October 2005

Dear Psi Chi Chapter Officers, Members, and Faculty Advisors,

Welcome back for the 2005-2006 academic year!

The Southwestern Region of Psi Chi has had an interesting year. After four years of stable leadership under John Davis, I have assumed responsibility for and represented the region in Psi Chi affairs. Professor Davis is now President-Elect of Psi Chi (congratulations!), and I am entering my second year as a Vice President–wisened and (hopefully!) growing ever more effective.

Last April, Psi Chi offered a very high-caliber program at the Southwestern Psychological Association convention in Memphis, Tennessee, right off the edge of our traditional territory. Many Psi Chi faculty advisors and chapters brought groups. The Psi Chi program included two undergraduate research paper and poster sessions in which 12 Psi Chi students won $3,600 of research awards. Other highlights of the program were a variety of distinguished Psi Chi invited speakers, including Professor Dev Singh of the University of Texas who interwove a fascinating presentation of definitions of beauty and body image with a running commentary on the day-to-day problems any research psychologist faces in conducting his/her research. We were also blessed with the presence of the immediate Past-President of Psi Chi (Martha Zlokovich) and Psi Chi's Executive Director, Virginia Andreoli Mathie. Hopefully, you can join us THIS year for academic and social activities at SWPA similar to this past year's programs-of which more in a later posting.

Psi Chi at SWPA, Austin: Psi Chi's 77th Anniversary and SWPA's 52nd–the papers could be even BIGGER than 2005!
We are planning a wide range of Psi Chi events for the SWPA meeting in the Marriott Austin at the Capitol, April 13-15, 2006. Plan to bring a large group from your campus. Though Austin is not too far from the geologic epicenter of our region, it might be beneficial to partner with another chapter (or two) to provide transportation. Recognizing cost is always a factor for undergraduates, chapters in the cities near the outer edges of our territory might use the new PsiChiSW Listserv (PsiChiSW@ListServ.uh.edu) or check the Psi Chi website (www.psichi.org). Entering the site through "Chapters", the system will isolate and list those chapters in your state. In turn, highlighting the chapter name reveals the chapter's address, office information and a wealth of detail. You might contact chapters between your college/university and Austin. By renting a bus at the furthest campus, costs might be shared with campuses along the route to Austin. Prorated costs could be paid by Psi Chi members hitching a ride on the same bus if chapters coordinated their efforts.

On a related note, despite the cost, there are benefits to staying in the conference hotel. The cost per room is often identical with 2, 3, or 4 in the room; obviously partnering with someone with similar sleep habits can generate substantial savings.

The Psi Chi paper sessions, nationally prominent speakers (yet to be announced-though we do know that one of our featured sessions with be "A conversation with Elliott Aronson" held specifically for members of Psi Chi), paper and poster sessions, and social events of the SWPA convention will all be available, including the infamous Psi Chi Social Suite.

Psi Chi's FIRST Regional LISTSERV is now active
The LISTSERV on which this letter has been delivered is now available for Chapter Officers, Psi Chi members, and Chapter Advisors in the Southwestern Region (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) to exchange information with one another. It is now the primary vehicle of communication (at least for outbound messages) within our region. Instructions were emailed regarding how to sign on to the LISTSERV in mid-October, and will be sent again. Stay tuned!

Psi Chi Undergraduate Research Competition at SWPA
SWPA provides a remarkable opportunity to present your research. Begin now to prepare your research for presentation during the Psi Chi program at the 52nd SWPA meeting in Austin. All Psi Chi submissions are automatically considered for the Psi Chi competition, as long as you follow the guidelines below.

1) Apply for SWPA student membership if you are not a member already. Do this as soon as possible. You can obtain membership information and application forms at www.swpsych.org. ALL authors of papers presented at SWPA must be members of SWPA, but only the lead author of papers submitted for the Psi Chi sessions needs to be a member when the paper or poster is submitted. The other authors can apply before the convention and pay their first-year dues at the convention next April, but apply today! As an incentive, your dues and registration fees are usually higher if you wait until the conference to pay.

2) Submit your paper or poster proposal to SWPA electronically no later than midnight Monday, November 28th-two weeks later than last year! We HAVE been working for you with SWPA to extend that deadline!. The submission is achieved through the following steps:

(a) Contact www.swpsych.org, to reach the Home Page of SWPA. For non-members, there are several pages of information including how to become a member, as well as Submission Instructions, and an access point to apply for membership.

(b) Student members of SWPA submitting papers for the Psi Chi competition enter through the "LOGIN" button with their Login word and password. That is, the student submitting a talk for the Psi Chi competition and talk/poster sessions must already be a member of SWPA-but it's EASY to join! Continuing,

(c) On the left side of the SWPA Home Page, under "Presentations for the 52nd Annual Convention in 2006" select "Submit or Edit".

(d) Select "Submit a Presentation". The following information is adapted directly from the SWPA site:
 
The Organization for which this presentation is being submitted: As a student member of Psi Chi, on this pulldown menu, select "Psi Chi–The National Honor Society in Psychology". This does NOT preclude you from being judged in the SWPA Research Competition. That choice is made later.

