The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi

May has been a milestone month for Karen Watts DiCicco. The Bryant resident recently graduated from UA Little with a Ph.D. in computer and information science and was promoted as the assistant director of information technology at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Southeast Missouri State University is proud to announce the 2021-22 Student Life and Leadership Award recipients.

Tripti Shukla, a double major from Little Rock, has been named the winner of the 2022 Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Frank L. and Beverly Whitbeck established the award in memory of their son, Edward Lynn Whitbeck, who was a senior at Little Rock University, the predecessor of UA Little Rock, at the time of his death in 1965. Each scholar receives a personalized plaque and a monetary award.

For Ruby Trotter, graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has become a family tradition. Because she's a double major in chemistry and Spanish, she will likely walk across the stage twice on May 14 - during the morning ceremony and in the afternoon.

Morgan Preston of Vicksburg, Michigan, has been selected to receive Angelo State University's 2022 Presidential Award as the top graduate in her class, while five other ASU graduating seniors have been selected for 2021-22 Distinguished Student Awards from their respective academic colleges. Preston will be recognized at ASU's May 13-14 commencement ceremonies, along with the five Distinguished Student Award honorees. The Distinguished Student Award recipients are: Krystyn Irby of Odessa - Archer College of Health and Human Services Price Tarbet of Big Spring - College of Arts and Humanities Caroline Huseman of Amarillo - College of Education Mia van Rheede van Oudtshoorn of Kroonstad, South Africa - College of Science and Engineering Connor Blake of Boerne - Norris-Vincent College of Business. ASU's Academic Excellence Committee hosted an awards ceremony May 2 in the Houston Harte University Center to honor all the award recipients and nominees. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Angelo State University's chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) national honor society recently inducted its spring 2022 class of 57 new student members during a special virtual initiation ceremony on Facebook. PKP is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for students in all academic disciplines. Invitations to join PKP are extended to juniors in the top 7.5% of their class and to seniors and graduate students in the top 10% of their class. See the full list of inductees, listed by their hometowns, at angelo.edu/news.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 22BC University of Maryland, Baltimore Campuses recently named its Undergraduate Research Award recipients.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 22BC University of Maryland, Baltimore Campuses recently chose its national fellowship nominee.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 22BC University of Maryland, Baltimore Campuses recently awarded its Shirley C. Sorensen award to Reina Maeda.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 22BC University of Maryland, Baltimore Campuses recently awarded the Marilyn Demorest Award to Meredith Power.

Millikin University's student-run newspaper, the Decaturian, garnered several awards at the annual Illinois College Press Association (ICPA) conference, held March 18-20 in Chicago. The Decaturian took home 17 awards in the under 4,000 circulation category at the ICPA conference, surpassing the Dec's 15 ICPA awards in 2021. As an entire staff, The Decaturian won third place in General Excellence and third in the Sweepstakes category for points earned across all contest categories. Jeana Pierson, a senior English writing major with a criminal justice minor, and editor-in-chief of the Decaturian, earned first place honors for Headline Writing. Sydney Sinks, a senior English writing major, reporter and editor for the Decaturian, earned two first-place awards for her in-depth reporting and a second-place honor for her editorial work. Carin Houser, a sophomore secondary English education major, writer and editor for the Decaturian, won three ICPA awards. Houser earned first place for her Spot News Photo of a firetruck; she was a member of a team that received third place for multimedia reporting, and she won second place for Sports Page Design. Below is the complete list of the Decaturian's Illinois College Press Association award recipients: 1st Place Charlize Pate, Feature Photo (Clock Tower) Jeana Pierson, Headline Writing Sydney Sinks, In-Depth Reporting Sydney Sinks, News Story Mason Hoyt, Column (Music) Carin Houser, Spot Photo (Firetruck) 2nd Place Sports Page Design (Carin Houser) Editorial (Sydney Sinks) 3rd Place Online News Site (All Staff) Multimedia Reporting (Athena Pajer, Carin Houser and Cole Anderson) Sports Column (Brandt Williamson) Sports Game Story (Caleb Buehrle) News Story (Athena Pajer) Honorable Mention Front Page Layout (All Staff) Feature Page Design (All Staff)

Ten University of Mississippi seniors have been inducted into the university's 2021-22 Hall of Fame, one of the highest honors afforded to students at UM.

