Message to Social-Science Honor Students
Social-science
honor students deserve recognition for their accomplishments. That's where Pi Gamma Mu comes in! But
if your college or university doesn't have a Pi Gamma Mu chapter, we need your help.
Dear Social-Science Student,
Pi Gamma Mu recognizes academic excellence in the fields of anthropology, criminal justice, economics,
cultural geography, history, international relations, social philosophy, social work, sociology, political
science, and psychology. Our mission is to encourage and promote excellence in the social sciences
and to uphold the ideals of scholarship and service. If you are an honor student in one of those disciplines
of study, we want to recognize you with membership in Pi Gamma Mu.
All too often, honor students whose professors do not arrange for their initiation into an honor society receive
no recognition at all for their achievement!
An important resource in the effort to charter and operate a Pi Gamma Mu chapter is a faculty member willing
to sponsor the chapter and participate in its essential functions. You may be able to identify
such a faculty member. If we can talk to you and the faculty member, we can activate the process of
chartering a chapter at your school.
Pi Gamma Mu was founded in 1924 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia and Southwestern College in
Kansas. The honor society is a member of, and provides leadership to, the national Association of College Honor
Societies. Our members have included President Lyndon B. Johnson, anthropologist Margaret Mead, Rockefeller
Foundation president Judith Rodin, U. S. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, and Harvard University sociology-department
founder Pitirim Sorokin.
We make sure that honor students receive appropriate recognition and an array of membership services.
-
Each
initiate receives lifetime membership, an elegant membership certificate (comparable
in quality to college diplomas), a membership card, a lapel pin, the online
Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter, and online access to our well-regarded journal, the International
Social Science Review (ISSR).
- Our multidisciplinary approach allows people in various disciplines/majors to socialize with and
learn from each other. A Pi Gamma Mu chapter can be the stimulus for interdepartmental gatherings
of professors and/or students. Would you like to get a stimulating speaker for such a gathering? Pi
Gamma Mu will contribute $300 to help you pay an honorarium! Some Pi Gamma Mu chapters operate
social-service projects, so you can easily recruit collaborators to help implement such projects if service
is a priority for you. (It's a priority to us, too, and every international convention features a social-service
project.)
- We encourage students to present their excellent research papers at Pi Gamma Mu conventions. Presenting
a paper can help jump-start students’ desire to pursue a graduate degree—and Pi Gamma Mu will
often help pay for some of their travel expenses. Pi Gamma Mu holds an international convention
every three years. By design, our conventions are student-oriented. Students establish bonds with
other students from colleges and universities all over the United States and other countries as well.
Student members presented research papers at the 2011 triennial international convention in Washington, D. C.
- Pi Gamma Mu offers a scholarship program in which student
members compete for funding for graduate school. Every year, we present three scholarships for
$2000 each and seven scholarships for $1000 each, for one year of graduate study. Any member of the society
is eligible to apply as a graduating senior or as a prospective graduate student.
Students
(as well as professors) have an opportunity to publish in an international journal. Virtually
every edition of the International Social Science
Review contains
the work of at least one chapter sponsor and at least one student member of the honor society,
and publishers have asked and received permission to reprint student-written articles in other widely
distributed publications.
Pi Gamma Mu helps its members to look like Pi Gamma Mu members! We make attractive
and fun items available to our members. For example, we offer custom stoles (in white satin with our logo, greek letters, and name in blue stitching) and honor cords (in blue and white, Pi Gamma
Mu's colors) to drape over your cap and gown when you graduate. We also have clothing and novelty items
available on our Web site.
- Student members participate actively in governing Pi Gamma Mu! At each triennial
convention, the student members elect two students to serve on the international Board of Trustees for
the new triennial (three-year) period. Both student trustees then attend the annual board meetings during
that triennium.
A Pi Gamma Mu chapter can enhance your college experience.
Starting a Pi Gamma Mu chapter is not difficult at all, and we'll guide you and your chapter's
sponsor-designate through the process. If you send an E-mail message to our executive director at [email protected],
or call at (620) 221-3128, we will give you a call and/or mail some easy-to-follow information to
you, along with a copy of the ISSR. And please visit our Web page at http://www.pigammamu.org/start-chapter.html .
Delegates engage in stimulating proceedings during a Pi Gmma Mu regional conference
We deeply appreciate your kindness in taking a few moments to read this message. Best regards from all of
us at Pi Gamma Mu.
