The chair-elect serves on the APAGS Executive Committee (EC), which, led by the chair during his/her tenure, works as a unit to advise, guide and consult with the full APAGS Committee. The EC acts as a steering committee for APAGS and is responsible for developing priorities and charges to committee members consistent with the goals of APAGS. The executive committee presides over the full APAGS Committee and acts on behalf of the full committee.

Chair-elect Tasks

• Participates in all EC activities to prepare for chair year.
• Serves as the EC liaison (for more direct mentoring/oversight) for one-third of the APAGS committee members, subcommittee chairs, task force chairs and work group chairs.
• Serves in prescribed liaison roles reserved for the APAGS chair-elect.
• Serves as an official liaison for some of the established APAGS liaisonships; sometimes the chair-elect will take on relatively more of these liaison roles to help acclimate him/her to the work of the committee.

Subcommittees, Task Forces and Working Groups

• Reports on chair-elect and official liaison activities to the full APAGS Committee via the committee email list and at APAGS business meetings.
• Will prepare to serve during his/her chair or past-chair year as the APAGS voting member on the APA Council of Representatives and voting member on the APA Board of Directors. This requires attending four to six meetings per year, often in Washington, D.C.

Chair-elect
Takisha (McNeill) Corbett, MA

Hello APAGS Members! My name is Takisha Corbett and I'm a clinical psychology student at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology in Pasadena, California. I'm excited about psychology, passionate about advocacy and I hope to earn your support as the chair-elect for APAGS.

As graduate students, we maintain a delicate balance of demanding academics, challenging clinical work, rigorous research and, for many of us, additional professional or family commitments. As emerging psychologists we are the future leaders of our profession and we work hard to become experts in our chosen specialties. With the continually changing landscape of psychology, we are fortunate to have APAGS to keep us informed and also provide the opportunity for student voices to be heard throughout APA. It's been nearly 25 years since the founding of APAGS, and we need student voices now more than ever. Many of us face increasing program costs while a multitude of funding streams are decreasing and the internship crisis continues to threaten an already lengthy and costly academic experience. Furthermore, as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act moves forward with implementation, students need adequate training opportunities and information about how Healthcare Reform impacts the clinical practice of psychology.

The issues we face are important and I look forward to representing the diverse voices we have as students. I am currently the chair of the California Psychological Association of Graduate Students and have spent the past three years representing students on the California Psychological Association's Board of Directors and Governmental Affairs Committee. I have also been an APAGS campus representative for the Advocacy Coordinating Team. I look forward to utilizing my academic and professional experiences, along with my leadership skills, as the next APAGS chair-elect. Please visit my website for more information about me. I hope I can count on your support!

Chair-elect
Emily A. Voelkel, MA

Psychology students face personal and financial challenges, in addition to professional endeavors, throughout training. Actively participating in APAGS showed me students' unawareness of the impact their voices have in the psychology field. The support I receive within APAGS inspired me to run for chair-elect to give back to our community and facilitate student empowerment.

Throughout graduate school, I have been dedicated to academics while serving as a steward of psychology's future via clinical practice, research and advocacy. Across various leadership and mentoring roles, I engage in social justice and advocacy efforts. For example, I serve as NW Regional Advocacy Coordinator on APAGS-ACT, I am the sole student representative on the Special Task Group for modifying counseling psychology competencies and I attended the State Leadership Conference. Throughout various appointments, I advocated for issues important to students, including reversing New York intern layoffs, increasing funds for internship site creation and maintaining minority fellowship funding.

My qualities and leadership experiences make me an ideal chair-elect candidate. If elected, I intend to focus on the following initiatives:

• The internship crisis. While continuing to work with APAGS toward a resolution, I hope to create a program providing additional support to circumvent stress for applicants.
• Mentorship and career planning. Policy changes and managed care are shifting the psychology field. I will work with APAGS to foster students' need for mentors and resources around career planning.
• Funding and loan repayment. To bridge the practice-research gap, students need funding. I will advocate to increase/maintain: current grant funding, grants supporting student research and programs providing student loan repayment.

Students are the future of psychology. We have the power and accountability to advance our field. As an aspiring psychologist, I take onus to facilitate the creation of that future. It would be my honor to serve as your chair-elect.

