Phi Theta Kappa Foundation Established
JACKSON, MS - Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year
colleges, has announced the establishment of the Phi Theta Kappa Foundation
and its governing Board of Trustees. The Foundation was created to direct
the Society's fundraising and development programs.
The Foundation
will officially function as the fundraising arm of Phi Theta Kappa following
final state and federal authorization, now pending, said Phi Theta Kappa
Executive Director Rod A. Risley. Trustees were named and bylaws and policies
were approved in an organizational meeting in December 2007.
Officers
of the Foundation's Board of Trustees are Dr. Matthew Quinn, Executive
Director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Virginia, Chair; Dr. Jo Marshall,
President of Somerset Community College, Kentucky, Vice Chair and Treasurer;
and Rod Risley, Mississippi, Secretary. Dr. Nancy Rieves, Director of
Institutional Advancement for Phi Theta Kappa and a Foundation Trustee,
was named Executive Director of the Foundation.
Trustees include
Dr. Shirley Gordon, President Emeritus of Highline Community College,
Washington; Westley Moore, global investment banker, CitiBank, New York;
Mirta Ojito, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Journalism,
Columbia University, New York; Anthony Sadberry, Executive Director
of the Texas Lottery Commission; and Dr. David Shinn, Professor, Elliott
School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington,
D.C.
"From many years of personal experience, I have come to
know the superlative ability and potential of the students who attend our
two-year colleges," said Dr. Quinn. "Their drive, dedication and determination
are the true engine of our country and our communities. I welcome the privilege
to help increase the opportunities for many others to attend our colleges
and improve their lives."
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, winner
of Phi Theta Kappa's 2006 Alliance in Education Excellence Award, presents
up to 50 scholarships valued up to $30,000 to community college transfer
students. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is also responsible for the Community
College Transfer Initiative. Dr. Quinn is a former college president and
a longtime educator, who serves on numerous academic boards and commissions.
Dr.
Marshall is a former Vice Chair of Phi Theta Kappa's Board of Directors.
She is also a Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Studies Certified Program Facilitator
and was part of the team that took this program into Singapore. A former Alabama
Regional Coordinator for Phi Theta Kappa, Dr. Marshal served the Society
as an advisor for 30 years and has been honored as a Faculty Scholar, Mosal
Scholar, Distinguished Regional Coordinator and Giles Distinguished
Advisor.
Risley has served as Phi Theta Kappa's Executive Director
since 1985, and is the second person to hold that position in the Society's
90-year history. He led efforts to create the Leadership Development Studies
Program, All-USA, All-State, Guistwhite and Leaders of Promise Scholarship
Programs, and to forge relationships with the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation,
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation and USA TODAY. He is the 2008 recipient of
the American Association of Community Colleges National Leadership Award.
Dr. Gordon is the current Vice Chair of the Phi Theta Kappa Board
of Directors, having served as Board Chair for 20 years. She was a member
of President Ronald Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education,
which produced the landmark education reform report, A Nation at Risk
(1983). She is a former member of the American Association of Community
College Board of Directors and the 2005 recipient of the American Association
of Community College National Leadership Award.
Moore, a Rhodes
Scholar and honors graduate of Johns Hopkins University, was president
of his Phi Theta Kappa chapter at Valley Forge Military College in Pennsylvania,
and is a graduate of Phi Theta Kappa's Leadership Studies Program. Moore
is also a former White House Fellow and served in Afghanistan with the U.S.
Army Reserves, where he holds the rank of captain.
Ojito was
awarded a shared Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2001 when she
wrote for The New York Times. She is also a former reporter for the
Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald and author of Finding
Manana: a Memoir of a Cuban Exodus. A Society member and graduate of
Miami Dade Community College and Florida Atlantic University, which she
attended on a Phi Theta Kappa scholarship, Ojito was honored as Phi Theta
Kappa's Distinguished Alumnus in 2006.
Dr. Rieves joined the
Phi Theta Kappa staff in 2006, coming from the fundraising division of the
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. Rieves is a Phi Theta Kappa Certified Leadership
instructor and was a chapter advisor at Mid-South Community College in
Arkansas. She is a former member of the Bank Advisory Board for Fidelity
National Bank in Arkansas.
Sadberry was first appointed to
the Texas Lottery Commission by former Gov. Ann Richards as Texas Lottery
Commissioner. He is a former Assistant Attorney General of Texas and a former
member of the Phi Theta Kappa Board of Directors. Sadberry became Phi Theta
Kappa's first African-American National Officer when he was elected Southern
Vice President in 1970.
Dr. Shinn was a foreign service officer
with the US State Department for 37 years, filling appointments in Washington
and at seven embassies in Africa and the Middle East. He was ambassador to
Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. Dr. Shinn has been an adjunct professor at George
Washington University since 2001, where he teaches African affairs. He
holds a Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University.
Dr. Shinn has published numerous articles and book chapters dealing with
Africa and is currently engaged in research for a book on China-Africa relations.
A graduate of Yakima Valley Community College, he was named an Outstanding
Alumni by the American Association of Community Colleges in 1994, and was
chosen Phi Theta Kappa's Most Distinguished Alumnus in 1995.
Phi
Theta Kappa International Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, is
the largest honor society in American higher education with 1,250 chapters
on two-year and community college campuses in all 50 of the United States,
Canada, Germany, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands,
the Federated States of Micronesia, the British Virgin Islands, the United
Arab Emirates and U.S. territorial possessions. More than two million
students have been inducted since its founding in 1918, with approximately
100,000 students inducted annually.
