Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society - Board of Trustees

Many of the most prominent college honor societies have been publishing membership directories. Pi Gamma Mu’s leadership has discussed the possibility of publishing our own international membership directory for a number of years, and now this plan is coming to fruition.

Please help us by supporting this significant project. Call (800) 653-8765 to provide your directory information to Harris Connect, and I ask you to consider purchasing a copy of the directory. It is a great souvenir for every active member of Pi Gamma Mu. We would also appreciate it if your chapter would purchase a copy as this will help you stay in touch with members.

Also, to the extent that you are in contact with your chapter’s student and alumnus members, please share this information with them and encourage them to call (800) 653-8765 right away and provide their directory information, too.

As always, the members of the international Board of Trustees greatly appreciate your valuable service to Pi Gamma Mu.

Sincerely,
Gordon Mercer, President

Dear Fellow Member of Pi Gamma Mu,

Being initiated as a member of Pi Gamma Mu provides well-deserved and gratifying recognition of a student’s academic accomplishments. As international president of Pi Gamma Mu, I am glad that our honor society can provide that recognition, a suitable membership certificate, and an entry on the student’s résumé that alerts prospective employers about the student’s impressive achievement.

The Board of Trustees also wants a new member to enter into a community of scholars who communicate with each other. That’s why I am so excited about Pi Gamma Mu’s latest ambitious project: the publication of an international membership directory, coordinated by Harris Connect. This directory will enable chapters to contact their alumnus members, create connections between students and alumni, and provide opportunities for networking. Alumni can re-connect with their classmates. This communication will add a whole new dimension to the value of being a lifetime member of Pi Gamma Mu.

We don’t want even one member of Pi Gamma Mu to be omitted from this directory! We want this directory to be complete. Harris Connect is helping us to find even lost members. We are gathering E-mail addresses in order to compile a complete list of E-mail addresses, even for our members who were initiated when the Internet was still a gleam in the eye of a few clever visionaries! Having a complete E-mail address list will create a powerful network for communication, centered on the online Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter, to which all of our members may have a free lifetime subscription. The introductory section of the directory will contain a brief history of Pi Gamma Mu, a discussion of our important projects, a description of our array of member services, and a list of our most famous members. An excerpt of that introductory section appears below.

The directory will be available only to members. It will not be sold to businesses, so your listing will not attract sales solicitations. Please help us by calling, 800-653-8765 and giving Harris Connect your current mailing address and E-mail address and information for the directory. They are looking forward to hearing from you, and we are looking forward to being connected with you from now on. Welcome to the Pi Gamma Mu communication network! We are honored that you are a member of Pi Gamma Mu, and want to give you the honor of being listed in the first-ever Pi Gamma Mu Membership Directory. We have negotiated very favorable prices for copies of our directory and you will want to have your own copy.

Sincerely,
Gordon E. Mercer, President
Pi Gamma Mu

An excerpt of the introductory section of the membership directory appears below.

PROMINENT MEMBERS OF PI GAMMA MU

Henry J. Abraham – internationally recognized constitutionalist, and Social Science (Pi Gamma Mu journal) assistant editor (1956-1967)

Jane Addams – early social worker and founder of Hull House (America’s original settlement house), and first female winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1931)

Ricardo Joaquin Alfaro – president of Panama (1931-1932)

Edgardo J. Angara – senator of the Philippines (1987-present)

Ernst Philip Boas – famous cardiologist, inventor of the cardiotachometer, and early proponent of national health insurance

Richard E. Byrd – U. S. admiral and polar explorer who was first to fly over the North and South Poles, and Pi Gamma Mu honorary national president (1931-1935)

Conchita Carpio-Morales – justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (2001-present)

Pia Cayetano – senator of the Philippines (2004-present)

William T. Coleman Jr. – author of the winning legal brief in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) outlawing racial segregation in public education, and U. S. secretary of transportation (1975-1977)

Michael Copps – commissioner of the U. S. Federal Communications Commission (2001-present)

Hilario Davide Jr. – chief justice of the Philippines (1997-2005), and Philippine ambassador to the United Nations (2006-present)

Teresita Leonardo de Castro – justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (2007-present)

Diana L. DeGette – U. S. representative from Colorado (1996-present) and chief deputy whip of the U. S. House of Representatives (2006-present)

Robert D. Eilers – originator of health care management and health management organizations (HMOs)

Charles Abram Ellwood – eminent sociologist, founder of Duke University’s Sociology Department, and Pi Gamma Mu national president (1931-1937)

Juan Ponce Enrile – senator of the Philippines (1987-present)

Paul Finkelstein – president and chief executive officer (1996-present), and chairman of the board (2004-present) of Regis Corporation, the world's largest hair salon industry and Fortune 500 corporation

Robert B. Goergen – founder and chairman and CEO of Blyth, Inc.

Charles Grassley – U. S. senator from Iowa (1980-present)

Grace Raymond Hebard – political economist and pioneering historian of the Native Americans, and Pi Gamma Mu co-founder and national vice-president (1924-1931)

Lyndon Baines Johnson – president of the United States (1963-1969)

Reginald H. Jones – chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. (1971-1982)

David M. Kennedy – U. S. secretary of the treasury (1968-1971), and U. S. ambassador to NATO (1972-1973)

Charles P. Kindleberger – MIT economist and chief architect of the Marshall Plan

Jacques Paul Klein – undersecretary general of the United Nations (1996-1999)

Simon S. Kuznets – former Pi Gamma Mu chapter officer, internationally renowned economist, and winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize in Economic Science

Jose P. Laurel – president of the Philippines (1942-1945)

Salvador H. Laurel – senator (1967-1973) and vice president of the Philippines (1986-1991)

Ferdinand E. Marcos – president of the Philippines (1965-1986)

Mark Martin – senior justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1998-present)

Spark M. Matsunaga – U. S. senator from Hawaii (1976-1990)

Margaret Mead – pioneering cultural anthropologist and 1956 Pi Gamma Mu convention keynote speaker

Marilyn McAfee – career diplomat and U. S. ambassador to Guatemala (1992-1997)

Roy F. Nichols – winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History (1949)

S. Howard Patterson – noted labor and social economist, author of microeconomics textbooks, and longest-serving Pi Gamma Mu national president (1937-1951)

Lester B. Pearson – prime minister of Canada (1962-1968) and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace (1957)

Judith S. Rodin – groundbreaking experimental psychologist, first female Ivy League university president, and president of the Rockefeller Foundation (2005-present)

Edward A. Ross – pioneer in criminology and Pi Gamma Mu honorary national president (1937-1951)

Miriam Defensor Santiago – constitutionalist and senator of the Philippines (1995-present)

William French Smith – U. S. attorney general (1980-1985)

Pitirim A. Sorokin – renowned sociologist, founder of Harvard University’s Sociology Department, and Pi Gamma Mu national vice president (1937-1941)

Gustavs Zembals – president of Latvia (1927-1931)

In 1999, at our triennial convention, we met in Wichita, Kans., and celebrated the theme of "Soaring into the Future" and the society's 75th anniversary. (Group photo of attendees at left.) Preparing for the new century was important to our chapters, students, and trustees, and our first woman president, Professor P. Kay Anderson of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, was beginning her second term. Prof. Anderson pointed out that we needed to respect the past but at the same time adapt to new realities of updating our documents and our Pi Gamma Mu Constitution. As we began the new century, we promised to keep the trust with our lifetime members by ensuring that membership records remained current and accurate and ensuring that we were maintaining the high expectations of our chapters, students, and sponsors. This would include Pi Gamma Mu’s scholarships for graduate education to assist our best students; ΠΓΜ lecture grants to help chapters by funding honoraria for guest speakers; support for conventions and conferences which provide a forum for students to present research papers; Pi Gamma Mu newsletters which provide communication with members and chapters; and the International Social Science Review to advance scholarship. Members frequently call our executive director, Sue Watters, at our headquarters with address updates and the need to confirm the date on which they were inducted as lifetime members.

Sue Watters Our triennial conventions are important occasions for setting new priorities and presenting student academic papers, and installing new members of the Board of Trustees, including student trustees. Usually 80 to 120 students and faculty from across the United States gather to learn, participate, and communicate their experiences in Pi Gamma Mu. In 2002, our triennial convention was held in Atlanta, Ga., with the theme of "Cultural Diversity." It was an appropriate time to install our newly elected president, Dr. Jean C. Karlen of Wayne State College, who prioritized cultural diversity, reorganization of regions, and increased recognition of chapters and their work. Our board, faculty members, and students anticipated that, in the century ahead, cultural diversity would be the new norm.

Pictured at left: Sue Watters, executive director

2005 Convention
(Pictured at left: Board of Trustees at 2005 convention in Nashville: L to R: top row, Gordon Mercer, Dean Fafoutis, Wendell Hester, Susan Zlomke, Paul Love, and Scott Johnston; middle row, Barry Friedman, Charles McClellan, Jean Karlen, and Larry Heck; front row, Sue Watters, Michele Price, Jamie Cooper, Kay Anderson, and Clara Small.)

