) sponsored by Center for Educational Research, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai. 4. Fostering Academic Resilience among Rural Low Socio-economic College Students (2 years from January 2009) sponsored by UGC, New Delhi. 5. Enhancing Resilience of Rural Adolescents students under risk (2 years from November 2008) sponsored by ICSSR, New Delhi. 6. Identification of Combatant Personality for the 3rd Millennium and Coping in High Stress Environment of the Soldiers (during the year 1998 – 2001) sponsored by DRDO-DIPR, New Delhi. 7. Personality and Creativity Development (during the year 1998 – 2000) sponsored by Chinmaya International Residential School, Siruvani, Coimbatore. 8. Youth Sexuality ( during the year 2003 – 2004) sponsored by The Ford Foundation, New Delhi, through AMCHSS, SETIMST, Trivandram. 9. The Impact of Active Preparatory Auditory Reception Response on the Psycho-Physiological Coping Response to Artillery Explosion Sound (during the year 2002 – 2004) sponsored by DRDO-DIPR, New Delhi. 10. Sexuality and Sexual Behaviors among Unmarried Young Men in Rural and Urban Areas of Tamilnadu (during the year 2005 – 2006) sponsored by UGC, New Delhi. Conferences Organized: Organized Six National Conferences of: Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Indian Psychology Association, Indian Association of Clinical Psychologist, National Vocational Educational Guidance Association, Psycho-Linguistic Association of India and the Academy of Psychologists, and Indian Society of Organizational Behaviour. Masters Level Applied Psychology Programme (M. Sc Applied Psychology): The Department of Psychology offers a unique mode of Master level program with Clinical Psychology and Organizational Behaviour. Several universities, in India include Clinical Psychology course at master's level, but the exposure of students to Clinical or Organizational setting is of very limited duration. This Department ventured to experiment in a unique way by adopting a Clinical/Organizational practicum for a period of one semester in order to strengthen the professional base in the course. The Clinical/Organizational Practicum enables the candidate to spend not less than ninety working days in Clinical/Organizational setting to learn the professional practices on the site. The Practicum is to be done under the guidance of qualified Psychologists who are certified to be Clinical/Organizational Psychologists or with subject expert in the practicum. The Faculty of the Department and the Guide on the site would direct the students during the programme and the students should produce a report on the work done by him/her during the Practicum. The report is then evaluated and given credits for the degree. This programme is on par with the Clinical/Organizational practicum required to be an essential component of individuals as Master Level Clinical or Organizational Psychologists in USA, UK and other European Countries. Institute of Mental Health, Kilpauk, Chennai; Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Manipal, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Institute, Porur, Chennai; Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore; Wohkhart Hospital, Bangalore; Elite Hospital, Thrissur and Leeds Hospital, University of Leeds, UK and various Private and Public Sector Organizations have been collaborating with this Department for providing Clinical/Organizational practicum placement for the students. Some of the students who had undergone the clinical practicum have successfully passed UGC-NET for Junior Research Fellowships. Another section of students undertake studies in Clinical Psychology in National Institute of Medical and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore. The outcome of the program is encouraging. The students may practice Clinical Psychology independently on their own merits as Master's Level Clinical Psychologist. The areas of specialization of the staff in the Department include Personality, Creativity, Organizational Psychology and Clinical Psychology. Since the inception of the Department, 40 Scholars and more than 150 students have obtained Ph.D., and M.Phil degrees respectively for their thesis work in the area just cited. Within the last one decade the Faculty of this Department have contributed to national and international journals and also presented research papers at various seminars, workshops and national and international conferences. Bharathiar Counseling Centre: The Bharathiar Counseling Centre was established by an executive decision by the Vice Chancellor, Bharathiar University and was inaugurated by him in a ceremonial function taken out on 12th July, 2001. The Centre has a well ventilated counseling room exclusively devoted for the purposes of individual counseling situated at the Natchimuthu Seminar Complex, adjacent to Multipurpose Hall of the University. Counseling is done in confidence to individuals at the Centre. The focus of Counseling is mainly psychological and academic. The services are rendered free of charges both to the students, scholars and the public. The Bharathiar Counseling Centre also undertakes promoting awareness of Counseling by periodically arranging programs for the students. This Centre since its inception has successfully conducted more than forty such awareness programs. More than five hundred cases of individual Counseling has been done by the Centre so far. A one day program for prison officers on Humanistic Orientation in dealing with the prisoners was organized by the Bharathiar Counseling Centre. Counseling was offered to the public in a stall at the West Rotary Book Fair in 2005. Patron: Prof. Dr. C. Swaminathan,
Vice Chancellor, Bharathiar University The following are the Honorary Counsellors of the Bharathiar Counseling Centre. Honorary Counsellors: Prof. Dr. R. Venkatapathy, Director, Bharathiar
School of Management and Entrepreneur Development Academic Conferences/ Seminar's Organized: The Department of Psychology has organized ten National level Conferences and a National level Workshop as given below. 1. Annual National Conference of Indian Psychology Association, organized by the Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore from 1st to 2nd February, 1990 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46. 2. Ninth National Conference on The Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists, organized by the Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore from 28th to 30th October, 1991 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46. 3. National Conference on The Psychology of Well-Being, organized by the Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore in Collaboration with The National Vocational and Educational Guidance Association, Tirupathi from 19th to 21st October, 1994 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46. 4. Fifth National Conference of Psycho-linguistic Association of India (PLAI) on Communication Interaction in the year 2000 (Y2K) organized by the Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore from 19th to 21st February, 2000 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46. 5.Third National Conference of the Academy of Psychologists, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupathi on Challenges and Responses: Psychology for Integration organized by the Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, from 27th & 28th February and 1st March, 2003 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46. 