Member News

Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Summer 2007

Eleven Phi Kappa Phi Members Named to USA Today's 2007 Academic All-Star Team

Eleven Phi Kappa Phi members' accomplishments earned them a spot on this year's USA Today Academic All-Star Team. Five of those members were named to the First Team. The First Team recipients typically extend their education beyond the classroom and study or work abroad. The winners were chosen from nearly six hundred students nominated nationwide. Recipients are awarded trophies and $2,500.

First Team Members:

Sean Genis, U.S. Naval Academy

Valerie Gribben, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Yoonhee Patricia Ha, Ohio State University

Joseph O'Shea, Florida State University

Lori Scardino, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Third Team Members:

Adam Seybert, U.S. Military Academy

Jacquelyn Zimmerman, Louisiana State University

Honorable Mention Members:

Alex Tucker, Auburn University

Fahran Robb, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Liât Shetret, University of Illinois at Chicago

Charles Eadie, U.S. Military Academy

Seven Members Named as 2007 Truman Scholars

Selected on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and likelihood of "making a difference," seven Phi Kappa Phi members were represented among the 2007 Truman Scholars. Each scholarship is valued at 530,000 and is to be used for graduate study. The seven Phi Kappa Phi members are:

Megan Christine McGinnity, Arizona State University

Erik Gray Westland, U.S. Naval Academy

Jenna Lynn Kennedy, Kansas State University

Shadrack Tucker "White, University of Mississippi

Andrew Erickson, University of Montana

David John Parker, U.S. Naval Academy

Joseph S. O'Shea, Florida State University

Established in 1975 by Congress, the Truman Scholarship Foundation honors the thirty-third president and exists to award scholarships to college students who plan to attend graduate school in preparation for careers in government or elsewhere in public service.

Four Members Named as 2007 Alpha Lambda Defta Fellowship Winners

Of the twenty-three graduate fellowships granted through Alpha Lambda Delta, four of the recipients are members of Phi Kappa Phi. Alpha Lambda Delta is an honor society for students in their first year at an institution of higher education. Graduate fellowships are valued from $3,000 to $7,500 and are awarded to those who are or will be enrolled in a graduate or professional studies program during the upcoming academic year.

The four Phi Kappa Phi members are:

Manpreet Kaur Dhillon, University of Georgia

Emily Hawkins, University of Oklahoma

Rick Alton Nugent, Louisiana State University

Anand S. Iyer, University of Alabama

Martens Named One of Top Ten College Women

Hillary Martens (University of Montana) was named by Glamour magazine as one of the Top Ten College Women of 2007. Martens, a physics major with minors in music composition and mathematics, interned at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory south of London, England, in the summer of 2006. While there she analyzed data provided by the NASA Cassini/Huygens Mission. Martens also writes music, and her composition, "Cassini," inspired by her research on the Cassini/Huygens Mission, was performed on April 3, 2006, as part of the University of Montana's Composer's Showcase.

Member Awarded NEH Fellowship

Barbara Wisch, PhD (State University of New York Cortland), has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities year-long fellowship to complete her book Acting on Faith: The Cofraternity of the Gonfalone in Renaissance Rome. A cofraternity was a Renaissance-era religious organization of men, women, and children that encouraged devotion, promoted charity, commissioned significant works of art and architecture, and sponsored spectacular processions and sacred theater. Wisch is a professor of art history at the State University of New York Cortland. The book is being written with theater historian Nerida Newbigin, chair of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Kennedy Center Honors Theatre Professor

Eve HimmelJieber (University of Arizona), an assistant professor of theatre at California State University, Fullerton, has been awarded a Gold Medallion by the Kennedy Center for her service to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). The Medallion was awarded because of Himmelheber's exemplary contributions to the profession, education, and to the festival. She was given her Medallion at the Region VIII (Southwest) KCACTF, held February 12-17, 2007, at Southern Utah University. Himmelheber has served the KCACTF in a number of capacities; most recently, she has been the Region VIII coordinator of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions.

Hillary Martens, on right (shown with Phi Kappa Phi chapter relations liaison Molly Stauffer), presenting at a Phi Kappa Phi-sponsored poster session at the National Collegiate Honors Council meeting in Philadelphia in November 2006.

James C. Adams (Michigan State University) has joined the law firm of Butzel Long in BIoomfield Hills, Michigan, as a shareholder. A long-time real-estate lawyer in Michigan, Adams is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Law and is a 1983 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Detroit Bar Association.