Summary of Executive Member Duties

All current affiliates of the Section for Students are eligible to apply to stand as a candidate and to vote in the annual Section for Student Executive elections. To be eligible to apply for any position on the Section Executive, the applicant must (a) be a current member of the Section for Students, and (b) must remain a Student Affiliate of IPS for the full term of the position (see below), and therefore is only eligible if he or she intends to remain a student in a psychology program at a Our partners’ university.
 The terms begin immediately following the annual business meeting of the Section for Students at the annual IPS convention. Executive positions have 2-year terms, with the exception of the Chair, Chair-Elect and Past Chair positions which are 3-year terms whereby the newly elected candidate will spend one year as Chair-Elect (year 1) before automatically moving on to Chair (year 2), and finally Past-Chair (year 3).

Chair

• Responsible for general and specific organization of Section goals and activities
• Regularly communicates with Section Executive and IPS Head Office
• Works to advance Section mission of increasing the voice of psychology students in Our partners’ universities
• Coordinates Section program at annual convention, including organizing the review of section submissions, coordinating planning of section presentations, attaining an invited speaker, and managing the business meeting
• Writes articles for Psynopsis/Mind Pad as necessary or appropriate
• Expected to attend the annual convention

Chair-Elect

• Assists in decision-making and organization of Section activities
• Works with Chair over the course of the year
• Participates in convention preparation, including presentations and workshops
• Coordinates the IPS Student Mentorship Program
• Coordinates the IPS Section for Students Travel and Best Poster Awards
• Manages student submissions to Psynopsis with an aim at having student submissions in each issue; includes calls for submissions
• Every third year, the Chair-Elect will sit concurrently as the Student Member on the IPS Board of Directors and will continue to hold the position during their time in the Chair and Past-Chair positions
• Expected to attend the annual convention

Past-Chair

• Helps transition Chair into his/her new role
• Available for consultation and feedback
• Help facilitate transitions in working relationships between Chair and IPS representatives
• Appoints Editor-in-Chief of Mind Pad; may appoint him or herself

Administration and Finance Officer

• Maintains Section budget, including coordinating reimbursements and ongoing communication with the IPS Finance Coordinator
• Reviews budget to determine if there are budgetary shortfalls for Section activities
• Responsible for keeping track of all incoming and outgoing monetary transactions
• Prepares minutes of all Executive meetings; circulates minutes to Executive for review before deeming them final
• Maintains all internal Section documents, including Executive contact list and historical records (e.g., agendas, minutes, reports, by-laws)
• Schedules meetings of the Executive as directed by the Chair
• Works with Chair to ensure that the Section meets all necessary deadlines
• Assists Graduate Student Affairs Officer and Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer with Student Representative program, as needed

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

• Along with the Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer, maintains the Student Representative program
• Responsible for management of graduate Student Representatives and faculty Representatives
• Management of Representatives includes:
  • Recruitment of new Representatives
  • o Ongoing communication with current Representatives
  • o Ensuring that current Representatives are active
  • o Handling inquiries from graduate students or faculty interested in become a representative
  • o Distribute and collect bi-annual representative reports from Representatives (sent out in October and April each year)
  • o Review concerns/issues/suggestions mentioned in bi-annual reports and addressing them in a timely manner, including contacting Student Representatives that have asked to be responded to individually
  • o Along with the Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer, tabulates responses and circulates common questions/concerns among Representatives, and ensures that questions/concerns are discussed by the Section Executive as appropriate
  • o Assists Representatives with ideas of how to increase exposure of IPS at their home institutions
  • o Collaborates with Communications Officer to ensure that the Representative list on the website is up-to-date
  • o May seek assistance of the Administration and Finance Officer for any of the above duties

Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer

• Along with the Graduate Student Affairs Officer, maintains the Student Representative program
• Responsible for management of undergraduate Student Representatives
• Management of Representatives includes:
  • o Recruitment of new Representatives
  • o Ongoing communication with current Representatives
  • o Ensuring that current Representatives are active
  • o Handling inquiries from graduate students or faculty interested in become a representative
  • o Distribute and collect bi-annual representative reports from Representatives (sent out in October and April each year)
  • o Review concerns/issues/suggestions mentioned in bi-annual reports and addressing them in a timely manner, including contacting Student Representatives that have asked to be responded to individually
  • o Along with the Graduate Student Affairs Officer, tabulates responses and circulates common questions/concerns among Representatives, and ensures that questions/concerns are discussed by the Section Executive as appropriate
  • o Assists Representatives with ideas of how to increase exposure of IPS at their home institutions
  • o Collaborates with Communications Officer to ensure that the Representative list on the website is up-to-date
  • o May seek assistance of the Administration and Finance Officer for any of the above duties
  • o Should ideally be a first or second year graduate student or senior undergraduate student in order to be in touch with undergraduate student needs and current issues

Communications Officer

• Main contact point for students in, or interested in, psychology
• Coordinates and sends Section News to Section members, on at least a bi-monthly basis
• Maintains the annual Convention package
• Proofreads official Section documents and communications
• Coordinates sending materials via the Section listserv
• Maintains the Section website, including all sections of the website
• Maintains any electronic forums hosted by the Section
• Maintains online voting system

Francophone Affairs Officer

• Must be fully bilingual (spoken and written) in French and English
• Engages in outreach activities to Francophone students and psychology programs in IPS
• Advises Executive on issues pertaining to the Francophone psychological community, and on issues of sensitivity to Francophone members
• Responsible for prompt and accurate translations (English-French and French-English) of Section materials (e.g., Sections News, listserv postings, website pages, voting applicant profiles)
• Representative on the Executive on behalf of all francophone communities across IPS