Advisor Corner: The Advisor Community Exchange (ACE)
By Lora Vasiliauskas
Psi Beta National Council Vice President of Psi Beta’s Southeastern Region
This academic year marked a historical event; we held our first virtual Psi Beta Advisor Community Exchange (A.C.E.). We held two sessions in the fall and one in the spring. We will hold another in late summer. What is A.C.E.? The get togethers provide opportunities for Psi Beta advisors across the country to ask questions, share ideas, connect with colleagues, and support one another.
I have been a Psi Beta and psychology club advisor for a long time. Throughout the years, I felt lucky to be able to connect with other advisors at various conferences, but those opportunities were few and far between. We are also not always around others who share our passion for Psi Beta and the organization’s mission. Sometimes not having those opportunities to connect with others with the same passion, those who have more experience working with chapters, or simply to exchange and share ideas can make you feel like you are alone on an island.
In discussions with other advisors, we realized that we could provide a way for us to get together and connect more often thanks to technology, and do so in a way that can be helpful. Whether one’s college is in a more rural area or an area where there are numerous colleges and even Psi Beta chapters, we now have the opportunity to connect with advisors from across the country. Whether you are a new or seasoned advisor, we welcome you; everyone has something to bring to the table and help us grow whether through questions or sharing ideas.
Our first exchange in September brought many advisors to the table. In their introductions, we learned a little about each chapter and some of their chapter’s activities. We had a wonderful guest speaker, Kari Tucker, Irvine College’s Psi Beta advisor. Her presentation titled ‘An efficient, problem-free way to register students as Psi Beta members. How I do it’ provided suggestions to make the Psi Beta registration process simple. A recording of her presentation will be available soon. During our sessions in November 2022 and March 2023, we held discussions in break out groups and then came together to share the key ideas from those groups.
Helen Greenbergs, the Psi Beta National Council VP for the Western Region, provided a brief presentation about the importance of Psi Beta student delegates and the benefits this role provides for both the participating chapters and the student representatives. If you have not designated a student as a Psi Beta delegate, there are still a few more meetings this academic year. Feel free to contact Helen or your regional VP if you have any questions about Psi Beta delegates.
They currently meet the first Monday of every month at 8pm eastern time via zoom. Topics covered in our breakout groups included scholarships, the national research project, ‘growing and regrowing’ chapters and more. We are working on providing access to Kari Tucker’s presentation and summaries of the highlights of the breakout sessions. Those will be sent to all the advisors as soon as they are available.
Thank you to all of those who came to share ideas and ask questions! If you have any questions about the Psi Beta Advisor Community Exchange program, please email Lora Vasiliauskas, the Psi Beta Council Southeastern VP, at lvasiliauskas@virginiawestern.edu.
