Betsy Morgan - University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Position Statement:
Psi Chi is a high quality organization fully committed to promoting and supporting students’ scholarly and service work. I am running for President-Elect because I would like to serve chronologically close to the time I was a regional vice-president (2006–10) in order to best provide continuity of effort and programming for the organization. I was pleased to be a member of the Board of Directors that voted for Psi Chi to become international, and I would like to continue to help promote the internationalization of Psi Chi and the streamlining of processes that allow for the organization to fully serve international chapters. Like any well-run organization, Psi Chi best serves its members when the internal functioning is going well, and it is the obligation of the Board of Directors to meet this function. The current Board embraces this goal, and I look forward to working with similarly committed individuals if elected President. Students are the backbone of Psi Chi; however, faculty advisors provide the continuity and fuel the passion for the work. I embrace Psi Chi’s goal of more fully serving the information needs of advisors through two-way communication and recognizing advisors’ work. In addition, Psi Chi should embrace the promotion of the benefits of membership to current and prospective members—a goal that services both the organization and its members. Overall, I would like to play a more active role in encouraging our chapters to utilize the resources of the Psi Chi Central Office and in working with my colleagues to make sure that chapters are supported.

Biographical Information:
Dr. Betsy Morgan is a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. She has served as the faculty advisor for the chapter for over 15 years and as the Psi Chi Midwestern Regional Vice-President from 2006–10. She is the coordinator of the psychology honors program designed to facilitate the ability of students to conduct independent research projects. The honors students have presented widely, received several regional awards, and have published in the Psi Chi Journal. Most recently, two of her students published an article on measuring attitudes toward autism. Dr. Morgan’s doctorate is in social ecology—an applied social science program at the University of California–Irvine. Her main scholarly interests are related to gender and social psychology. She is the author of an online text Gender Psychology: Exploring the Context of Similarities and Differences, 10+ peer-reviewed publications, and over 50 conference presentations. Dr. Morgan is excited that the 5th edition of her book with colleague Ann Korschgen, Majoring in Psych?: Career Options for Psychology Undergraduates, will come out in 2013. In addition to her more traditional academic career, she has served in several administrative roles including eight years as department chair and six months as the interim vice chancellor of Academic Affairs.

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Jon Grahe, PhD - Pacific Lutheran University

Position Statement:
I welcome the opportunity to serve a 2nd term as the Western Regional Vice-President for Psi Chi. In my first term, I suggested and/or voted numerous times to direct more resources toward awards and travel grants. One major role for Vice-President is WPA programming. This year, I added programming hours to include sessions on diversity and career planning to better address the needs of Psi Chi members. My other major agenda item has been to increase Psi Chi members’ opportunities to engage in meaningful research. I proposed our involvement in both the “Reproducibility Project” in partnership with the Open Science Collaboration and the “International Situations Project” in partnership with Psi Beta. The idea that students can use their course related research projects to benefit science has only recently been proposed and with Psi Chi getting involved early as a leader, we increase the value and recognition of Psi Chi. Further, such a system will create better networks among members across institutions. Psi Chi should be more than a line on a resume; it should be a community. We induct for lifetime memberships. Recently, Psi Chi provided more opportunities for graduate students and even after graduation, Psi Chi could be a resource. As chapters join from other countries through our recent internationalization efforts, we should reap the advantages of the increasing diversity. With online technology and social networks, all members—including faculty and alumni—could use Psi Chi as a resource connecting members with similar research or career interests.

Biographical Information:
Jon Grahe is an associate professor of psychology at Pacific Lutheran University and an executive editor for the Journal of Social Psychology. Though he is serving his first term as the Psi Chi Western Regional Vice-President, he has been a faculty advisor for most of his career and a member since 1991. He primarily teaches social psychology and statistics/research methods, though he has taught many courses in more than 15 years of teaching. Throughout his career, he strongly advocated for undergraduate research and has a few papers and dozens of presentations coauthored with students. Recent scholarship includes studying the presence and characterization of senior capstone courses in regional and national samples. He was recently awarded the K. T. Tang Faculty Excellence in Research Award from Pacific Lutheran University in partial recognition of his efforts to create coordinated undergraduate research across institutions so that student research could better contribute to the advancement of the science of psychology such as the partnerships developed by Psi Chi. When not engaged in scholarship or teaching, he enjoys outdoor activities and is an avid hiker with his wife and two children.

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Susan E. Becker, PhD - Colorado Mesa University

Position Statement:
I would like to continue serve Psi Chi International in the capacity of Regional Vice-President for the Rocky Mountain Region because I believe in the importance of supporting academic scholarship for students. Psi Chi serves as a way to help students connect to the larger world of psychological scholarship and to acknowledge their efforts to excel. I would like to continue working to bring our region the professional development opportunities that Psi Chi offers; to build connections between institutions, to provide support for new advisors, and to work with students to develop their leadership skills through training opportunities and social networks. Psi Chi has entered a new era of international thinking, and I would like to help Psi Chi find ways to build international bridges between students of psychology all over the world.

Biographical Information:
Dr. Susan Becker is professor of psychology at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction Colorado. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Arizona in clinical psychology in 1997. Since then she has trained undergraduates in clinical and counseling psychology, leadership, and team building. Her work with students involves supervising community internships, student independent research, and community service. She was named distinguished faculty member in 2005 for her exemplary teaching, scholarship, and service. As current Regional Vice-President, Dr. Becker has facilitated outreach between chapters through email, Facebook, and by bringing chapters together to present sessions at Rocky Mountain Psychological Association (RMPA) conventions on leadership, team building, and community service as well as hosting nationally recognized key note speakers. She has served on both national and regional committees, most recently as the current Regional Vice-President of Psi Chi where she serves as chair of the Grants Committee and the Investment Advisory Committee. She previously served as diversity program chair for RMPA. She also serves as a reviewer for the Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research and for the RMPA yearly conference. She has been an advisor for the Colorado Mesa University Psi Chi Chapter since 2003.

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Deborah Harris O'Brien, PhD - Trinity Washington University

Position Statement:
My ideas for initiatives as Eastern Regional Vice-President reflect my experiences in Psi Chi as an undergraduate, graduate student, and faculty member for more than 30 years. We must survey both advisors and student members to identify how Psi Chi can support their endeavors and what types of programs they want offered. To be relevant for a new generation, Psi Chi has to be responsive to the needs of its members and foster leadership by the students we serve. My particular interest is in increasing diversity among Psi Chi members. As a faculty member at a university that primarily serves minority and first generation students, I feel Psi Chi needs to reach out to these populations more. Minority and first generation students need more opportunities for networking and professional development. As a first generation student myself, I know these students rely on faculty mentors to learn about, and be successful in, graduate school and develop as a professional. I would actively recruit more minority faculty as advisors and develop a program for mentoring new faculty advisors. We should also have a formal mechanism for mentoring of undergraduates by graduate student members. Connected to this, I am very interested in helping Psi Chi expand internationally. With more international chapters, we will increase the diversity of our membership in ethnicity, language, and culture. With globalization in the 21st century, Psi Chi members must have cultural competence as professionals. Expanding outreach to minorities and international chapters will benefit ALL Psi Chi members personally and professionally.

Biographical Information:
Deborah Harris O’Brien is a tenured professor and department chair at Trinity University in Washington, DC where she has been a member of the psychology faculty since 1991. Her doctorate, in developmental and clinical child psychology, is from the Ohio State University. Dr. Harris O’Brien is a member of APA, Division 2 (Teaching of Psychology) and Division 52 (International Psychology) and she also has chaired Trinity’s Institutional Review Board for the past 12 years. Her teaching areas include child and adolescent development, abnormal child psychology, and research methods. With a colleague, she founded Trinity’s chapter of Psi Chi in 1998 and has served as a faculty advisor since that time. Throughout her 21 years at Trinity, she has mentored students in research and with graduate school planning; a number of her undergraduate students have completed doctorates and are now serving as faculty members at various universities. A member of Psi Chi since 1981, she participated in Psi Chi’s National Leadership Conference and presented at the New England Psychological Association convention with Drs. Florence Denmark and Mercedes McCormick on the “Past, Present and Future” of Psi Chi. Under her leadership, Trinity’s Chapter of Psi Chi has received the Model Chapter Award several times, and her students have received Psi Chi funding to present at regional conventions. During fall 2012, she was part of a group working on improvements to the Psi Chi website. Additionally, she is a current member of the Eastern Region’s Steering Committee.

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Carlos Escoto, PhD - Eastern Connecticut State University

Position Statement:
My experience with Psi Chi in various capacities has been one of the most rewarding in my career. I am committed to Psi Chi’s mission and have experienced the benefits of membership to students. I would be honored to work with Psi Chi as Regional Vice-President to continue implementation of the strategic plan for the good of the region and the organization as a whole. To that end, I believe it is important to involve and engage as many chapters as possible both regional and international. This would include exploring new mechanisms to disseminate information about program/chapter activities to assist other chapters in finding ways to be productive in their own ways. More important, I would like to encourage participation of chapters through online focus groups or electronic surveys for their guidance in what kind of assistance they need from Psi Chi. Also, Psi Chi does many great things and the results of these activities should be highlighted. For example, I would also like to see the website used for the profiling of successful alumni. This could also be expanded to include the incorporation of alumni in graduate school presentations to present experiences with the graduate school admission process. Finally, I would like to explore streaming Psi Chi programs from conferences (speakers and graduate school presentations) on our website so as to include students/programs who cannot attend.

Biographical Information:
Carlos Escoto, PhD, is a tenured associate professor of psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU). He received his doctoral degree in experimental psychology from Loma Linda University and held teaching positions at Riverside Community College, Cal State San Bernardino, and Mississippi State University. While his research focuses on HIV/AIDS, health psychology, and human sexuality, his primary responsibilities are on teaching and student development. His 17-year involvement with Psi Chi began upon induction as an undergraduate where he ultimately served as Vice-President. Dr. Escoto has served Psi Chi in many capacities including being the primary advisor for the ESCU Psi Chi Chapter for 5 years. During this time, he revitalized the Chapter by formalizing the induction ceremony, creation of a website, and the implementation of a teaching award by members. He has also worked with chapter members to carry out programs that assist students in preparing for graduate school such as Mock GRE sessions and graduate school seminars. Dr. Escoto is most proud of the creation of a Psi Chi scholarship that students can use to defer the costs of graduate school in the name of a former student. He has a record of leadership including chairing university committees and previously served as assistant chair of the psychology department. He is currently an associate editor for the Psi Chi Journal and a member of the Eastern Region

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