Rachel Snyder Receives Phi Kappa Phi Shirley Hockett Award

2014 Dec 12

Rachel Snyder, a senior chemistry major in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Ithaca College, is the recipient of the Phi Kappa Phi Shirley Hockett Presidential Scholar Award. Snyder was honored in a ceremony with three other Presidential Scholars on Friday, Nov. 14, at Ithaca College.

At Ithaca College, Snyder is the president of the Ithaca College Chemistry Club, co-president of Volunteers for Special Olympics, and founder and president of the Ithaca College Orthodox Christian Fellowship student organization. She has worked on several research projects and will present her work at the national American Chemical Society meeting this spring in Denver, Colorado.

The Shirley Hockett Presidential Scholar Award is given to a current student at Ithaca College who is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest, largest, and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Its chapters are on more than 300 campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Each year, approximately 30,000 members are initiated.

The first requirement of eligibility for a Presidential Scholar Award is that the student be a member of Phi Kappa Phi, which means they were in the top 5 percent academically of their junior class. The student must be selected by a faculty member or administrator for nomination and the award recipients are then chosen from the pool of nominations by Ithaca College's Phi Kappa Phi Executive Committee. The criteria used by this committee include grade point average, academic awards and honors, breadth of study, achievement in outside activities, and service to the profession and/or the community.