This past March, it was a true honor for me to present the 2018 Award for the Outstanding State, Provincial or Territorial Psychological Association (SPTA). This annual award recognizes an SPTA for its superior performance in promoting graduate student development, involvement, and encouraging joint membership in both APAGS and the SPTA. Recipients receive $1,500 to support future graduate student-focused activities. It is supported by Div. 31, the Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP), and the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students, better known as APAGS.
Selecting the winner is more challenging every year, as more SPTAs are widening their nets to students and offering priceless professional development opportunities on very limited budgets. This year, one SPTA stood out among the crowd of amazing applicants. The Illinois Psychological Association with graduate student leader Divya Jain, pictured here, chair of the Illinois Psychological Association of Graduate Students (IPAGS), received the APAGS Outstanding State, Provincial or Territorial Association of the Year Award.
Here are a couple of highlights from the initiatives taken by the association:
- The first highlight includes IPAGS focus on membership and governance. An impressive 222 students across Illinois are members of IPAGS. While holding a voting seat on the state association’s council, the student group also demonstrates its value for membership by representing their interests to the larger SPTA. In order to accurately represent graduate students’ interests, they regularly solicit feedback from students about what issues are currently concerning them.
- Next, in the area of professional development, IPAGS understands the importance of face-to-face contact with established resources in the field and aims to create as many opportunities as possible to facilitate the development of mentoring relationships. Examples include an annual career panel of early psychologists who represent diversity in areas of specialization as well as in work settings, an annual student poster presentation session and strong student representation in several conference panels during the state’s annual convention, and timely seminars on legislative and policy topics.
- Additionally, this student group incorporates advocacy within all its messaging and event planning. For example, their annual diversity symposium catalyzes conversations regarding social justice topics among students and practitioners. This year, they fostered the development of advocacy skills among students by identifying student leaders to facilitate a discussion following a movie screening that was held in collaboration with a university-based Black student association during Black History Month.
With this award, IPAGS plans to allocate a portion of the funds to provide incentives to students including rewards for poster presentation winners at the state’s annual convention and membership discounts for students who sign up during recruitment drives. With regards to professional events, IPAGS would like to host monthly presentations and seminars with nationally-known experts on special topics identified by their membership in order to increase student education and engagement. Additionally, this group intends on expanding their academic micro-grant award program to students who have successfully proposed their dissertations with innovative research approaches. Last but not least, this SPTA student group plans on increasing its presence in community events such as the local gay pride parade by building a float in the parade to increase visibility within the community.
I am incredibly impressed and motivated by all of the ways the Illinois Psychological Association of Graduate Students work together to represent, advocate for, and increase professional development opportunities for graduate students throughout the state. As Illinois paves the way for the next generation of psychologists, I cannot wait to see how IPAGS members move into leadership throughout APA and especially within their home of Div. 31. Looking towards the future, I am optimistic about next year’s applicants and winners of the 2019 Award for the Outstanding State, Provincial or Territorial Psychological Association in promoting graduate students and the future of the APA.