1. New toolkit for Medicaid reimbursement
APA has developed a toolkit of resources and strategies to help psychology training programs advocate for reimbursement through Medicaid for psychology intern and postdoc services. Reimbursement of services by psychology trainees in clinics and other settings can help address the internship crisis and provide greater access to health care for the public. APAGS developed the resources with APA's Education and Practice Directorates.
2. Help for finding the best program for you
Students can now evaluate prospective graduate training programs (and internships and post-docs) via APA's Searchable Database of Accredited Programs.
APAGS encourages all students to use the data to evaluate how well a program fits their personal, professional and financial goals. More advice on shopping for a graduate training program can be found on the gradPSYCH Blog at "Applying to graduate school? Ask these 15 questions."
3. Changing a committee name to be more inclusive
The APAGS Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns will now be known as the APAGS Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The name change reflects a move toward a more inclusive phrase, as individuals who identify as non-cisgendered or non-heterosexual are increasingly using labels beyond "lesbian," "gay," "bisexual" and "transgender" to describe themselves.
4. Honoring student advocates
The APAGS Advocacy Coordinating Team, which is an ever-growing network of graduate students who bring their voices to bear on a range of issues, presented the following awards:
- Campus Leader of the Year went to Chinmay Aradhye of Oakland University, Michigan.
- State Leader of the Year went to April Krowel of Ball State University, Indiana, and Sheila Modir, of University of California, Santa Barbara.
- For best grassroots projects, awards went to Jeritt Tucker of Iowa State University, Hannah Combs of University of Kentucky and Krista Kovatch of the Florida School of Professional Psychology.
5. Providing early exposure for the next generation of scientists
APAGS and Psi Chi awarded nine Junior Scientist Fellowships to graduate student research projects, helping to provide the experience and feedback to ensure these students would be competitive for future federal-scale grant applications. The winners are:
- Casey Leigh Brown, University of California, Berkeley.
- Alexis Catherine Carpenter, Harvard University.
- Stephanie Paige Goldstein, Drexel University.
- Alissa Mahler, University of Maryland, College Park.
- Luis Armando Parra, University of California, Davis.
- Katherine Rahill, Catholic University of America.
- Jonathan Wendall Reeves, University of California, Berkeley.
- Elizabeth Aunying Yu, University of Michigan.
- Cynthia Yuen, University of Illinois.
The next deadline for various APAGS awards is Dec 3.