The Chair of the Section is responsible for the general and specific organization of Section goals and activities. The Chair regularly communicates with the Section Executive, the Student Representatives from each university or college across Canada, and the Executive of the Canadian Psychological Association. The Chair acts in compliance with the mission of the Section through increasing the voice of Canadian university psychology students. Responsibilities include (not are not limited to) posting materials on the listserv/website, responding to students, and writing articles for Psynopsis. Also, the annual conference planning is co-ordinated by the Chair, with input from the Section Executive and the Representatives when required. This includes organizing the review of section submissions for presentation, planning student section presentations for the convention, attaining an invited speaker, and managing the business meeting at which time a year-end summary of activities is reported. The Chair is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention.

The Chair-Elect assists in decision-making and the organization of section activities, participates in conference preparation, plans yearly initiatives within the section, and works closely with the Chair over the course of the year. The Chair-Elect specifically manages student submissions to Psynopsis, making sure that there are student articles in every issue throughout the year. Promptly following each Psynopsis publication, the Chair-Elect should send a listserv message to all students bringing their attention to articles written by and/or for students. After the year-long term, the Chair-Elect advances to the position of Chair and then Past-Chair. In total, the position is a three-year commitment, with one year spent in each of the positions. The Chair-Elect is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention.

 

The Past-Chair is an outgoing position designed to help ease the current Chair into the new role. The Past-Chair should be available for consultation and feedback and to help address any questions/concerns presented by the current Chair or any other Section Executive member. In addition, the Past-Chair should help facilitate transitions in working relationships between the current Chair and other CPA representatives, when appropriate. The Past-Chair is an active member of the Executive, participating in all section activities, votes, decisions, and convention planning. The Past-Chair is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention.

 

One member of the Section for Students Executive sits as a Member of the CPA Board of Directors. Every third year, the Chair-Elect will sit concurrently as the Student Member on the CPA Board of Directors and will continue to hold the position during their time in the Chair and Past-Chair positions.

 

The role of the Campus Representative Coordinator is to increase the exposure of the association at university campuses across Canada. This includes recruiting new students and faculty members to represent CPA at their respective institutions through various mediums. In addition, the coordinator handles inquiries of students and faculty members who are interested in becoming involved as Campus Representatives and who have heard about the position by word of mouth, the website and/or in Psynopsis. The coordinator also assists the representatives with ideas of how to increase the exposure of the association at their home institutions and responds to any questions that may develop throughout the year. The Campus Representative Coordinator must respond in a timely manner to all students interested in a representative position. He/she must also distribute and collect bi-annual student representative reports, which are generally sent out in October and April each year. Together with the Chair, the Campus Representative Coordinator must review any concerns/issues/suggestions mentioned in these bi-annual reports, and address them in a prompt manner (including contacting all Student Representatives to inform them of how these issues have been addressed). With assistance from the Website & Listserv Manager, the Campus Representative Coordinator will tabulate responses and circulate common questions/concerns to the representative listserv and will ensure that issues are discussed amongst the Section Executive as appropriate. In addition, the Coordinator keeps Representatives informed of CPA-related events and issues of importance to students nationally. The Coordinator is involved with general activities and planning within the Section (e.g., participation in Section conference calls; preparation for the Annual CPA Convention). The Coordinator works closely with the Website & Listserv Manager, the Chair of the Student Section, and the Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator in order to act as an intermediary between the Executive and the Student Representatives. The Campus Representative Coordinator is also responsible for communicating with Faculty Representatives, and assisting Student Representatives in securing Faculty Representatives at their respective institutions. The Campus Representative Coordinator is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention and host the annual Campus Representative Reception.

 

The Secretary/Treasurer is responsible for accurate record-keeping by taking notes of all Section Executive meetings and teleconferences, preparing electronic documents of meeting minutes, and forwarding the minutes to all Executive members for feedback before finalizing. Once meeting minutes are finalized, they should be backed up electronically and sent to the Website & Listserv Manager to keep on file. A new mandate to be initiated during the 2007-2008 year also stipulates that business meeting records (taken at the Annual Section Business Meeting at the CPA Convention) should be posted on the website for those who are interested. In addition to taking minutes at meetings and teleconferences, the Secretary/Treasurer also maintains the CPA Awards List for Students as well as the Section Executive contact sheet. In addition, this individual prepares a proposed budget at the start of each year, and prepares a year-end financial report to be provided to CPA Head Office and distributed to Section members at the annual business meeting. The maintenance of the budget and the reimbursement of Executive members for Section-related purchases are completed by this individual. The Secretary/Treasurer also provides input into decision-making and participates in other activities of the Section. The Secretary/Treasurer is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention.

 

The Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator acts as a liaison between CPA and undergraduate students. He/she assists with providing information (e.g., via the listserv/website), preparing/updating/distributing helpful materials, and responding to questions/concerns related to undergraduate students. For example, previous activities have included initiatives such as preparing a PowerPoint presentation on ‘Applying to Graduate School’ which was distributed to representatives across Canada. The Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator should take the initiative to create and implement materials that may be useful to undergraduate students both during their undergraduate degrees and in preparation for future goals (e.g., seeking employment, applying to graduate school). In addition, the Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator assists the Campus Representative Coordinator in recruiting Student Representatives at the undergraduate level for institutions where these positions are vacant. The person holding this position 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. The Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator also provides input into decision-making and participates in other activities of the Section. The Undergraduate Affairs Coordinator is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention.

The Communications Officer must be fully bilingual (spoken and written) in English and French. The person in this position is primarily responsible for providing prompt translations (English-French, French-English) of Section Executive materials (e.g., listserv postings, student materials, website pages, voting applicant profiles). The Communications Officer is also responsible for assisting with the planning/execution of the annual Student Social, held as a student-sponsored event at the Annual CPA Convention in June. Finally, the Communications Officer is an active member of the Student Section Executive, participating in all votes, meetings, and decisions. The Communications Officer is expected to attend the Annual CPA Convention.