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April 19, 2004
CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine (724) 738-4854; e-mail: gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu
SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY ACCEPTED
INTO PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMIC HONORARY, PHI KAPPA PHI
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Phi
Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective
all-discipline collegiate honor society, recently extended an
invitation of membership to Slippery Rock University following a
yearlong evaluation. SRU accepted and will initiate a chapter in
the fall.
Election to membership adds
prestige and gives students and job-seekers a distinct advantage.
Graduate school admission committees, like employers, know Phi
Kappa Phi members represent the very best that higher education has
to offer.
“I’m overjoyed to
have this,” said humanities Dean Dr. William McKinney, who
petitioned Phi Kappa Phi for inclusion. “Membership with this
kind of origination sends a signal that Slippery Rock University is
what we’ve always known it to be, a quality academic
institution.”
Phi Kappa Phi, founded in 1897, has
chapters at 300 universities.
Thorough review
In evaluating SRU, Phi Kappa Phi
examined academic programs, credentials of faculty, library
holdings, admissions standards and the success of graduates.
The honorary sent two national leaders to campus for two days of
interviews with Interim President Dr. Robert Smith, Interim Provost
Dr. William Williams, college deans, department chairs and
students.
Fall launch
Last-term juniors in the upper 7.5
percent of their class, seniors in the upper 10 percent and
outstanding graduate students, faculty and staff will be eligible
for Phi Kappa Phi membership. At initiation, members will receive
gold keys and certificates of membership.
Other academic
accomplishments
Phi Kappa Phi is but one indicator
of mounting academics at SRU: 29 percent of this year’s
freshmen came from the top 25 percent of their high school class
– up 20 percent over a year ago. The class showed a 32-point
increase in SAT scores over the year before, and brought with it a
3.29 grade point average.
Earlier this year, Princeton Review
rated SRU as one of 98 great schools to consider in the
mid-Atlantic region, a ranking based on interviews with
students.
"Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is another indicator of the
university's success in the past few years to be counted among the
nation's outstanding academic institutions,” Smith
said. “This is further evidence that we are rapidly
improving our university profile in the eyes of the academic
community."
PN, PR, PgN
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