The Phi Theta Kappa New England Honors in Action Chapter Officer Academy will be held at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, CT on July 17th. You may have heard that the Hallmark Program has changed for the upcoming year. All chapters will now be asked to work on one or two quality programs related to the Honors Study Topic that incorporate all four Hallmarks rather then many small programs that focus on one or two Hallmarks. It is important to note that this change does not mean that your chapters cannot focus on activities outside of this topic but it does mean that your chapter will not be required to do four activities on the Honors Study Topic and four activities on an International Service Program to be a Five Star Chapter. Five Star Chapters will be expected to complete one Honors in Action Program and one College Project.

This academy will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the new Honors Study Topic Democratization of Information: Power, Peril & Promise and how your chapter can create a program.

The registration cost will be $10 a person and we hope you will consider joining us. Please register by clicking on the Registration tab at the top of this page. If you have any questions, please contact Charles Mastrangelo, New England Regional Coordinator.

Charles is an alumnus of the Alpha Kappa Upsilon chapter, winning the Distinguished President Award while an active member. He is also a member of NERA, the New England Region Alumni Association, and has served for many years as a member of the New England Regional Advisory Board. Several of Charles’ chapter officers have served as regional officers over the years, giving him great insight into how the regional team works.

In his academic life, Charles teaches History and Government at Massasoit, with special interest in the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Colonial America, Celtic Studies, World Wars I & II, and Vietnam. He received his A.A. from Massasoit, his B.A. from Bridgewater State College, and his M.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. He is also a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society and has received numerous academic honors throughout his career as both a student and professor.

More information about our new coordinator and the region’s development will be posted soon. In the meantime, please feel free to send your congratulations and well wishes to Charles at cmastrangelo@massasoit.mass.edu.

For a full list of regional award winners, including the Creative Arts Awards, Honors Anthology, adviser awards, and more, visit our awards page!

Since two vacancies remain after the Regional Convention, we will be holding a special election to fill the offices of Northern Vice President and Officer-at-Large. The deadline to submit an application for candidacy run is March 31st. For general guidelines and information, you can review the Officer Candidate Packet. If you are interested in running for office, please review the regional officer application 2010.

Please note that, although the election will be held at the International Convention, you do not need to be present to run. If you are interested in running, please contact Michelle Nickerson for full details before filling out the application.

In addition, attendees are encouraged to make their hotel arrangements no later than February 26 in order to take advantage of the special Phi Theta Kappa rate of $55/night. This is the most inexpensive rate we have been able to offer in several years for Regional Convention, so we hope that it will encourage many members to attend!

Visit the Regional Convention website by clicking on the above tab to view hotel information, registration, schedules, transfer fair attendees and more!

The deadline is coming fast to apply for the Michael Rood Transfer Opportunity Scholarship! We encourage you to apply for this great opportunity to continue your education! Rewards are in the amount of $100.

Students who may be eligible for this award must be a Phi Theta Kappa member who wishes to pursue a Bachelors Degree at an accredited four-year university.

For more information or to apply for this award, please fill out the 2009-2010 application form and email it to Diane Hutchins, NERA Advisor at dhutchins57@yahoo.com before the deadline of January 31, 2010.

The Regional Convention will be filled with informative general sessions and workshops, fellowship with new friends, opportunities to meet with transfer admissions counselors from some of the nations most prestigious institutions, recognition of member and chapter achievements, and more, not to mention exploration of the surrounding scenic Portland area!

The Regional Convention also includes some serious business matters. One of them is the election of the 2010-2011 Regional Officers. Interested candidates have until February 18th to declare their intent to run.

Whether you are a Phi Theta Kappan, supporter, exhibitor, or sponsor, we welcome you to join us for this most special occasion.

Regional Art Awards Cover Sheet 2009

All other entries are due by February 5, 2010. Please view the regional award packet 2009
for information on all award catergories. You can use the following cover pages for all regional awards:

Regional Art Awards Cover Sheet 2009

Regional Awards Cover Sheet 2009

The region is also happy to announce three exciting details about the conference! First, we are very excited to be welcoming Barb Murray back to the region this year as our headquarters representative. Second, we were selected as one of only six Phi Theta Kappa regions to receive official sponsorship from our partner organization Better World Books, which will be sponsoring the Saturday lunch. And third, we are very happy to be helping chapters out by cutting the registration cost this year to only $20 per attendee in recognition of the economic climate. We hope you are as excited as we are about these developments!

Browse the comprehensive Regional Leadership Conference website to find the schedule, hotel information, speaker profiles, registration details, and much more. You can also unofficially RSVP at the event’s Facebook page.

We look forwarding to seeing you in Warwick!

As a small chapter, they were struggling with how to recruit enough active members after recently reactivating as a One-Star chapter.   They used the Better World Book Drive, collecting books for children in Africa, as a way to gain awareness on campus and as a fundraising tool for their chapter.  Taking the lead in the project, Solomon was the main contact to the Better World Books headquarters.   He ordered the drive’s collection boxes and researched and distributed the boxes to different locations on campus to get the most attention from students, faculty, and staff, as well asthe community.  Under Solomon’s leadership, the chapter was very successful in promoting the project to others and the drive was extremely successful.  Additionally, Solomon took on the responsibility of entering the book’s information into the Better World Books website to make sure that the books are eligible for the program.  This takes much patience and effort on the computer; however, Solomon understood it was a way to increase the amount of money the chapter would raise from this fundraiser.

During the 2008-2009 school year, Alpha Chi Nu submitted 117 books that were accepted by Better World Books, and raised $117 for the chapter.  The ineligible books were donated to Goodwill. This is a great project that Alpha Chi Nu will continue to participate in for the upcoming year.  More than that, the chapter wants to have a book sale with the books that are ineligible to be submitted to Better World Books and then donate the money to a local charity.

This project is fun, easy and very effective.  It is a good start for small chapter and can even be turned into a great project for the Honors in Action program.  If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact the Regional Officers so that we can direct you to the Better World Books representative in your area or put you in contact with the Alpha Chi Nu chapter for tips on making the project successful.  Thank you to Solomon and Alpha Chi Nu for their contribution!