Kutztown University presented the Chambliss Student Academic Achievement Awards to six accomplished students Friday, April 8, in the Georgian Room at Old Main. Students who received awards were nominated by staff and faculty members for meeting one or more of the six areas of achievement: successfully completed research projects, high-quality original artwork, high-quality artistic performances (music, chorus, drama, etc.), original writing in literature or meritorious writing in other fields, noteworthy achievements in athletics, and outstanding service to the KU community. The Academic Achievement Awards were established in 2004 through a donation provided by Dr. Carlson Chambliss, KU professor of astronomy from 1970-2003. The purpose of the awards is to recognize the exceptional individual achievements of a select group of KU graduating seniors. Specially designed coin medallions of gold, silver and copper were presented to the students. Vanessa Maybruck - Gold Medal Vanessa Maybruck is an Honors student, a mathematics and mathematics education dual major with a minor in biochemistry graduating in May from Allentown, Pa. Maybruck was awarded the Chambliss Academic Achievement Gold Medal for outstanding service to the university community and successfully completed research project(s). She has been actively involved in multiple organizations on campus, including the Mathematics Department Peer Mentor Program, the Kappa Mu Epsilon Honor Society, the KU Honors Club and the KU Choirs. She has made outstanding contributions to the KU chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and the IOTA chapter of the Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society. She has served as president of AWM for more than two years, where she co-organized and coordinated several events focused on empowering women, celebrating diversity and navigating male-dominated careers as women. It was primarily her leadership that made these events a success. Maybruck has made other significant contributions to the campus community through her efforts to promote disability awareness and improve campus accessibility for individuals with disabilities. She had multiple leadership roles as an active member of Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society for Students with Disabilities (DAP) and is currently president. Under her leadership, DAP members worked to create guidelines for making large scale campus events more accessible to all, where she hopes to publish these guidelines for general campus use. Maybruck is KU's nominee for the State System's Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence. Maybruck plans to obtain her Ph.D. in applied mathematics to become a professor and prolific mathematical modeler. Isaac Reiter - Gold Medal Isaac Reiter is an Honors student, a mathematics major graduating in May from Fleetwood, Pa. Reiter was awarded the Chambliss Academic Achievement Gold Medal for successfully completed research project(s). Reiter has been an active researcher and presenter in the areas of cryptography, number theory and graph theory. These areas of interest, along with his experience in computer programming, has led to two general research projects. His work with a project involving playing card cryptosystem led to a new discovery of vulnerabilities in current cryptosystems. His findings allowed him to improve the security of Card Chameleon and has created a new secure and efficient playing card system called VICCard. In his other project that focused on problems of graph theory, a field of discrete mathematics that studies network structure, Reiter has demonstrated an exceptional research ability. He currently has two publications on his research in reputable professional journals, a third publication in an undergraduate journal and has an Honors capstone thesis. He has presented his research at local conferences, graduate student seminars and regional and national professional conferences. Reiter intends to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics and has a goal of becoming a professor. Kayla Argen - Silver Medal Kayla Argen is a sport management major graduating in May from Cresco, Pa. She was awarded the Chambliss Academic Silver Medal for noteworthy achievements in athletics. Argen was captain and center midfielder for the nationally ranked KU women's soccer team, where she helped lead the Golden Bears to a successful 17-1-2 season in 2021 and participate in the PSAC and NCAA tournaments. She was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America First Team and D2CCA All-America Third Team, the eighth player in program history to earn All-America status and only the third to receive the recognition from multiple organizations in a single season. She has been an active member of the women's soccer program all three competitive seasons that she has been a student at KU, starting in 53 of 58 career games played. Argen led KU last year in scoring with 10 goals and five assists for 25 points, which ranked fourth in the PSAC. Throughout her career, she has 17 goals and 15 assists, fifth all-time in program history for career assists. These numbers have accounted for three years due to the 2020 season being canceled due to COVID-19. Argen is planning to return to the field this fall as the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. Her future aspirations involve a professional athletic playing career and/or a career path working in the sports field. Corey Potter - Silver Medal Corey Potter is from Reinholds, Pa. and graduated in December with a degree in geology. He was awarded the Chambliss Academic Achievement Silver Medal for successfully completed research project(s). Throughout 2021, Potter completed two separate research projects with guidance from two different faculty members and exhibited outstanding research ability and skill. In one of his projects, he worked to create 3D computer models from photographs, adapt lab-based geology research and created a method for extracting geospatial data using his computer skills. Potter worked independently to create a clear workflow that future research students can use and devised a programming solution for gathering useful data from photogrammetric models. He presented his results in person at the annual Geological Society of America meeting in Portland, Oregon in Oct. 2021. This conference is an international professional event where undergraduate students are encouraged to attend and present cutting-edge scientific research. Most presentations are given by professionals in industry, government and academia and only a select few of undergraduate students. Potter has since graduated from KU and is now in graduate school at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo. He is in the Petroleum Engineering program and is working on his Ph.D. Rylee Derr - Copper Medal Rylee Derr is from Lititz, Pa. and graduated in December with dual degrees in special education and elementary education. She was awarded the Chambliss Academic Achievement Copper Medal for noteworthy achievements in athletics. Derr has been a starter and member of the KU women's basketball team since 2017 and led the Golden Bears to two PSAC East titles, two PSAC Final Four appearances and the program's first NCAA Tournament since 1996. Derr is the all-time leading scorer in KU women's basketball history. She also holds the school record for three-pointers made in a game, season and career. She is a three-time All-PSAC selection, was the KU Freshman of the Year and has made the Dean's List and been named a PSAC Scholar-Athlete every year. She was the team captain this season and returned to complete her four years of athletics due to COVID-19. In doing so, she is pursuing her master's degree in education and her reading specialist certification. Derr aspires to become a teacher and remain involved in basketball. Shani Trebatoski - Copper Medal Shani Trebatoski is an art education and crafts major graduating in May from York, Pa. She was awarded the Chambliss Academic Achievement Copper Medal for successfully completed research project(s). Trebatoski has served as an undergraduate research assistant over the course of summer 2020 and summer 2021. Throughout the last 2+ years, she has been fully involved in the data collection and use of narrative methodologies during a research study funded by the National Art Education Foundation and a KU Bears Grant. During her study, she used narrative research - a qualitative method focused on gathering the stories of participants -to collect participants' lived experiences to better understand the complexity of being an educator in a changing teaching landscape with specific attention to how one's own identity impacts one's role as an educator. This research is timely, as the field of art education reflects and examines the role of professional identity on views of the learner and curriculum creation that promotes equity, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility. She has been an integral part of this project; she coded the data that was collected, organized and maintained the software that contains files pertinent to each participant, maintained a field/research journal, participated in data reflections and researched background material that was vital to the study. Trebatoski co-authored a research article that focused on how white educators engage in critical social action that has been accepted for publication. She also participated in state and national scholarly presentations. She is currently teaching elementary students in Reading, where the knowledge gained from this research is being actively utilized as she works with diverse learners. She will be serving elementary students in the Reading School District and will be presenting at the undergraduate KU Inspires research symposium this April.

