End-of-year ceremonies welcome new members to Maryville College honor societies
May 17, 2023
As the Maryville College community celebrated the close of another academic year, the rolls of the College’s academic honor societies grew with the addition of new members.
Seven honor societies at Maryville College welcomed new inductees at ceremonies that took place throughout the past several weeks, as faculty advisors welcomed initiates into the ranks of organizations devoted to scholarly pursuit.
“Some of them are specific to particular kinds of study, like history, theater, psychology, English, Spanish or French,” said Dr. Dan Klingensmith, vice president and dean of the College. “One of them — Kappa Delta Pi — is for future K-12 educators. I’m proud of all of these, but I have to mention two in particular.
“One is Alpha Gamma Sigma, a society going back many decades, which honors academic excellence over the course of a student’s entire career here. Alpha Gamma Sigma students have done well in all the things they’ve studied. The other is Alpha Sigma Lambda, which is for non-traditional students, many of whom are attending college while working, parenting or caring for family members.”
Some ceremonies, such as that of Psi Chi — the international honor society of psychology — featured remarks from MC alumni who have gone on to “do good on the largest possible scale.” During the induction of 17 new members of Psi Chi, Dr. Linda Hinkle ’15, who serves as a forensic social worker with the 9th Judicial District Public Defender’s Office in Kingston, Tennessee, discussed the ways Maryville College prepared her for continued education (she recently received her doctorate of social work from Simmons University) and set her up with a family bound by orange-and-garnet ties. Brian Runge ’22, who graduated last December, addressed the newest inductees of the Alpha Sigma Lambda honor society.
Other inductions were more intimate affairs of only a handful of Scots, whose allegiance to the traditions of those organizations earned them accolades and cords to wear as graduating seniors during the May 6 Commencement ceremony.
Organizations and their new members include:
Alpha Gamma Sigma
Designed to “encourage thorough scholarship and to stimulate interest in cultural pursuits among students of the College,” newly inducted members of AGS were Leah Alsobrooks, a psychology (counseling track) major from Knoxville, Tennessee; Emily Bridges, a marketing major from Knoxville; Jace Brittain, a business analytics major from Cherryville, North Carolina; Jenica Brown, a health and wellness promotion major from Knoxville; Emilee Fowler, an elementary education major from Andersonville, Tennessee; Rachel Fox, a history major from Maryville; Lorri Jean Pulley, a psychology (counseling track) major from Nashville; Alina Rosati, a philosophy major from Knoxville; Abby Smither, an elementary education major from Collierville, Tennessee; Will Stallions, an engineering major from Townsend, Tennessee; Angela Stolpe, a sociology major from Knoxville; Maddie Taylor, a political science major from Arlington, Tennessee; Sophie Turner, a design major from Murfreesboro; Gigi Walker, a Spanish major from Johnson City, Tennessee; and Lily Winebarger, a psychology (counseling track) major from Brentwood, Tennessee.
Alpha Psi Omega
The national theater honor society, membership in Alpha Psi Omega requires at least two semesters of participation in theater work, as well as involvement in stage productions mounted by the College’s theater program. New members include Sasha Hoenie, a theater (with licensure) major from Maryville; Ian Bailey of Karns, Tennessee; and Meredith Wynn of Maryville.
Alpha Sigma Lambda
The MC chapter of the national honor society for nontraditional students inducted: Jenica Brown; Khalie Cleveland, a finance/accounting major from Vonore, Tennessee; Oscar Gulbrandsen, a finance/accounting major from Norway; Amii Ingalls, an elementary education major from Evans, Georgia; Rachael Lawson, a health and wellness promotion major from Louisville, Tennessee; Josh Lock, a health and wellness promotion major from Knoxville; Sabrina Massey, a finance/accounting major from Sevierville, Tennessee; Precious Pressley, an American Sign Language-English Interpreting major from Hendersonville, Tennessee; Laura Reed, an art major from Knoxville; Alina Rosati; Ellen Rossano, a psychology (counseling track) major from Farragut, Tennessee; Jordan Spencer, an American Sign Language-Deaf Studies major from Knoxville; Angela Stolpe; and Betty Kealey White, an ASL-English Interpreting major from Killen, Alabama.
Kappa Delta Pi
The education honor society for aspiring teachers, which requires completion of at least six hours of education course and a minimum GPA of 3.0, held its induction in late March. New members include: Micayla Clark, a history (with licensure) major from Plano, Texas; Calista Jones, an English (with licensure) major from Maryville; Madalyn Robertson, an English major from Dayton, Tennessee; Carder Sprous, a history (with licensure) major from Natick, Massachusetts; and Ava Whitmire, an elementary education major from Madison, Alabama.
Phi Alpha Theta
The College’s Alpha-Mu-Psi chapter of the national honor society in history welcomed six new members this academic year: Katelyn Compton, a history major from Maryville; Addison Fout, a political science major from Knoxville; Connor Gahagan, a history (with licensure) major from Maryville; Andy Kelley, a history major from Powell, Tennessee; Katie Leming, a history major from Seymour, Tennessee; and Luke Nelson, a history major from La Follette, Tennessee.
Psi Chi
Psi Chi undergrads are required to have a cumulative GPA that ranks them in the top 35% of their class, and new members who met that litmus test and were recently inducted include: Rachel Browning, a psychology (counseling track) major from Goodlettsville, Tennessee; Hannah Bruce, a developmental psychology major from Clinton, Tennessee; Eliza Cheshire, an exercise science major from Hendersonville; Lesly Fuentes, a psychology major from Knoxville; Raegan Hooks of Knoxville; Shelby Isbill, a developmental psychology major from Vonore; Elly Jackson, an exercise science major from Bristol, Virginia; Josephine McCullars, a biology major from Nashville; Madison Parris, a developmental psychology major from Maryville; Ellen Rossano; Haly Scott; Madison Taylor, a biochemistry major from Knoxville; Cora Villager, a psychology (counseling track) major from Nashville; Hunter Harrison, a psychology (counseling track) major from Sevierville; Kora Queen, a psychology (counseling track) major from Englewood, Tennessee; Savannah Mahery, a psychology major from Sweetwater, Tennessee; and Lily Winebarger.
Sigma Tau Delta
Maryville College’s Alpha Rho Kappa chapter of the international English honor society inducted two members this academic year: Delaney Redden, an English (literature) major from Nashville; and Bailey Myers, a writing communication major from Maryville.
