Brady Surles Receives Board of Directors Alumni Achievement Award
Brady Surles, longtime chapter advisor at Southwest Virginia Community
College and Virginia Regional Coordinator, is the 2006 recipient of the
Phi Theta Kappa Board of Directors Alumni Achievement Award.
"I
was quite surprised, but I deeply appreciate this honor," said Surles.
"Phi Theta Kappa has been an extremely rewarding part of my professional
life, and I have also made a number of close friends through my association
with the Society."
The Board of Directors Alumni Achievement
Award annually recognizes an alumnus who has been exemplary in meeting
the Society's mission through support and leadership locally, regionally
and/or nationally. A list of past
winners is available on the website.
Surles became
a member of Phi Theta Kappa at Bluefield Junior College in Virginia. He graduated
from Baylor University in Texas and also received his master's degree from
Baylor. Surles also holds a theological degree with a focus on church history
from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, and
has also done doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina.
After
teaching at his two-year alma mater, Bluefield, where he was also Dean of
Men, Surles joined the history faculty at Southwest Virginia, and in 1974
he became Phi Theta Kappa advisor. Five years later he was named Virginia
Regional Coordinator.
Highlights of his association with
Phi Theta Kappa include participating in Honors Institutes as a seminar
leader and serving on the first Honors Committee. Surles was also elected
by his fellow advisors to the maximum two terms as the Regional Coordinator
Representative on the Society's Board of Directors.
Surles
has received numerous Phi Theta Kappa awards, including a Mosal Scholarship,
which he used to develop an international studies program at his college.
Surles has worked on curriculum development in Russia on a State Department
grant, and was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher in Norway.
Surles'
leadership extends to the community as well. He has been a member of the board
of Virginia's Special Olympics and Foundation for the Humanities.
