Monday, September 21, 2015

Apply for a Love of Learning Award

Need funding to attend a conference, support dissertation research, or pay for textbooks? Apply for a Love of Learning Award!

Available to active Phi Kappa Phi members, Love of Learning Awards help fund post-baccalaureate studies and/or career development including graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, travel related to teaching/studies and more.

Eighty awards, at $500 each, will be distributed during Session B. The deadline to submit applications is October 1.

Applications are open to all active (dues current) Phi Kappa Phi members who:
  • Have completed their baccalaureate studies by application submission deadline.
  • Have not received a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship

For more information, check out the FAQs and Love of Learning fact sheet. Ready to apply? Click here!

Friday, September 18, 2015

Save an Extra 10% with Dell!

From now until October 31, Phi Kappa Phi has teamed up with Dell to offer members an additional 10 percent off select PCs, tablets, electronics and accessories from Dell.com!

To receive the exclusive discount, click here and follow the instructions. Please note you must be logged in with your Phi Kappa Phi credentials to access this page.

For more information about the limited-time offer, click here. If you need additional assistance accessing the discount, please contact James Case at james_case@dell.com or Jamie Chapman at jchapman@phikappaphi.org.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Phi Kappa Phi Launches Excellence in Innovation Award

Phi Kappa Phi is excited to announce the launch of its Excellence in Innovation Award. The new $100,000 award, given once per biennium, will recognize a college and university for its achievements in finding powerful answers to important local, regional, national, or global challenges.

While Phi Kappa Phi has pursued its mission of recognizing and promoting academic excellence since its founding in 1897, until now it has not played a significant role of any sort in the national conversation on higher education.

We seek to change that by doing what we do best—recognizing and promoting excellence. Since 1933, Phi Kappa Phi has awarded fellowships and grants to members and students on our chapter campuses.

Currently, we award more than $500,000 annually through programs that last year recognized over 270 individuals.

But we have never had an award for institutions until now.

The Society will present the first Excellence in Innovation Award in 2016 to an institution of higher learning that uses innovative and substantive solutions to achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes to improve the lives of others and create systemic large-scale change.

The application period for colleges and universities to apply for the Excellence in Innovation award is currently open and will close December 10. To learn more about the award including award criteria, eligibility, and timeline details, visit www.PhiKappaPhiInnovation.org.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Member Benefits Highlights – September 2015

Fall into savings with these special offers exclusively available to Phi Kappa Phi members throughout September.

Lumosity *New Benefit
Phi Kappa Phi has teamed up with Lumosity, a leading brain training company, to offer members an exclusive 25% discount on individual yearly and lifetime subscriptions. Lumosity is available on iPad, iPhone and Android, and in several languages on the web including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. To take advantage of the exclusive 25% discount, visit Lumosity.com to set up your free account. Once you’ve created your account, click here to activate the 25% discount.

AmazonSmile
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way to support Phi Kappa Phi every time you shop at Amazon.com at no cost to you. When you shop using AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience with the added bonus that Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to Phi Kappa Phi. Start your shopping today! And don’t forget to bookmark the AmazonSmile link to make it even easier to support Phi Kappa Phi every time you shop on Amazon.

JoS A. Bank
Receive 20% savings in store and online from menswear retailer JoS. A. Bank. To begin receiving the discount, sign up for a free Corporate Card by visiting your nearest JoS. A. Bank store. Once at the store, mention your membership in Phi Kappa Phi and corporate ID# 525720. Members can also register by calling 800.285.2265 or emailing a request, along with the address you would like the card sent, to corporatecard@jos-a-bank.com. Remember, you must mention Phi Kappa Phi and corporate ID# 525720 when requesting your card.

JPASS by JSTOR
Gain access to more than 1,800 academic journals with JPASS by JSTOR and receive an exclusive 25% discount when you purchase the annual JPASS-JSTOR individual access plan. The JSTOR archive collection is a database containing back issues of more than 2,000 academic and professional journals spanning 50 disciplines and more than 350 years of scholarship—including some of the most authoritative and widely read articles in the arts and sciences. Click here to redeem your 25% discount today. (You must be logged in to the website to access the discount.)

GEICO
Qualifying Phi Kappa Phi members can get an exclusive discount of up to 8% on auto insurance from GEICO. To get a quote, click here. Existing GEICO customers may also be eligible for this discount. To enroll, call 1.800.368.2734. Did you know? Each time you request a quote, GEICO makes a contribution to the Society’s Awards & Grant programs!

Mercer Insurance Program
As a Phi Kappa Phi member, you can take advantage of special rates and discounts for life, pet, disability, long-term care and health insurance through Mercer Consumer, a service of Mercer Health & Benefits Administration, LLC, and other well-known providers. To learn more and enroll, call 1.888.560.ALUM (2586). Be sure to mention your membership in The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Click here to access the plans currently offered to Phi Kappa Phi members.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Volunteer Spotlight – September 2015

Laura A. Pawlow, Ph.D.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Name: Laura A. Pawlow, Ph.D

Chapter Position: President

University Position: Professor of Psychology, Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Coordinator

Years of Service to the Chapter: 3 years

Degree(s)/Discipline: Clinical Psychology

How did you become involved as a chapter officer? Shortly after I was initiated, I was approached by then President-Elect, Mary Weishaar, and asked to serve.

What has your chapter done that has made you proud? I am most proud of the work we did to support our local Head Start Agency through the Phi Kappa Phi National Book Drive Contest. In approximately 6 weeks, we were able to collect 2,873 new and gently used children's books from our university and surrounding community. I'm so excited about the impact so many great books will have on so many very deserving kids!

What does Phi Kappa Phi mean to you? I really appreciate the emphasis on inspiring a lifelong love of learning. As teachers, we strive to instill a sense of wonder in our students and to promote intellectual curiosity. I love that this is the over-arching goal of Phi Kappa Phi. I also really appreciate the fact that membership is open to ALL disciplines and that representing all areas of scholarly inquiry is encouraged. Finally, I enjoy the commitment to service embodied by Phi Kappa Phi.

What do you enjoy most about being a chapter officer? Many things, but the most enjoyable moments to date involved seeing a small room in my laboratory practically overflowing with the almost 3,000 books that our community so generously donated and anticipating the delight these books are going to bring to so many little ones!

What advice would you give to a new chapter officer? You don't have to do everything by yourself. You have dedicated and hard-working fellow officers to support you and an entire staff at the national level determined to help your chapter succeed.

What are your hobbies? I love spending time with my family and friends, spending time on the water with my husband and kids, St. Louis Cardinals games, reading, and working on various house and yard projects.

Where are you from? I was born in St. Louis, Mo., but as an "Air Force brat," we called many places home, including South Korea for three years.

Read Laura's bio.