University Times

Pitt's Johnstown campus (UPJ) has been granted a Phi Kappa Phi chapter by the board of directors of that national honor society.

Admission to Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation only. Over the past century only 277 chapters have been established nationwide.

Criteria for a college to receive a chapter includes original faculty research/scholarship, the quality of undergraduates, a selective admissions policy and significant library resources.

According to Ron Johnson, vice president of Phi Kappa Phi's northeast region, the vote to install a chapter at UPJ was unanimous.

"Phi Kappa Phi is the vehicle for us to recognize those students that are high achievers, that should be recognized as being exemplary in academic pursuits and that should be judged amount the best in the nation," UPJ President Albert Etheridge said.

Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is based on superior academic scholarship. Members are elected from all disciplines. Student membership is limited to the top 10 percent scholastically of seniors in a graduating class or students who have reached the end of their junior year and are scholastically in the upper 5 percent of their class.

Based on their academic and research accomplishments, faculty and alumni also may be elected each year. In addition, one honorary-for-life member may be elected each year as a way to honor members of the community. "This recognition lends proof to the high level of sophistication and the maturity we embody in scholarship, curricula, faculty and students," said Jim Alexander, interim vice president of Academic Affairs at UPJ. "It is also a recognition of our commitment to excellence." Phi Kappa Phi members on the UPJ campus who worked to select qualified faculty and students for charter membership in the chapter included: Etheridge, Jon Darling, Robert Matson, Jerry Samples and Neil Woffinden.

The induction ceremony will be Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. in Heritage Hall.