Sigma Tau Delta English Studies Conference Nov. 20 in Brown Hall

Faculty, staff, students, and the public are invited to the Fall 2010 Sigma Tau Delta English Studies Conference (ESC) on Saturday, November 20. The ESC will get underway at noon in 3025 Brown Hall, with parallel sessions to run until 5 p.m. in 3002, 3003, 3017, and 3048 Brown.

Held every fall and spring semester, the ESC is the signature campus event of the Alpha Nu Pi chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society. The ESC features the best original scholarly and creative work of WMU students and invites submissions from students campus-wide. Membership in Sigma Tau Delta is not required for participation.

27 students will present their work on Saturday, so please join us as we celebrate these fine students and their creative and scholarly achievements!

FALL 2010 ENGLISH STUDIES CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS

Brittany L. Balyeat

Ali Billedeaux

Jessica Bixel

Peter Cullen Bryan

Tim Buchanan

Anthony Cerullo

William Cope

Danielle Favorite

Analiese Grohalski

Christopher Hart

Sarah Hercula

Ian Hollenbaugh

Kenny Jakubas

Bruce Lack

Lauren Lilly

Katie O’Brien

Courtney Ochab

Peter Owens

Kara Anne Pauley

Sean Pickett

Gena Reist

Sean Rodeman

Jacob Smallegan

Valerie Smolarkiewicz

Sara Stratton

Michelle Szeibach

Drew Wolford

Sigma Tau Delta to Induct Largest Class in Chapter History on November 7

Please join the Alpha Nu Pi chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, as we welcome our Fall 2010 inductees on Sunday, November 7, at 3 p.m. The induction ceremony and reception will be held in 3025 Brown.

And as always, there will be cake.

As of this writing, 50 undergraduate and graduate students have qualified for membership and will be inducted on Sunday, comprising the largest induction class in our chapter's history.

Please see below for the list of inductees.

Thanks to institutional support from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English, as well as generous donations from faculty, all 50 inductees are able join Sigma Tau Delta free of charge.

The Alpha Nu Pi chapter extends its deepest thanks to all who have contributed to the membership fund. Sigma Tau Delta membership changes lives, and free membership makes it possible now for all students who meet the academic standards to join.

So please join us on Sunday to accept our thanks in person, to cheer on these wonderful students, and to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the granting of our charter.

Fall 2010 Sigma Tau Delta Inductees:

• Brenna Alholm
• Hassan Al-Momani
• Michelle Andrus
• Kyle Blasco
• Sara Bower
• Nayt Boyt
• Kylie Cheevers
• Gretchen Colman
• William Cope
• Eric Cron
• Abby Dame
• Adam Dietz
• Lauren Dixon
• Dana Hall
• Ashley Harper
• Elizabyth Hiscox
• Sarah Jones
• Elyse Jozlin
• Jeanine Kemmer
• Amanda Kissman
• Angela Kramer
• John Kreider
• Chandel Lawrence
• Erika LaFerier
• Jacob Lewis
• Megan Lipp
• Hannah Lucero
• William D. Martin
• Maureen Mead
• Cody Mejeur
• Megan Miller
• Ambrosia Neldon
• Rachel Neubauer
• Melissa Nichols
• Kelly O'Keefe
• Elan Pavlinch
• Katherine Peterson
• Sean Pickett
• Gena Reist
• Justin Reynolds
• Andrew Rhodes
• Jessica Rungaitis
• Jacob Smallegan
• Valerie Smolarkiewicz
• Nora Strehl
• Cora Supenski
• Jacob Swanson
• Michael Venner
• Kristine Voss
• Andrew Wolford

Support Sigma Tau Delta and Outstanding WMU Students: Donate to the Sigma Tau Delta Fund

2009-10 chapter officers (l-r) Patrick Love (president), Meghan Dykema (VP),
Laura Citino (communications officer), and Patric Nuttall (treasurer).

The Alpha Nu Pi chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, now extends free membership to all students who are eligible to join, paid for by the Sigma Tau Delta fund. Please support Sigma Tau Delta and outstanding WMU students by donating to the fund.

Click here to donate online or read on for more information.

The Sigma Tau Delta Fund was launched in 2009 to make membership free to every student who meets the honor society's academic standards, beginning with the 39 members of the Fall 2009 induction class and continuing for all new inductees hereafter. Funding for free membership comes from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English at WMU, as well as from the generous donations of faculty, staff, alumni, and other friends of Sigma Tau Delta.

Sigma Tau Delta recognizes outstanding academic achievement in English studies by undergraduate and graduate students. The WMU chapter has twice been named an Outstanding Chapter and has been recognized as “one of the most active and vital chapters in the country” by the parent organization.

