2009 Psi Chi National Elections: Candidates for President-Elect
1/31/2009
This year's candidates for the position of Psi Chi National President-Elect for the 2009-2010 Psi Chi National Council are Michael D. Hall, PhD, James Madison University (VA), and Richard A. Kasschau, PhD, University of Houston (TX). Their biographical and position statements are as follows.
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Michael D. Hall, PhD
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Richard A. Kasschau, PhD
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Biographical Statement
Michael Hall is an Associate Professor at James Madison University. He earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Binghamton University. His psychoacoustic research on speech and music perception has appeared in top-tier journals. He has chaired conference sessions for APA, WPA, and the Acoustical Society of America, and has organized international meetings of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition.
While teaching at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, he received Psi Chi’s Regional Faculty Advisor Award, in addition to UNLV’s highest teaching distinction. He currently serves on the Southeastern Regional Steering Committee, which plans Psi Chi events and student awards at the meeting of Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA), and previously served on the corresponding committee for the Western Region. Michael joined the Psi Chi National Council as the Western Regional Vice President from 2003-2005, serving on Internal and External Affairs committees, as well as on the Diversity Task Force.
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Biographical Statement
Dr. Richard A. Kasschau (CASH-aw), professor of psychology at the University of Houston, earned his PhD from the University of Tennessee. He has served 35 years as the University of Houston’s elected Psi Chi Chapter Advisor.
His most recent role was Installation Officer for the Psi Chi chapter at Texas Southern University. His just-completed four-year (term-limited) service as Southwestern region Vice President resulted in a more than doubling of Psi Chi research submissions to SWPA. Recently, he supervised the National Council’s assessment of chapter evaluations of the Psi Chi Service Projects. This provided a basis for ongoing evaluation/modification of those projects and for his desire to improve chapter feedback in the continued operation of Psi Chi.
Dr. Kasschau has twice won the UH’s Teaching Excellence Award. He actively supports his students’ multi-time Model Chapter’s sponsorship of meetings and activities with local Psi Chi chapters to foster inter-chapter exchanges of ideas and strategies.
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Position Statement
The most successful psychology students are typically those that have made well-informed early career decisions and consequently gained relevant experience. Psi Chi’s stated mission has a career-oriented focus, and the organization is ideally suited to provide professional development information. I have continually been interested in increasing the availability of career-relevant information and award/internship opportunities for Psi Chi’s members. After extensive involvement in two regions, I feel that the organization can do even more. Psychology is becoming increasingly inter-disciplinary, and Psi Chi can promote awareness of the growing variety of related jobs. The organization could establish experiential opportunities and awards in emerging sub-disciplines. There also is a need to better serve members that have been either underrepresented (e.g., diverse populations) or under-involved (graduate students). I welcome the chance to further serve Psi Chi’s members in these and related ways, and thereby help further realize the organization’s mission.
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Position Statement
As president, I will support:
- A national committee of Psi Chi members/chapter advisors with financial expertise to advise the National Council in managing our invested funds, currently worth half their 2006 value.
- An effort to increase the number (not the size) of dispensed money-awards, especially at the regional conventions, to solve the current problem of not awarding all available dollars.
- A 1-800 telephone number, to reduce chapter expenses when contacting the National Office.
- A biannual member/chapter evaluation of support from the National office to enhance informed feedback.
- Providing help for chapters’ concerns; e.g., the brevity of each student’s length of membership and service, earlier initiation of members, and strategies for early identification of quality students.
- Addressing leadership issues in Eye on Psi Chi, supplementing the National Leadership Conference, and fostering leaders within each chapter.
- Mutually beneficial alliances with other (international) honor societies.
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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, 2009 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, 2009.
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.