Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Phi Kappa Phi honor society at Mississippi State is among five nationwide receiving Chapter of Excellence awards.
The society's headquarters in Baton Rouge, La., recently notified university officials that the campus chapter was "a thriving organization" demonstrating "an active commitment to excellence."
MSU is the only one among six campus chapters in Mississippi to be included this year in either the top recognition category or in PKP's next-tier Chapters of Merit group.
Other 2009 top-category winners include Augusta (Ga.) State, Brigham Young, San Diego State, and Southern Illinois-Carbondale universities.
Founded in 1897, PKP is the oldest and largest all-discipline honor society. Inducting approximately 30,000 members annually, it is represented at more than 300 institutions of higher learning in North America and the Philippines.
Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify.
Among other benefits, the Chapter of Excellence Award includes a $500 check for support of local operations.
As part of its campus mission, the MSU chapter--which has some 1,000 active members--presents medals during the fall and spring commencements to seniors graduating with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages.
For more about MSU's PKP chapter, visit www.msstate.edu/org/pkp/; the national organization, www.phikappaphi.org.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.