[456]MTSU ALUMNA RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD FOR GRADUATE STUDY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 22, 2008EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU ALUMNA RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD FOR GRADUATE STUDY
Pre-Law Major Only One of Many to be Honored by Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society

(MURFREESBORO) – Gretchen Jenkins, a May 2008 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, received one of 40 Phi Kappa Phi Awards of Excellence to be used for graduate study. She was one of only 40 students from throughout the nation to be so honored with the $2,000 stipend. Another 60 students received Fellowships of $5,000 each. Jenkins, the daughter of Baxter and Sandra Jenkins of Lebanon, Tenn., plans to attend classes at New York Law School in Manhattan starting August 18. She successfully defended her honors thesis on the First Amendment rights of students on April 11 at MTSU.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has never heard a case about college students’ First Amendment rights,” Jenkins said in a recent telephone interview from Auburn, Ala., where she was one of only 25 students from across the nation chosen to attend a women’s leadership conference.
For her thesis, Jenkins used several appellate court decisions for creating criteria by which the high court could decide a First Amendment case involving college students.
Phi Kappa Phi is “the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective honor society for all academic disciplines,” according to its Web site at www.phikappaphi.org. Jenkins credits Dr. John McDaniel, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. John Vile, chair of the Department of Political Science, with being the major influences on her academic career at MTSU. Vile says MTSU has had an impressive number of Phi Kappa Phi award-winners in recent years. In 1999, Ryan Durham, a business major, received one of 50 Fellowship Awards (then for $7,000); Durham went on to attend law school at the University of Tennessee. In 2001, Natalie Woodward, a pre-law major, received an Award of Excellence (then for $1,000); Woodward pursued graduate work in political science before going on to law school at the University of Minnesota. In 2002, Virginia Vile, a French and pre-law major, received one of 50 Fellowship Awards (then for $8,000); Virginia earned J.D. and LL.M. at the College of William and Mary and Washington University.
In 2003, Eric Freundt, a biology major, received one of 50 Fellowship Awards (then for $8,000); he became the first MTSU graduate to enroll at Oxford University under the National Institutes of Health Scholars in Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. In 2004, Andrea Walker, a RIM major, received one of 50 Fellowship Awards for $5,000; she went to the Vanderbilt University School of Law. In 2006, Katie Crytzer, a pre-law major, received one of 50 Fellowship awards for $5,000; she is at the George Mason University School of Law, where she is on the law review staff. In 2007, Matthew Bullington, an economics major, received one of 60 Fellowship awards for $5000; he went to Vanderbilt for graduate study.
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