The Black Graduate Student Conference in Psychology (BGSCP) has been held every year since 1995 and has demonstrated success in retention of African American graduate students in psychology. The goals of this conference are to: 1) provide graduate students in psychology with a supportive atmosphere to present their research and receive constructive feedback from fellow African American graduate students and faculty that will improve their research capabilities; 2) provide students with an opportunity to exchange strategies and experiences that will help them to thrive in graduate school and beyond; and 3) provide a forum for African American graduate students in psychology to develop long-lasting professional relationships with future colleagues. Conference activities consist of paper presentations, poster sessions, roundtable discussions and professional development presentations. Students are required to participate in all aspects of the conference. This requirement along with the small size of the conference ensures that students get to know each other and fosters a climate of support. The enhanced level of interaction also promotes the exchange of scientific ideas across different areas of psychology, encouraging a more informed and interdisciplinary approach to psychological research.
Over the years, the conference has played a vital role in training African American graduate students to become productive and effective researchers, some of whom have gone on to become academic psychologists. The impact of the conference continues to be felt as the research skills and professional contacts that former participants gained from the conference help them to develop professionally throughout their careers.
(BGCP) was held at the University of Miami from June 2 to June 5th. The conference provides an opportunity for the presentation of state-of-the-art psychological research by African American graduate students as well as an opportunity for the professional development of African American psychology graduate students in a supportive, but critical environment. This year's participants included 60 African American graduate students who were currently enrolled in doctoral program in psychology from around the country. The conference also include 15 African American faculty who provide individualized and group mentoring for the students through informal and formal interactions throughout the conference. The conference included 13 paper presentations and 32 posters presented by the student participants. There was also 2 formal professional development panels address issues related to life post graduate students. The panelists for these sessions included conference faculty as well as other local Ph.D. professionals from a variety of fields inside and outside of academia. Dr. Pamela Trotman-Reid was the keynote speaker for the conference banquet. Dr. Trotman-Reid is an African American psychologist and President of St. Joseph's College. The students found her message to be quite inspiring. As always, the conference concluded with a large informal mentoring session in which all of the faculty in attendance provided their observations of major and minor issues relating to the participants' presentations, poster sessions, and demeanor throughout the conference. Student participants were also encouraged to raise final questions during this session. Over the years, The BGCP has made several significant contributions to the field as well as the broader society. First, the conference has played a vital role in training African American graduate students to be productive and effective researchers over the years. Another significant contribution of the conference has been its role in retaining African American graduate students in graduate school.Finally, the BGCP has played an important role in the development of African American faculty at top-tier research institutions. The 2011 BGCP continued in this tradition. It received outstanding evaluations from the student participants and can only be considered a resounding success.
