Rocky Mountain Regional Fall 2012 Letter
Dear Psi Chi chapter advisors and members,
Welcome to the new academic year! I hope your semester has started well. I have a great deal of news to share with you. We have an exciting slate of events planned for RMPA next spring in Denver, as well as interesting new opportunities for research and funding from Psi Chi.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank last year’s steering committee members, Leslie Cramblet Alvarez (Adams State College) and Gideon Caplovitz (University of Nevada-Reno). I am also very pleased to let you know about our new steering committee members, Aaron Richmond (Metropolitan State University at Denver) and Rona McCall (Regis University). Kris Trimble (Colorado Mesa University) will continue as student steering committee member.
There is some exciting Psi Chi news I would like to tell you about. The remainder of this email contains six news items, which I hope you will take the time to consider.
NEWS
- Join the Rocky Mountain Psi Chi Facebook page: [http://www.facebook.com/groups/149411341813850/]. One of my goals is to improve the networking and communication of the chapters in our region (advisors and students). I would like for our chapters to connect with each other and with me! Please consider joining Facebook (very easy to do) and “liking” our page to join. And ask your chapter officers and members to sign up also! If you have any concerns or questions about privacy on Facebook, I would be happy to troubleshoot them with you.
- Tell your students about the Leadership Training opportunity at RMPA next spring in Denver: Did you know that leadership is one of the top five skills that employers look for when hiring people with a BA in psychology? This coming April, Psi Chi is sponsoring an exciting leadership training opportunity for students attending RMPA. On the first day of the conference, Thursday, April 11, 2013, we will have the Catalyst Leadership Training from LeaderShape. The training will run from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm and is an all-day commitment. This training will be free to the first 60 students who sign up and will include a light breakfast and lunch. Students will also receive a certificate at the end of the training. Priority registration will be available to Psi Chi members through the regional Facebook page.
- Inform students about travel grants: There is a new general travel grant designed to help students travel to national or international conferences in psychology to present their research. More information on this grant can be found at http://www.psichi.org/awards/Forms/Unrestricted_Travel.aspx.
- Volunteer to participate in the Open Science Collaboration Reproducibility Project: Psi Chi is partnering with the Open Science Collaboration to give chapter teams an opportunity to contribute to an open, large-scale, collaborative research project estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Contributing teams conduct replications of published studies following a protocol established by the Open Science Collaboration. More information can be found at http://openscienceframework.org/project/VMRGu/wiki/home.Team members earn authorship on the publication of the results aggregated across dozens of replication projects. Please also see the attached document for more information.
- Psi Chi’s keynote speaker at RMPA next April in Denver will be Robert Sternberg: The title of his talk is “Reflections on What I have Learned from 40 (Gulp!) Years in Psychology”. This should be a fun and interesting talk, and as a Psi Chi advisor, you will have an opportunity to meet and speak with him at the Advisors’ Appreciation Luncheon.
- Join us for the advisor appreciation luncheon at RMPA 2013 in Denver: As a way of saying “thank you” to the chapter advisors in the Rocky Mountain region, the Psi Chi Central Office annually hosts an advisor luncheon at RMPA. This will be an RSVP/invitation-only event, so I hope you’ll be able to join us in Denver.
I hope that you will pass on our exciting news to your chapters and that we will see you in Denver! The best way to contact me is via email at sbecker@coloradomesa.edu. You can also contact Aaron at arichmo3@msudenver.edu and Rona at rmccall@regis.edu.Please feel free to get in touch with any questions, concerns, or comments. I look forward to working with you over this next year!
Take care,
Susan Becker ,PhD
Rocky Mountain Regional Vice President
Social & Behavioral Sciences Department
Colorado Mesa University