The Hope College chapter of Psi Chi – The International Honor Society in Psychology has won the society’s 2015-16 Kay Wilson Officer Team Leadership Award, recognized from among about 1,100 collegiate and university chapters in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Ireland and New Zealand.
The award was presented to the Hope chapter’s student officer team of the recently concluded school year for demonstrating excellence in leadership and realizing the potential of Psi Chi to develop future leaders in psychology. It is named for Kay Wilson, who was executive officer of Psi Chi from 1991 to 2003, and her commitment to leadership development and collaboration. The recognition includes a plaque and a check for $2,000 to be split between the chapter and the officers.
Established in 1965, the Hope chapter had 49 members this past school year but works with the college’s Psychology Club and schedules programming on behalf of all students at Hope who are interested in psychology. Activities during 2015-16 included guest speakers on topics such as graduate school and social justice in counseling centers, community-service opportunities such as a Habitat for Humanity build day and assisting with the annual Point-in-Time homeless count in Holland, workshops on resume development and graduate school, a peer-to-peer mentoring program and a variety of social events including participating as a group in the college’s 5K Homecoming run.
The officers during the past school year were: president, graduating senior Sarah Thoman of Richland; vice president, senior Robert Henry of La Salle, Illinois; secretary, graduating senior Fallon Richie of Auburn Hills; treasurer, graduating senior Ivy Keen of Bellaire, Texas; and event coordinator, graduating senior Alex Arthurs of Holland. The chapter’s advisor is Dr. Lindsey Root Luna, assistant professor of psychology.
Earlier this month, the Hope chapter also earned regional recognition from the honor society, with two teams of Hope students receiving awards for excellence in research from the Midwestern chapter of Psi Chi - The International Honor Society in Psychology. The awards were presented during the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday-Saturday, May 5-7. Hope students have the strongest track record in the region, winning the highly competitive awards in 14 of the past 17 years, with multiple teams winning awards during eight of the years. A total of 22 faculty-student research teams from Hope made presentations during this year’s meeting,
Psi Chi – the International Honor Society was founded in 1929 to encourage, stimulate and maintain excellence in scholarship, and advance the science of psychology. Since its founding, the honor society has registered more than 700,000 lifetime members.
The honor society’s chapters are grouped within six regions: Eastern, Midwestern, Rocky Mountain, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. The Midwestern Region includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada.