News and Updates

South Georgia State College Phi Theta Kappa Members Attend Honors Institute

L to R – Danielle Sumner and Ronesea Styles in Albuquerque, New Mexico

South Georgia State College’s Phi Theta Kappa members Ronesea Styles (Waycross, GA) of the Waycross Campus’ Alpha Rho chapter, and Danielle Sumner (Broxton, GA) of the Douglas Campus’ Kappa Sigma chapter, along with advisor Ms. Amy Hancock recently attended the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. They joined approximately 500 members, advisors, and alumni for an intensive five-day exploration of the 2014-2015 Honors Study Topic, Frontiers and the Spirit of Exploration, with presentations by speakers from a variety of disciplines as well as small group discussions in seminar sessions. They were able to explore the Petroglyph National Monument, as well as the Anderson-Abruzzo International Balloon Museum, and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. The group also traveled to Santa Fe during their week in New Mexico.

This year’s event began with a performance by Ballet en Fuego y Los Primos, an Albuquerque musical and dance tradition, which set the momentum for the conference. The PTK members in attendance were provided with opportunities to hear world-renowned speakers such as Dr. Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions and author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth and Sonia Shah, science journalist and prize-winning author. Her writing on science, politics, and human rights has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and Scientific American. Speakers also included playwright Patricia Crespin, National Geographic photojournalist Steve Winter, and roboticist Jeff Lieberman.

Since 1968, the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute has engaged members in intensive investigation of the Society's Honors Study Topic, an academic theme selected for its timelessness, global significance and interdisciplinary applications. Created to celebrate Phi Theta Kappa's 50th anniversary, the Honors Institute format is based on a program used at Oxford University. Attendance is limited to approximately 500 to create an engage scholarly community of faculty and students from across the nation and around the world.

Headquartered in Jackson, Miss., Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society is the largest honor society in higher education with 1,285 chapters on college campuses in each of the United States, Canada, Germany, the Republic of Palau, Peru, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the British Virgin Islands, the United Arab Emirates and U.S. territorial possessions.  Nearly three million students have been inducted since PTK’s founding in 1918, with approximately 131,000 students inducted annually.