The Omicron Phi chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national Political Science honor society, inducted five new members from Sul Ross State University on April 30.
The students include Keyshawn Clark, Brittnie Galindo, Gabriel Garcia, Caitlyn Peña and Esteban Ramos. In addition to the induction ceremony, David Brown, a graduate student, transferred his affiliation from UT-Tyler to SRSU.
Pi Sigma Alpha began over 100 years ago, in October 1920, at the University of Texas in Austin. The organization sought to encourage and recognize superior achievement in the study of government and politics at the undergraduate and graduate level. That first class included 13 students, among them a future Supreme Court Justice and U.S. Attorney General, a future U.S. Ambassador, a number of future attorneys and individuals who would go on to make an impact at local, national and international levels.
Today, Pi Sigma Alpha hosts chapters on nearly 850 campuses and has inducted more than 300,000 members. Its rolls feature national, state and local political leaders including one president, three Supreme Court justices, and dozens of members of Congress. The network of Pi Sigma Alpha members stretches across law, academia, business and more.
To be eligible for membership, undergraduate students must be at least juniors who have completed at least 12 semester credit hours of undergraduate Political Science course work, including at least one upper-division course, with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Graduate students must have completed at least nine semester credit hours of graduate Political Science work.
Political science and Public Administration faculty including Dr. Jessica Velasco and Dr. Yen-Hsin Chen, presided over the ceremony. Dr. Alecia D. Hoffman, an associate professor of Political Science at Alabama State University and a representative of the Pi Sigma Alpha executive council, joined the event to welcome the new members and explain the history of the organization, as well as the benefits that come with lifetime membership.
Graduating PSA members will also be honored at the Political Science and Public Administration Hooding and Cording Ceremony on May 10. The top undergraduate Political Science paper awards will also be announced at this time, with cash awards funded by a grant from Pi Sigma Alpha.
More information about Pi Sigma Alpha can be found here.
For more information about the Omicron Phi Chapter, contact Dr. Velasco, advisor, at jessica.velasco@sulross.edu.