Slippery Rock University hosted its annual Celebration of Achievement awards ceremony April 5, at the Smith Student Center, recognizing faculty and students for their outstanding contributions in the areas of academics, research, scholarship, creative activities and more. The highlight of the annual event is the announcement of SRU's finalist for the Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence, which is given to a graduating senior in Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education who exemplifies academic excellence and involvement. SRU's 2022 finalist is Emma Yoder, a senior mathematics major from Marietta, Georgia.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Millikin University student attorneys were recognized for their work at the 2022 Model Illinois Government (MIG) Moot Court Competition held March 3-6 at the Wyndham Springfield City Centre in downtown Springfield, Ill. The MIG Moot Court competition simulates arguments at the Illinois Supreme Court level. During the competition, teams of attorneys argue their case before a panel of student justices and legal professionals. This year, five Millikin student attorneys participated in the annual Moot Court Competition. Gillian Beginski, a senior double majoring in philosophy (pre-law track) and political science from Mundelein, Ill., participated on a hybrid team where she was paired with a student from Eastern Illinois University. Beginski's team advanced to the semifinal round of the competition. The team of Collin Budd, a senior majoring in philosophy (pre-law track) from Arcola, Ill., and Olivia Swords, a first-year student from Decatur, Ill., double majoring in philosophy (pre-law track) and English writing, and pursuing a French minor, also advanced to the semifinal round. The team of Hannah Prochnow, a junior double majoring in philosophy (pre-law track) and environmental studies from Bloomington, Ill., and Isabella Voss, a junior majoring in management information systems and pursuing a philosophy pre-law minor from Lockport, Ill., advanced to the final round and took second place overall. In addition to the outstanding team performances, Collin Budd was honored with the individual award for Most Outstanding Attorney. Budd was also elected to serve as Chief Justice for the 2022-23 year. In this capacity, he will provide organizational leadership for the 2023 competition.

