APAGS Central Office Staff

APAGS Committee Members

APAGS Subcommittee Chairs

The Central Office staff is responsible for running the day to day operations of APAGS, guiding the APAGS Committee members, serving as a resource and providing information and services to APAGS members.
	Associate Executive Director: This position functions as the Chief Executive Officer of a medium-sized professional membership organization. The AED is responsible for providing leadership, direction, coordination, evaluation, management and supervision for all activities, projects, initiatives, budgets and strategic planning for APAGS and over 42,000 graduate student members of the APA (1/3rd of APA’s overall membership). The AED represents and serves as the primary liaison between APAGS and the APA Board of Directors, Council, major boards and committees, divisions, outside psychology organizations and the senior level officials within those organizations (e.g. APPIC, ASPPB, NRHSPP, NCSPP, APS, etc.), universities, programs, pre and post doctoral training sites, and local, state and regional psychological organizations. The AED actively initiates and develops a network of relationships with external organizations that supports and furthers the practice, education, public interest, science, publications, and membership agendas and overall advocacy and goals of the association. Falling within the scope of responsibility for the AED is overseeing the activities, initiatives and structure of the 13-member elected APAGS Committee, the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns, the Convention Committee, the Advocacy Coordinating Team (which includes 9 Regional Advocacy Coordinators, 50 State Advocacy Coordinators, and 300 Campus Representatives), the Division Student Representative Network, several task forces, and the participation, training and oversight of over 24 APAGS liaisons to various APA boards/committees, and external societies and organizations. Additional programmatic responsibilities include various mentoring programs and over 40 hours of convention programs/networking/social activities at the annual APA convention, and other national conferences. The AED oversees all publications and communications, such as content development and approval of copy for the quarterly magazine, gradPSYCH; all website content; all resource guides; electronic newsletters; analytical and position papers and reports; and peer-reviewed journal articles and books for which APAGS contributes. The AED utilizes current and emerging technologies to create new programs, products and services to appeal to the highly technologically sophisticated APAGS constituency. The AED also oversees all marketing activities, including exhibiting at conferences, creating new recruitment/retention tools and brochures, and professional development products such as resource guides and other professional publications, as well as expanding and improving existing programs and services. The AED provides consultation to other high level staff within APA regarding books, services, marketing campaigns, member development, programming and policies pertaining to graduate students and early career psychologists involved in APAGS via postdoctoral status. Serving as a spokesperson for APAGS and delivering keynote addresses at state and national conferences and other invited events/programs is within the scope of this position, as well as teaching workshops across the country on various training and professional topics (e.g. internship, women’s issues, supervision, leadership, legislative advocacy, etc.) as a representative for APA. The AED serves as a member and/or consultant to several APA task forces and other APA-wide initiatives related to complex policies, programs and practices that impact the education, training and development of psychologists. This also includes coordinating legislative advocacy efforts with the relevant offices/directorates in central office and with outside government agencies. The AED has the large and unique responsibility to work collaboratively with each directorate and all major offices within APA’s central office, along with APA Presidents, Board and Council members, and Board/Committee chairs to establish and develop priorities, strategic plans and policy recommendations. The AED serves on central office committees, such as the Coordinating Committee for Administration and Management (CCAM), to help develop internal policy recommendations related to the day to day administration and management of central office, human resource issues, health care programs, and other staff-related activities and organizational functioning.
	Director of Committee Operations and Programs: Renee Valdez, MA Under the direction and supervision of the APAGS Associate Executive Director, the Director of Committee Operations and Programs is responsible for managing, tracking and facilitating the activities and training of three APAGS subcommittees, APAGS task forces, and APAGS networks. These groups include the APAGS Advocacy Coordinating Team (ACT) 300-member network of Regional and State Advocacy Coordinators (RACs and SACs) and Campus Representatives (CRs), the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) and Regional Diversity Coordinators (RDCs), and the Committee for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns (CLGBTC). The Officer is also responsible for the administration of the Division Student Representative Network (DSRN). In these roles, the Director will create and maintain complex member databases, participate on subcommittee conference calls, work with staff members from other APA offices and all directorates, including APA's Government Relations and Public Policy Offices, Member and Public Communications, Division Services, Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, and the Office of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns. The Officer will be responsible for creating and updating training manuals for governance volunteers, monitoring and participating on listservs, writing reports of subcommittee and DSRN activities, and essentially serve as a staff liaison to these APAGS subcommittees. The Director will interface with APA governance groups such as the Committee on Division and APA Relations, Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, and the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns. The Director will communicate with schools and programs in psychology, participate on relevant staff work groups as assigned, write agenda items for APAGS business meetings and contribute to the regular updates of the New Member Orientation Manual and Policies and Procedures Manual for the APAGS Committee. The Director works along side the other APAGS staff members to facilitate the work of the APAGS Committee and Subcommittees, recruit and retain graduate student affiliates, provide development opportunities and training to APAGS leaders and members, and advance graduate student issues within APA and organized psychology.
	APAGS Communications and Marketing Manager : Heather Dade Under the direction and in consultation with the Associate Executive Director for the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS), the APAGS Communications and Marketing Manager is responsible for monitoring and coordinating the projects and activities of the nine members of the APAGS Committee and the five to seven APAGS subcommittees and task forces. The Manager is responsible for advancing and implementing the policy goals of the APAGS Committee by providing staff liaison support through meeting preparation and follow-up. The Associate is responsible for all design, production, updating, and printing of APAGS publications. He or she organizes communications and the overall communication strategies to and from the APAGS office, identifies and creates new promotional and informational materials to increase APAGS’ visibility, expand services, and recruit and retaining new APAGS members. The Manager composes letters and drafts copy for the APAGS Office and AED, such as APAGS activity reports for various Boards, Committees, and publications. The Manager assists with the planning, advertising and implementation of APAGS convention programming and activities. Communicating with APAGS members by answering email, telephone calls and letters, as well as researching member inquiries and gathering information for and about graduate students from educational and governmental entities, APA offices/directorates, university programs, and other groups is an important aspect of the Manager's position.
	APAGS Administrative and Meetings Coordinator: Lauren Kohari The APAGS Administrative and Meetings Coordinator performs general administrative assistant duties for APAGS. The Administrative Coordinator is in daily email and telephone contact with APAGS committee members, APAGS members, and the public to provide general information about APAGS. Routine functions include responding to inquiries regarding APAGS membership, publications, meetings, and other activities and special events; resolving questions regarding APAGS membership and publications; receiving and organizing application materials for APAGS elected and appointed committee positions, APAGS scholarships and awards, potential Website articles, and other routine mail; receiving payments for APAGS publications and programs; and assisting with the collection and organization of Committee member and APAGS member contact information for various APAGS databases. The Administrative Coordinator creates reports and correspondence, prepares mailings, distributes and collects financial reports and routes incoming and outgoing information. Handling additions, deletions and questions about APAGS listservs is also part of the Administrative Coordinator's role.
	Electronic Communications, Research and Database Manager : Donald E. Knight, MA The Electronic Communications, Research and Database Manager (ECRD) is responsible for coordinating with the APAGS AED and all APAGS staff to synthesize the information and needs of the office and association to represent and maintain the most public face of APAGS via the APAGS website and all electronic media and communications. The ECRD is responsible for creating the conceptual framework for, designing, updating, maintaining and integrating the APAGS Website. The ECRD will redesign and continually update and create new sections and pages for the site to ensure that new and fresh content is posted. This requires the ECRD to be able to research, extract and acquire pertinent and timely information, and compose relevant content for the site. The ECRD is responsible for monitoring usage patterns for the Website and other electronic forums and coordinates these and other efforts with APA’s Web staff and Information Technology Services. The ECRD must oversee, participate/contribute to, monitor and ensure the quality and integrity of all materials electronically managed and published by APAGS, not limited to the Website, but including over multiple APAGS discussion listservs, APAGS information and mailing list databases, a master calendar for staff and governance activities, electronic files and archives, chat rooms, podcasting and electronic meeting services. In addition to electronic communication, the ECRD oversees the development of APAGS surveys and works closely with the necessary APA offices (CPWAR) to design, analyze and present survey data appropriately. The ECRD is responsible for assisting with the design of logos, banners, flyers, resource guides and other electronic publications and marketing/promotional materials for APAGS in general, as well as, for special events.