Abstract
In 2019, Psi Chi celebrates its 90th and 10th birthdays as the National and International Honor Society in Psychology. This review of the glorious history of Psi Chi is in three parts: (1) its current mission, serving over 750000 life members in 1130 college campuses world-wide; (2) its humble but inspiring origins in 1929 at Yale University; (3) four points of impressive courage within the history of Psi Chi - in 1929, 1959, 1981, and 2009; and also includes a bibliography, for international and U.S. readers to access prior histories of Psi Chi.
Highlights
This review of the glorious history of Psi Chi is in three parts: (1) its current mission, serving over 750000 life members in 1130 college campuses world-wide; (2) its humble but inspiring origins in 1929 at Yale University; (3) four points of impressive courage within the history of Psi Chi — in 1929, 1959, 1981, and 2009; and includes a bibliography, for international and U.S readers to access prior histories of Psi Chi
How did Psi Chi become, by some measures, the world’s largest honor society, touching the lives of over 750000 life members in over 1130 chapters world-wide? This article offers a panoramic review of the glorious 90 year history of Psi Chi and, in particular, four points where it showed bold courage, to become the glorious Society that it is today. Those who learn of the glorious history of Psi Chi may be inspired at many turns: (a) how the original idea was conceived in 1927 in a basement in Kansas; (b) how quickly this humble idea spread to national popularity by 1929, despite some resistance; (c) how this idea drew together so many brilliant faculty and students over the years, to further develop it into so many life-changing programs; (d) how so many thousands of students and faculty lives today have been deeply touched by its many awards, grants, conferences, chapter and other activities; (e) not least of all, how this huge Society thrives without charging a penny in dues after a new member is inducted for life
Are Psi Chi members familiar with this rich history? Sadly, we find few U.S Psi Chi members know much about the glorious history of their Society (Takooshian, 1999)
Summary
In 2019, psychology students and faculty world-wide have reason to celebrate two momentous anniversaries: 90 years of Psi Chi, formed on September 4, 1929, and, since 2009, its 10 years as the International Honor Society in Psychology. These histories include anniversary publications to mark 50 years (Hunt, 1979) and 75 years (Hogan & Takooshian, 2004), an edited volume (MacKinney, 1986), an oral history (Davis & Wertheimer, 2000), an international report (Takooshian & Newman, 1998), a video that is online (Karlin, 1998) and, not least of all, two rich historical essays (Cousins, Tracy, & Giordano, 1992; Hogan & Sexton, 1993) On this 90th and 10th anniversaries of the National and International Honor Society in Psychology, this four-part report reviews: (a) the mission of Psi Chi; (b) its unique origin and history; (c) four points of bold courage in this history; (d) and its global future
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