• Assist the APAGS Central Office staff with APAGS publications and publicity in a variety of ways that may include: recruiting and training students to write articles for the APAGS website; identifying topics for the APAGS magazine, gradPSYCH, as well as Monitor on Psychology articles; and communicating these topics and ideas to the associate executive director.
• Develop and implement various marketing and publicity initiatives to promote APAGS and to recruit new APA student affiliates.
• Assist with compiling information for the quarterly Campus Representative Bulletin.
• Establish relationships and joint projects with the APA Public Affairs Office to promote graduate student publicity.
• Develop outreach programs to strengthen the link between APAGS and allied student and professional groups to facilitate effective information exchange.
• Assist with facilitating the APAGS Division Student Representative Network (APAGS-DSRN) that brings together the divisions student leaders to help them develop new student leaders within divisions, connect to APAGS and support APAGS initiatives.

Member-at-large, Communication Focus
Amy M. Houston, MA

It would be my honor to be considered for the member-at-large, Communications position for APAGS. APAGS Committee members have an incredible opportunity to advocate for the needs of fellow and future graduate psychology students. As a first year clinical psychology graduate student at Xavier University, I am actively involved in advocating for local changes as the communications chair for Xavier's Psychology Graduate Student Association. I believe that my current position and training, in addition to my previous training in Gerontology at the University of South Florida, and my experiences working as part of a research team at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Research Center of Excellence have prepared me for this position.

Throughout my training I have completed courses that focused on effective communication. From my coursework I learned skills I later applied in a research setting where I successfully developed working relationships with study participants, community organizations and healthcare professionals from various disciplines. I also developed and conducted an independent research study that examined language discrepancies between healthcare professionals and patients. My training and experience has fostered my interest in becoming an APAGS Committee member and provided a solid foundation for serving as a member-at-large with a focus on communication. I am motivated to advocate for national changes that would have positive implications for current and future graduate psychology students.

If elected, I will work to to improve the educational and training opportunities for current and future graduate psychology students. To help develop educational and training opportunities, I will strive to develop working relationships with psychologists. I will also work as a mediator to facilitate effective communication between my fellow graduate psychology students, psychologists and relevant professional groups. Thank you for considering me for the APAGS Committee member-at-large, communications position.

Member-at-large, Communication Focus
Melanie M. Lantz

I am passionate about service to my profession and advocating for students, and it would be an honor to serve as member-at-large, communications focus for APAGS. This position is a natural extension of my work as co-chair of the Student Affiliates of Seventeen (SAS). Since 2010, I have helped develop and implement several initiatives aimed at increasing the visibility of SAS, increasing student interest and engagement, and recruiting and retaining student members of Division 17. I have written for the SAS and Division 17 newsletters, created convention programming and worked with our executive board to utilize social media avenues to pursue these efforts. Additionally, I have worked alongside Division 17 professionals as a member of their executive board, and have been fortunate to participate in a Special Task Group, committees and working groups; I recently served on the committee that oversaw the redesign of the Division 17 website, and am currently working with division professionals to address the concerns related to the Student-to-ECP transition. Further, I have served as the SAS liaison to the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs and the Counseling Psychology Synarchy. The best part of my role has been finding ways to connect students with resources at the division-level, which involved working with the division to identify or create opportunities, and either identifying student leaders or soliciting formal applications. I am confident that the marketing, communication, graduate student advocacy, liaising and program development skills that I have developed and demonstrated during my tenure as SAS co-chair would make me an asset to APAGS. In assuming the role of member-at-large, communications focus, I would be able to continue to serve the students of APAGS and in so doing, further contribute to the development and growth of tomorrow's professionals.

Member-at-large, Communication Focus
Laura M. Reid Marks, EdS, MAE

Graduate student professional development opportunities are an important component of graduate training. Too often graduate students are unaware of the opportunities for professional growth that can accompany involvement in professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS). As a fourth year doctoral student in counseling psychology at Purdue University, I have a special interest in working to increase graduate student awareness about the resources and opportunities available to them. It is this passion in graduate student advocacy that has led to my desire to serve as member-at-large — communications focus on the APAGS Committee.

I believe my experiences with regional and national professional organizations have supplied me with many relevant skills applicable to becoming a competent and enthusiastic member-at-large — communications focus. As Division 52 (International Psychology) student committee chair, I have worked with the student committee to implement a campus representative network for the division. I served as one of the two editors of the student column for the International Psychology Bulletin (IPB) and have written articles for the student column. As a student involved in the Indiana Psychology Association (IPA), I have written articles for their newsletter about the importance of becoming involved in professional organizations and the benefits of networking. As a member of the APAGS Convention Committee, I have also promoted the importance of getting involved and networking at the American Psychological Association (APA) conference.

