2008 Psi Chi National Elections: Candidates for President-Elect
1/31/2008
This year's candidates for the position of
Psi Chi National President-Elect for the 2008-2009 Psi Chi National Council are
Richard A. Kasschau, PhD, University of Houston (TX), and
Alvin Wang, PhD, University of Central Florida. Their biographical and position statements are as follows.
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Richard A. Kasschau, PhD
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Alvin Wang, PhD
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Biographical Statement
After finishing my A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at the Universities of Rochester, Iowa, and Tennessee (one each!), my first academic appointment was at the University of South Carolina. More recently, here at the University of Houston, I have served as the elected chapter advisor for over three decades. I also have been fortunate to earn three academic leaves, taken at the American Psychological Association, Stanford University, and the University of Missouri. I have been blessed with a rich and varied career. . I am proud to say that I have had a long and continuing dedication to successful innovative teaching, which has earned me two “Teacher of the Year” awards from the University of Houston.
I have been fortunate to have won two consecutive terms as Southwest Regional Vice President. It would be an honor to serve as Psi Chi National President.
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Biographical Statement
Dr. Alvin Wang, professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida, received his BA from SUNY at Brockport, and his PhD in experimental psychology from SUNY at Stony Brook. He was faculty advisor for the UCF chapter of Psi Chi from 1990-94 and received the Florence Denmark National Faculty Advisor Award in 1993. He has served as installation officer for two new Psi Chapters: UCF-Brevard Campus (1997) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2003). From 2000-2004 he served as Psi Chi Vice-President for the Southeastern Region.
While at UCF Dr. Wang has received four awards for teaching excellence and another award for student advising. Dr. Wang notes that his involvement with Psi Chi was inevitable. His underlying philosophy has been to "expect excellence in my students as well as myself." Toward this end, "getting students involved with Psi Chi, and keeping myself active within Psi Chi is mutually beneficial for all of us." Currently, he serves as Dean of The Burnett Honors College at UCF.
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Position Statement
During my four years as Southwest Regional Vice President of Psi Chi, our total membership has grown to over half a million members. Psi Chi is a large, effective, fiscally stable organization run by half a dozen sophisticated and adept individuals in our national office. Psi Chi is the role model for many similar honor societies.
In the face of such success, a candidate should promise first to do no damage! Second, as President, I hope to achieve the goal of awarding 100% of the Awards/Grants each year, many that currently, go unawarded. Third, I would like to continue forming mutually beneficial alliances with other organizations. Possible benefits include shared technology and processes and shared convention and chapter programs. Fourth, in our ever-expanding polycultural world, the potential for beneficial growth of Psi Chi’s international stature should be critically evaluated and pursued, with an eye toward mutual increases in cooperation and understanding. These efforts, both national and international, should expand.
Finally, I ask for your trust and your vote for President. Above all, let’s have fun!
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Position Statement
As President, I will vigorously pursue several opportunities for supporting Psi Chi members and enhancing its place within the discipline:
For Students
To assist Psi Chi students in their pursuit of excellence, I would enhance our grants and awards program by seeking expanded and new partnerships with other organizations as we have done with NSF and APA.
For Faculty
We should develop more on-line materials including a forum that would be of assistance to new (and veteran) advisors. Psi Chi should also find ways to give faculty advisors the support and recognition that would assist their progress toward tenure and promotion.
Enhancing Psi Chi’s Place within Psychology
We should seek to establish ourselves as a leading organization in the discussion and promotion of effective pedagogy, student research, and faculty mentorship. To accomplish this, I would establish a new annual series of edited books and articles devoted to these issues.
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How Does My Chapter Vote?First, chapters should plan to organize a chapter meeting where all members can be present when the candidates for office are announced. Use this meeting time to read the candidates’ background information. Have your chapter make an informed decision about selecting which candidate your members think would best benefit Psi Chi in the upcoming year.
After your chapter has made a decision on the candidate(s), your Psi Chi Chapter President, with assistance from the faculty advisor as needed, can access the electronic ballot by logging in as a chapter administrator between February 1 and March 15 on the Psi Chi website at
www.psichi.org/chapters/login.asp.
If your chapter has lost its chapter administrator login information, it can be emailed to your chapter’s current email contact by going to
www.psichi.org/chapters/login_forgot.asp.
A menu of administrator options will appear after successfully logging in, and a new section named “Ballots/Voting” will appear at the top of the list of options. Click on the “Ballots/Voting” link to continue. This section will only be visible February 1–March 15, 2008.
You will then be presented with your chapter’s ballot(s). All active chapters will have a ballot and be able to vote for the Psi Chi National President-Elect position. Chapters in the Midwestern, Southeastern, and Southwestern Regions will also be able to vote for their respective region’s vice-president.
Select the ballot you want to cast a vote for, choose the candidate your chapter has selected, and click on the “Submit Ballot” button. A confirmation screen will appear with your candidate selection and, if necessary, allow you to cancel your vote and resubmit it if you made an error. Just as with mail ballots, once you submit your vote, you cannot edit or change your vote.