UAF is home to an incredible variety of clubs and organizations perfect for any interest.  In effort to spread recognition among these consortiums, the Sun Star will be spotlighting a different club each week.  So stop whining get involved.  Come on, everybody's doing it.

Psi Chi

  "Psychology is so much more than mental health."  Or so says previous Psi Chi advisor Dani Raap.  Raap, a current professor at UAF and sustained force within the National Honor Society in Psychology (Psi Chi), continues.  "The APA (American Psychological Association) lists 54 different subdivisions for the field.  Counseling and therapy constitute four of them.  Everything from Aviation Psychology to Sports and Art Therapy currently exist.  As a career, psychology has grown dramatically over the last decade - and Fairbanks is no different." 

 But wait.  Let's take a step back, shall we?  Okay, here's the scenario: you've just arrived on campus.  As far as a major's concerned, you're undecided.  "No rush," you say.  "It will come."  But secretly, you panic.  Bit by bit the fear overwhelms you.  "What will I do in four years?  I can't ride this train forever."  Two years later, you're desperately switching majors every chance you get - hoping, praying that something with any semblance of a plausible future presents itself.  Or maybe not.  I don't know.

 The point is, people need options.  And that's just what Psi Chi provides to current and prospective psychology majors.  The UAF chapter, founded in 1978 by Chuck Geist, was established with the purpose of not only providing students a sizable honors credential come graduation, but more importantly, a network of peers, faculty, and local employees through which developing psych majors could establish themselves.  In other words, a place to get known; a place to make getting a job relevant to one's major that much less exasperating.

 Current Psi Chi advisor Aggie Legaspi explains, "We must make it possible for psychology students at UAF to see their options."  Legaspi, who recently took over for Raap, is already at work instigating this year's goals.  "Our current objectives include consolidating membership, streamlining the induction process, and getting Psi Chi more active academically."

 When Raap first took over the organization roughly five years ago, Psi Chi boasted only two members.  "At its peak, we were up to fifteen – which is a substantial amount considering the range of projects we take on."

 Said projects include organizing and promoting ASHSSS (Alaska State High School Science Symposium), procuring a number of guest speakers to the university, collaborating with Career Services on job-oriented presentations, instituting a variety of fundraisers, and a sizable list of further achievements.  "One of the things I'm particularly proud of is our role in the District Science Fair.  Every April, we send eight to ten judges to evaluate the projects in grades K-8th," says Raap. 

 "Students don't have to be dead-set on psychology to come and see what we're about," offers Legaspi.  While the requirements for the club may make some wary of involvement, Legaspi and Raap both assure students that Psi Chi is about being much more than an Honor Society.

"Even if you have the slightest interest in psychology as a major, you should check it out," says Raap.  Hey, what's the worst that could happen?  Oh, besides LEARNING (cacophony of screams).

To learn more about Psi Chi, visit the Psychology Department on the 7^th floor of Gruening or contact Aggie Legaspi at 474-7060 (email: ffacl@uaf.edu).

Photo By Chris Cruthers/Sunstar

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