The University of Rio Grande chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national History honor society welcomed a record 17 new members during its 31st annual induction banquet on Monday, April 1. The new inductees included (from left) Trevor R. Baker, Jordan Pickens, Ernest T. Phillips IV, Sarah Walker, Grant Millard, Annetta Y. Lockwood, Brady Kinnaird, Shellbie Davies, Naomi Sebastian, Gregory Norris, Barbara M. Webb, Kendall Madison and Evelyn Pennington. Not shown are Michael Anderson, Sarah E. Eplin, Eric James and Tabitha Mosley.

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University of Rio Grande Trustee Clyde Evans, right, stops for a photo with Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) national History honor society President Charles Crabtree during the PAT induction ceremony on April 1 at the University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College.

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RIO GRANDE — The University of Rio Grande chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national History honor society welcomed a record 17 new members during its 31st annual induction banquet on Monday, April 1.

Phi Alpha Theta boasts more than 350,000 members nationwide with roughly 9,500 new undergraduate, graduate and professors of History joining each year.

The Rio Grande chapter, Alpha Alpha Delta, formed in 1983 and this year’s class includes Michael A. Anderson, Trevor R. Baker, Shelbie Davies, Sarah E. Eplin, Erica James, Brady Kinnaird, Annetta Y. Lockwood, Kendall Madison, Grant Millard, Tabitha Mosley, Gregory Norris, Evelyn Pennington, Ernest T. Phillips IV, Jordan Pickens, Naomi Sebastian, Sarah Walker and Barbara M. Webb.

“History Professor Dr. Scott Beekman and myself are gratified to have had such an outstanding field of inductees for this 31st induction here at the University of Rio Grande,” said Ellen Brasel, an assistant History professor and Phi Alpha Theta co-advisor at Rio Grande. “We hope we have instilled in our students a love and appreciation of history.”

Students do not need to be a history major or minor for induction into Phi Alpha Theta. However, they must maintain an overall grade point average of 3.0 or better and have a 3.1 GPA in a minimum of 12 credit hours of History.

Monday’s ceremony also served to honor eight graduating seniors: Megan Daines, Ty C. Giffin, Talisha Holloway, Davies, Kinnaird, Mosley, Sebastian and Walker.

Griffin also was honored with the Liberal Studies Student Award for 2012-13 during the April 1 ceremony.

“Its one of those things where everybody knows everybody; just a big happy family,” Charles Crabtree said. “We have teachers. We have business majors. I think there are some nursing students in it. So it is very eclectic, but we all share that one common bond of history.”