Phi Theta Kappa
International Honor Society for 2-Year Colleges
Alpha Eta Rho
Member’s Booklet
Table of Contents
What is Phi Theta Kappa? ------Page 3
History of Phi Theta Kappa ------Page 5
History of Our Chapter and Region ------Page 7 Membership ------Page 10
Officer and Advisor Duties ------Page 15
Our Chapter ------Page 20
Activities ------Page 22
AEROMA Awards ------Page 23
Hallmarks ------Page 25
Other Awards ------Page 28
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What is Phi Theta Kappa?
Mission Statement
"The purpose of Phi Theta Kappa shall be to recognize and encourage scholarship among two-year college students. To achieve this purpose, Phi Theta Kappa shall provide opportunity for the development of leadership and service, for an intellectual climate for exchange of ideas and ideals, for lively fellowship for scholars, and for stimulation of interest in continuing academic excellence."
- Phi Theta Kappa International Website
Phi Theta Kappa Mission
Phi Theta Kappa's mission is two-fold:
1) Recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students
2) Provide opportunities for individual growth and development through participation in honors, leadership, service and fellowship programming
PTK Structure
Phi Theta Kappa is structured on three levels:
Local: A student becomes a member of Phi Theta Kappa through the local chapter at a two-year college.
Regional: The Society has 29 regions; some regions are one state such as Texas or New York. Others are made up of several states such as New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) or Nevada/California. You can find contact information for your Regional Coordinator and regional officers as well as upcoming regional meetings at www.ptk.org/regions/.
International: The Center for Excellence, Phi Theta Kappa’s International Headquarters, is located in Jackson, Mississippi. Today Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 2 million members and 1,200 chapters located in all 50 of the United States, U.S. territories, Canada, Germany, British Virgin Islands and the Pacific Rim.
History of Phi Theta Kappa
Phi Theta Kappa traces its beginnings to a Society that originated with six charter members under the name of Kappa Phi Omicron at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, in 1910. The Society continued to grow and in the spring of 1918 was one of many honorary groups in Missouri. At a meeting of the presidents of the Missouri junior colleges for women in 1918, it was decided to organize a new honorary society, chapters of which would have a common character, stand, and similarity of organization. The name Phi Theta Kappa was chosen, and the Society was incorporated in Missouri as a national organization. Founders modeled many aspects of the new Society after the prestigious senior college honorary society, Phi Beta Kappa.
The eight charter colleges of Phi Theta Kappa were Hardin, Stephens, Christian, Lindenwood, Cottey, Howard Payne, William Woods, and Central. The alpha chapter was established at Hardin College but was later moved to Stephens College when Hardin College became a baccalaureate granting institution. Today, Cottey College, Nevada, Missouri, is the only charter college with an active Phi Theta Kappa chapter.
For the first six years, Phi Theta Kappa confined its activity to women’s junior colleges, but in 1924 through constitutional amendment, the field of activity was enlarged to cover all junior colleges. In 1926, Phi Theta Kappa expanded beyond the borders of Missouri and into coeducational institutions. The American Association of Community Colleges recognized Phi Theta Kappa as the official honor society for two-year colleges in 1929.
In 1930, Margaret James (Mosal) became the first elected national president of Phi Theta Kappa while attending Whitworth College in Brookhaven, Mississippi. She became national secretary in 1935 and moved the records of the organization to her hometown of Canton. Mosal served as Phi Theta Kappa’s chief executive for fifty years, retiring as executive director in 1985.
In the early years, Phi Theta Kappa membership was conferred to students at time of graduation and few programs and services were offered. The explosive growth of community colleges in the 1960s led Phi Theta Kappa to expand its mission to reflect the nurturing philosophy of the institutions it served. Students were inducted as freshmen and study programs were offered.
History of our Chapter and Region
The Alpha Eta Rho Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa was created at Kirkwood Community College on March 16, 1982. The chapter was part of the Minn-io-wa-kota Region (Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas.)
