As I sit down to take time to write this entry, I am a week away from a departure that may be one of the greatest journeys of my career and life. During the next few weeks, I will be serving as a Faculty Advisor for the nursing delegation of the International Scholar Laureate Program (ISLP), and will be traveling to Australia. ISLP offers extraordinary pre-professional educational opportunities for outstanding scholars in Australia, China, and the United States. These short term study abroad experiences provide our scholars the opportunity to further their career development and strengthen their leadership skills while engaging in a culturally enriching experience. It’s truly a unique and exciting opportunity that members of Phi Theta Kappa can take part in. I will have the distinct privilege of guiding a group of outstanding students, including many Phi Theta Kappa members through a global leadership curriculum while using our host country of Australia as a living classroom. It should prove to be very exciting and enriching for both the scholars and myself. Studying abroad at any length of time is always an exciting, rewarding, and life changing opportunity.

As a first generation college student in rural Kentucky, I grew up wanting to touch the side of Big Ben – that famous clock known to everyone around the world. I would see it on television and watch, captivated by its detail and its seeming otherworldliness. I remember in 2002 during my undergraduate career I made the decision to study abroad in the United Kingdom through a program offered at my institution. I had yet to experience most of the United States and had flown on an aircraft only once before. My family was very nervous about my decision, but fully supported me in my quest to be a more global citizen. Towards the end of the first week of my stay, I traveled alone to that powerful, tall clock. I walked up the steps of what had for so long been only a cold image on a television set. I held my hand out and let it slide down the side of something magnificent, something beyond that little south central Kentucky town. I touched a dream, a dream that came to life for me.

That semester in London not only changed my life but my perceptions of the global context in which we live. Studying abroad is an amazing experience and I would encourage each of you to seek out opportunities and actively engage in them. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as I travel throughout Australia with our students during the next few weeks. Cheers!

Regional Coordinator Cindy Carbone, Willie Lanier, Chapter Relations Manager Barb Murray

Amazing things happen within Phi Theta Kappa’s 29 regions. This spring I had the good fortune to witness one of them. I attended the Ohio Region Convention in Canton, Ohio. In addition to meeting interesting students, visiting with dedicated advisors and hearing great speakers; I was part of an exciting development.

Willie Lanier, 1986 Football Hall of Fame Inductee, played for the Kansas City Chiefs from 1967-77 and helped them win the Super Bowl in 1969, was the guest speaker at the convention. He spoke on The Democratization of Information and the importance of gathering information, regardless of what career you’re pursuing. Mr. Lanier was so impressed with the stories and passions of the members that he committed to providing a scholarship in his Aunt Dr. Dorothy C. Lanier’s name. Dr. Lanier was an educator who had a huge impact on her college students and was loved dearly.

2011-2012 NV/CA Regional Board

I’m always excited to hear stories from students who have had their lives changed as a result of their membership in Phi Theta Kappa. When I’m visiting with students, I love to ask them if they can fill in the blank “If it hadn’t been for Phi Theta Kappa, I never would have been able to ‘blank’.” I hear wonderful comments such as, “I’m much more confident”, “I never thought I could speak in public, but I was the graduation speaker in front of 4,000 people”, “I learned leadership and took leadership roles in my chapter, which gave me the confidence to run for Regional Office”, and “I won scholarships that will help me further my education.”

Several of the NV/CA Regional Officer candidates expressed those sentiments to me recently when I attended their Regional Convention. Taking a leadership role on the Regional level can lead to many wonderful experiences—enhanced leadership training, making friendships that will last a lifetime, and travel to new places. I encourage anyone who is considering running for Regional Office to go for it.

What Phi Theta Kappa has done for you? Tell us about it!

Yes, I will be the first to admit that we have issues…I make no apologies about it, nor do I offer any excuses. In fact, I’m pretty excited that we have issues. Wait a minute, I know what you are thinking, and no these are issues that you will want to learn more about.

For years, chapters competed for awards in three areas, and if you are like me and have been around for a moderately long period of time, you probably remember when we competed in four categories. I’m talking about the Scholarship, Leadership, and Service Hallmark Awards. Some of you may remember when we competed in Fellowship too. Now, there are 10 issues in the Honors Program Guide that chapters can choose for their Honors In Action Project to fall under. Our new awards will cover not only overall Honors In Action Entries, but we will also recognize up to three outstanding entries per issue in Seattle.

Given my opportunity to travel and meet with chapters throughout the Society, it is very easy for me to want them all to receive awards. Let’s face it, there is only so much recognition to go around. That is why I am excited that we have issues!

