Psi Chi

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Psi Chi (ΨΧ) is the National Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. It is one of the largest honor societies in the world, with over 1,050 chapters and 500,000 members in the United States and Canada. Famous members of Psi Chi include B.F. Skinner, Philip Zimbardo, Dr. Phil (Phil McGraw) and Hugh Hefner.

Psi Chi is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and is an affiliate of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS).

Contents

[edit] Founding

Psi Chi was founded by Frederick Howell Lewis and Edwin B. Newman, psychology students at the University of Kansas. Lewis and Newman first thought of a national organization for psychology students while working on research late one night in 1927. Over the next two years, they wrote to psychology faculty and students at various universities and formed discussion groups with other students. Psi Chi's first official meeting was on September 4, 1929, at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting. Psi Chi's original name was Sigma Pi Sigma, but it was learned that the name was already in used by an honor society in physics. "Psi Chi" was chosen as the honor society's official name at its second annual meeting in 1930 because of the name's similarity to the word "psychology."

[edit] Membership

Membership is open to graduate and undergraduate men and women who are making the study of psychology one of their major interests, and who meet the minimum qualifications. Membership is attained through application and acceptance at the local chapter level. A list of institutions with Psi Chi chapters can be searched here. Psychology majors who attend two-year junior or community colleges may join Psi Beta, Psi Chi's sister society.

Undergraduates must meet the following criteria in order to become members of Psi Chi:

  • Must be at least a second-semester sophomore
  • Must be enrolled as a major or minor in a psychology program (or a program psychological in nature that is equivalent to a psych major)
  • Must have completed 9 semester hours (or 14 quarter hours) of psychology courses
  • Have an overall GPA in top 35% of their class (based on rankings within sophomore, junior, & senior classes); note: if the cutoff for the top 35% in their class is below 3.0, the applicant must have an overall GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4-point scale)
  • Have a psychology GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

To join Psi Chi as a graduate student, one must be enrolled in a psychology graduate program and have an overall GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4-point scale) in all graduate courses.

Psi Chi chapters may also induct full-time faculty who have a doctorate in psychology (or a psychology-related field).

Psi Chi chapters may elect (as allowed by the national Psi Chi Constitution) to have higher academic standards for membership in their chapter and may optionally elect to add a local chapter membership fee.

The current one-time national membership fee is $35.00. No further national fees are necessary as membership is for life. The national fee was last raised effective September 1, 2000, from $25 to $35; past fee increases were as follows:

Fee Date Began Date Ended Notes
$1.00 Sep 1929 Aug 1945 Aug 1945 is an approximate date...it is unclear exactly which month the fee changed (it did occur in summer/fall '45)
$2.00 Aug 1945 Jan 1952 specifically Jan 14, 1952
$3.00 Jan 1952 Nov 1954 specifically Jan 15, 1952
$5.00 Dec 1954 Aug 1961
$7.50 Sep 1961 Aug 1968
$10.00 Sep 1968 Dec 1974
$15.00 Jan 1975 Dec 1978
$20.00 Jan 1979 Dec 1981
$25.00 Jan 1982 Aug 2000
$35.00 Sep 2000


[edit] Awards & Grants

Psi Chi rewards its members annually with over $250,000 in various awards and grants programs.

[edit] Activities

Psi Chi members may attend national and regional conventions, held yearly. Some chapters provide information on graduate study in psychology and assist members in the graduate school application process. Tutoring, community service, and social events are also common activities of Psi Chi chapters.

[edit] Structure/Governance

Psi Chi, a federally-recognized, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is governed by the Psi Chi National Council. The National Council is composed of three national presidents (President, President-Elect, Past-President), six regional vice-presidents (East, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, Southeast, Southwest, West), an executive director, and an executive officer. The national and regional officers are elected by Psi Chi chapters. The current National President (2007-08) is Vincent Prohaska, PhD, of Lehman College, City University of New York, while next year's president (2008-09) will be Scott VanderStoep, PhD, of Hope College (MI). Elected in March 2008 was Alvin Wang, PhD, University of Central Florida, who will be Psi Chi's president in 2009-10.

