Psi Chi (ΨΧ) is the International Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. With over 1,050 chapters, Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States. Psi Chi has inducted over 500,000 lifetime members from chapters in the United States and Canada. Famous members include B.F. Skinner, Philip Zimbardo, Dr. Phil, 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).
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."
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 |
Jun 2009 |
|
| $45.00 |
Jul 2009 |
|
Awards & Grants
Psi Chi rewards its members annually with over $250,000 in various
awards and
grants programs.
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.
Structure/Governance
Psi Chi, a federally-recognized, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization, is governed by the
Psi Chi
Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is composed of three
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 presidents and regional vice-presidents are elected by Psi Chi
chapters.
The current President (2009-10) is Alvin
Wang, PhD, University of Central Florida
, while next year's president (2010-11) will be
Michael D. Hall, PhD, James Madison
University
(VA).
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.
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 becomes the society's President-Elect for
one year, President the following year, and then the Past-President
the year after. Presidents' terms of office begin at the close of
each year's Board of Directors 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.
Central Office
The
Psi Chi Central Office fulfills the needs of the
society as directed by the leadership of the Board of Directors.
The current Central Office staff is composed of an executive
director, executive officer, membership director, publications
director, information systems manager, and awards director. As
needed, the Board of Directors 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).
(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
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.
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.
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
served until June 30, 2008. 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
served through November 2009.
Beginning July 1, 2008, Martha S.
Potter Zlokovich, PhD, from Southeast
Missouri State University
and a former Psi Chi National President, began
serving as Psi Chi's newest executive director.
Current/Past Staff Members
Executive Officer: Lisa Mantooth (2007-09); Paula Miller
(2003-07)
Interim Executive Officer: Melissa Strickland (2009-present)
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 (2007-09); Scott Gast
(1998-2007)
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