Brace yourselves for a long one here but our student orgs did SO MUCH for our program this year that we’ve got a lot to say about them. Both the Psychology and Human Development (PHD) Club and Psi Chi had incredible years and we’re thankful for all their hard work.

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Meet the Profs
As always, the PHD Club organized two great events where students and faculty could hang out together. Both events were really well attended and really fun.

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Speakers and Panel Discussions
Both groups brought in incredible speakers this year from Dr. Craig Anderson’s talk on video game violence to Dr. Connie Flanagan’s presentation on civic engagement.  Psi Chi also helped sponsor an incredible talk, organized by Women’s and Gender Studies, from Anita Sarkeesian on online harassment and sexism.

That wasn’t all, though, in addition to the invited speakers, Psi Chi held a series of interdisciplinary talks on complex issues like free will and the mind vs. brain.  Altogether, the two groups worked to bring fresh, fascinating ideas to the campus community.

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Grad School Series and Career Talks
The PHD Club again organized a series of talks on graduate school and careers in psychology with topics ranging from The Basics of Graduate School in Psychology to Mastering the GRE to What Can You Do with a Psychology Degree Anyway.  These talks are so important to our students, and we’re thankful to the club for organizing them and the faculty for speaking at them.

Gratitude Event
Because they are awesome, the clubs worked together and organized a day to give thanks to their teachers.  They brought in food and put together a book of thank you notes from current and former students.

PHD Club Research Project
The PHD Club organized a research project to explore student engagement within the Psychology and Human Development majors.  They presented the results to the psych and hum dev faculty, at the end of the year poster session, and the Midwestern Psychological Association Conference.

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Volunteering
Both clubs were active in the community too, forming teams for the NAMIwalk, a walk to raise awareness of and money for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Be The Light Walk to help raise awareness of suicide, and the Jingle Bell Run/Walk, an arthritis fundraiser.

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Psi Chi Induction
Of course, one of our favorite events every year is the Psi Chi Induction Ceremony, when eligible juniors and seniors officially become members of this important honor society. This year, we inducted 50 new members and brought in Molly Swenty, a psychology student alum and former president of Psi Chi, to speak about life after college.

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