Phi Kappa Phi
2022 PKP Dissertation Award Winners
Dissertation Fellowship Awardees
The Texas State Phi Kappa Phi Chapter and The Graduate College are thrilled to announce that two Texas State University doctoral students have been selected as winners of the Dissertation Fellowship from The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. This highly competitive, $10,000 national fellowship is awarded annually to only ten active Society members who are doctoral candidates and are completing dissertations. The award provides financial support during the dissertation writing process to candidates whose projects demonstrate both a high degree of originality and significant potential for advancing knowledge in the candidates’ disciplines.
The 2022 Texas State awardees are Jennifer Barron, a doctoral student in Applied Anthropology whose dissertation is supervised by Dr. Michelle Hamilton, and Molly Miranker, a doctoral student in Geography whose dissertation is supervised by Dr. Alberto Giordano.
In addition, two doctoral students in Applied Anthropology, Petra Banks and Sophia Mavroudas, received Graduate Research Grants from Phi Kappa Phi during the 2022 competition. The grants provide up to $1,500 to support graduate students who are conducting or presenting research.
2022 Graduate Research Grants

LOVE OF LEARNING AWARDS
About the Award
Love of Learning Awards help fund post-baccalaureate professional development for active Phi Kappa Phi members to include (but not be limited to): Graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development, travel related to teaching/research/learning, etc. Two hundred awards, at $500 each, are distributed each year.
Applications and any supporting documents will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. CT on 6/30/2022.
Chapter 325 celebrates our 2021 Love of Learning Awards ($500):
2021 Love of Learning Awardees
Olufadeke (Fadeke) Adeniyi, alumna, MS program in Data Analytics & Information Systems
Petra Banks, PhD student in Applied Anthropology
Mariana Davila, SSP student in School Psychology
Justin Goldstein, PhD student in Applied Anthropology
Alisa Hartsell, PhD student in Geography
Shayne O'Brien, PhD student in Geography
NEWS: Our Chapter 325 has been named a Platinum Circle of Excellence chapter for a fourth year, 2021-2022.


Phi Kappa Phi is more than a line on a résumé. The nation’s oldest and most selective multidisciplinary collegiate honor society initiates more than 30,000 members a year on 300 campuses in the United States and the Philippines.
More than 1.25 million members have joined its ranks since Phi Kappa Phi’s founding in 1897 at the University of Maine. It is a global network of the best and brightest, a community of scholars and professionals building an enduring legacy for all generations.
Texas State University was awarded Chapter 325 by the Phi Kappa Phi Governing Board in Spring of 2013. The chapter was installed on October 30, 2013 at 3:30 PM in the Wittliff Collections. The first inaugural class of student members was initiated into the society on April 3, 2014.
Please see our national website here for information on upcoming dates and facts about Phi Kappa Phi.
To contact our chapter directly, please email phikappaphi@txstate.edu.
2021 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship Chapter Awardee
Adriana Garcia

Adriana Garcia will graduate from Texas State in May 2021 summa cum laude with a B.S. in Communication Disorders and a minor in Psychology. In Fall 2021, she will continue her education at Texas State and begin an M.S. in Communication Disorders. Her career goals are to become a medical Speech-Language Pathologist and specialize in neurogenic communication disorders and dysphagia in the older adult population. She hopes to create and promote multicultural training and therapy approaches to match the increasing cultural diversity of clients and to one day earn board certifications in brain injury and swallowing disorders.
2020 Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Awards
Love of Learning Awards help fund post-baccalaureate professional development for active Phi Kappa Phi members to include (but not be limited to): Graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development, travel related to teaching/research/learning, etc. Two hundred awards, at $500 each, are nationally distributed each year. Two Texas State chapter members received this award in 2020, both doctoral students in the Department of Geography: Milad Korde and Andrea Pinon. Congrats to them!

