The field of academic development emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of student concern and unrest about poor teaching. This led to the creation of the first development units and a focus on course ratings which contributed to a thirty-plus year history of research emerging from a psychological perspective. In this article, the author examines how far academic development has come as a field. She first provides a brief history of where the field has come from. She then explores how the new ideas of the 90s might move the field beyond a deficit model and provide an agenda for the future. Lastly, she raises the question on where can the field go in the future in terms of research and practice. (Contains 2 notes.)