Students who qualify for membership in Sigma Tau Delta must pay a one-time fee of $50 ($37 to the national organization and $13 to the local chapter at WMU), which entitles them to lifetime membership.

In the past, a number of qualified students have had to decline membership because they could not afford this fee. In response, we launched the Sigma Tau Delta Fund, with the goal of offering free membership to every student who meets the society's academic standards, beginning with our Fall 2009 induction class and for all new inductees thereafter.

Your tax-deductible donation of any amount will help fund these lifetime memberships. If we are able to amass a substantial endowment that guarantees funding for all memberships for the foreseeable future, we hope that donors will want also to support the academic activities of WMU Sigma Tau Delta students, such as helping to fund student trips to present work at the national conventions, where WMU students have earned national recognition for their scholarly and creative work. At this time, students spend much of the spring semester each year raising money for this purpose.

Contributions can be made online to the WMU Foundation by clicking here. They may also be mailed in to the Foundation or the Department of English, and WMU employees can opt for payroll deduction. Please designate your gift to the Department of English -- Sigma Tau Delta. If it is not designated to Department of English -- Sigma Tau Delta, your gift will not be directed to Sigma Tau Delta.

Please visit the Sigma Tau Delta website to learn more about ΣΤΔ at Western Michigan University and about the achievements of our members on the WMU campus and beyond.

Membership in Sigma Tau Delta opens an impressive range of exciting new opportunities to students. With your support, the sky is the limit for these outstanding students.

Sigma Tau Delta induction Sunday at 1 p.m.

Please join the Alpha Nu Pi chapter of Sigma Tau Delta as we welcome our Fall 2009 inductees on Sunday, October 25, at 1 p.m. The induction will take place in 3025 Brown Hall with refreshments to follow.

This is a significant induction because we are celebrating our first class of inductees whose lifetime memberships are free of charge to the students. The fee to join Sigma Tau Delta is $50, but thanks to initial funding from the College of Arts and Sciences and donations from faculty and staff that have already started to come into the Sigma Tau Delta Fund at the WMU Foundation, the Fall 2009 inductees are able to accept the honor they have earned by qualifying for membership in Sigma Tau Delta, now without the financial obligation that unfortunately discouraged some deserving applicants in years past. We hope this is the beginning of a new, permanent tradition of free membership.

This induction is also significant because the Fall 2009 class of inductees is among the largest in our chapter's history, second only to the March 2006 induction of our founding members, when 46 charter members became the first WMU Sigma Tau Deltas.

Thirty-nine students, undergraduate as well as graduate, will join us this semester, bringing our total membership to 190 active and alumni members. Not bad for a chapter whose charter is not quite four years old.

Please scroll down for a list of our 39 new Fall 2009 inductees. And for those who have given to the Sigma Tau Delta Membership Fund, please accept the sincere thanks of the Alpha Nu Pi chapter. For those who would still like to give, you may visit http://www.wmich.edu/foundation/gift to donate online (please designate your gift to the Department of English -- Sigma Tau Delta) or return your WMU Foundation contribution form with your donation or payroll deduction election. (Extra forms are available from Lisa Minnick.)

The Fall 2009 WMU Sigma Tau Delta Inductees:

Alicia Akins
Jill Archie
Danielle Bailey
Emily Beard
Jessica Bixel
Maike Buck
Danielle Cavinder
Takunia Collins
Ashley Crawford
Jason Elkins
Megan Emerson
Kimberly Evans
Paula Fader
Brandon Flowers
Kathleen Garbacz
Jax Gardner
Kendra Grieser
Elisa Gruss
Jennifer Henson
Sally Johnson
Amarrah Kean
Amanda Klein
Shauna Koszegi
Bethany Leyder
Carissa Marks
Shannon McConnell
Sara Olivares
Aanee Ruple
Dana Ruzicka
Louise Schreiber
Stephanie Sorenson
David Staggs
Audrey Sturrus
Staci Stutsman
Christina Triezenberg
Matthew Tootalian
Stephanie Vogie
Megan Werner
Lindsey Wiegand

Sigma Tau Delta Senator Eric Dial an active legislator

Student senator Eric Dial has taken the lead on several recent WSA actions to increase student involvement in raising the profile of WMU to prospective students. Dial, WSA senator representing Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, has drafted legislation to propose a student-led committee to create "100 Points of Pride," promotional material outlining WMU achievements, to be created by WMU students.

Dial, an English and history major, was also instrumental in drafting a successful WSA resolution to convey student concerns about aspects of the new WMU advertising campaign. He was one of four senators who drafted the language, which is critical of the negative connotations of several of the ads.