HONOR AWARDS CONVOCATION

Spring Family Weekend – Saturday Morning

Information and Timelines

GENERAL INFORMATION AND DEPARTMENT RESTRICTED SCHOLARSHIPS

Invited students are called forward to stand with President Ahlburg, receive their designated award and have their picture taken with the president; all other students are honorably listed in the program booklet only.

Each major, program, and/or organization selects only one award for invitation to the convocation; other awards are honorably listed in the program booklet only.  Exceptions are considered with approval from the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs: Curricular and Student Issues.

In all cases, full legal names are required; no nicknames.  Middle initials, middle names, and student ID numbers are also requested for proper identification when students are invited to attend the convocation.

Amounts budgeted for Department Restricted Scholarships will be e-mailed to department chairs by the Business Office - Endowments.  Check with Brad Melton, Director of Endowments, at bmelton@trinity.edu if you have not received this budgeted amount already.

JANUARY – CALL FOR RECIPIENTS, DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVES, AND AWARDS

Seven-week deadline (average)

Academic Affairs requests names of students to be invited to the convocation and/or honorably listed in the program booklet.  Invited students must complete a biographical data form (provided to departments/organizations) which is used for script and mailing purposes.  (Appendix A)

Academic Affairs requests academic department honor society rosters that are honorably listed in the program booklet only.  Biographical data forms are not required for these listings.

Invited to the convocation and called forward individually to receive an award and stand as groups are the Goldwater Scholarship Nominees and Mach Family Fellowship recipients.  Goldwater students complete the full biographical data form and Mach students complete an abridged biographical data form (both provided to departments/organizations) which is used for script and mailing purposes. (Appendix B)  Phi Beta Kappa and University Scholar students are also invited to the convocation and called forward individually to stand as groups but do not receive an award.  PBK and US students also complete the abridged biographical data form.

Academic Affairs requests names of academic department representatives to be present at the convocation.

Ten-week deadline (average)

Academic Affairs requests awards that are to be presented at the convocation to invited students from academic departments, certain student organizations, and other campus offices.

FEBRUARY – INVITATIONS AND REMINDERS

Invited students and their families are notified of the student’s inclusion in the convocation.  Students are asked to RSVP; deadline is approximately four weeks.

Reminders regarding student honorees, academic department representatives, and/or awards are sent after initial requests through deadline date(s).

MARCH – AWARDS AND GENERAL INFORMATION

Awards are typically a plaque, certificate, or book; occasionally a congratulatory letter from the awarding department/organization is given.

Awards given to students in the form of a check and/or gift card will be reported to the Financial Aid Office and may affect the applicable student's overall financial aid package resulting in an unexpected balance owed on the student's account.  The Business Office and Financial Aid Office strongly urge that awards be given in the typical fashion of a plaque, certificate, or book so that the student's financial aid package is not affected.  If the department insists on providing a check and/or gift card as an award, then the department should advise the student to check with the Financial Aid Office regarding any potential effects on their financial aid package before cashing/using the award.  For more information, please refer to the Income Tax on Award and Prizes section of the Fiscal Affairs Policy and Procedure document located as follows:  http://www.trinity.edu/departments/fiscal_affairs/fapolicy/personnel/awardtax.htm#TOP

Awards provided in cash are not allowed and would have the same potential effect on the student's financial aid package as described above.

All awards should be submitted to Academic Affairs wrapped in plain white paper; a plain white bow is optional.  Wrapped gifts and/or envelopes should be clearly and neatly labeled with the students’ name, the name of the award, and the name of the awarding department/organization.

Plaques are presented as is – no wrapping.

If the actual award item is unavailable by the due date, the awarding department/organization should prepare a letter of explanation to the award recipient and place it in a plain white envelope, labeled as described above which will be presented to the student in lieu of the actual award at the convocation.

If it is known that the student will not be attending the convocation, keep the award item and present it at a later time convenient to your department/organization.

Any awards not presented at the convocation due to students being unable to attend (or no shows), Academic Affairs will ask the students to pick up the award.  After a reasonable amount of time, departments will be contacted to pick up the award and present it at a later time convenient to your department/organization.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Program – Ushering for the convocation is provided by volunteer members of the Blue Key Honor Society (arranged by the BK student president).  Ushers are asked to arrive at the Chapel by 8:00am and may leave shortly after the program begins at 9:00am.  Tasks include distribution of programs at the doors and assisting families with seating.  Two ushers should remove the ropes reserving seats for the student honorees five to ten minutes before the convocation begins.

Awards of Campus Organizations –Mortar Board/Blue Key offers the Ana Unruh Outstanding Sophomore Award (one woman and one man); both are invited to the convocation.  Selection of recipients as well as a plaque for each is handled by combined efforts of MB and BK.  Plaques should be proofread for accuracy prior to delivery to Academic Affairs. (Both of these organizations also provide current membership rosters to be listed in the program booklet; see Membership of Campus Honor Societies/National Honors below.)

Departmental Honors – Each academic department selects one award for presentation at the convocation to invited students; all other awards are honorably listed in the program booklet only.  Combined awards include the Frances K. Hendricks Fine Arts Award (ARTH, MUSC, SPDR) and the Outstanding Senior in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BIOL and CHEM).  Additionally, academic departments have the option to offer other specifically named awards or “Outstanding Juniors/Seniors.”  These students are honorably listed in the program booklet only but are not invited to the convocation.  All awards to be presented are the responsibility of the awarding academic department and should be proofread for accuracy prior to delivery to Academic Affairs.

Interdisciplinary Programs follow the same guidelines as outlined for Departmental Honors.

National Scholarships and University Awards include the Chapel, Trinity University Women’s Club, and the Trinity University Alumni Association; each provides a plaque, certificate, or other honorarium and these students are invited to the convocation.  Goldwater Scholarship Nominees are invited to the convocation and receive a congratulatory letter generated by Academic Affairs; Mach Family Fellowship students are also invited and receive an award.  As noted above, Phi Beta Kappans and University Scholars are invited to the convocation but do not receive an award.  (Both of these organizations are also listed in the program booklet; see Membership of Campus Honor Societies/National Honors below.)

Membership of Campus Honor Societies/National Honors – The following typically have current roster lists/inductees honorably listed in the program booklet:

Invited to the convocation and listed in the program booklet

• Phi Beta Kappa
• University Scholars

Honorably listed in the program booklet only (updated annually)

• Alpha Lambda Delta
• Alpha Epsilon Delta (Pre-med)
• Alpha Kappa Delta (Sociology)
• Blue Key
• Delta Phi Alpha (Modern Languages & Literatures/German)
• Eta Sigma Phi (Classics)
• Golden Key
• Kappa Delta Pi (Education)
• Kappa Mu Epsilon (Mathematics)
• Lambda Alpha (Anthropology)
• Lambda Pi Eta (Speech)
• Mortar Board
• Omicron Delta Epsilon (Economics)
• (Omega Tau of) Phi Alpha Theta (History)
• Pi Delta Phi (Modern Languages & Literatures/French)
• Pi Kappa Lambda (Music)
• Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science)
• Sigma Delta Pi (Modern Languages & Literatures/Spanish)
• Sigma Gamma Epsilon (Geosciences)
• Sigma Iota Rho (International Studies)
• Sigma Pi Sigma (Physics)
• Sigma Tau Delta (English)
• Upsilon Pi Epsilon (Computer Science)