Scholarship Recipients, 2015-2016
Awards from The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi—the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines
$1000 Awarded
Alyssa Greenwood (pictured), junior double-major in Public Relations and International and Area Studies, and minoring in French, was recently awarded the Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grant to fund a year-long trip to Lyon, France.
Alyssa chose this particular location because the Université Lumière Lyon 2 offers a homestay program where she can practice her French constantly with a local family, and for the opportunity to stay abroad for a year. During that time she will complete a research paper for her International and Area Studies major. Alyssa plans to attend graduate school after her time abroad and eventually live in a French-speaking country.
Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grants help support undergraduates as they seek knowledge and experience in their academic fields by studying abroad. The honor society awards 50 $1,000 grants each year. Applicants are not required to be members of Phi Kappa Phi.
$500 Awarded
Adam Szetela (pictured), Kansas State University Instructor in the English Department, and Sridevi Betha, doctoral student in Agronomy, are receiving a Love of Learning award. They are two of 80 recipients nationwide to receive the award.
Szetela plans to use the award to pay for travel expenses to two academic conferences in 2016: the national conference of the Marxist Reading Group at the University of Florida in Gainesville and the international conference of the Cultural Studies Association at Villanova University in Philadelphia. At both conferences he will present his research on the cultural and economic history of American bodybuilding, as it relates to transformations in capitalist labor at the turn of the nineteenth-century.Betha expressed, "I am honored and extremely grateful to know that I was the recipient of Love of Learning Award and would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society for the financial assistance. I would like to use the $500 to pay my tuition for the 2016 spring semester."
Szetela and Betha were initiated into the Society this year.
The Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award program helps fund graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development and travel related to teaching and studies for active members of the society, which is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.
$5000 Awarded
Charles "Reagan" Kays, summa cum laude graduate in agribusiness and pre-law and former Student Governing Association president, was recently awarded a fellowship to study agriculture, business and public policy law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He is one of 51 student recipients nationwide to receive the award this year, and one of 26 Kansas State University students to recieve a fellowship in the last 30 years.
"I feel blessed to have received this honor," Kays said. "The Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship will allow me to work less and dive deeper into the material presented to me in law school. I am excited for the next step in my academic career."
Each university can nominate one candidate to the national competition and selection is based on the applicant's expected success in graduate or professional study as determined by academic achievement, service and leadership experience, career goals and acceptance at an approved graduate or professional program.
$1000 Awarded
Barbara Amoah, was recently awarded a Literacy Grant. She is one of 14 recipients nationwide to receive the award this year. Amoah was initiated into the Society in 2013 at Kansas State University. She currently is pursuing a PhD in entomology at Kansas State University.
The $1,000 grant will be used to support the "A Book a Time" project, which is a new initiative planned between September 2015 and May 2016 to inspire students to develop a love for reading, learning, and writing. As part of the program, new and gently used books will be donated to government middle schools in Akim Achiase, a small farming community in Southern Ghana, Africa. Students will be encouraged to read at least one book each month and submit a summary to enter into a monthly competition.
The Phi Kappa Phi Literacy Grant program was established in 2003 to provide funding to Phi Kappa Phi chapters and active members for ongoing projects or new initiatives that reinforce part of the Society's mission "to engage the community of scholars in service to others." Drawing from a multi-disciplinary Society of students and scholars from large and small institutions, applicants are encouraged to consider literacy projects that have creative relevance to their disciplines and the needs of their communities.
$500 Awarded
Joelle Pitts, assistant professor and instructional design librarian at K-State Libraries, is receiving a Love of Learning award. She is one of 80 recipients nationwide to receive the award.
Pitts will use the funds to travel to the American Library Association conference in San Francisco where she as part of a panel session is speaking about the use of the rapid prototyping instructional design model to create quality library learning objects. She will also present two posters -- one about K-State's LibGuides content management system and another about a study of library awareness and usage by distance students and faculty.Pitts was initiated into the Society in 2011.
The Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award program helps fund graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development and travel related to teaching and studies for active members of the society, which is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.
Garrett Kays, Agricultural Economics
Caitlyn Webb, Management
