Education Faculty Recognized by Honor Society

UM professors hailed by Kappa Delta Pi for member recruitment success

UM Grenada graduates Tiffany Goff, Kasey Hammett, Jenney Dukes, Angela Rushing and Suzanne Shaw were among the 141 seniors inducted into Kappa Delta Pi in 2014.

UM Grenada graduates Tiffany Goff, Kasey Hammett, Jenney Dukes, Angela Rushing and Suzanne Shaw were among the 141 seniors inducted into Kappa Delta Pi in 2014.

OXFORD, Miss. – The Kappa Delta Pi international honor society in education has honored its University of Mississippi chapter with the 2014 Education Excellence Award for membership recruitment

The award was presented to UM faculty members Fannye Love and Virginia J. Moore, who helped initiate 141 students and five faculty members into the society last spring. Love, the chapter counselor, is a professor of teacher education at the DeSoto Center-Southaven regional campus. Moore, the chapter associate counselor, is an assistant professor of elementary education at the Tupelo regional campus.

Founded in 1911, Kappa Delta Pi is an international honor society for students and faculty in education. Green and purple cords worn during graduation signify membership. To be invited into Kappa Delta Pi, undergraduates must hold a GPA above a 3.0. Graduate students must possess a GPA of above 3.25. Faculty are admitted for leadership attributes.

“When our Kappa Delta Pi inductees receive green and purple graduation cords and their families see them join the honor society, it makes them feel special,” Moore said. “I strongly encourage our regional campus inductees to attend graduation in Oxford and show off the cords they worked so hard for.”

The officers of the UM chapter wanted to make sure that initiation into the society was a special event for students at regional campuses. Many nontraditional students, who return to school later in life, make up this group, so the UM chapter hosted three separate induction ceremonies at different campuses in late April.

“In the past, we held one ceremony,” Moore explained. “But with having our students travel so far, it didn’t feel much like an honor at the end of the day. So we decided to cover all five campuses in three induction ceremonies. We had one in Tupelo, one in Southaven and one here in Oxford.”

Many students expressed gratitude for Moore’s efforts with these ceremonies.

“I witnessed Dr. Moore recruiting my fellow classmates in the most genuine and sincere manner,” said Thierry Beard, a 2014 UM graduate and society member. “Her enthusiasm inspired me to volunteer and help with induction ceremonies. She stressed to me, on a personal level, that she was surprisingly pleased with the increase in applications and new initiates.”

Five UM faculty members were inducted last spring. The group includes Amber Carpenter-McCullough, assistant professor of teacher education; Renee Cunningham, assistant professor of mathematics education; Susan Bennett, assistant professor of teacher education; Karen Davidson-Smith, clinical assistant professor of teacher education; and Stacy Britton, assistant professor of secondary education.

Another main player in recruitment was UM elementary education professor Nichelle Boyd-Robinson, who traveled between campuses to recruit and distribute applications. Thea Williams-Black, associate professor of education, and Nancy Douglass, clinical assistant professor of special education, also helped with recruitment.

“We put a lot of thought into our induction ceremonies,” Boyd-Robinson said. “We want our all of our students to know that this is a real honor and they deserve to be recognized for hard work.”

With new Kappa Delta Pi faculty members on each UM campus, the officers said they hope to have ceremonies at all five campuses next year.

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