MINUTES Section for Students in Psychology (SOSIP), OPA Tuesday, June 22nd, 1999 7:00 - 8:30 pm Chair: Steve Biggs Secretary: Kim Watson Present: Allan Eng, Kim Gordon Regrets: Karen Fergus, Sandra Jackson, Alberta Pos, Pavla Reznicek, and Teri Sota 1) MENTORSHIP PROGRAM 1.1 Allan had arranged for Maria to attend this meeting and talk about the history of the mentorship program, but unfortunately at the last minute she had to cancel. Allan will contact her and try to reschedule, or at the very least get a package of information from her. 1.2 Steve reported that that he updated the OPA Executive about our plans to revive the mentorship program, and they expressed a lot of interest in it. The Council of Section Presidents would like us to have something on paper for them by end of this summer, so that they can pass that information on to their members. 1.3 We will need to write an article about the mentorship program by the fall, to be included in the next Psychology Ontario issue. The current OPA President is also the P.O. editor, and is very interested in student articles in general. 2) OPA GOVERNANCE 2.1 Steve inquired about the role of SOSIP in the new governance of OPA. It is implicitly assumed that SOSIP will have a place in the new governance, but Steve has requested that this be put in writing somewhere. 3) OPA CONVENTION 3.1 Plans for the convention are moving along. Ruth Berman is now Chair of the convention committee. The convention now has a title: "OPA 2000: Psychology and the New Millennium", and the focus will be on entrepreneurial and applied issues. This overlaps nicely with the Section of Independent Practice, the title of their upcoming mental health fair being "Psychology of Everyday Life". Both committees are still looking for volunteers. For the OPA convention, just ask Ruth or Carla how you could be involved. The Independent Practice fair has openings on many committees: Planning, Promotion, Funding, and Implementation. 4) PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT ORIENTATIONS 4.1 Steve informed us that the current OPA President-Elect, Ian Nicholson, expressed interest in going with a SOSIP student to University of Western Ontario, to talk about OPA. This led to a discussion about the value of making team visits to psychology departments during orientation. Allan spoke about what is normally done at OISE. Usually Ruth Berman speaks at the general welcome meeting for students, and OPA also sets up an information table nearby. We discussed various possible ways to introduce ourselves to students (for example, is it better to attend the orientation day, or to do a separate colloquium about students and the future of psychology, and talk about how OPA fits into that theme?). We decided that we should eventually send an email to all SOSIP student members and request information about their department orientations. First, however, we need to get the list of student emails. Kim W will call Carla and get a copy of the database from her. 4.2 This led to a discussion about the current OPA brochure, and the fact that it is not as informative, especially for students. Allan agreed to mock up a draft copy of a SOSIP brochure, and bring it in to us for discussion. 5) ELECTRONIC MEDIA 5.1 Steve reported that the SOSIP web page http://members.tripod.com/sosip/) is now posted to several search engines, so that should increase our visibility on the Internet. He will soon send a notice out to all psychology departments informing them of our web page. 5.2 Steve reminded us that the SOSIP email address is sosip@hotmail.com. If you would like the password to check the email, just ask Steve. 5.3 Kim G asked Steve about the status of our Listserv. He said this could easily be set up once we have the list of student email addresses from Carla. 5.4 Steve announced that he is now the official Webmaster for the OPA web site. Congrats, Steve - quite a coup for you. 6) SOSIP PRESIDENT-ELECT 6.1 Steve reminded us that it is soon time to make a decision about the President-Elect position. In particular, we need to start thinking about who will take responsibility for the Thesis Contest. Steve noted the lack of enthusiastic volunteers for the Pres-Elect position, so he said that he is willing to serve as president for a second term. Steve said that he hadn't quite thought through what this would mean for the Pres-Elect term and Past-Pres terms, whether we would change the Pres term to 2 years, or whether he would just serve 2 consecutive terms, etc., but he did think that this is one possible solution to our lack of Pres-Elect. He asked that each of us give some thought to this issue and tabled it for discussion at the next meeting. 7) OTHER BUSINESS 7.1 Teri Sota graduated from York with her PhD; so she has gone on to explore other aspects of her professional life. We thank Teri for her involvement, and wish her luck in her future endeavors. 7.2 The OPA Section on Psychoanalysis is starting to do grand rounds, and welcome students who are interested in hearing about cases. If you are interested, you can contact the Section President through the OPA office. 8) NEXT MEETING 8.1 The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 13th at 7pm. If people are interested, I'm happy to have a BBQ in my backyard. I'm at 58 Melville Avenue, 1 street south of Dupont, and just west of Christie, phone number (416) 588-1660. If you don't mind, call/email and let me know if you're able to make it, and if you have any special food requirements. Allan booked Rm. 9-297 at OISE, and we should keep that as our rain location, as my apartment is too small to house all of us (ain't "studenthood" grand?)