The present article describes the history of the emergence, formation and development of one of the first in the national psychological science - the Department of Social Psychology that had created in the Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) University in 1968. The head of department was E.S. Kuzmin who identified the main areas of research activities: the development issues of history, theory, methodology and methods of social psychology, the actual socio-psychological problems, mainly in the field of life of production teams. In the next years, the research subjects of the department were substantially expanded. Research results were reflected in a number of collective monographs and individual works published as in national publications and abroad. At the same time, the professional training was improved in framework of social and psychological specialization. At present, the department is the largest scientific and pedagogical center of social psychology in the North-West of our country. The department directs the efforts to the training of specialists, corresponding to the needs of our society.