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Posted: 4/27/06

TAMIU PKP Chapter 296 Initiates 48

 

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In ceremonies held last week, Texas A&M International University’s Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 296 initiated 48 new members and provided academic achievement awards to 33 freshmen and sophomore students.

Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest and largest all-disciplinary honor society.  The TAMIU Chapter was installed last November.

Dr. Tom Mitchell, Chapter president, Dr. Deborah Blackwell, Chapter secretary, and Dr. Dan Jones, TAMIU provost and vice president for academic affairs and chapter treasurer and led the afternoon ceremony in the Western Hemispheric Trade Center.

Graduate students initiated included Arthur J. Brewer, Karla de Jesús Castillo Velásquez, Kyle D. Clayton, Rebecca González, Rosa Isela Gutiérrez, Angelica Hernández-Black, Cristina Macalindong, Mario C. Madrigal H., and Claudia M. Váldez.

Undergraduate students initiated included:

Liliana Eloíza Aguilar, Claudia E. Brizuela, Angie Carrera, Yésica Chapa, Rebecca Marie Colón, Amanda Michelle Cruz, Ana Flor Delgado, Adolfo Durón Jr., Melinda G. Elizondo, Samuel B. Flores, Brenda Ariana García, Erica García, Lillian García, Rosalie García, Deborah Anne Garibay, Michelle Denise Gonzáles, Martha E. González, Rebecca González, Serena Guajardo and Rosa Isela Gutiérrez.

Also, Connie Lyzzette Juárez, Cynthia G. Kawas, Leticia Lambert, Clarissa U. Luna, Brenda Madrigal, Erika Martínez, Irma Araceli Martínez, Priscilla Mae Martínez, Theresa Martínez-Gómez, Ana Laura McHugh, Erika P. Ordóñez, Audrey Diane Ortega, Mayra Jannette Pliego, Araceli H. Rodríguez, Shirley Rodríguez, Gabriel Ruiz, Ariel Alí Sauceda, Stephanie Solis, Marlene Terrazas and Luis Miguel Torres.

Dr. Chen-Han Sung, TAMIU College of Arts and Sciences professor and chair, department of mathematical and physical sciences, was also initiated.

Among program highlights was the announcement of the selection of PKP member Monica Guzmán, a TAMIU senior Biology major, as the recipient of a $5,000 Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship from the national Phi Kappa Phi organization. (photo)

Guzmán will attend the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston this fall. There, she will be the recipient of the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Scholarship, an $88,000 award.  In her acceptance speech Guzmán encouraged PKP members and academic achievement award recipients to continue to pursue excellence.

In addition Chapter 296 awarded its first chapter graduate fellowship to Melissa Reyna, a senior history major who will begin work on a degree in counseling psychology at TAMIU this fall.

Joining Drs. Mitchell, Blackwell and Jones as PKP officers is president-elect Dr. Kathleen Pletsch de García.

Founded in 1897, The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi annually inducts over 32,000 student, faculty, professional staff and university alumni members from more than 280 select colleges and universities.

Those elected to membership include the upper 7.5 percent of last-term juniors and the upper 10 percent of seniors, the upper 10 percent of graduate students, along with outstanding faculty and alumni.

The PKP motto is "Let the Love of Learning Rule Humanity."

For additional information, please contact Dr. Mitchell at 956.326.2633, e-mail pkp@tamiu.edu or visit phikappaphi.org


Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu