Congratulations to the winners of our 15th annual Phi Alpha Theta paper competition! Those taking home cash rewards from the J.R. Wonderly Memorial Awards are announced on page 1 of this newsletter. Elise, Daniel, and Jon, enjoy your awards!
Not only do these awards help provide us with a program at our annual Phi Alpha Theta banquet (this year on FRIDAY, April 24), but they encourage our students to excel by giving them an opportunity to share their research and be recognized for their achievement. I thank all those students who contributed papers to the competition—it was a very strong group of papers—and congratulations to the winners!
If you've just finished a research paper for a course, or will write one in spring quarter or next fall, please consider saving it to submit to next year’s competition in January 2010. (You needn’t still be an enrolled student at the point.) Papers in Historical Writing and Senior Seminar are generally very appropriate. The paper should have earned an “A” of some kind, meaning that the instructor’s grading functions as a screening process. You are, of course, welcome to revise the paper in any way you like for this competition, and it's smart to revise a strong paper as soon as possible after the instructor returns your paper with comments. Competition entry forms will be available outside the History Department office next December and will be mailed out at that time to all active Phi Alpha Theta members.
Our next major activity here in town is the annual member banquet, which provides a number of important functions: we initiate new members into Phi Alpha Theta, acknowledging their academic success; we have an opportunity to hear about student research from our annual JR Wonderly Award winners; and we enjoy a nice dinner and the chance to socialize with other members. Please join us on April 24, whether you are a long-time member or one of our newest.
This year's banquet will be held on Friday, April 24, at Chalet Basque. Please mark your calendars now. All current/active and alumni members are invited and are welcome to bring family and friends. If you would like more details, please contact Jean Stenehjem in the History Department office at 654-3079, weekdays between 8am and 2pm.
To date, the following students will be among those initiated as new members at his event: Dennise Bentle, Jon Doll, Celeste Sharpe.
We are still accepting applications for membership and initiation at the spring banquet, so if you think you qualify for membership in Phi Alpha Theta, please fill out a red application form, available outside my office door or that of the department office, and leave it with me or Jean Stenehjem in the History Department office, OR visit our website and fill and submit a form online. Membership requires a 3.1 GPA in a minimum of four CSUB history courses (a 3.5 for grad students); however, if you have only 3 courses, but have earned A's in each of them, you may also qualify. Membership furthermore requires an overall 3.0 GPA. The cost is $40.00, which goes to the national office and provides a lifetime membership as well as a one-year subscription to The Historian, the quarterly journal of Phi Alpha Theta.
Phi Alpha Theta members enjoy the opportunity to participate in the annual Southern California Regional Student Paper Conference. This year it will be held at UCLA on Saturday, April 18. One of our members, Daniel Sexton, a J.R. Wonderly Memorial Award winner, will be there presenting his very interesting paper on the nationalization of the oil industry in Mexico in the 1930s.
If you are graduating this June, as a PAT member you are eligible to purchase an honor cord to wear at commencement. If you would like to have one of these as part of your regalia, you may purchase one from me (or Jean Stenehjem) for $15.00 during spring quarter. Checks are payable to Phi Alpha Theta; we will also accept cash.
Finally, there are several opportunities for members of our chapter to compete for national PAT awards. I have posted details on the Phi Alpha Theta bulletin board outside the department office, but will mention here that these are national paper awards. The deadline for the paper prize competition is June 30. If you’ve written an exceptional paper that won a chapter award or significant praise, you might consider submitting it. You will need to seek a letter of recommendation from either me or Prof. Jeanne Harrie, department chair. If deemed suitable for publication, your paper could be published in an issue of The Historian. Kathleen Freeland (MA 2003) twice won national paper awards.
