On April 10, the School of Social Work held its Phi Alpha Honor Society, Zeta Gamma Chapter, induction ceremony at Hendricks’s Chapel. Twelve undergraduate and 20 graduate social work students joined Phi Alpha this academic year. Associate professor, Keith Alford, was the keynote speaker. Leondra Polk, Phi Alpha president, led the ceremonies, with assistance from Deborah Monahan, professor of social work and associate dean of research. Awards were presented by Bette Brown Thoreck, director, Baccalaureate social work program. The concept of a National Social Work Honor Society came from a group of undergraduates at Michigan State University. In November, 1960, a National honor Society Committee was formed and in 1961 the society came into being. The Syracuse University Zeta Gamma Chapter was founded in 1996 as part of the School of Social work’s 40th Year Anniversary Celebration. This year’s inductees comprised the eighteenth group of students to be elected as members of Zeta Gamma Chapter.
The charge and purposes of the Phi Alpha Honor Society are:
- To recognize and encourage scholastic achievement among the students who are majoring in social work.
- To improve and further the goals and objectives of social work by encouraging objectivity and awareness of current developments and practices in the various fields of social work.
- To improve and further the goals and objectives of social work by stimulating research in preparation for a career in social work.