Phi Kappa Phi recently announced its 2022 class of Dissertation Fellows. The ten fellows will receive $10,000 each to support their dissertation writing.

Three Angelo State University graduate students who are intern school counselors in the Brownwood Independent School District earned Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas (CREST) Awards for their respective schools at the Texas School Counselor Association's (TSCA) recent Professional School Counselor Conference in Round Rock. ASU graduate students Angie Bertrand, Marci Reagan and LeeAnn Stork, all from Brownwood, are members of the Brownwood ISD Counseling and Mental Health Team that earned the CREST Awards from TSCA. The CREST Awards recognize schools with outstanding counseling programs, and that have demonstrated a commitment to using the Texas Model to improve the lives and achievements of students in academic, career and personal social domains. See more details at angelo.edu/news.

Three-Minute Thesis, presented by the YSU College of Graduate Studies, requires students to explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is proud to announce the recipients of the 2022 Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Research Grants. The grants of up to $1,500 were designed to support graduate students who are active Society members seeking funding for research in support of career development opportunities.

Phi Kappa Phi members nationwide have been selected to serve as officers for their local chapters.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Ellen Yeudall, a senior English major, was named Georgia College's 2022 Academic Recognition Day representative. Ellen will be graduating in May with a 4.0 GPA, is a member of the Honors College, the non-fiction editor for Georgia College's literary magazine, as well as the secretary for the student honors association.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Missouri State University's Board of Governors acknowledged six students with the prestigious Citizen Scholar award. The award honors students who exemplify academic success and the university's public affairs mission.

Anitrea Graydon is a wife, mother of two, a student, a business owner, and community volunteer from Jacksonville, Arkansas. She will receive a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice degree from UA Little Rock on Dec. 18. She is not only a dedicated community leader, but she worked consistently to maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout her academic career.

Working parents, immigrants and first-generation college students are among the members of the 30th class of Mary Stuart Rogers Scholars honored Oct. 15, during a virtual ceremony. Seventeen students in all were recognized with 13 receiving the Rogers Scholars ring presented to first-year recipients.

Angelo State University's chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) national honor society recently inducted its fall 2021 class of 86 students during a special virtual initiation ceremony on Facebook. PKP is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for students in all academic disciplines. Invitations to join PKP are extended to juniors in the top 7.5% of their class and to seniors and graduate students in the top 10% of their class. See the full list of inductees, listed by their hometowns, at angelo.edu/news.