You’re back on campus after a busy summer and have your fall course schedule in hand. You’ve figured out the buildings and rooms where those classes are meeting, and bought your textbooks and supplies. Believe it or not, now is the perfect time to be planning for spring semester Psi Chi opportunities—in particular those at regional conferences.
Why you ask, do you need to bother yourself with the spring 2010 conferences now, when you have barely begun the fall 2009 semester? Before you know it, the deadlines for the Psi Chi Research Poster Session submissions will be “tomorrow” and you may find yourself scrambling to dig up last semester’s research project, or finish up a project you just started. Th e deadlines for students to submit their research to the six regional Psi Chi programs range from October 1 to November 15, 2009.
The Psi Chi website provides a map of the country that shows which states are in which region; however, students may submit their research to any of the six regional Psi Chi poster sessions. Student research award winners are selected for each conference, but you don’t have to live in that region to win an award. Look at the cities where each region’s conference will be held next year; you might find another region’s conference is being held closer to your campus than your own.
Students in most regions may submit research in progress, for which they are still collecting data that they have not yet begun to analyze (but if the project is accepted, a completed project is expected to be presented). However, most regions only allow completed work to be considered for a Psi Chi Regional Research Award. In addition, for a project to be eligible for an award the first author must be both a Psi Chi member at the time of the submission, and an undergraduate or graduate student.
Your chapter may want to plan fall induction of new members in time for them to be eligible for Psi Chi Regional Research Awards. In other words, planning for spring conferences could mean planning your chapter’s fall schedule of activities carefully too. Besides the timing of induction, fund-raising to support chapter members attending and/ or presenting at the conference should be organized and completed soon too.
Check with your faculty advisor and on your regional convention website to make sure you don’t miss the deadline. Also, be sure to look for the fall newsletter from your Psi Chi Regional Vice President. Ask your Psi Chi chapter president or faculty advisor to share the newsletter with all members of your chapter.
In order to help you plan, below is a list of the 2010 regional psychology convention dates, locations, and Psi Chi Research Poster session deadlines:
- Eastern Psychological Association March 4-7, 2010 in New York, NY Submission deadline November 15, 2009
- Southeastern Psychological Association March 10-13, 2010 in Chattanooga, TN Submission deadline November 15, 2009
- Southwestern Psychological Association April 8-10, 2010 in Dallas, TX Submission deadline November 15, 2009
- Rocky Mountain Psychological Association April 15-17, 2010 in Denver, CO Submission deadline November 15, 2009
- Western Psychological Association April 23-26, 2010 in Cancun, Mexico Submission deadline November 15, 2009
- Midwestern Psychological Association April 29-May 1, 2010 in Chicago, IL Submission deadline November 15, 2009
Even if you are not far enough along in your program to have worked on a research project, I would highly recommend that you attend your regional conference. Not only will you have the chance to see what other Psi Chi undergraduate and graduate students present in the poster session, but you will also have the opportunity to attend Psi Chi programming that could benefit you personally, or your entire chapter. That experience will give you a leg up next year, when you may be more likely to have a project ready to submit.
In addition to everything that the Psi Chi portion of the programming offers, there is of course the main convention programming. At those sessions, faculty will present their most current research projects. You may have the opportunity to hear, or talk with, faculty whose research you have admired, studied, or followed up yourself. So plan now to be sure you don’t miss these opportunities in the spring!