Eastern Regional Fall Announcement (2007)
Greetings Psi Chi members!
As the incoming Eastern Region Vice-President of Psi Chi, I am eager to hear from you to learn how I can assist your chapter. As the faculty advisor of the Psi Chi chapter at Hunter College for a dozen years, I know I am always looking for new ideas to serve as catalysts to encourage, support, and recognize the research achievements of our Psi Chi members. In particular, after sitting through my first major Psi Chi meeting this summer, two things in particular became clear: a) Psi Chi has many programs to award grants to students, and b) not enough members—both students and faculty advisors—are applying for these awards and grants. I encourage you to view Psi Chi’s award website at www.psichi.org/awards/completelist_awards.aspx#awards and share this link with the other members in your chapter. I especially want to emphasize the usefulness of the research awards for students and faculty. In addition, if you have any suggestions for other forms of financial awards that could support students (or faculty advisors), please let me know and I will bring them to the attention of the Psi Chi National Council.
While awards are one way to recognize your achievements in research, the most important (and fun) opportunities for recognition are to present at professional conferences—and Psi Chi is determined to provide as many opportunities for members to do so as possible.
The NEPA Conference will be held on October 19–20, 2007, at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut. Psi Chi has a full day of programming on October 20, including a workshop on getting into graduate school, a Psi Chi Idea Exchange, and an invited address by Dr. Mark Snyder of the University of Minnesota, whose talk is entitled Who Volunteers and Why? The Psychology of Volunteerism. The afternoon finishes off with the annual Psi Chi-NEPA awards ceremony. Please visit www.nepa-info.org for more information on registration and program details. Further information on the Psi Chi program at NEPA can be found here and is also included at the end of this letter.
November 15, 2007 is the deadline for poster submissions to the annual conference of the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA), which will be held March 13-16, 2008, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, MA. As was done last year, instead of having all of the Psi Chi posters presented together, they will instead be presented as part of the poster sessions organized by topic. This way, your poster will be viewed with all the other ones at EPA within your research area. All poster submissions first authored by a Psi Chi member are eligible for a Psi Chi Regional Research Award consisting of a certificate and check for $300! All submissions must be completed online via the EPA website at www.easternpsychological.org. When you click on the link to submit your proposal, you will be asked for your EPA membership login information. If you are not a member, you will be asked to join either as a member (for faculty) or as an affiliate (for students). Psi Chi expects to have a terrific program of panels, workshops, and speakers. Keep checking the website for updates on the program details.
Please continue to check the Psi Chi website for updates on the major conventions in 2008. APA’s annual meeting will be in Boston, MA (August 14-17, 2008), and APS will be meeting in Chicago (May 22-25, 2008). These conferences are excellent opportunities for students to learn on a firsthand basis about research, service projects, and graduate programs. Be sure to encourage your chapter’s members not only to attend, but also to submit their research for presentation. For those planning on presenting at a conference, check out the helpful tips on the Psi Chi website at www.psichi.org/conventions/tips.aspx.
In addition to these major conferences, several universities will be sponsoring local research meetings to which all Psi Chi members are invited. The 19th Greater New York Conference on Behavioral Research is set for Friday, November 9, 2007, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. Undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the behavioral sciences (psychology, sociology, related fields) are invited to submit papers. Direct any inquiries to Conference Chairperson Dr. Lola Nouryan of Hofstra at gnyc19@yahoo.com, or Director Harold Takooshian at 212-693-6393.
Other upcoming Undergraduate Psychology Conferences in Spring 2008 to which Psi Chi members will be invited include the 36th Annual Hunter Psychology Convention on Saturday April 12, 2008, and the 11th Annual Pace University Psychology Conference on Saturday, May 10, 2008, both in Manhattan. Calls for Papers for these conferences will be sent directly to Psi Chi chapters. If your college is planning a Psychology conference or other major event that you would like me to mention in my Spring letter, please let me know.
Do you have an especially active chapter and/or terrific faculty advisor? Then you should complete applications for a Regional Chapter and/or Regional Faculty Advisor Award! If your faculty advisor is really, really terrific, consider nominating him or her for the Florence Denmark National Faculty Advisor Award. More information on these awards is in the Chapter Notebook of Psi Chi forms you receive in the mail from the National Office or from the “Awards/Grants” section of the Psi Chi website. The deadline for these awards is December 1, 2007.
I would also like to encourage you to become involved in one of Psi Chi's five national service projects during the upcoming school year. Possible projects include local shelter involvement, raising funds for the Archives of the History of American Psychology, food drives, Habitat for Humanity, and UNICEF. More details on these can be found at www.psichi.org/chapters/serviceprojects.aspx.
Make Psi Chi work for you—There is a tremendous variety of research support and service programs available only to Psi Chi members that form a crucial stepping stone to a successful career. Your next step should be to take advantage of these opportunities. Please participate to fully experience the world of professional Psychology!
Best wishes for a successful semester,
Jason Young, Ph.D.
Eastern Regional Vice-President
Professor of Psychology
Hunter College—City University of New York
695 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10065
212-772-5566 (O)
212-772-5620 (F)
jason.young@hunter.cuny.edu