Sean Themea Receives Phi Kappa Phi Presidential Scholar Award

2015 Oct 22

Sean Themea, a senior communication studies major in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Ithaca College, is the recipient of the John Bernard Presidential Scholar.

Themea has served a class of 2016 senator, participated in the Ithaca College chapter of the American Mock Trial team, and was a captain of the Ithaca College Speech and Debate Team. In the Spring of 2015, Themea presented two scholarly papers at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research at Eastern Washington University. He also serves on the Executive Committee for the Ithaca College chapter of the Lambda Phi Eta -- National Communication Honor Society -- and was recently recommended by the faculty for the 2015-2016 Carolyn Gilbert Scholarship.

The John Bernard 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 THEN 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.