Summary
This program will provide undergraduate psychology students with easy access to information and resources about a variety of professional development topics. We will cover areas such as getting involved in research, applying to graduate school, and available career pathways with a bachelor’s degree in psychology through a combination of formal information sessions and informal mentoring discussion groups. This mixed format will allow us to both maximize the amount of content conveyed while allowing time for students to ask specific questions and make personal connections with faculty and graduate students. This program will serve as an easy, low-cost, but valuable opportunity for undergraduates to make connections with grad students and faculty and to learn practical knowledge and skills that are often not covered in the classroom.
Objectives
- To facilitate access to information and resources about professional development topics that psychology undergraduates are most interested in
- To provide opportunities for students to make meaningful connections with new faculty and graduate student mentors from the psychology department
- To foster a strong sense of belonging among the undergraduate students within the psychology department community
- Through the objectives listed above, this program will satisfy our committee objectives I (promote belonging) and III (provide science outreach)
Summary of Pilot Program
In the spring of 2021, we completed a 10-week pilot series of this program. This included selecting the professional development topics for the sessions (see below), recruiting faculty and graduate student group leaders, creating promotional materials like flyers and social media posts, writing a detailed instruction document for the group leaders on their role in the program, holding 10 1-hour virtual session for undergraduates, and collecting feedback from participants on the pilot program. The success of the pilot program means that a lot of the materials have already been created (recruitment materials, instruction document, email templates, slides for select topics, online feedback form). It has also allowed us to see what aspects of the program were most popular and where we could improve, which has shaped the way we would like to run the program moving forward.
10 professional development topics from pilot program (bold indicates most popular sessions)
- DEI Within (UVA) Psychology
- How to Get Involved in Research
- The DMP Process
- Deciding to Go to Grad School
- Applying to Grad School
- Applying to Clinical Programs
- Life in Grad School
- What Can You Do With a BA in Psychology?
- Defining Your Interests as an Undergraduate
- Self-Care as a College Student
Components
- Graduate program coordinator: This is the graduate student recruited from the psychology department who oversees the program as a whole. Their role includes recruiting faculty and graduate student volunteers for the various information sessions and discussion groups, training and overseeing the undergraduate program coordinator, and ensuring the program runs smoothly.
- Time commitment: 10 hours of prep before each semester, 1-2 hours/week during the semester
- Undergraduate program coordinator: This is the undergraduate student recruited from a pool of interested psychology major volunteers who organizes the logistics of the program. Their role includes creating the schedule of events, managing the undergraduate registration platform, sending reminder emails to the volunteers and attendees, creating and disseminating advertising materials to the department and student body through emails and social media, and reserving rooms and purchasing snacks for the informal discussion groups once they can safely be held in-person.
- Time commitment: 10 hours of prep before each semester, 1-2 hours/week during the semester
- Faculty and graduate student mentor volunteers: These are the individuals recruited from the psychology department as volunteers who will lead the information sessions and discussions groups. Ideally, there should be 1-3 faculty mentors and 3-5 graduate students assigned to each professional development topic so that there will be 1-2 volunteers leading the information session and 3-4 volunteers leading each discussion group. Their roles may include reviewing and updating the existing slides for their information session, gathering resources related to their professional development topic, and attending one of their topic’s discussion groups ready to advise students and answer their questions.
- Time commitment: 45 minutes for program orientation meeting, 1-3 hours of prep before their session (depending on how much time they choose to invest), 1 hour leading their session
- Undergraduate student attendees: These are the undergraduate psychology students recruited through program advertisements who will attend the information sessions and/or discussion groups. Their role is to come to the information session(s) that are most relevant to their future goals and potentially follow up by attending one of the more informal discussion groups to ask any remaining questions and develop personal connections with new mentors.
- Time commitment: 1 hour per session (can attend as many session as they want)
Expenses per Year
- Graduate program coordinator = $150.00
- Undergraduate program coordinator = $150.00
- Discussion group food and supplies = $300.00
- Printing and advertising = $100.00
- SignUp Genius account (or other registration service?) = $100.00
Total = $800.00
Calendar
Spring Semester (* = first year of program only)
- December
- *Select a graduate program coordinator for the semester
- *Hire an undergraduate program coordinator for the semester
- Recruit faculty and graduate student volunteers
- *Poll undergraduates on which topics they’d like to see covered
- January
- Weekly 30-min program coordinator check-in meetings to prep for the semester
- Create the schedule of events
- Create advertising materials
- Set up registration platform
- February
- 45-min program orientation meeting with all volunteers
- Advertise events to undergraduates
- Volunteers collect resources and update slides for their topics
- Undergraduates register for events
- March
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #1
- Topic #1 information session during the first week
- Topic #1 discussion group(s) during the second week
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #2
- Topic #2 information session during the third week
- Topic #2 discussion group(s) during the fourth week
- April
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #3
- Topic #3 information session during the first week
- Topic #3 discussion group(s) during the second week
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #4
- Topic #4 information session during the third week
- Topic #4 discussion group(s) during the fourth week
- May
- 1-hour program coordinator meeting to review event feedback and make adjustments for next semester
- Select graduate program coordinator for next year
- Hire undergraduate program coordinator for next year
Fall Semester
- July
- Recruit faculty and graduate student volunteers
- August
- Weekly 30-min program coordinator check-in meetings to prep for the semester
- Create the schedule of events
- Create advertising materials
- Set up registration platform
- September
- 45-min program orientation meeting with all volunteers
- Advertise events to undergraduates
- Volunteers collect resources and update slides for their topics
- Undergraduates register for events
- October
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #1
- Topic #1 information session during the first week
- Topic #1 discussion group(s) during the second week
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #2
- Topic #2 information session during the third week
- Topic #2 discussion group(s) during the fourth week
- November
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #3
- Topic #3 information session during the first week
- Topic #3 discussion group(s) during the second week
- 30-min program coordinator check-in meeting for Topic #4
- Topic #4 information session during the third week
- Topic #4 discussion group(s) during the fourth week
- December
- 1-hour program coordinator meeting to review event feedback and make adjustments for next semester