After months of uncertainty, the Department of Educational Psychology has again been restored to full departmental status, said the dean of the College of Education.

John Taylor said the department was restored after being placed into his receivership last September by UA Provost Paul Sypherd.

Sypherd's Sept. 22 memo, which placed the department into receivership, pointed out that faculty conflicts were not being resolved, students were suffering, and the reputation of the department was deteriorating.

In the memo, Sypherd said he placed the Department of Educational Psychology into receivership after a year and a half of working with Taylor to improve conditions in the department.

"People worked very, very hard to make things better," Taylor said. "I commend my colleagues for all of their efforts."

During the days following Sypherd's memo to the department's faculty, Tom Good was removed from his position as head of the department, admissions and enrollment in the program were suspended, and faculty were moved elsewhere on campus and within the college.

Good, an educational psychology professor, has recently been reinstated as department head and the department has started admitting and enrolling students once again, Taylor said.

Under the plan to restore the Department of Educational Psychology to its original status, the department's program of school psychology will become a part of the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation.

The program prepares doctoral students for positions as school psychologists or for outside post-doctorate psychological practice. The Department of Educational Psychology teaches learning theory, measurement and research methods, and educational techniques.

Good will serve as department head until June 30, when he will step down. Darrell Sabers, educational psychology professor, will head the department next year.

Good was not in his office yesterday and could not be reached for comment.

Sabers, who was on sabbatical last fall, said he felt the department's status was never in doubt.

"I wasn't worried," he said. "We're a legitimate group."

"Things are much more productive and calmer now," said Kenneth J. Smith, educational psychology professor. "Students are getting much more of our attention."

The plan to move the school psychology program to the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation was submitted to Taylor. John Obrzut, educational psychology professor and faculty member in the program, said the program's faculty members are still waiting for official word on whether the plan has been accepted.

In a previous interview, Richard Morris, educational psychology professor who has served on the state board of psychologists, said students must graduate from an American Psychological Association-accredited program to receive licenses to practice.

The program's accreditation status through the APA was put in a seemingly precarious position with the move, but Obrzut said that is no longer a concern.

Obrzut said he has found out "APA is not concerned necessarily where you are housed as long as we have a psychology-oriented curriculum."

Until the school psychology program's plan is accepted, students are not being admitted into that specific program.

Shitala Mishra, educational psychology professor, said the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation will be a good home for the school psychology program.

"These two fields go together and complement each other," Mishra said. "We had hoped approval of the plan would be sooner."