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APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

On October 28:

1538 — The first university in the Americas was founded in what is now Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. This city was chosen as the site of the first Interamerican Congress of Psychology in 1953.

1917 — Patricia Cain Smith was born. Smith was the first woman to be granted tenure at Cornell University. Her interests were in industrial/organizational psychology, measurement, statistics, and job satisfaction. She developed the Job Descriptive Index, the Retirement Descriptive Index, and the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales.

1944 — The U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) Aviation Psychology Program was formally extended to service in eleven AAF convalescent hospitals. Captain Sidney W. Bijou was placed in charge of coordinating this program of testing, classification, and training hospitalized AAF personnel for further service.

1950 — The first forms of the Graduate Record Examination were published.

1988 — The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders was established by President Reagan's signature on the Health Programs Extension Act.

1992 — The first International Asian Conference in Psychology began in Singapore.

Copyright © 1995, American Psychological Association. Web version by permission. Source: Street, W. R. (1994). A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. The American Psychological Association and Central Washington University have supported the development of the APA Historical Database.

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