If I am selected as member-at-large, communications focus, it is my hope to continue promoting and providing professional development opportunities for graduate students in an effort to ultimately enhance graduate student training. Thank you for your consideration. It would be my pleasure to serve in this important role.

• Establish relationships and joint projects with staff members of the Education Directorate.
• Represent internship and training needs of students to relevant boards and committees.
• Monitor the climate of training environments and advocate for advances in the quality of education and experience for graduate students.

Member-at-large, Education
Candice Crowell, MS

My commitment to education began in 2001, when I chose an education concentration to complement my major at Spelman College. I learned effective teaching strategies, curriculum design and evaluation. I have also had the unique experience of teaching at the secondary, college and master's levels, further enhancing my understanding of training needs across programs and developmental stages. I bring this background to the member-at-large — education focus position.

My involvement in APA includes serving as Membership Coordinator for the Society of Counseling Psychology's (SCP) Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity and on the SCP Awards Committee. In these roles, I collaborated with members of APA towards the goals of recruiting and acknowledging the achievements of members.

My most formative role in APA was serving as student faculty for the SCP Leadership Academy. In this position, I worked with esteemed leaders of APA to design leadership development curriculum and develop a pipeline of future leaders from diverse backgrounds.

With a combined background of teaching and service in APA, I will advocate from a deeper understanding of student educational needs. I know first hand the importance of that advocacy. At the end of my second year, I was notified that my former doctoral program's accreditation status went into probation. I transferred to UGA because I had advocates in my corner, and I learned that students in this vulnerable position benefit from someone willing to take a stand.

Thus, if selected, I will MAC:

• Monitor the climate of training environments through APAGS campus representatives;

• Advocate for students who are in unreasonably challenging situations to improve their training experiences; and,

• Celebrate training programs that are going above and beyond to prepare students for internships and post-doctoral success.

iMAC... but even if you're a "PC," vote for CC!

Member-at-large, Education
Avigail Gordon, MA

I chose to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology because it allows for a marriage of different aspects of psychological practice — including research, education and clinical work. I believe that the many aspects of psychology work together to further its valuable impact on society. It is with this in mind that I am applying for the position of member-at-large (education focus) for the APAGS Committee.

As a student representative to my program's Curriculum Committee, I advocate for students' needs, to ensure that the academic and clinical training opportunities provided prepare us to be responsible members of and ambassadors for our profession. This entails both monitoring the coursework itself and how our academic training works in lockstep with our professional and clinical experiences to create exceptional professional psychologists. This position is the most recent in my efforts to contribute to the development of educational opportunities within my academic community.

Education is primarily about communication, in a variety of forms. Throughout my academic career I have striven to strengthen my expertise as a writer and editor for student and professional publications. As a public speaker at conferences or in discussions at an academic meeting, I have developed a different but related set of skills. These combine with an eagerness to work collaboratively with my colleagues to craft a message about which I am passionate.

As a member-at-large (education) for the APAGS Committee, I would look forward to bringing these skills to the important work of supporting the education and training of student psychologists and the public at large. Ensuring that my fellow graduate students have the most positive, thorough and enriching educational experience possible is a goal I have pursued at my individual program, and I would relish the opportunity to continue that work in the broader academic psychological community.

Member-at-large, Education
Rachel M. Stein, MA

My interest in becoming the APAGS member-at-large focused on education stems from my desire to advocate for psychology graduate students. I am a strong candidate for this position due to my nuanced understanding of educational systems and psychology training. Furthermore, my background working for students in leadership capacities makes me an ideal candidate.

At my undergraduate institution I served the student body as a liaison between the students, faculty and staff. Through this experience I attained a multitude of skills: from how to ensure productivity during meetings, to supervising student committees, to effective collaboration. As the member-at-large with a focus on education these skills will allow me to successfully promote the interests of psychology graduate students, such as, funding and the availability of internships. As a member of APAGS I will dedicate myself to representing graduate students and work to ensure that the opinion and participation of graduate students is central to my role.

Currently I am the graduate student member of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) workgroup on education. In this capacity I am involved in policy and advocacy pertaining to school psychology, such as helping revise the Praxis exam and updating the national program database. My experiences within NASP are readily transferable to the APAGS member-at-large education position and make me passionate about advocating for the training interests of psychology graduate students as a whole. In sum, I am qualified to work as an effective student leader.

We are lucky to have the APA code to protect our rights as students, yet, we also need to advocate for ourselves. I am well qualified to effectively advocate for psychology graduate students and look forward to doing so as the member-at-large of APAGS focused on education.