Psi Chi, an international honor society for psychology students, has been brought to Lakeland College by Anthony Liguori, associate professor of psychology and advisor for the Lakeland chapter of Psi Chi.

According to http://www.psichi.org/, the purpose statement is, “Psi Chi is an international honor society whose purpose shall be to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship of the individual members in all fields, particularly in psychology, and to advance the science of psychology.”

Liguori wanted to bring Psi Chi to Lakeland because he wants to “honor the highest achieving students” and to “give them something they’ll have forever.”

Liguori himself has been a member since he was in college.

Establishing a Psi Chi chapter at Lakeland was not easy. Liguori had to prove to Psi Chi that Lakeland had enough quality students. There was also a four to five page intensive application that he had to fill out to attempt to get a chapter here. Liguori also had to prove that Lakeland was a very active campus with psychology (through internships, community involvement and campus participation).

Having the psychology club on campus aided in bringing a chapter of Psi Chi to Lakeland.

To be a member, an individual must be in a program of a psychological nature (major or minor), have completed three semesters of college, have completed nine credits of psychology courses, have at least a 3.0 GPA and must have at least a 3.0 GPA in their psychology courses. For more information on application rules, visit http://www.psichi.org/?page=become_member.

To apply to be a member, an individual must fill out an online application and pay a one-time due. After that is done and the application is accepted, the individual is a lifetime member.

Undergraduate and graduate students, transfer students, full-time faculty members and alumni may become members of a Psi Chi chapter.

Currently, there are 11 eligible inductees for the Lakeland Psi Chi chapter.

The benefits for each member will differ. On the broad spectrum, there are scholarship opportunities, networking, information on graduate schools and jobs and more.

According to Liguori, only 13 out of the 24 Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU), which Lakeland is part of, has a chapter of Psi Chi. This separates Lakeland out and draws more attention to the psychology program and students.

There will be an induction ceremony in April.

To learn more about Psi Chi, visit http://www.psichi.org/.