Transcript of Welcome Video
by Konjit V. Page, APAGS Chair 2008-2009

Hello, I am Konjit Page and I’m honored to serve as the current Chair of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students. For the past 20 years, APAGS has served on behalf of psychology graduate students providing a vast range of services from scholarships and awards, to resources relevant to graduate psychology students, to advocating for issues affecting psychology students.

As we look towards a new year, I would like to share with you four areas that I would like to focus on as your Chair:

Advocacy.
Social justice.
Leadership.
Communication.

APAGS has consistently taken an active role in advocating for graduate student needs and concerns. One of the more pressing issues for graduate students at this time centers on the need to address internship availability. As your Chair, I will continue to advocate for more sites for graduate students. During the Fall, I will meet with other key leaders to discuss the internship imbalance issue and represent our organization’s position on establishing more APA-approved and funded sites.

Awareness and attendance to social justice issues is imperative as our profession and our world become increasingly diverse. As such, recognizing and analyzing issues of diversity, multiculturalism and privilege as they relate to the science and practice of psychology is critical. In addition to opening up dialogues around these issues, I would also like to create opportunities for APAGS members to share some of their experiences and work, and to increase avenues through which we can explore possibilities to further our education and training around these issues.

The development of a leadership pipeline is essential for APAGS to attend to as we look towards the future of our association and our profession. It is important that we foster a strong leadership pipeline that reflects the diversity of the populations we will serve and the work we will do. This includes encouraging leadership involvement from students from historically marginalized groups and from students representing a range of psychology sub-fields – within science and practice. There are a number of ways in which students can become involved in APAGS. I encourage all members to not only connect with their current APAGS leaders, but to routinely visit the APAGS website and various APAGS listservs for opportunities to become more involved and to enhance your professional development.

Improving communication amongst APAGS members is critical. Advances in technology have afforded us unique opportunities not only to improve information dissemination, but also to share resources and to connect with each other in virtual communities. As you can see from recent additions to the APAGS website, APAGS is working hard to make sure that we provide you with the most current and relevant information for graduate psychology students. During this year, we will continue to investigate and test additional technologies that will enhance your APAGS web experience.

As approximately one-third of APA’s membership, APAGS’ strength remains in its numbers. As the largest association for graduate students worldwide, APAGS is your professional community. As with many communities, we are only as strong as our members. Your feedback and ideas on how our community can be strengthened is encouraged. Feel free to contact me or any one of your elected and appointed APAGS leaders with your suggestions or comments. We want to hear from you.

I look forward to an exciting year, serving as your Chair. Moreover, I anticipate connecting with you and other APAGS members throughout the year. With 20 years of success behind us, our future looks rather bright. Please join me in our continued journey.

Thank You.