Welcome to AHDP
The Association of Heads of Departments of Psychology (AHDP) is
a professional development organization for psychology department
chairs
and heads from colleges and universities located primarily in the
region
served by the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA).
However,
academic psychology leaders from other parts of the country are also
welcome
to join.
AHDP began with a small informal gathering of chairs at an annual SEPA
meeting on April 14, 1967 to discuss the need for such a group. On
April 5, 1968, the first organizational meeting was held in Roanoke,
VA. The
first December meeting of AHDP was held at the Atlanta airport on
December
5-7, 1968. Since that time, annual AHDP meetings have been held every
November or December.
We are a rather unique organization, formed primarily to meet and
discuss matters of common concern. Topics that we routinely
address are professional development, legal matters, faculty
management, and other issues of importance for academic department
chairs. Our membership includes representatives from very large
to very small departments in both private and public academies. We
address concerns related to both graduate and undergraduate training
as well as research and service missions common to institutions of
higher
education. We remain as we began, a very informal and collegial
group,
and at our annual meetings we share our collective experiences as
academic
department leaders. If one is a new psychology head/chair, our
meetings
are an opportunity to learn from those more seasoned. If one has
been
a department head/chair for a while, our meetings represent an
opportunity
for additional profession development and to pass on expertise to
subsequent
generations of academic psychology leadership. We hold our annual
conference
every fall and a one hour program at the annual SEPA convention in the
spring.
Chair:
Deborah South Richardson, Ph. D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Augusta State University
Augusta, GA 30904
email: drichardson@aug.edu
Tel: 706-737-1694
Fax: 706-737-1538