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 CPA 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 Canadian university. Additional details about the eligibility criteria and the election process can be found in the CPA Section for Students By-Laws.
The terms begin immediately following the annual business meeting of the Section for Students at the annual CPA 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).
Roles and Responsibilities
Chair
- Responsible for general and specific organization of Section goals and activities
- Regularly communicates with Section Executive and CPA Head Office
- Works to advance Section mission of increasing the voice of psychology students in Canadian 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 CPA Student Mentorship Program
- Coordinates the CPA 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 CPA 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 CPA representatives
- Appoints Editor-in-Chief of Mind Pad; may appoint him or herself
Administration and Finance Executive
- Maintains Section budget, including coordinating reimbursements and ongoing communication with the CPA 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 Executive
- Along with the Undergraduate Student Affairs Executive, 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 CPA 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 Executive
- Along with the Graduate Student Affairs Executive, maintains the Student Representative program
- Responsible for management of undergraduate Student Representatives
- Management of Representatives includes:
- Recruitment of new Representatives
- Ongoing communication with current Representatives
- Ensuring that current Representatives are active
- Handling inquiries from graduate students or faculty interested in become a representative
- Distribute and collect bi-annual representative reports from Representatives (sent out in October and April each year)
- 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
- 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
- Assists Representatives with ideas of how to increase exposure of CPA at their home institutions
- Collaborates with Communications Officer to ensure that the Representative list on the website is up-to-date
- May seek assistance of the Administration and Finance Officer for any of the above duties
- 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 Executive
- 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 Executive
- Must be fully bilingual (spoken and written) in French and English
- Engages in outreach activities to Francophone students and psychology programs in Canada
- 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 Canada
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Executive
- Identifies as a Black Person, Indigenous Person, or Person of Colour or historically excluded or marginalized student in psychology.
- Coordinates the publishing and updating of materials and resources disseminated to student members related to social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in areas relevant to the profession of psychology (e.g., research, training, practice, advocacy).
- Recruits and facilitates a group of volunteers to assist in all programming.
- Plans one event per academic year related to issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion with the support of a volunteer group and Section Executive as needed (this can include convention-based programming).
- Consults with members of the student executive in order to support anti-oppressive and inclusive programming (e.g., peer mentorship program, student representative program).
- Engages with the rest of the Student Section Executive Team and their own Volunteer Team at regular meetings (e.g., semesterly, monthly).