American Psychological Association of Graduate Students

The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) is a constituency group within the American Psychological Association that represents APA graduate student affiliate members. Founded in 1988, APAGS currently represents approximately one-third of all members of the American Psychological Association, making it one of the largest constituency groups within the association and the largest group of organized graduate psychology students worldwide.[1] APAGS was formed by David Pilon and Scott Mesh who were graduate students in clinical psychology. David Pilon was then the president of SOSIP (Society of Students in Psychology of the Ontario Psychological Association) and Scott Mesh was president of CPSE (Clinical Psychology Student Association of Greater New York). Most leaders in organized psychology at the time thought that APAGS was a bad idea and cited the fact that students graduate as the reason such an organization would fail. However, Pilon and Mesh found friends in psychologists Ray Fowler, Charlie Spielberger, Pierre Ritchie, Ellin Bloch, Virginia Staudt Sexton, John Hogan, Jeff Nevid and Louis Primavera. These psychologists helped Pilon and Mesh lay the groundwork to form APAGS at the August meeting of the American Psychological Association in Atlanta, Georgia.

American Psychological Association of Graduate Students

Formation	1988 (1988)
Headquarters	750 First Street, NE Washington, D.C., U.S.
Website	www.apa.org/apags

Since its beginnings in 1988 with about 18,000 members, APAGS has grown to one-third of APA's total membership and has become one of the largest constituency groups within APA. APAGS is composed of a governing committee, five subcommittees and several task forces, and has increased its prominence and voice by gaining voting seats in APA governance groups, such as the Committee on Accreditation and APA's Council of Representatives.[2]

APAGS Chairs through the years[3]

• Scott Mesh and David Pilon 1988—1989
• Dawn Royall 1989—1990
• James Campbell 1990—1991
• Robert Rella 1991—1992
• Bridget Cabibi 1992—1993
• Randy Hofer 1993—1994
• Mathew Simpson 1994—1995
• Miguel Ybarra 1995—1996
• Barbara Beauchamp 1996—1997
• Mitchell Prinstein 1997—1998
• Marcia Moody 1998—1999
• Carol Williams-Nickelson 1999—2000
• Marcus Patterson 2000—2001
• Derek Snyder 2001—2002
• Christopher W. Loftis 2002—2003