6.National Conference on Empowering the Nation: Application of Psychology, Sociology, Educational Technology and Management Sciences, organized by the Dept. of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore in Association with The Coimbatore Psychology Association from 16th to 18th March,2005 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46. 7. National Workshop on Applications of Behavior Technology, organized by the Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore from 26th to 28th February, 2007 at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore- 46. 8. One day seminar on “Counseling Skills for Air Force Personnel” on 23.02.2008 at the Air Force Training College, Coimbatore. 9. One day Seminar on “Mental Health and Psychotically Well being “on 24.04.2009 at the Air Force Training College, Coimbatore. 10. An Half –day Seminar on “Marital Counseling for the Wifes of Air Force Personnel on 20.03.2009 at the Air Force Training College, Coimbatore. Job placement of students A Placement Officer to look after the placement prospects of the students at the Department has been installed in 2007. The general percentage of placement of students passing out of the PG program of this Department is significantly high. The students of M.Sc Applied Psychology have got placements as clinical psychologists, counselors, training executives, welfare officers, health psychologists etc in various health care and IT industries, educational and research departments such as the DRDO, NIMHANS, NITIE etc. and in academic institutions of good repute in India and Abroad. The percentage placement of students (off-campus) is around 90 %. Vision of the Department The Department runs master level courses on Applied Psychology. Both clinical Psychology and Organizational Behavior have been included in the course work to widen the prospects of students for their future. The Department envisages having a well established Psychometric Lab to offer in depth hands-on-training in psychological assessment in general and psychodiagnostics in particular. Establishing liaison with hospitals that are attached to teaching institutions for placing our post-graduate students on practical Clinical/Organizational training would be one of the priorities of the Department. This will benefit the students by providing them an opportunity to witness live psychodiagnostics and psychotherapeutic sessions even while they study about them in their course work. The Department plans to organize a series of training and executive development programme for grooming industrial managers, engineers and knowledge workers by properly adapting key significant psychosocial determinant factors suitable for enhancing their overall effectiveness. The Department plans to conduct a series of workshops for the benefit of student's community to groom their personality and enhance their confidence levels to get suitable placements at the end of the course completion. Also, the week end camps will be organized periodically at various centers to impart the application of learning, remembering and recalling, memory, motivation principles to enhance the study skills of the students. The Department also would like to organize workshops/conferences/seminars/symposium for the purpose of bringing academicians across the country in a common forum and to disseminate their ideas and experiences in handling various psychological issues such as de-skilling, resiliency, mental health, awareness of quality and standards etc, which have pertinent impact among the working community of the different sectors. The Department is likely to offer a potential job oriented diploma course on Counseling and Vocational Guidance for the students of M.Sc Applied Psychology background and for Health-Care Professionals or Para-medical personnel. The main thrust area of research in this Department is Creativity, Innovation and Knowledge Management, besides other fields such as Group Dynamics and Motivational issues. The Department has a plenty of collections in the form of reprints, back volumes and text books in the field of Creativity and Innovation. Hence, the Department is planning to submit proposals for establishing a Centre for Excellence in Creativity and Innovation and Knowledge Management Research in our University. The Department wishes to enhance its potential and capabilities to provide quality education in Applied Psychology by acquiring a status of SAP by University Grants Commission in the next couple of years. Research proposals to investigate the critical psychological issues of Defense and Para-Defense Personnel will be submitted to DRDO to get funding to initiate various research activities such as psychological resiliency for occupationally induced stress factors, profiling personality of meritorious defense officers etc. and also designing an M.Sc Applied Psychology for Military stream of SDE programme to cater to the needs of defense personnel to pursue postgraduate programme. Suitable rehabilitation training programme will be designed to assist and reorient the defense personnel to lead a rewarding career in their post-service period. Faculty and their Contributions The faculty strength is at present stands at four with one Professor, one Associate Professor, and two Assistant Professors, who are working in the diverse fields of Applied Psychology, viz., Organizational Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology, Industrial Psychology and Child Psychology. Other specialization the department under takes for research includes Organizational Behaviour, Training and Development, Human Relations in Industry. The Members of Faculty are associated with Professional and Academic Bodies in Applied Psychology at the National and International level and have represented in the Administrative and Academic bodies of this University like Syndicate, Senate, Standing Committee on Academic Affairs and Board of Studies. They are actively engaged in interaction with various agencies like UGC, DRDO, CSIR, NSS, DST and other academic institutions and Universities in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for the development of Applied Psychology education as a whole. The Faculty Members in the Department have many papers to their credits and have publications in the following journals of repute: 1. Indian Journal of Applied Psychology 2. Journal of Applied Psychology 3. Journal of Managerial Psychology 4. Journal of Psychological Studies 5. Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research 6. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations 7. Journal of Psychological Reports 8. Journal of Indian Management 9. Journal of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology 10. Behavioral Scientists 11. Journal of Research and Application in Clinical Psychology 12. Journal of Psychological Researchers 13. South Asian Journal of Management Many research reports and monographs prepared by faculties/scholars have been released by the department and circulated to researchers and practitioners.
Prof. Dr. S. Subramanian, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D Tel: 0422 – 2428461 (HOD’s office) This page is updated on 13.10.2009 |