ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference

ILLOWA is one of the oldest continuing undergraduate psychological research conferences in the United States. Established in 1973, ILLOWA was created when James Joyce and Kermit Hoyenga of Western Illinois University, Dean Wright of Monmouth College, and Gary Francois of Knox College established a mechanism by which local colleges and universities could enhance interaction with each other and provide an educational research experience for their students.

ILLOWA has since expanded to include nine Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri educational institutions. ILLOWA established its first website in 1998 at Culver-Stockton College. Since the fall of 2001, undergraduates who present at ILLOWA can also submit their papers for possible inclusion in the Journal of Psychological Inquiry.

The conference’s programming format has remained relatively unchanged over the years in that only undergraduates are allowed to present their findings from empirical research projects. Each year a different institution hosts the conferences, features a keynote speaker, and usually takes place the Saturday preceding the annual convention of the Midwestern Psychological Association. The date of the convention, if scheduling permits, is the Saturday before the Midwestern Psychological Association’s annual convention.

The ILLOWA conference has been mentioned in Teaching of Psychology, Eye on Psi Chi, and in the APA Monitor. Additionally, ILLOWA has been cited as one of the major undergraduate conferences in the United States. See: Smith and Davis (2010) The psychologist as a detective: An introduction to conducting research in psychology (5th Ed.).