In April, 1998 advisors from DMACC, Hawkeye, and Clinton Community College met here at KCC with Rhonda Kekke, Dean of Arts & Humanities and Kathleen Van Steenhuyse (Dean of Social Sciences and Career Option Programs) to hammer out a proposal to have Iowa named an independent Region of the International Organization of Phi Theta Kappa. The rationale included the facts that although dues were paid, the awards, all leadership conferences, and Regional meetings, and the annual statewide conventions were held in Minnesota, and dominated by Minnesota chapters. While it was helpful to have had Minnesota’s tutelage as the Iowa chapters began, Minnesota was too far away and too expensive for Iowa chapters to really participate. Our students were losing opportunities for leadership and scholarships. As a result of that meeting, the existing Iowa chapters and the National organization were presented with a proposal to form a separate Iowa Region.
In fall, 1998, a statewide meeting was held with observers from the International organization present, and eighteen of the twenty-two chapters in existence voted to form the new Iowa Region. The observers were very impressed by the level of support and the collaboration which took place. There was no turf protecting or attention-grabbing. They thought Iowa could be a model for other areas of the country.
An ad hoc Executive Board met through the summer writing by-laws and resolving thorny problems of representation, voting, and regional responsibilities. The International observers who also came to these meetings were again impressed with the way we wrote the by-laws to enhance participation from all four quadrants of the state.
The new region received national approval and was announced at the International Conference in Anaheim, CA in 1999. Iowa held its first state-wide convention in the spring of 2000, electing an executive board, adopting by-laws, setting regional goals, presenting awards for hallmarks, membership, leadership, and outstanding advisors, and encouraging participation at the national/ international level. Kathleen Van Steenhuyse served as one of the advisors on the Executive Board. Dr. Regena Peters of Hawkeye Community College was the Regional Coordinator for our State.
Results for students are easy to catalogue: opportunities for leadership experience, for service projects, for scholarships, Honors Institutes, for scholarships for college, and for recognition at Iowa Regional Leadership and State Conventions, and even at the National level. At the first state convention, Kirkwood swept all but one of the Hallmark Awards and also received three Advisor Recognition Awards.
VanSteenhuyse believed that Kirkwood had two wonderful marketing opportunities: to woo academically gifted prospective students who want to do more by letting them know that Kirkwood has 1) challenging courses to offer, taught by an outstanding faculty; 2) membership in PTK; and 3) the opportunity to work with our outstanding faculty in the Honors Project. Second, to let the four-year transfer institutions know about what Kirkwood’s best and brightest students have to offer. Doing this is good for our students and it enhances KCC’s own academic reputation while fulfilling our mission to serve our seven-county community.
Membership
WHY JOIN PHI THETA KAPPA?
Membership recognizes your academic success
●The Phi Theta Kappa Golden Key membership pin
●A Phi Theta Kappa membership certificate and ID card
●Recognition during college induction ceremony
●Notation of membership on your college transcript*
●Recognition by wearing Phi Theta Kappa commencement regalia during college graduation and other official ceremonies*
●Announcement of earned membership on Phi Theta Kappa's website
●A press release announcing your academic achievement
Membership empowers you with a competitive edge
●$37 million in scholarships for members only
●FREE enrollment in CollegeFish.org, a transfer and college completion planning tool
●FREE access to Five Star Competitive Edge, a personal and professional development plan for building marketable skills and an online portfolio
●FREE access to our Career Resource Center
●Opportunity to be published in Phi Theta Kappa's anthology, Nota Bene
●Opportunities to develop research and servant leadership skills by participating in Honors in Action programming in local chapter
●Opportunity to become part of a network of over 2.5 million fellow scholars and servant leaders on more than 1,270 campuses worldwide
●Increased pay grade for entry level federal jobs
●Personalized letters of recommendation for scholarships
- From www.ptk.org
Membership Fee
A onetime fee is charged for new members.
Types of Membership
Alpha Eta Rho offers several types of membership for our members. These membership types are based on the member’s activity in the organization and can be changed by being more or less active.