Regional vice-presidents serve two-year terms and may serve up to a total of two terms (four years). Regional vice-president elections are held in odd-numbered years for the Eastern, Rocky Mountain, and Western Regions, and in even-numbered years for the Midwestern, Southeastern, and Southwestern Regions. The term of office for regional vice-presidents begins on July 1.

National president candidates must have served at least one full two-year term as a regional vice-president. If elected by chapters to become president, the candidate become the society's President-Elect for one year, National President the following year, and then the Past-President the year after. Presidents' terms of office begin at the close of each year's National Council business meeting held at the Psi Chi/APA National Convention.

Past officers of the organization can be viewed here. Psi Chi's fiscal year is from July 1 - June 30.

[edit] National Office

The Psi Chi National Office fulfills the needs of the society as directed by the leadership of the National Council. The current National Office staff is composed of an executive director, executive officer, membership director, publications director, information systems manager, and awards director. As needed, the National Council creates new staff positions to help better meet the needs of and provide benefits to members of the society.

A list of Psi Chi's executive directors follows. The title of the "executive director" position has changed over the years: Secretary-Treasurer (1929-54), Executive Secretary (1954-68), Executive Director (1969-91), Executive Officer (1991-2003), Executive Director (2004-present).

[edit] (1929-1958) Secretary-Treasurers

  • 1929-30: Paul E. Martin
  • 1930-34: Ruth B. Guilford (Ruth also served briefly in 1951 between Miriam Crowley and Lucille Forer)
  • 1935-40: E. Louise Hoffeditz Porter
  • 1941-42: Louise T. Grossnickle
  • 1942-46: Dorothea W. F. Ewers
  • 1946-48: Katharine M. M. Maurer (nee Cobb)
  • 1949-51: Miriam E. Crowley (nee McCue)
  • 1951-55: Lucille K. Forer
  • 1956-58: Meredith J. Marks

[edit] (1958-1991) Ruth Cousins

Ruth Hubbard Cousins (b May 21, 1920) was one of the society's most famous executive directors, serving for more than 33 years (Dec 1958 - Oct 1991). She died on January 11, 2007. Read more about Ruth Cousins, her life, and her service to Psi Chi here.

[edit] (1991-2003) Kay Wilson

After Cousins retired as executive director, Kay Wilson (b September 21, 1939) took over as executive officer (the title changed, but her position still functioned as executive director) from October 1991 until her death in June 2003 of cancer.

[edit] (2004-2008) Virginia Andreoli Mathie

When Wilson died in 2003, the National Council reviewed the position of executive officer and decided to split the position's function into two positions: executive director and executive officer. A search began in 2003, and Virginia Andreoli Mathie, PhD, a professor of psychology at James Madison University (VA) previously, was hired for the executive director position and began on July 1, 2004. Dr. Mathie will serve until June 30, 2008; effective July 1, 2008, Martha Zlokovich, PhD, from Southeast Missouri State University and a former Psi Chi National President, will begin serving as Psi Chi's newest executive director. Paula Miller, who was the organization's previous membership and awards director (1997-2003), was hired as the executive officer in 2003, and served in that position until 2007. In March 2007, Lisa Mantooth, formerly of the Cleveland, TN Red Cross Chapter, began as executive officer and remains in that position presently.

[edit] Current/Past Staff Members

Executive Officer: Lisa Mantooth (2007-present); Paula Miller (2003-07)
Director of Awards: Melissa Strickland (2006-present); Jennifer Lopez (2005); Brian Welsh (2004); Paula Miller (1997-2003)
Director of Membership: Amie Austin Hearn (2000-present); Paula Miller (1997-2000); Laura Senecker (199?-97); Donna Bolin (198?-9?)
Director of Publishing: Susan Iles (2004-present); Daniel P. Bockert (1989-2003)
Information Systems Manager: Mark Cobbe (2007-present); Scott Gast (1998-2007)

[edit] External links

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