What Do Delegates Want to Hear from Candidates?

To win positions on the board of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, candidates must motivate members, energize chapters, promote the mission, and otherwise support the Society, Convention delegates said on Friday afternoon. Polls will open for the 132 voters (121 delegates and 11 board members) at 7 a.m. CT on Saturday in Kansas City, M.O.

Candidates should suggest ways to “target involvement from faculty as well as students to increase activity,” said Mary Cooper, chapter president at Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne. “Involvement in the community is important too” because members may not realize the good they could be doing, she added.

Mohamed Samir Hefzy, University of Toledo chapter president, said almost the same thing. He wanted candidates to identify strategies to “increase more involvement from students and faculty.”

Those who offer creative solutions for doing this might get the vote of Michelle Gerdes, chapter treasurer at the United States Military Academy, she said, especially candidates “who are motivated and excited to lead.”

Malinda Sloan, chapter secretary at Colorado State University, echoed these thoughts. She called membership in Phi Kappa “a full circle” from initiates to members to supporters to donors. “How to embrace that?”

One focus for Anita Welch, chapter president-elect at North Dakota State University, is getting would-be members interested in the Society at a chapter and national level. “How do we make Phi Kappa Phi meaningful for students to join in the first place,” she wondered, “with all the competition out there with other honor societies?”

The question Ronald L. Wirtz, University of Nebraska at Kearney chapter president, posed for candidates concerned getting the word out about Phi Kappa Phi. “How are we going to promote growth of the organization?” he asked. “I’m hearing from other chapters in our small group (Partnering For Success) meetings that there is some apathy on students’ parts to join. We have to do a better job at marketing.”

Julia Lusk, chapter secretary at Clemson University, also considered promotion the No. 1 topic for candidates. “It’s hard for us to get the word out for potential student members,” she said. “They think it’s a scam. And we’re not as well known as Phi Beta Kappa.”

Cheria Vonique Dial, chapter vice president at The Ohio State University, seconded outgoing Society President Robert Rogow’s point from his “State of the Society” speech on Friday that while it’s commendable that Phi Kappa Phi distributes more money annually – $700,000 – than any other organization of its kind, bestowing $1 million annually in grants “would be great.”

Fiscal responsibility is also important for her to hear about from candidates. The Society has weathered the financial storm of the past few years well, she said, and Dial is looking for leaders who demonstrate similar sound fiscal policy.

“My interest,” said J. Sunita Peacock, Slippery Rock University chapter president, “is in reviving chapters because I’m in one of those chapters needing to be revived. That’s why I’m here.”