[438] Scholarship to be rewarded with Phi Kappa Phi membership in April 13 ceremony

MURFREESBORO — Forty-seven of MTSU’s brightest students are set to be inducted into the university’s most prestigious honor society.

Phi Kappa Phi will conduct its spring 2016 initiation ceremony at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, in the Student Union Ballroom. A printable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.

Dianna Rust, chapter vice president and an associate professor in the University College, will deliver the initiation address. Rust was associate dean of the college from 2008 to 2013.

Prior to that, Rust served her alma mater as director of academic and outreach learning from 1998 to 2008 and as marketing coordinator from 1993 to 1998.

Rust also served as chair of the Quality Enhancement Plan Committee. The QEP is required for MTSU to receive reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

In addition to PKP, Rust is a member of the Association for Continuing Higher Education, the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Tennessee Association for Student Success and Retention and past president of the Tennessee Alliance for Continuing Higher Education.

Phi Kappa Phi has chapters on more than 300 campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

According to www.phikappaphi.org, the honor society was created in 1897 at the University of Maine with a mission “to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”

To be eligible, juniors must have completed at least 72 credit hours with at least 24 credit hours at their current institution and rank scholastically in the top 7.5 percent of their class.

Seniors also must have completed at least 24 semester hours and rank in the top 10 percent of their class. Graduate students also must rank in the top 10 percent of their class and have completed at least 18 graduate hours.

Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also may be eligible for membership in the organization. Its motto is “Philosophia Krateito Photon,” which is “Let the love of learning rule humanity” in Greek.

To learn more about joining MTSU’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter, go to its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pkpmtsu.

For more information, contact Gina Logue, MTSU chapter secretary, at 615-898-5081 or gina.logue@mtsu.edu.