Tag Archives: APA

Increased Student Voices Across APA! We Won Seats at the Table!

By Quincy Guinadi, MA

On behalf of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS), I am thrilled to announce that graduate students are now eligible to run for elected and appointed seats on 19 APA Boards and Committees based on the results of the August Council of Representative meeting and the recent membership vote with 82.28% in favor! Graduate students will be eligible to be slated for Board and Committees as early as January 2024, with their terms beginning in 2025 (see list at the end). This exciting and important change will increase the inclusion of graduate student perspectives at some of the highest levels of APA and grant us a seat at the table. This is another huge victory towards our vision of increasing student voices across APA. 

First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude for the hard work and advocacy efforts spearheaded by my fellow Student Voice Workgroup members and APAGS staff: Mary Fernandes, Nicole Evangelista, Melanie Arenson, Martina Fruhbauerova, Wendy Williams, Heather Dade, and Ritu Verma. They spent countless hours putting together the agenda item, attending town halls, listening and addressing concerns, and finalizing the bylaw amendment changes. Kudos to your perseverance and passionate fight for student voices, what a well-deserved victory!

We also received overwhelming support from our APAGS and APA members from the start through the end of this journey. We would like to recognize and express our sincerest thank you to numerous allies across the Association and beyond. Thank you to the APA Board of Directors, the APA Council Leadership Team, the APA Council of Representatives, and numerous APA Boards and Committees. Thank you for your continued and unconditional support towards the growth and enrichment of our future as a profession and association! 

Last but not the least, a huge thank you to our APAGS leaders and members, APA members, and allies across other organizations who helped us spread the word about this important vote by sharing it on social media, advocating with State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations, and voicing support across Divisions, Boards, and Committees. We also cannot forget the immense support from voters, the Council of Representatives and APA members; we thank you for utilizing your voting rights and power to advocate for the inclusion of student voices and perspectives in APA. 

What began as a vision last year quickly became a reality. This is another monumental step for APA graduate students and the future of APA. As APAGS, we are thrilled to witness new and diverse graduate students step up and share their wisdom. Graduate students bring a wealth of expertise in practice, research, and advocacy, which propels the profession and association forward as we move into the future of psychology. 

List of APA Boards and Committees seats available to graduate students in 2024:

Again, I am so pleased to share this victory with you. We are elated to welcome new graduate student leaders and their valuable perspective onboard these APA Boards and Committees! You are welcome to reach out to me or our staff if you have any questions.

Yours in solidarity, 

Quincy Guinadi, MA

2023 APAGS Chair 

9 Tips for Navigating an In-Person Convention

By Amanda Wisinger, APAGS Convention Committee

A return to in-person conferences is likely bringing about a mix of emotions for students – both positive and negative. Many of us have spent the better part of two years attending classes and seminars behind computer screens. For some of us, our entire graduate school experience has been spent in virtual spaces with limited opportunities to connect in-person with our peers and professors. We have grown adept at navigating a variety of typically in-person events being held virtually, such as dissertation defenses, interviews for practicum and internship, and even professional conferences.

If you are attending the APA Convention in Minneapolis this August in-person, it may be your first in-person conference ever. Or, your first in-person conference in a few years. While virtual conferences provided us with many benefits (e.g., reduced travel and lodging costs, the ability to refill your coffee by simply taking a few steps into your kitchen, attending sessions in your sweatpants, etc.), there were undoubtedly many opportunities that virtual events did not provide – including the ability to form new professional relationships and contacts through in-person networking.

Here are my top tips to boost your networking skills and make the most of an in-person Convention:

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A Victory for Graduate Students! A Victory for APA!

On behalf of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) Committee, I am thrilled to announce that the APA Bylaws Amendment “Voting Privileges and New Membership Category for Graduate Students” has passed, securing 68.4% of votes in favor despite the pro-con statement! As a result of this vote, APA graduate student members will soon be eligible to vote for elections for APA President-Elect and Board Members-at-Large, bylaw amendments, and apportionment ballots. This is a huge victory for graduate student members and the Association during a tumultuous year.

As APAGS, we would like to share our gratitude with student leaders who joined with us in spreading the word about this historic vote by sharing it on social media, advocating with your Divisions and State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Associations, and encouraging your faculty, advisors, and colleagues to vote yes to enfranchise graduate students in APA. This vote could not have passed without you!

The overwhelming support and encouragement from our Association community led APAGS to bring this bylaw amendment to a vote again this year. We would like to recognize the amazing support and say a heartfelt thank you to our allies across the Association and beyond. Thank you to the APA Board of Directors, the Council Leadership Team, the Council of Representatives, numerous APA boards and committees, the APA presidential candidates, and the National Latinx Psychological Association. A special thank you to Divisions 9, 10, 15, 17, 29, 32, 35, 37, 40, 41, 44, 45, and 54 and Arizona, the District of Columbia, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, Connecticut, Oregon, and Washington SPTAs who have publicly supported this bylaw amendment! We would not be celebrating without you!

I cannot overstate the importance of this bylaw amendment and what it means for graduate students and the future of APA. This change means that we will have a more inclusive, diverse, informed, and engaged APA moving forward. Student voices are critical as we seek to prepare the discipline and profession of psychology for the future. 

Our Membership Office has advised us that creating a new membership category for students will appear on 2022 new member and renewal applications. Masters and doctoral students will need to be members for one year before receiving voting privileges as early as 2023. When this happens, students can vote in elections for APA President-Elect and Board Members-at-Large, and on bylaw amendments and apportionment ballots. 

Again, I am so pleased to share this news with you. Our enthusiasm for APA’s future is renewed and our desire to strengthen APA through our voices has increased!  Please feel free to reach out to me or our staff if you have any questions. 

Yours in solidarity,

Blanka Angyal, M.A, M.Ed., Ed.S.

2020 APAGS Chair 

APAGS Charts its Next Five Years

It is with great excitement that I share the new 2019-2023 Strategic Plan for the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students. Over the past year, APAGS leaders have been working together to brainstorm, gather information, and articulate a five-year Strategic Plan to inform how APAGS can better serve graduate students around the nation and the world. Take a moment to read through the main pillars and objectives of the Strategic Plan that was unanimously approved by the APAGS Committee in December.

You may be aware that APA has also completed the development of its strategic plan. APAGS leaders anticipate that the APAGS strategic plan will align well with the larger APA plan.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the plan, as well as ideas you have about how APAGS can continue to use this living document to inform how we focus our time, utilize our resources, and support the next generation of psychology professionals.

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Graduate Student Voting Rights: What Do Our Presidential Candidates Think?

The APAGS Committee has proposed an APA Bylaws and Rules change that will allow  for graduate student affiliate members of APA to vote in elections for the President-elect and Members of the Board of Directors, along with bylaws amendments and the distribution of seats on the APA Council of Representatives.

The APAGS Committee is bringing this proposal to Boards and Committees of APA this fall, and to the Board of Directors and the Council of Representatives next year. If the change is approved by Council, and then by the current voting members of APA, approximately 21,000 graduate student members of APA could be eligible to vote in 2020 and beyond.

We asked the five members currently running for APA President-elect the following question:

 “Should APA Graduate Student members be given the privilege to vote on all association matters within APA after one year of membership?”

 Here’s how they responded. You can learn more about the candidates here.

cerbone-armand_tcm7-234790 Armand R. Cerbone, PhD

“I strongly support APAGS in seeking voting privileges.  Having organized graduate representation within my department, I know the importance of enfranchising graduate voices.  As a faculty member introducing a course on homosexuality in 1983, I recruited at my expense a lesbian student to co-teach because we both understood I could not appropriately represent the experience of queer women.  While the future affects all psychologists, it affects psychology students most.  My campaign is about the future of psychology even more than our past.  I will seek the critical input of APAGS in developing a 25/50-year vision plan for psychology.”

chin-jean-lau_tcm7-234777 Jean Lau Chin, EdD

“Graduate students make up a significant portion of our APA membership.  They should have a voice because they are the future of our profession.  As APAGS, they have already demonstrated that their participation in governance has been meaningful and relevant, and that they have been responsible in providing important input on association matters. We need to view the vibrancy of our profession and association as one where we seek and value the perspectives of members along the entire spectrum of their career.  Hence, I support giving graduate students the privilege to vote on association matters including elections after one year of membership.”

hollon-steven_tcm7-234780Steven D. Hollon, PhD

“APA is getting older and has trouble getting students to join and early career professionals to convert. The best way to excite new professionals entering the field is to give them the vote while they are still students and I would not make them wait the year. You join you vote. If we want students to invest in the discipline then we need to invest in them. We secure our future as an organization if we trust our future generations.”

board-shullman_tcm7-211998Sandra L. Shullman, PhD

“Graduate students have an important voice to contribute to APA.  I value their contributions and support their voting and representation.  Voting is an opening invitation that can lead to greater engagement in APA, but we must couple voting with opportunities for leadership training/development; meaningful ways to give feedback to our discipline/profession; and encouragement to support/engage in advocacy, public policy and social justice initiatives.  These experiences, along with the opportunity to vote, can build career-long engagement and commitment to APA’s future.  As APA President, I would look forward to working with APAGS to turn this goal into successful action. www.SandyShullmanForAPAPresident.com  #sandys4apaprez #sandy2020”

whitbourne-susan_tcm7-234784Susan Krauss Whitbourne, PhD

“As a long-time supporter of the work of APAGS, I am in favor of the proposal to grant voting privileges to graduate students in APA-wide elections. This step would represent an important way to ensure that APA reflects the concerns of those who are entering our discipline and also to provide graduate students with a voice in the future of the association. One of the key components of my presidential platform is that APA needs to reflect the interests of early career psychologists, and therefore this proposal is consistent with my own priorities to keep the association vital and flourishing.”

We thank all candidates for their openness to this proposed seismic shift in APA.