(e) You need a Presentation Title (10 words or less in APA style): "The Effect of A on B"

(f) You should select your Presentation Format: IF you will let the SWPA reviewers select whether your submission is to be (1) a talk or a poster, then select "Poster or Talk". If you are submitting (2) a poster or (3) a talk in the Psi Chi competition only, you should select "Poster only", or "Talk only" on this pulldown menu. When you do so, you will notice the right-hand pulldown menu is automatically set to "Not Competition"-which is fine. It means you are NOT submitting to the SWPA Competition, but as a member of Psi Chi your submission WILL be reviewed in the Psi Chi competition-IF you selected "Psi Chi-The National Honor Society in Psychology" in Step d above. IF you are a member of Psi Chi who is entering a talk for the SWPA Research Competition, under Presentation Format, you should select "Research Competition" on this same left-hand pulldown menu.

(g) If and only if you select the (SWPA) "Research Competition" option under "Presentation Format", you must then (and only then) pull down the right-hand menu to indicate Type of "Research Competition"–that is, which of the two SWPA Research Competitions you are entering. Otherwise leave the right-hand button alone. After your paper is reviewed by SWPA, it will be reviewed by Psi Chi. Remember, of course, the SWPA competition is only papers (talks), not posters, and encourages up to a 2,000 description.

(h) Select the two most broadly descriptive topic areas that apply to your proposed presentation. The "Printable Listing" window suggests almost 70 possibilities for you. Pick the two best.

(i) Listing your Authors seems tricky, but it is designed to insure accuracy. Enter your first author by clicking "Find Author 1" which automatically opens a "Find a SWPA Member" window. Beware that sometimes this window appears behind without disturbing the SWPA form on which you are working. So, if nothing appears when you click the "Find Author" button, move the SWPA main form. On the smaller pop-up form. type in the author's name and then click "Lookup". In the simplest case, the named Author 1 is then affirmed as having paid his/her dues. Members-whether student or professional-who have not yet registered with and paid dues to SWPA will not be found by the Lookup feature.

i1) Regardless, if the information appears, click the author's underlined name in the "Find a SWPA Member" window, and the name and institutional affiliation of that person appears in your list of authors. Repeat for each author as necessary, but remember that to be eligible for the Psi Chi Competition, only Psi Chi students who are (going to become) members of SWPA can be listed. No faculty names should appear in this list. If students have not yet become members, their names won't be available to add as co-authors. So really, ALL presenters (not just first authors) will need to join SWPA before submitting an abstract - at least as far as filling in the info online.

(i2) Designate one member of the author team as the presenter by clicking the button to the right of the team member who will present the paper. The Presenter must already be a student member of SWPA.

(i3) The required information for the Presenter appears automatically in the next block of information as a result of completing Step i2 above.

(i4) If you are competing in the SWPA Research Competition, identify the faculty sponsor for your submission, using the same process as in Steps i and i1-i3 above.

(j) Presentation Summary (Abstract). Here you should sell us on your paper or poster. You have 500 words in which to do so. This should be a complete description of your project giving the reviewer (and potential audience members!) as full an understanding as you can convey in 500 words about your project. This is the ONLY information which will be used in making initial decisions about accepting your poster or talk for presentation and for deciding which projects will be given one of the (up to) 12 Psi Chi Awards. NOTE carefully: This program will not spell-check your submission. Write your submission on your own word processing program and then copy it onto the SWPA Submission Form. Please NOTE: To be eligible for the "Psi Chi Competition" among student members, this writing should be entirely student-produced, not co-authored with a faculty member.

Every summary must consist of the four following clearly delineated sections: Problem, Method, Results, and Conclusions. Every summary should specify the importance of the problem to the current literature, the procedure used to collect data, the findings of the research, the relevance of the findings to the original problem, and the implications of the research. Obtained data and results must be described in the submission. Do not submit presentations for data still being collected or as yet unanalyzed. Authors violating any of these criteria risk outright rejection. However, it is perfectly all right to continue your research, collect and report additional data after your initial submission.

(k) Following this form you can request media equipment, but only overhead projectors will be supplied. You will need to supply your own computer and/or computer projector. Even for poster presentations, it is safest to bring your own thumbtacks and/or mounting supplies.

(l) Click SUBMIT THE ABOVE INFORMATION to forward your submission to SWPA. Notice that you can review and revise your submission until the deadline date, midnight Monday, November 28, 2005.

Note: Your proposal will be reviewed for acceptance by at least two reviewers from universities in our region. In order to notify award winners prior to their presentations, we will select student research award winners entirely on the basis of the written abstract. It is important to realize that, as you advance in your education, many decisions will be made about you solely on the basis of your written work. So use this opportunity to make your written submission exemplary! Psi Chi will make up to 12 research awards of $300 for student presentations. In addition to these awards, the Psi Chi National Council has authorized the awarding of a limited number of additional awards if our regional association's submission numbers increase more than other regions. DO submit; we can potentially award additional money! I hope one of this year's awards will be yours.

Presentation details.
All talks with papers will be for 15 minutes with an additional 5-minute question-and-answer period. Poster size is 30 x 40 inches. As a courtesy to people who attend your paper session or poster session, presenters should have at least 40 copies of handouts or formal papers available for distribution.

Again, welcome back! As a student of psychology in the Southwest Region of Psi Chi, you are a valued member of the psychological community. In the coming year, make certain you are a part of the excitement. Please take full advantage of the opportunities that your department and Psi Chi offer you. And remember: It is never too soon to start planning research that will lead to a submission for SWPA 2007! I look forward to meeting you in Austin!

Sincerely,
Richard A. Kasschau, Professor and
Southwestern Region Vice-President, Psi Chi

 

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