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Honors Societies Award New Fellowships & Scholarships

Two national honors societies inducted a new class of over 600 new members into their ranks on April 3. Alpha Lambda Delta (ALD) and Phi Eta Sigma (called ALDPES together) recognize scholastic achievement during a student’s first year at The University of Texas at Austin. The societies also awarded three new undergraduate scholarships, recognized a national scholarship recipient, and presented Dr. Kristen Procko with the new Faculty Recognition Award. The UT ALDPES chapters are supported by the University Honors Center.

Each society aims to encourage superior academic achievement among students in their first year at higher education institutions, promote intelligent living and a continued high standard of learning, and assist women and men in recognizing and developing meaningful goals for societal roles. In addition to inducting over 600 new members, the UT chapters awarded three new undergraduate scholarships, recognized a national scholarship recipient, and presented Dr. Kristen Procko with the new Faculty Recognition Award. The UT chapters of Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma are supported by the University Honors Center in the School of Undergraduate Studies.

New Chapter Scholarships

ALDPES have established two new chapter scholarships to recognize and reward their members for involvement in the organization and in the Austin community. The Scholarship for Community Involvement recognizes outstanding leadership in volunteer work, within ALDPES or through other university and community organizations. This year’s recipient is Chloe Beck, a junior in the Department of English.

The Outstanding Member Scholarship recognizes two members who went above and beyond at ALDPES volunteer and social opportunities. The inaugural recipients are Crystal Cho, a senior studying Music in the College of Fine Arts, and Jae Seo Pi, a second-year Neurobiology major and pre-pharmacy student, and member of the Synthesis and Biological Recognition Stream, part of the Freshman Research Initiative in the College of Natural Sciences.

ALD National Fellowship Award

Alpha Lambda Delta gives 23 annual awards to its members, among them the National Fellowship Award. Each fellowship is named for a person of significance to Alpha Lambda Delta. This year’s award is named the Maude Etheridge Fellowship, and was awarded in the amount of $3,000 to Ngoc Ninh Luu. Ngoc will graduate in biochemistry/Pre-med this spring and has been accepted into the Doctor of Medicine program at Texas A & M Health Science Center. Ngoc served as Treasurer of the ALD chapter, served as a volunteer at the People Community Clinic and teaches ESL to Vietnamese people.

Ethridge was a colleague and close friend of Alpha Lambda Delta founder, Maria Leonard, and was head of the Women’s Health Service at the University of Illinois for many years. An honorary Alpha Lambda Delta member, Dr.Etheredge was deeply interested in the Society from its founding and, with Dean Leonard, established the Leaonard-Etheredge Loan Fund.

Faculty Recognition Award

ALDPES members award the Faculty Recognition Award annually to a UT faculty member who has had a positive influence on their undergraduate careers. The 2011 recipient is Dr. Kristen J. Procko, the research educator and primary contact for the Synthesis and Biological Recognition Stream, part of the Freshman Research Initiative in the College of Natural Sciences. Hailing from the East Coast, Dr. Procko completed her B.S. at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut, where she conducted biochemistry research directed by her mentor, Prof. Diane Dean’s. An internship at Pfizer sparked Kristen’s interest in synthesis, and she performed her graduate work at the University of Texas under Dr. Stephen F. Martin.