The latter part of the fifties and into the sixties were very exciting times, especially for experimental psychologists. The federal government decreed that psychologists with more applied bents should be involved in the care and treatment of the emotional problems of returning veterans from World War II. By the early fifties it was clear there were many more questions about effective treatment for the vets than there were answers. A solution was sought from the "basic" research psychologists. Support for almost any "reasonable" research proposal was provided by the U.S. Public Health Service, research components of the armed forces (notably the Office of Naval Research and the Army Surgeon General's Office) and the newly founded National Science Foundation. In addition to financial support for basic research, there were programs that provided stipends for graduate and post-graduate training. Other programs provided funds for the acquisition of facilities to create research centers. Others provided financial assistance to construct research laboratories. Last, but by no means least, there was the National Science Foundation's huge, well-financed program to develop "Centers of Excellence." This kind of congressional support would materially influence the form and direction basic research would take. The Congress had "deep pockets."

In the early sixties the department was charged with finding a chairman who could double the number of faculty and simultaneously achieve academic distinction. At that time the Psychology Department was housed in the second, third and fourth floors of the old Education building and in several former dwelling houses close to the main campus. Working conditions were, at best, very crowded. The department was tenth to fifteenth on the Board of Regents building priority list. With the proposed expansion of the faculty we would be even more desperate for space, a situation that could materially hamper the recruiting effort. Fortunately we had a faculty member, Larry Chalmers, who understood leverage and its uses. Would the state pass up 1.5 million dollars in building funds by failing to match it? Chalmers, who soon became Dean of Arts and Sciences, could no longer participate in the endeavor. I took over the responsibility of working with the faculty and architects to finish the plans for the building. The NSF and USPHS approved the building plans and so did the state. These funds provided the Kellogg Research Building.

We, in the informal association called Psychobiology (described elsewhere in this history), decided to try our hand in obtaining outside funding. We applied for and received support in the form of a training grant to support eight graduate and two postgraduate students. The grant was funded at about $80,000 per year and lasted for ten years. We also applied for and were awarded a Research Center grant to support and expand the development of our research facilities. The grant was funded at about $300,000 per year and lasted for a five-year period.

The final major event during this period was that Larry Chalmers, by then Vice President for Academic Affairs, invited Lloyd Beidler and me to "drop by his office" to discuss the possibility of developing a section for Psychobiology as part of a proposal to the National Science Foundation for a "Development of Excellence" grant. As I recall, the total award was for three million dollars a year for three years with funding for an additional two-year "wind down" period. I don't remember the dollar amount of the part that went to Psychobiology, but it contained ten to twelve faculty positions, about fifteen technical positions to operate the research facilities established, an equipment budget on the order of $150,000 per year, and an expense budget of about $90,000 each year.

Psychobiology now had to assume a finite identity. Should it be an institute administratively separated from Biological Sciences and Psychology or some other less divisive arrangement? An institute implies a separate director or co-directors and staff. After considerable discussion it was apparent none of us wished to become a full-time administrator. We chose a more symbiotic relationship with departments. We would call it a Research Center. The chairmen of the two departments would share responsibility with the Center's Co-directors for the well-being and continued growth of the Center.

In retrospect these times were not only exciting but very busy. It seemed there was always a site visit team looking at some program or a prospective faculty member to be shown the amenities available in the department, the University, and the Tallahassee community. With Joe Grosslight's arrival in 1966 recruiting activity began in earnest. Joe had a plan that guided the pattern of recruiting. In essence, it called for the identification of potential peaks of strength already present or for potential development in the department. We had a training grant for school psychologists so the development of the School Psychology Program was obvious. Cognitive Psychology was an emerging area but without representation in the department, as was conditioning and learning. Sensory processes already had something of a peak but lacked coverage, particularly in audition.

The Department of Psychology entered the decade of the 70's with 42 full time faculty (more than double its 1966 size when Joe arrived) with well-defined areas of endeavor to be further nurtured. One would expect such rapid growth would create more stresses and strains than most could tolerate. However, Joe's anticipation and deft handling of such situations, frequently before they arose, allowed us to prosper even in the face of such rapid growth.