A Conversation with Psi Chi President Meg Roney
September 10, 2024 - Shelly DeJong
Meg Roney, a senior studying Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), is the new president of Psi Chi at Michigan State University, the International Honor Society in Psychology that focuses on scholarship and advancing the field of psychology. We chatted with Meg recently about why she wanted to lead Psi Chi, what interested students can expect out of getting involved this year, and her advice for incoming first year students.
How did you end up studying psychology and HDFS?
During my senior year of high school, I took a psychology class, which sparked my interest in the field of psychology and led me to major in psychology at Michigan State University. As I took various classes, I discovered my passion for developmental psychology, and I knew it was the area of psychology that I was most interested in. I added HDFS to my studies because I love how much it complements and expands on developmental psychology in different ways.
After graduating, I want to go into development psychology and hopefully focus on child development and working with kids, whether that be through research or other avenues. I’d love to continue my education through a master's or PhD program.
Can you tell us about your involvement with Psi Chi?
This is my second year in Psi Chi. I started by attending as a general member last year...and I loved it. I really loved the variety of guest speakers that came in. I learned about a lot of different fields of psychology that I didn’t even know existed. I also learned about a lot of different opportunities like internships and research. The community that I found there was super welcoming. I loved getting to know the members--we're all interested in psychology so it's cool to interact with people and learn with them and do community events with them. I knew I wanted to get involved and help make sure that this continues happening for future psychology students and members, so I applied to be on the e-board.
What can someone new expect from Psi Chi this year?
We meet every other Monday at 6:30 PM. Everyone is welcome to join us. We have various guest speakers, including professors from Michigan State and members of the community, who talk about different fields of psychology and how to get involved. We also have fun community events. It's a great opportunity to learn about psychology and different fields within it, as well as to participate in cool community events.
Anyone can attend the meetings and have fun with us! If you want to be inducted as a member, there is a list of requirements that are listed on our website, and we also talk about them at our meetings.
As president, what are some of your goals for Psi Chi?
One of my goals for this year is to engage in more community outreach by participating in events like the "AFSP Out of Darkness Walk" as well as getting involved in MSU's Mental Health Awareness Week. I believe that Psi Chi could greatly contribute to these initiatives and make a positive impact in the community and within our own group.
Who have been some of your favorite past speakers?
A few of my favorite speakers from last year were from the HR department at MSU and organizational psychology. We also had a community member come in who focuses on the psychology of athletes dealing with injuries. It is really interesting learning about the different areas that you can go in with psychology—and cool to hear from a mix of faculty and community practitioners. We're currently scheduling our upcoming meetings, so we’ll be trying to get a variety of speakers lined up.
Have you found other ways to be involved at MSU?
Yeah! I've been a part of Psychology Club, which has been cool. I am also a part of the Psych Scholars program in the psychology department which has been a great experience. I’ve appreciated learning about what I can do after undergraduate, all the resources that they've given me, and meeting more psychology majors who are on the same path that I am.
I am also involved in research in the HDFS department. I'm in the CHILD Lab that's led by Dr. Vallotton and Dr. Brophy-Herb. I'm working on a project that is focusing on the genderization of gender neutral characters in children's books, and how teachers subconsciously genderize characters that don’t have a gender. We found that a lot of times it is male, and so we're looking into that to help bring awareness to teachers to be more conscious of this unknown bias.
Have you enjoyed research?
I've had a great experience learning about the research process, including how it's conducted and seeing the collaboration between PhD students and faculty. I was surprised by how much work is involved in research from conducting a literature review to collecting and analyzing data. There's a lot more to it than most people realize. Seeing the amount of work and the collaboration involved has been insightful. There is a great deal of communication and teamwork when working on a research project. I'm excited to continue learning and experiencing this process.
Do you have any like advice incoming first-year students?
Getting involved in different clubs, organizations, and events was helpful to me as a first-year student. Even if you don't know if you're going to love it, it's always great to try. You never know what will come out of it. You'll learn and grow a lot as a person yourself, and also meet a bunch of people through getting involved. It was definitely a big part of my college experience.
Do you want to give any shoutouts to anyone who has helped you along your way?
Sarah Handspike has been a very resourceful and a great person for learning about psychology and what I can do with it and guiding me through my undergraduate. Dr. Vallotton has been great with research, through the CHILD Lab. Dr. Fenn has also been a great mentor along with all of the faculty that have really guided me through this experience.