David J. Pilon, Ph.D. - APAGS
Founding Co-Chair, “An Official History”
(Note: Several modifications of
the APAGS structure have been implemented since the original writing of
this History in 1990.)
In the beginning, there were
students. Long before there was an APA. Even long before there was a
psychology, there were students…
“I believe it is time for APA to recognize the
importance of student participation - you are, after all, our future.”
With those words, APA President, Raymond Fowler encouraged students to
attend the 96th Annual Convention
of the American Psychological Association in Atlanta, Georgia. It was at
that convention that the APA Council of Representatives unanimously
endorsed the formation of a national psychology student association with
APA and an increase of $% in student affiliate dues to support its
development. The year was 1988.
Many events led to that unanimous motion on the
Council floor. As in most histories, a small number of committed players
combined with a fortunate set of circumstances enabled the story to
unfold.
The original inspiration came, not unexpectedly,
from students. While a number of attempts had been made in the past to
formalize student involvement in APA, all had failed for one reason or
another. In 1987, the circumstances were to differ. Scott Mesh, a
graduate student at St. John’s University and Chair of the Clinical
Psychology Graduate Student Group of Great New York, and David Pilon, a
graduate student at the University of Waterloo and President of the
student section of the Ontario Psychological Association, were brought
together by Ellin Bloch, Chair of Division 29’s Student Development
Committee. We were united in our belief that APA had yet to establish a
place for students in the association that would attend to some of the
unique concerns of students.
Pierre Ritchie, who was President of the Ontario
Psychological Association, and also an active APA Council member, lent
his support to our initiative. He had a long standing working
relationship with Raymond Fowler, who was then APA President-Elect, and
knew that Dr. Fowler would be an important and supportive player if our
initiative was going to receive the top-down push it needed. Dr. Fowler’s
support was sincere and proved instrumental as Ellin, Scott and I were
able to make our case known to APA about the many important issues
facing students and our training. Division 29 was particularly
supportive and financed two early trips to Washington, DC to begin the
dialogue with APA. Ira Cohen, the new Director of APA’s Office of
Educational Affairs, and his associate, Jan Woodring, APA’s consultant
on graduate education, noting the support for this initiative, responded
in kind with a number of proposals that set the wheels in motion to
develop a national student organization within APA. They arranged for an
open forum at the Atlanta convention to ascertain the needs of student
affiliates in APA. With our input, they distributed a survey to all APA
divisions to collect information on their student activities, and
invited Scott and I to address the leaders assembled at the annual
Division Leadership Conference in Washington. At that meeting, we were
able to consolidate support for the movement from the diverse ranks
within APA.
During the 1988 Atlanta convention, we organized
a symposium to generate ideas and contrast perspectives and models about
the future of student involvement in APA. Scott, Ellin, Pierre and I
submitted papers. As well, a student support was encouraged by the
distribution of an invitation sent to all pre-registered student
affiliates from Dr. Fowler inviting them to an open forum to discuss the
need for a graduate student organization within APA.
In Atlanta, student interest, support from the
APA Board of Directors, energy from the open forum, and encouragement
from the growing number of advocates of the student movement culminated
in the Council of Representative’s unanimous approval of the motion to
establish the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students,
or APAGS.
While the events in the year prior to the
founding of APAGS were exciting, the achievements of its first year lend
abundant support to the movement that created it.
The membership of APAGS is composed of APA
student affiliates. Undergraduate affiliates of APA can pay more to
obtain the same publications and benefits of graduate students. APAGS
membership grows steadily year after year and accounts for almost
one-third of APA’s entire membership. APAGS membership offers many
benefits, including but not limited to, receiving the APA Monitor and
American Psychologist each month, reduced APA journal subscriptions, and
the opportunity to join and become involved in many student activities
sponsored by APA. Students receive the APAGS newsletter, devoted solely
to issues facing students, they have the opportunity to take part in a
convention program designed by and intended for students of psychology,
and they have the chance to involve themselves in the organization of
APAGS to voice their specific concerns.
During APAGS inaugural year, a governing
structure was established (which has changed as APAGS has evolved) which
includes a nine person board consisting of a steering committee (Chair,
Past-Chair and Chair-Elect), Secretary, secretary-Elect, Treasurer,
Treasurer-Elect, and tow members at Large. For subcommittee were also
formed to coordinate APAGS’ major activities. These included
Convention Affairs, newsletter, Professional Development, and Advocacy.
Each subcommittee was lead by an appointed chair responsible for
overseeing the activities of subcommittee members within the respective
domains. The APAGS governance has brought together students from all
over the country. In addition, to this structure, APAGS instituted a
network of APAGS Campus Representatives at over 60 (at the time)
universities across the U.S. and Canada in an effort to maintain strong
ties to members. To make the governing structure functional and
accountable to members, the original APAGS leaders wrote a set of
by-laws that were approved by APA legal council, and were eventually
adopted by APAGS members.
Recognizing the important of advocating for
students with other relevant bodies, APAGS established representation at
meeting of the APA Board of Scientific Affairs, Board of Professional
Affairs, Committee on Graduate Education and Training of the Education
and Training Board, the State/Provincial Leadership Conference, the
Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice, the Education
and Training Board, and the Joint Council on professional Education in
Psychology.
Much of APAGS effort for the first year, beyond
establishing a well-articulated governing body, was directed toward
publishing the inaugural issue of the APAGS Newsletter, as well as
Graduate Student Update Columns in the APA Monitor, and coordinating a
New Orleans convention program for students. Both the newsletters and
the convention program were extremely well received.
Reflected in the above activities are the
original purposes of APAGS - to promote the highest standards in the
teaching, training, and practice of psychology in order to further the
education and development of all students involved primarily in the
study of psychology; to represent, as well as facilitate exchange of
information and ideas among students from all specialties of psychology;
to promote students leadership development by participating in the
governance structure of the Association in order to communicate and
advocate the concerns of students within the Association, and to promote
the objectives of the Association and communicate its concerns to
students; and to establish and maintain channels of communication
between APAGS and schools, universities, training centers, institutions,
and other members of the psychological community.
For APAGS to have become a vibrant entity in
such a short period of time speaks to the genuine need for such an
organization, and also to the encouragement received from so many
individuals: Ellin Bloch, Pierre Ritchie, Raymond Flower, Jan Woodring,
Martha Braswell, Ira Cohen, Donald Freedheim, Virginia Sexton, Cynthia
Baum, Ludy Benjamin, Charles Spielberger and countless others.
In the beginning, there were students. In the
end, we shall prevail…
David J. Pilon, Ph.D.
Founding Co-Chair
(Article written 1990)