Alpha Membership
Alpha Membership Requirements:
- At least 10 hours of volunteering
- 2 activities of volunteering must be related to Alpha Eta Rho
- Attendance at 3 meeting per semester
Active Membership
Active membership requirements:
- Attendance at a minimum of 3 meeting per semester
Non-Active Membership
- Maintenance of GPA requirements
Alpha members may borrow a stole to wear at Commencement; upon request, they will also receive a letter of recommendation from a Phi Theta Kappa chapter advisor.
The Non-active member attends the induction ceremony, but does not necessarily attend meetings or fulfill a service requirement. Non-active and active members must purchase a stole for commencement.
Eligibility
To be eligible for membership:
· You must be enrolled in a regionally accredited institution offering an associate degree program
· You must have completed at least 12 transferable credit hours of coursework that may be applied to an associate degree (part-time students may be eligible)
· You must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 to be a member and maintain a GPA of 3.3
· You must adhere to the moral standards of the society
Both part-time and full-time students who have met all of the academic requirements are invited to become members.
International students are welcome to become members. They must achieve the required GPA, have accumulated the number of hours required by the college to designate full-time status, and possess all rights of citizenship in their native land.
GPA maintenance is key!
If your cumulative GPA drops below 3.3
· You have one semester to raise it. You will receive a letter from the contact advisor encouraging you to raise your GPA.
· If your GPA includes special conditions that may adversely affect your GPA average, such as a large number of courses taken on a “Pass-Fail” basis, contact a chapter advisor for assistance in calculating your GPA for Phi Theta Kappa purposes.
· If your cumulative GPA falls below 3.3 for two consecutive semesters you will be sent a revocation letter removing you from PTK. You can rejoin if your cumulative GPA goes back to 3.5.
Officer and Advisor Duties
Advisor Duties
1. Approving chapter activities.
2. Guiding officers regarding Kirkwood and PTK policies.
3. Deciding on institutional matters, in coordination with administrative advisors and with input from the chapter officers and active members ( e.g. bylaws, membership drives, inductions)
4. Deciding on all financial expenditures. All expenses must be approved in advance by the advisor.
General Officer Duties
1. Planning and getting involved in Hallmark projects.
2. Attending officer and general meetings and taking a leadership role at these meetings.
3. Working on Hallmark essays.
4. Working to keep new members interested and motivated.
5. Attending regional meetings, as well as other chapter-sponsored events (ex. Bake sale).
6. Preparing for and participating in induction ceremonies (informal and formal).
7. Fulfilling particular responsibilities attached to your office (outlined below).
Officer Descriptions
If you want to be one of the elected people that coordinate Phi Theta Kappa, now’s your chance. We are looking for motivated, dependable, and hard-working members who would like to step up to the next level and become an officer of the Alpha Eta Rho Chapter.
President
The President is responsible for working with the Vice-President on planning activities for the school year. The President is also responsible for leading chapter and officer meetings. The president needs to meet with the advisor regularly to coordinate activities.
Vice-President
The Vice-President is responsible for planning the activities for the school year. In the event the President can’t come to a meeting or is unreachable, the Vice-President fulfills the President’s duties. The Vice-President is the liaison with Beta Lambda Tau (Kirkwood’s Iowa City chapter).
Secretary
The Secretary has the responsibility of sending out e-mails on a regular basis about upcoming activities and meetings. The Secretary also takes minutes at the Phi Theta Kappa meetings and after typing them up submits them to be posted on the chapter website.
Treasurer
The Treasurer handles submitting receipts for reimbursement for food ordered for the meetings and other things purchased for the organization. The Treasurer also handles depositing money earned from activities. The Treasurer will keep a ledger and give a monthly budget report at meetings.
Public Relations
The Public Relations officer creates posters about the meetings and hangs them up the Wednesday before the meeting. The P.R. officer also handles the creation and hanging of activity posters when needed and getting the word out about PTK and its activities.