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Southwestern Regional Fall Letter (2008) Dear Fellow Psi Chi Members, Chapter Officers and Faculty Advisors, It is a great honor for me to write my first letter to you as Vice-President for the region. I am humbled by this opportunity and will do the best I can to represent the region and to solicit your input before making decisions that will have an impact on the region. In my nomination statement, I promised to do all I could to bring the “voice” of smaller chapters to the decision-making process, on both the regional and national levels. But this can only occur if I receive a response from you, either directly or via your faculty advisor. In terms of the upcoming year, I have a couple of really important items to mention to you, so let me get right to it. First, I want to remind you that the 55th annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) will be held in San Antonio, Texas (at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel) April 2-4, 2009. This year’s programming is shaping up to be the best ever (in my opinion!) and will include some new Psi Chi related initiatives just approved by the National Council. These include:
Don’t forget to submit possible poster presentations to SWPA (go to https://www.swpsych.org/ for information). BE SURE and check the box that you are a Psi Chi member on the submission form so that your poster submission can be reviewed for Psi Chi programming and considered for a regional research and travel awards. There may be a separate application for the regional travel awards (criteria and application procedures are still being developed by our regional steering committee) so check the Psi Chi website and the Southwestern Region homepage for details in the future. The deadline for Psi Chi student research online submissions is November 24, 2008. Second, I was surprised at the Psi Chi Awards Ceremony - just held at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston – that there were not more winners of awards from our region. As it turns out, the primary reason for this is lack of submissions. I believe, for example, that EVERY chapter in the region should receive a model chapter award. What does it take to be a “model” chapter? It takes doing what a chapter is supposed to do! As the website states: “Model Chapter Awards of $100 each are presented annually to recognize and reward Psi Chi chapters that consistently maintain outstanding records of membership inductions, chapter correspondence, service projects, and other criteria associated with being an outstanding chapter. All chapters submitting evidence of meeting these criteria are designated as winners.” I issue a challenge for our region to increase the number of model chapter awards we receive by 10 this coming year. Officers and advisors – let’s make sure your chapter is one of them! Check out http://www.psichi.org/awards/chptr_awards2.asp for information on all chapter awards. Third, let’s make sure that ALL of the chapters in our region are actively involved in one of Psi Chi’s National Service Projects. Information on these projects can be found at: http://www.psichi.org/chapters/serviceprojects.asp I think that will do for now as I do not want to overwhelm you with material (at least not in my first letter!). I want to thank each of you, after-the-fact, for all that you have already given to Psi Chi and thank you, in advance, for all that you will contribute to Psi Chi during the coming academic Year. It is an honor to be your regional vice-president! Randall E. Osborne |
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