Committees & Opportunities

Students at each program level may serve on committees and act as liaisons to the faculty. Each class elects its own representatives every year.

four students with laptops open in discussion at a conference table

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is comprised of seven chairs who are responsible for overseeing and focusing on different aspects of the Professional Psychology Program, including program development, committee retention and participation, community collaboration and outreach and community well-being.

Executive Chair: The executive chair is the head of the executive committee and oversees the Community Enhancement Committee. This individual’s primary purpose is to ensure the continuation of the committee in subsequent years by recruiting members, training the chairs and presiding over the Executive Committee meetings and committee activities. This individual also communicates directly with the faculty and represents the committee’s interests at meetings with faculty and the program director.
Alumni Chair: The alumni chair seeks to increase and maintain alumni relations with the Professional Psychology Program. This person is responsible for working alongside the CCAS Office of Development and Alumni Relations to correspond with alumni, utilize their knowledge and resources and increase their involvement in the Professional Psychology Program community.
Communications Chair: The communications chair is the primary liaison between the Professional Psychology Program community at large and the Community Enhancement Committee. This person serves as a spokesperson fostering relations within and between cohorts and notifying members of events.
Fundraising Chair: The fundraising chair raises money for use by the committee and assists in allocating these funds. This person is responsible for organizing and overseeing various fundraising events. Once funds are collected, this chair is responsible for overseeing the committee's budget and keeping track of incoming funds as well as money spent.
Historian Chair: The historian chair maintains the records and policies of the committee in order to pass a legacy and historical narrative onto each class. This person is responsible for taking minutes at all meetings.
Resource Enhancement Chair: The resource enhancement chair facilitates the continual development of the program environment by managing the upkeep of the physical space. This individual organizes projects and communicates with relevant parties to utilize the community space to its fullest extent, including maintaining current resources, scheduling regular inspections of program space, procuring new resources identified as fitting and beautifying the space.
Social Wellness Chair: The social wellness chair is focused on enhancing student well-being through community camaraderie, health and service. Their primary tasks include assessing student wellness, identifying stressors and organizing programming that aims to optimize well-being.

Center Clinic Executive Committee

The Center Clinic has its own Executive Committee, which consists of the director, associate director, postdoctoral fellows, team leaders and one student representative from each class yea. This committee monitors the functioning of the Clinic and seeks to improve its efficiency of operation, quality of training and integration with academic components.

Community Enhancement Committee

The Community Enhancement Committee seeks to instill a sense of community among the students, faculty, alumni and staff of the Professional Psychology Program and Center Clinic, as well as enhance the overall social, emotional and mental well-being of the entire community. The committee performs tasks including the procurement and improvement student resources, the organization of morale boosting and community building programming and the facilitation of communication and collaboration within the community.

Faculty Committee Student Representatives

Student representatives regularly attend the weekly Faculty Committee meetings These representatives act as liaisons between their respective cohort and the faculty, reporting student concerns and inquiries of clarification to the attention of the faculty and disseminating administrative information from the faculty to the students.

Outreach Committee

The Outreach Committee brings awareness to the greater Washington, D.C., community about various aspects of mental health and mental health services that are available to students, faculty and staff. The committee organizes events and collaborates with related GW student organizations and academic departments.

Research Committee

The Research Committee provides students with extensive opportunities to gain research experience by empirically studying various psychotherapeutic processes and outcomes underlying treatment. Under the guidance of Cheri Marmarosh, committee chair, the committee conducts research that simultaneously assists with improving the Center Clinic’s operations. Two symptom measures proposed by the committee have already been added to the Center Clinic’s assessment protocol in order to serve both the efforts of clinic externs and the committee’s future research.

Psychodynamic Film and Media Set

The George Washington University Professional Psychology department invites doctoral students to engage in exploring the intersection of psychodynamic theoretical elements located in film and media works on the Psychodynamic Film and Media Set. Students engage in activities including script reviews, transcriptions, constructing film reviews and presentation prep allowing for the frequent screenings of filmmaker's creations and film festival attendance. Partnering with PsychMinded Media fosters collaboration with the television show Best Psychology in Film, American Psychological Association Division 39's Cinematic Imprints and a host of film festivals.

Interested in joining the the Psychodynamic Film and Media Set? See the page for more info.

More Program Opportunities

There are many opportunities available to students that, while not required, can enhance their learning experience or contribute to the strengthening of the Professional Psychology Program at GW.

Brown Bag Lunches: Brown bag lunches bring together up to 25 students and faculty to discuss particular clinical interest areas. Four or more brown bag lunch meetings are convened in the academic year. Find upcoming lunches on the News & Events page.
Personal Psychological Treatment: Many students find their own experience in treatment (e.g., ego supportive therapy, insight-oriented treatments including the possibility of psychoanalysis, group therapy or couples therapy) to contribute greatly to their understanding of how treatment feels. Students may obtain referrals to clinicians in the community through consultation with the program director or any other faculty member.
Elective Training Opportunities: A number of optional training opportunities are available in the program. Seminars at Washington, D.C.-area psychotherapy and psychoanalytic training and research organizations are publicized on the bulletin board of the student lounge in the main office. Local psychoanalytic institutes offer advanced training, which may interest second- and third-year students. Some students have also found employment in the broad range of research and clinical facilities with which our faculty collaborate.
Applicant Interviews Volunteers: Current students are invited to participate informally in the interview process to offer applicants their own perspective on the Professional Psychology Program. Interviews for admission are scheduled after the application deadline (Dec. 1) but no later than early March. Contact the Professional Psychology Program to apply.
Class Representatives: A student government organization provides a forum for students to discuss ways to strengthen academic and clinical education in the program. Participation is voluntary, but warmly invited. Student representatives participate in faculty deliberations through attendance at faculty meetings on a monthly basis. Each class elects a representative and an alternative each year.