Chapter News

Fall 2009

Delta Pi Chapter at The University of Miami reactivated itself last Spring, and chapter officers report that it's hard at work in its first full year back in active status-- including the induction of new members and getting the campus involved in top contemporary political issues. The chapter is co-sponsoring a health care forum in October with the Miami Department of Political Science. Panel discussions at the forum are designed to be ideologically balanced debates, with panelists including some of the department's professors, news media and a Dean from the Miller School of Medicine at the university.

Members from the Epsilon Epsilon Chapter at The University of Texas-El Paso participated in the Domenici Public Policy Conference on September 16, 2009. Faculty advisor Taeko Hiroi kindly forwarded this picture (photo right), showing some of the chapter's members with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. The annual conference is sponsored by the Domenici Center of New Mexico State University, and more details about it can be found at http://domenici.nmsu.edu/2009-domenici-public-pol.html.

Winthrop University's (SC) Mu Pi Chapter reports a busy Spring 2009 semester, which has doubtless become a busy Fall 2009 one as well! According to Chapter Vice President Erin English, the chapter planned some undergraduate "peer advising" last term, assisting with the college's Model United Nations program, hosting a forum on the current economic crisis to help Winthrop students understand what was going on and, of course, their end-of-year initiation ceremony for new members in April.

Tau Epsilon Chapter at North Carolina Central University has been busy co-sponsoring and/or providing support to an active agenda of scholarly panels scheduled by the Department of Political Science; last Spring, the panels included experts and/or interdisciplinary faculty speaking on topics such as the U.S. economic crisis and stock market meltdown, the symbolism of the Obama presidency to African American voters and the role of US troops in the Middle East in the post-Saddam Hussein era. As Fall 2009 semester begins, members of the chapter are keeping Dr. Jeffrey Elliot in our thoughts, as he has taken a leave of absence this term for medical reasons.

Pi Sigma Alpha welcomes newly-formed chapter Alpha Zeta Zeta at The University of Texas-Pan American! The chapter's first initiation ceremony took place on June 19, 2009, and eighteen students were part of the charter membership. Co-advisors Adam McGlynn and Jessica Lavariega Monforti report that these initiates are as follows: 1)  Forrest Ross Taylor   2)  Mayra L. Mendez  3)  Richard Salinas 4) Javier Alvarez, Jr.  5)  Ana Belen Franco 6) Mikson A. Ehimika  7) Esther Herrera  8) Krystal Estarei Garcia  9) Caleb Garcia  10)  Luis A. Gonzalez  11)  David Cortez  12)  Oscar H. Mendoza  13)  Karen A. Dorado  14)  Seth C. Thomas  15)  Lorena Garza  16)  Jose Felipe Chavez  17)  Kirk Alexander Clark  18)  Roel E. Cantú. The photo below provides evidence of a happy group of initiates from the chapter, and the Newsletter congratulates them on their academic achievement and looks forward to receiving future news of the chapter's accomplishing its many goals of service to the discipline and its members!