This month, four corporate communication students were inducted into Penn State Scranton's Alpha Epsilon Phi Chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the official honor society of the National Communication Association.
Before a crowd of friends, campus faculty and staff, and some recent alumni, Lucines Polanco and Emma Ross were officially inducted into Lambda Pi Eta. Inductees Dominique Jordan and Jordan Peters were also announced as new inductees, but were unable to be present for the ceremony.
Past Lambda Pi Eta officers and founding members Christopher Davis, former president; Sabrina Gray, former public relations; and Jo Ann Durdan, former treasurer, spoke at the ceremony.
Davis presented the new inductees with special Lambda Pi Eta cords and a pin, and they also received their official membership certificate.
Dr. Kim Flanders, corporate communication program coordinator and club advisor, oversaw the ceremony, and Dr. Xialing Lin, assistant professor of corporate communication, was also in attendance.
To qualify for Lambda Pi Eta membership, undergraduate students must have declared an interest in the field of communication while also having achieved a high level of academic excellence. Eligible members must have completed 60 semester hours in undergraduate credit courses with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Furthermore, members must have completed the equivalent of 12 semester hours in communication courses, maintaining at least a 3.25 GPA in those courses. Lastly, prospective members and inductees must be in the upper 35 percent of their graduating class and be enrolled as a full-time student in good standing.
Lambda Pi Eta was initiated by the students of the Department of Communication at the University of Arkansas and was then endorsed by the faculty and founder Stephen A. Smith in 1985. The Speech Communication Association established Lambda Pi Eta as an affiliate organization and as the official national communication honor society for undergraduates in 1994.
In February 1996, Lambda Pi Eta was inducted in the Association of College Honor Societies. There are currently 344 active chapters worldwide.