By Caroline Ryan
Assistant News Editor
The 84th chapter of the Alpha Eta Society, the national scholastic honor society for allied health professions, was founded at LIU Post on January 16, 2016.
To join this elite honor society, students must be in their senior year and have a cumulative 3.5 GPA. Faculty nominate eligible students who show leadership in their chosen profession. These nominations must then be approved by the dean of the School of Health Professions and Nursing. Currently there are 38 students and five faculty members in the honor society. Each year, all the students are eligible to join the honor society. There are over 100 students in health professions program.
Those who are inducted into the society receive a certificate, pin and special cord at their graduation ceremony. As a member of the honor society, students are part of an elite group of allied healthcare professionals who have shown academic excellence and leadership while at their institution of higher learning.
“Our mission of educating students from diverse backgrounds to address the health and social needs of individuals, families, communities and society, as well as to develop skills for best practice, based on humanistic values, inter-professional skills, scientific knowledge and evidence is closely aligned with the mission of Alpha Eta,” said Stacy Gropack, the dean for the School of Health Professions and Nursing.
According to the Alpha Eta website, “The development of a national honor society for allied health students was proposed in 1973. The purpose of the honor society was to recognize scholarship in allied health students using the model of the University of Florida’s local honor society, Eta Rho Phi. The society was named for the Greek letters equivalent to the first letters of allied health, which were Alpha Eta.”
The motto for the society is “Together We Serve” because it represents all of the allied health professions. The purpose of the society is to promote and show recognition of significant scholarship, leadership, and contributions to the allied health professions,” said Mimi Pezzuto, the director of Community Outreach for Post.
To establish this society at Post, a petition to create a chapter had to be sent to the national secretary-treasurer, who submitted the petition to the Board of Directors for consideration. Pezzuto coordinated the petition in December. Two-thirds of the council must vote affirmative for chapter establishment to be approved.
The School of Health Professions and Nursing has departments in social work, health sciences, biomedical sciences, nursing and nutrition. In order to join this society, chapters must be established at institutions of higher education with three or more allied health programs.
The induction ceremony for Alpha Eta Society will be held on April 27 at 3 p.m. in the Tiles Center. All members will be inducted during this ceremony. To join this honor society students must be nominated. The honor society will also hold annual meetings.
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