Milad is a Ph.D. candidate in the Geographic Information Systems program at Texas State University. He earned his second M.S. degree in Sustainability Studies from the same institution. His research interests are in climate change, clean energy, and human-environment interaction. He is currently teaching the Fundamentals of GIS at the Geography Department at Texas State University.
Andy is a Ph.D. student earning her doctorate in Geography with a research focus in Zoogeomorphology using Remote Sensing and Structure from Motion technologies to study landcover change. She will be studying the zoogeomorphic impacts of gorillas, elephants, and buffalos in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda in the coming year. She will be conducting her field work alongside top scientists at the Karisoke Research Center, a program of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the longest running gorilla research site in the world. Her project helped her earn a 2019 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), a program managed by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs, to study Swahili in Tanzania last summer. She plans to use her newly acquired language skills during her dissertation field work next Spring in Equatorial Africa where she will study megafauna in the wild. Andy graduated from the Honors College in 2016 and conducted her honors thesis research on riparian landscape restoration following a catastrophic flood. She is also a 2014 Terry Transfer Scholar and has served several years as a Terry Interview Panelist. As an undergraduate, Andy studied abroad in South Africa at the Center for African Conservation Ecology at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. As a graduate student, she served as a Study Abroad Program Assistant in Norway and Iceland. She currently manages several research projects including one for Westcave Preserve and a remote sensing project exploring hippo zoogeomorphic influence in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Andy teaches undergraduate Geomorphology and Physical Geography lab courses in the Geography Department at Texas State.
Texas State University Named 2020 Excellence in Innovation Recipient by Phi Kappa Phi


2020 Dissertation Fellowship Recipient
Phi Kappa Phi is proud to present the 2020 Phi Kappa Phi Dissertation Fellowship recipient, Maël Le Noc. Each doctoral candidate received an award of $10,000.
Towards a Geography of Persecution: The Case of the Arts-et-Métiers and the Enfants-Rouges Quarters of the Third Arrondissement of Paris, 1940-1946
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2021-2022 Officers
President - Dr. Catherine M. Jaffe, Professor, Department of World Languages and Literatures
Vice President - Dr. Kambra K. Bolch, Associate Dean, University College
Secretary - TBA
Treasurer - Dr. Lucy Harney, Chair, Department of World Languages and Literatures
Graduate Education Officer - Dr. Andrea Golato, Dean, Graduate College
Initiation Officer - Dr. Heather C. Galloway, Dean, Honors College
Student Liaison Officer - Ms. Melanie Liddle, Staff, Honors College
Student Vice President - Alisa Hartsell
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Awards and Grants Opportunities
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi's ongoing commitment to excellence is reflected in its awards and grants programs. More than $1 million is awarded each biennium to outstanding students, Phi Kappa Phi members, and chapters through the Society's various awards competitions Click here for information on these opportunities or click on the links below for specific opportunities :
- Fellowship
- Study Abroad Grants
- Love of Learning
- Literacy Grants
- Dissertation Fellowships
- Ray Sylvester Distinguished Service Award
- Scholar & Artist Grant
- Excellence in Innovation Award
Upcoming Deadlines
- Dissertation Fellowships
November 30, 2022
- Graduate Research Grants
November 30, 2022
- Fellowship
Chapter deadline: March 1, 2023
National deadline: April 15, 2023
- Literacy Grants
April 1, 2022
- Love of Learning Awards
June 30, 2022
- Excellence in Innovation Award
December 2022 (TBD)
- Scholar and Artist Awards
February 1, 2023
- Distinguished Service Award
February 1, 2023
Eligibility
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Graduate Students
All degree seeking students who have completed 18 hours of graduate work at Texas State and are in the top 10% of their class. At Texas State, this currently means students must have an overall graduate GPA of 4.0.
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Seniors
All undergraduate seniors who have completed at least 90 hours and are in the top 10% of their class. Students must have completed 24 hours at Texas State. The GPA to stay in the top 10% is not constant and is calculated each semester by college. The minimum overall GPA for the Fall 2021 invitation list is given below.
- 3.72 - College of Applied Arts
- 3.71 - McCoy College of Business Administration
- 3.76 - College of Education
- 3.82 - College of Fine Arts and Communication
- 3.80 - College of Health Professions
- 3.78 - College of Liberal Arts
- 3.73 - College of Science and Engineering
- 3.29 - University College
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Juniors
All undergraduate juniors who have completed at least 72 hours and are in the top 7.5% of their class. Students must have completed 24 hours at Texas State. The GPA to stay in the top 7.5% is not constant and is calculated each semester by college. The minimum overall GPA for the Fall 2019 invitation list is given below:
- 3.82 - College of Applied Arts
- 3.77 - McCoy College of Business Administration
- 3.80 - College of Education
- 3.87 - College of Fine Arts and Communication
- 3.86 - College of Health Professions
- 3.84 - College of Liberal Arts
- 3.82 - College of Science and Engineering
- 3.26 - University College
Org. Fall Meetings
Next meeting: TBA.
Chapter Dues
The local chapter dues for faculty and staff who are already members can be paid by going to this link to Phi Kappa Phi. Chapter dues are $30 annually.
A $300 chapter life membership is also available.