Brief
History
The Department of Psychology of the University of Crete was
established in 1984 and accepted its first students in the
fall of 1987. It is the first and thus, the oldest Department
of Psychology in Greece. The first class graduated from the
Department of Psychology in 1991 with a B.Sc. in Psychology.
In 1998, the University moved to its new premises located at
the Rethymno campus in Gallos, a few kilometers outside the
town of Rethymno. In June 2004, the Department gained autonomy
within the university system and currently has more than twenty
teaching staff members. Also in 2004 two graduate programs
were established; School Psychology and Health Psychology.
Since its establishment, more then 50 teaching staff members
have offered their services to the Department. Currently the
department has approximately 600 undergraduate students, 17
MSc. students, 19 Ph.D. candidates, and is still growing.
Departmental Activities
The Department of Psychology has hosted a number of conferences:
• The 2nd Pan-Hellenic Conference in psychological research
(Department of Psychology, Rethymno, 1990).
• Aggression in the family, at school and in society (Department
of Psychology, Heraclion, 1991).
• Pan-European Congress: Recent development in psychotherapy
(Nestoros, I., Athens, 1993).
• Biopsychology a branch of neurosciences: Contributions and
the study of the brain and mental disorders (Kastellakis, A.,
Rethymno, 1995).
• The social enactment of the “rebetiko” and its development
(Riga, A. V., Rethymno, 1996).
• Issues of methodology in contemporary psychology (Papadopoulos,
N., Rethymno,
1996).
• The 2nd WAER Congress (Department of Psychology & Department
of Primary School Education, Rethymno, 1997).
• The confrontation of Stress & Anxiety (Triliva, S., Rethymno,
1997).
• The 10th anniversary of the School of Social Sciences (Departments
of Psychology, Economics, Political Sciences & Sociology,
Rethymno, 1998).
• Motivation Psychology: New approaches and implementations (Papadopoulos,
N., Rethymno, 1999).
• Τhe multicultural identity of the family: Immigrant families
of the new millennium (Riga, A. V., Rethymno, 1999).
• Bicultural identity and routes of Greek folk music: From Smyrna
to Piraeus
(Riga, A. V., Triliva, S., Rethymno, 2001).
• Brain, mind and behaviour (Department of Psychology & Department
of Philosophy and Social Studies, Rethymno, 2002).
• Transit Migration (Marvakis, A., Rethymno, 2004).
• The 1st Pan-Hellenic Conference: Political psychology (Department
of Psychology, Rethymno, 2005).
• The 2006 Biennial conference of the International Association
for Relationships Research, Dept. of Psychology, (Kafetsios,
K. Chair, Rethymno, 2006).
• Beyond the said conferences, the teaching staff of our Department
have organized and participated in numerous specialized meetings,
symposiums, antiracist festivals, intensive courses (multilevel
statistical models), have given many lectures with distinguished
scientists from Greece and the world.
The Department of Psychology has acclaimed and granted to the
following professors the title of Honorary Doctorates:
Hourdaki, Maria
Trevarthen, Colwyn (1996)
Thomae, Hans (1997)
Sack, Fritz (2006)
Participation in European Programs and interuniversity links
Graduate Program in Clinical Psychology
For nearly a decade (1994 to 2005) a graduate program in Clinical
Psychology operated in the Department of Psychology. A total
of 58 students earned a masters’ degree in Clinical Psychology.
During this time three doctoral degrees were also granted in
clinical psychology. In 2004, the said program was replaced
by a new graduate program with two (2) majors; School Psychology
and Health Psychology.