As we moved forward, our 2005 triennial convention in Nashville, Tenn., celebrated the theme "I’m a Little Bit Country," and our 2008 Atlanta convention’s theme was "Pi Gamma Mu Has a Party: A Political Party." In both conventions, exceptional papers were given by students, and some participants displayed our first poster papers during the 2008 convention in Atlanta. Dr. Gordon E. Mercer, who was elected president in 2005, expressed appreciation to Dr. Barry D. Friedman, our first vice president, and Mrs. Watters for leadership in organizing exceptionally well-organized triennial conventions. Also, the outstanding work of Dr. C. Laurence "Larry" Heck, international treasurer, in dealing with financial problems as overhead and other costs were increasing was recognized. Dr. Charles W. McClellan, second vice president, was recognized for his conscientious work in selecting Pi Gamma Mu scholarship recipients. We approved slightly higher dues and journal subscription costs to deal with new financial realities. New strategies were developed to reactivate inactive chapters and invite new chapters to charter, and a position of part-time chapter-development officer was established at our headquarters in Winfield, Kans. Over a period of three years, the honor society expanded from 123 chapters to 150 chapters. Because we also lose chapters due to faculty retirements, our gain of over 60 new and reactivated chapters was helpful in stabilizing the society, and we began to experience new growth in chapters and yearly memberships.

(Pictured at left: Board of Trustees at 2008 convention in Atlanta. L to R: Clara Small, Mark Bender, Larry Heck, Wendell Hester, Charles Hartwig, Gordon Mercer, Barry Friedman, Amy Orr, Michaela Dolphin, and Charles McClellan. Not depicted are Kay Anderson and Jean Karlen.)

Triennial conventions give us a chance to recognize chapters for the outstanding service that they provide on campuses. We list all active chapters in our newsletter every year with the name of our important faculty advisers, and express our appreciation to them for their leadership. We have been extremely pleased over the last 15 years that 12 regional meetings have been held in the Southeast Region, providing a forum for academic papers and a new generation of students experiencing the scholarship ideals of Pi Gamma Mu. These regional meeting have been held in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Providing support to help chapters in their mission of honoring students and maintaining excellence in the social sciences is critical to our mission.

The impetus for Pi Gamma Mu’s original international Web site was Janet Monroe of the University of South Florida. For the first time, the Internet contained a rallying point for members of Pi Gamma Mu. Ms. Monroe’s innovation was a breakthrough for Pi Gamma Mu communication in the electronic age. In 2007, Dr. Randy J. Bertolas, chancellor of Pi Gamma Mu’s North Central Region, coordinated a project to redesign Pi Gamma Mu’s Web site. As a result of the creative effort of Dr. Bertolas and consultant Brian Booth, Pi Gamma Mu members gained access to a more attractive, user-friendly Web site. It can be accessed at http://www.pigammamu.org . Helpful drop-down menus with lists of links give members and prospective members access to information about how to start or reactivate a chapter, how to submit chapter reports, how to order ΠΓΜ merchandise, and how to contact the international office. In 2009, the Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter became an online newsletter, resembling the eye-catching format of the Web pages of national and international news organizations.

To support the distribution of the online newsletter, the international office established the Pi Gamma Mu Listserv in 2009 through the chapter at North Georgia College & State University, which accesses the computer resources of the University of Georgia. Any ΠΓΜ member may subscribe to the Pi Gamma Mu Listserv, as long as he or she ensures that a current E-mail address appears on the subscriber list. When a new edition of the Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter is published, all Listserv subscribers receive an E-mail message that displays the newsletter’s front page and that contains links to the continuation of articles and to additional articles

PI GAMMA MU SERVICES

While Pi Gamma Mu is not the largest or wealthiest of the 62 national and international honor societies affiliated with the national Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS), arguably our international officers and trustees and our chapter sponsors are the hardest-working volunteers who can be found in any of the societies. No effort is spared to make our members’ experiences as fulfilling as possible. Here are some examples:

The membership certificate (photo at lower right) that we present to initiates has a truly elegant and distinguished appearance, suitable for its significant recognition purpose.
We publish one of the most attractive and informative newsletters to keep our members informed about events and opportunities. So that all members--students, faculty, and alumni--may access the Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter, we maintain a listserv to which all may subscribe.
We publish a very highly regarded, peer-reviewed scholarly journal: the International Social Science Review. Each initiate receives a one-year subscription, which is renewable thereafter for a modest fee.
In terms of amount and quantity, we provide some of the most generous scholarships to our undergraduate members who are advancing to graduate school.
We organize a lively convention once every three years, and partially subsidize the travel of many of the delegates. A portion of every initiation fee is set aside as a travel fund for chapter delegates, and many of the students who present papers at conventions receive subsidized lodging in a room in the hotel.
We provide lectureship grants, which pay for speakers’ honoraria for chapter events.

Providing all of these services and opportunities reflects the tenacity of the officers, the executive director, and the office manager, who have become experts at taking modest amounts of resources and extracting the maximum amount of benefit from them.