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Psi Chi Technology at Your Fingertips
by:
Martha S. Zlokovich, PhD,
Psi Chi Executive Director Associate Editor
Categories: Executive Director's Message
Have you ever wished you had an easy way to update Psi Chi about changes to your contact information? To send an e-mail to chapter members? To see who your chapter’s alumni are? To obtain an article printed in the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research or the Eye on Psi Chi? You do! During my travels to regional conferences this past spring, I realized that many chapter advisors and members are not aware of all the different resources Psi Chi makes available to them online.
In order to start taking advantage of these resources, I should first explain the two types of usernames available for accessing information through Psi Chi’s website: a member username and a chapter username. All Psi Chi members may access their individual member information by selecting Member as the type when they sign in, then entering their own unique username and password. A default username and password is generated by the Central Office and printed on your member ID card; you can change them once you sign in if you wish. If you don’t know your username or password, e-mail psichi@psichi.org.
With your member username and password you can:
- Update your personal and contact information at any time—even after you graduate.
- Add information you didn’t fill out on your original registration card. For example, you could add your gender or ethnicity if you didn’t indicate those when you were inducted.
- Sign up to receive your chapter’s e-mails under Your Subscriptions.
- Order and pay for a replacement member card or certificate if you lost yours or changed your name.
- Verify your induction date (sometimes needed on job or scholarship applications or for your resume).
- Purchase graduation regalia.
- Order free electronic downloads of articles published in the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research or Eye on Psi Chi.
The chapter username is for administering your chapter’s business. Psi Chi provides the chapter administrator username and password to the faculty advisor, who may choose to share it with trusted chapter officers (if so, we suggest that the advisor change the password periodically).
With the chapter administrator username and password, the chapter advisor can:
- Enter the names of new members and pay for them online. This allows the chapter to receive new member certificates, cards, and pins more quickly than by sending the registration cards and a check through the mail.
- Check membership status of new inductees registered online to see if their membership is still pending, or they have been officially registered at the Central Office.
- Submit chapter reports including:
- the Annual Report
- the Financial Report
- the quarterly Chapter Activities Report
- a New Faculty Advisor/Coadvisor Report
- Submit nominations and vote in regional and Society elections.
- Update chapter contact information.
- Request a limited number of free Psi Chi brochures or posters.
- View the names, e-mails, and induction dates for the members of your chapter. The list allows the user to:
- sort chapter members by name, e-mail, or induction date
- search by name
- download a CSV file of all chapter members.
- E-mail your chapter members who have signed up to receive chapter e-mails.
- Enter the names of your chapter officers so that they are kept current on your chapter’s webpage.
- Transfer an individual’s Psi Chi membership from another chapter to your chapter. Members may wish to do this when they transfer to another university, begin graduate school, or become a faculty member at an institution other than where they joined Psi Chi.
- Purchase merchandise such as Psi Chi tablecloths, banners, binders, stationery, or officer ribbons.
You do not need a username or password to:
- Read e-mail digests on the Psi Chi website.
- Purchase a printed subscription to the Eye on Psi Chi after you graduate.
- View abstracts from the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research.
- Purchase a printed subscription to the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research.
- View back issues of the Eye on Psi Chi online.
- View any particular chapter’s page, including current officers (provided the chapter has updated them); www.psichi.org/chapters/list.aspx
- View or print Psi Chi forms found at www.psichi.org/Downloads/. These downloads include information on officer responsibilities, chapter business, sample chapter bylaws, how to inform the Central Office about a new faculty advisor or co-advisor, individual and chapter awards and grants, and much more.
Psi Chi will continue to improve its technological support of members and chapters. Look for exciting changes and opportunities as our website evolves in the months and years to come.