At the Alabama Regional Convention, chapters were awarded for each issue, and from my perspective, this has created quite a bit of excitement since more chapters got a little piece of the recognition pie. It makes me smile that we have taken this idea of Democratization of Information, or accessibility and have turned around and applied it to our recognition program. We have been able to increase the accessibility of recognition through our plan to give away an unprecedented number  of awards in Seattle, and through our regions giving away more awards than ever before.

So…yes we have issues….and that actually works out pretty well for our chapters.

A record number of inductees for the Kappa Alpha Chapter’s Spring 2011 Induction

I recently attended the Kappa Alpha Chapter Spring 2011 induction at Holmes Community College in MS along with Betsy Dowdle, Recognition Services Marketing Coordinator and Susan Edwards, Dean of Honors Programs.

The chapter inducted over 65 new members - a record number. College and chapter leaders incorporated a Community College Completion signing event as part of the traditional induction ceremony with all new inductees signing a pledge to graduate.

Before a packed auditorium of family, friends, and college faculty, college president Dr. Glenn Boyce spoke of the benefits of completing a degree and challenged inductees to obtain an associate degree or credential before transferring or seeking employment. He encouraged them to take advantage of the many benefits of membership, including Competitive Edge and CollegeFish.org, to prepare themselves for degree completion and a successful transfer to a senior institution.

Congratulations Spring 2011 Kappa Alpha inductees and future college completers!

During 2010, our organization has made a tremendous impact in the lives of deserving students. The Chapter Relations Managers have seen first-hand through their travels to nearly 200 college campuses in 21 regions this past year the good work that our dedicated Regional Coordinators, Chapter Advisors and officers are doing to provide the Phi Theta Kappa Experience on their campuses and in their regions.

We’ve met with advisors, provided training for chapter and regional officer teams, and spoken at induction ceremonies and regional events. We’ve made many new friends and become reacquainted with old ones.

In 2010, we recognized more than 125,000 students with membership in Phi Theta Kappa, more than in any previous year, and provided for them tremendous opportunities for personal growth and leadership development through Honors in Action programming and Five Star Competitive Edge. Working together we’ve impacted our campuses and communities. We’ve encouraged students to remain in college, complete their degree or credential, and through CollegeFish.org provided them access to the financial resources to transfer to a university.

As I reflect on 2010, I am proud of my Phi Theta Kappa membership, but even more proud to work with other scholars every day to make the world a better place. We have much to do in 2011, more students to recognize, an even bigger impact to have. But together we can do it.

Happy New Year everyone! We look forward to seeing you during our travels in 2011.

The look on someone’s face when I throw out our current Honors Study Topic, The Democratization of Information: Power, Promise, Peril, can be priceless. The look of utter horror that is tied to the thought, “What the heck is that?”, reminds me of two things. 1. We have a pretty legitimate sounding topic that will impress our friends if we use it in our vernacular. 2. Those of us whose task it is to educate others about Phi Theta Kappa and our programs are in a pretty secure profession.

All joking aside, one of the toughest questions to answer is, “What is Democratization of Information?” How do you explain something  that is not only a pretty deep topic with many directions one could go with regards to exploration, but that also would not be spelled correctly 100% of the time in this blog post if not for spell check? The answer? Let them see it in action. Now you may be asking the very profound question, “Huh?”. Well, I’m glad you asked. At a recent conference in Tennessee, I saw our Honors Study Topic in action in a very practical way.

The second day of the conference, one of the main events was a Poster Session. The premise was that chapters would create a poster presentation based on a project they were doing on their campus or in their community. They not only discussed the project, but the data behind why their project was valid. What I saw that weekend truly was Democratization of Information in action. Any other chapter in the region had access to each others data. The format was reminiscent of a college fair where the chapter had a booth and would speak with whoever stopped at their booth.  We were able to not only take away information gained from networking during the poster session, but we were also able to make the connection as to how that was actually Democratization of Information.

Sounds like a great idea right? Wish you could participate in a poster session? Well you can. At the National Convention in Seattle, Washington April 7 - 9, we will be kicking things off with a poster session during the grand opening of the Academic Marketplace. To register, go to the convention website and submit a form. We are only taking the first 100, so take advantage of this today. The deadline for submitting a Poster Session Proposal is December 3rd.

This is a great idea for chapters that have done more than one Honors in Action program. Only one may be submitted through the Hallmark Awards process. This is another alternative to share your information with your fellow Phi Theta Kappa members and chapters.

Congrats to those regions that have incorporated Poster Sessions in their conferences and thanks to the chapters and members who have participated!