Department of Psychology

Brief History

The University of San Carlos Department of Psychology is the brainchild of Fr. Joseph Goertz, Ph.D., SVD. Fr. Goertz studied psychology in Prague and Vienna and taught Psychology and Philosophy at the St. Augustine Seminary in Sankt Augustine-bei-Bonn, Germany. He received his theological training at the SVD seminary St. Gabriel at Mödling near Vienna. The “anthropological atmosphere” in St. Gabriel seminary benefited Fr. Goertz greatly in his later academic work.

In Fu Jen Catholic University of Beijing, Fr. Goertz was head of the Psychology Department and Director of Studies. He built up an excellent Experimental Psychology Laboratory there.

After Fr. Goertz was expelled from China during the Communist takeover in 1951, he came to the Philippines and accepted an academic post at USC. In 1954, Fr. Goertz established the Psychology Department of the University, where he taught until his retirement in 1976. He was Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences. In 1965, USC established the Office of Research and Scholarship and Fr. Goertz became its Director. He was considered one of the architects of research and serious academic scholarship of the University. He served in the San Carlos Publications as one of the Associate Editors during the time of then Rector Fr. Rudolf Rahmann, SVD, Ph.D. (anthropologist). His keen interest in research on Philippine folktales was instrumental in USC’s decision to create an institution aiming to preserve and conduct research on the rich Cebuano heritage – the Cebuano Studies Center.

Fr. Goertz was a man who achieved a personality that recalls what Cardinal Newman described as the “essential unity of the ideals of the man of faith.” Considering himself as a teacher, first and foremost, Fr. Goertz believed teaching is a “true ministry.” He spent almost 18 years of psychological work in Beijing, a couple of years in Europe, and 22 years in USC.

Historically, the Psychology Department’s theoretical perspective is unique in that it is the only one in the country that is rooted in the German tradition.