October 2000
Dear Friends,
We burst through the first three quarters of this year like the record-setting U.S. Olympic Track Team exploding out of the blocks. It is as if we heard the crack of a starting gun signaling the beginning of the New Millennium. We are prepared, focused, and eager to lead Phi Theta Kappa to a level of achievement never before attempted by an honors organization. Membership continues upwards, as we inducted 82,000 students in 1999, 8,500 more than 1998, for the single largest increase in one year in Phi Theta Kappa’s history. This year, we are on track to break last year’s records!
Shall We Dance?
For years, Phi Theta Kappa may have been perceived as the “Cinderella” by the elite senior institution honor societies. Yet Phi Theta Kappa held close its principles and never compromised its mission or standards in order to gain their acceptance. We placed our confidence in Phi Theta Kappa’s mission and addressed that mission with conviction and passion. It appeared from our viewpoint that Phi Theta Kappa had more to offer “the elite” than they had to offer in return.
The “prestigious” Association of College Honors Societies, comprised of the elite among senior institution honor societies, had for several years extended a membership invitation to Phi Theta Kappa. Knowing the prevailing attitudes of many honor society leaders toward community colleges, Phi Theta Kappa declined. Then, the leadership and direction of ACHS changed, and this spring Phi Theta Kappa was accepted into membership by unanimous vote by ACHS member honor societies. This makes Phi Theta Kappa the exclusive ACHS representative of general scholarship honor societies serving associate degree-granting institutions. As an ACHS member institution, Phi Theta Kappa’s members employed by the federal government may now qualify for automatic one-step increases in compensation.
Read about this honor on our website.
Leaders of Promise
During the Alpha Project Town meetings conducted last year, Phi Theta Kappa members shared their struggles to secure the financial resources to complete associate degree studies. Sharp increases in costs of tuition, fees and books are causing many Phi Theta Kappa members to put their education dreams on hold, in some cases permanently. Also, many students enrolled in associate of applied science degrees do not intend to pursue baccalaureate studies immediately and will enter the job market upon graduation. At the International Convention in Orlando, our International Officers unveiled plans for the Leaders of Promise, Phi Theta Kappa’s first scholarship program aimed at helping members complete associate degree studies. This spring, members will apply for 10 awards of $500 to be paid in two installments of $250 each. The 10 scholarships will be awarded in the fall of 2001 to new members to encourage their participation in Phi Theta Kappa programs and to help defray education costs. To date, approximately $25,000 has been raised, but much more is required to meet this vast need.
Is There a Doctor in the House?
Mississippi State University’s new Community College Leadership Ph.D. program utilizes Phi Theta Kappa’s Leadership Studies program as a core course requirement! This fall, nearly 40 doctoral candidates have been taking the class, which is taught by Phi Theta Kappa’s Director of Leadership Programs Monika Creden at our Center for Excellence in Jackson.
Find out more about Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Programs.
Gifts for Lectures In the Midst of Water
Longtime Illinois advisor John Modschiedler, and Honors Committee member Joan Fedor and her husband Bob, recently provided gifts of $10,000 each to endow lectures for Phi Theta Kappa’s summer Honors Institute. In June, 450 Phi Theta Kappa members and chapter advisors gathered at the University of San Diego to hear prominent scholars and participate in field activities in a weeklong study of the 2000-01 Honors Study Topic, In the Midst of Water: Origin and Destiny of Life. Five Honors Institute lectures have been endowed along with one Faculty Scholarship Conference lecture. We are appreciative of these gifts that enable Phi Theta Kappa to continue to offer high quality honors programming for our members and advisors.
Find out more about the Honors Study Topic, In the Midst of Water: Origin and Destiny of Life.
Can You Spell Success? Answer: A-L-L- U-S-A
This April marked the tenth anniversary of the All-USA Academic Team Recognition Program at the American Association of Community Colleges Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. Prior to the program, we contacted past members of All-USA Academic Teams to track their progress. The results confirmed what we have suspected for years, that these students would indeed rise to the top at the senior institutions they attended. Past All-USA recipients have become Truman Scholars, Phi Beta Kappa members, Woodrow Wilson Fellows, American Press Association Journalism Fellows, International Paleontology Award winners ... the list goes on and on. Community colleges provided the starting place and Phi Theta Kappa provided the wings to allow these hard-working students to soar to greater levels of achievement. We knew they could if only given the chance. Since the inception of the ALL-USA program, USA Today has provided $250,000 in scholarship funds to our students.
Find out more about the All-USA Academic Team.
Pop a Top of Coke and Celebrate!
Coca Cola is helping Phi Theta Kappa, the American Association of Community Colleges, and our nation’s 1,200 two-year colleges commemorate the Centennial Celebration of Community Colleges in a really big way. They are giving $100,000 in scholarships to Phi Theta Kappa members named Centennial Scholars! The top scoring All-USA Academic Team nominee from each of the 50 states will be named a Centennial Scholar and flown to the American Association of Community College Convention to participate in the Centennial Celebration session. Coca Cola will present each of the 50 Centennial Scholars $2,000. Norma Kent, Phi Theta Kappa alumna and Director of Communications at AACC, convinced Coca Cola Foundation officials that investing in Phi Theta Kappa members was good business —- they drink a lot of Cokes during those late night study sessions!
Phi Theta Kappa Day at the National Science Foundation
Each year, the staff of the Department of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation hosts a Community College Day program. This year’s program could have been called “Phi Theta Kappa Day at NSF!” For the first time, two graduate students were invited to be featured speakers — Phi Theta Kappa members and NSF Fellows Maureen Dunne and Jamie Anderson. Their passionate speeches held NSF officials and education and association leaders spellbound. They appealed for increased support to provide community college graduates greater access to graduate research fellowships, and challenged the audience to better understand the need to combine scholarly research efforts with the work of non-profit organizations, to improve the quality of life in underdeveloped countries. Attendees commented that their presentations were among the finest ever delivered at a NSF Community College Day program.
A Sign of Things to Come - Phi Theta Kappa Enters the White House
Phi Theta Kappa provides a summer internship program in Washington, D.C. Only students nominated to the All-USA Academic Team may apply. The research projects of the students are rigorous and substantive. At the conclusion of the eight-week program, interns are required to present their research findings at a formal graduation program held in the U.S. Capitol with all agency intern sponsors present. Each Wednesday afternoon, all interns participated a special private briefing or tour held at such places as the British Embassy, Library of Congress, Holocaust Museum, and U.S. Supreme Court. The White House officials who provided the special briefing in the Old Executive Office Building were so impressed with the Phi Theta Kappa group that they offered to place our interns in the White House. Two weeks later, we received notification from the White House that two of our summer interns would begin working in the White House this fall semester. This is our first step in a strategic plan to place a Phi Theta Kappan in the White House as President!
Find out more about Phi Theta Kappa Washington Interns.
Sincerely,
Meet the 1999 Honor Roll of Donors.
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