CNU to Host Virginia Regional Conference of Phi Alpha Theta
News Release - March 07, 2008
Media Contact:
Emily L. Lucier
Press Secretary and Media Manager
emily.lucier@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) - For the first time, Christopher Newport University will host the Virginia Regional Conference of Phi Alpha Theta, an honor society for history students. This conference will take place in the David Student Union at CNU on Saturday, March 8 starting at 8:45 a.m. and ending after 3:30 p.m. More than 60 students, undergraduate and graduate, representing ten difference schools will present original term papers in three areas: American History, European History, and World History. Eight students from Alpha Zeta Mu, CNU’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, will be presenting at the conference.
“This is a wonderful honor for our chapter,” said Alpha Zeta Mu faculty advisor and CNU Associate Professor of History Dr. Nigel Sellars. “We have only been sending our students to the conference for a few years now, so the chance to host this event is truly an accolade for us.”
Phi Alpha Theta was founded in 1921 at the University of Arkansas for history students, both majors and non-majors. The CNU chapter, Alpha Zeta Mu, was chartered in 1993. Last year, two CNU students attended the regional conference at James Madison University, and one, Lindsay Newman, took second place for her paper on religious interplay between the Spanish and the Aztecs. The criteria for becoming a member of Alpha Zeta Mu is: to have at least 12 credit hours in history in which six of these credits must be at the 300 - 400 level, to maintain a 3.1 GPA in history credit hours, have an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0, and to rank in the top 35% of one’s class. The next induction for new students into Alpha Zeta Mu will take place in April.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Joseph W. Luter III College of Business and Leadership and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor.
Visit us at www.cnu.edu.