Honor Societies and Programs on the Concord Campus

The Concord University Honors Program lounge is located in the J. Frank Marsh library.
Photo Courtesy of concord.edu

    Concord University offers many services for its students. These services give students new and exciting experiences along with opportunities that can make them stand out to potential employers. Some of these are Honor Societies and Programs on campus. 

    There are several Honor Societies at Concord University. These include Phi Alpha Delta, which is an international pre-law fraternity; Alpha Chi Math Honor Society; Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society; Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society; and Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society. Other Honor Societies at Concord are the Cardinal Key National Honor Society and the Blue Key National Honor Society. 

    The Blue Key National Honor Society is a men’s Honor Society that is based on leadership, integrity, character, and service. Chaudlier Shepherd, the President of the Blue Key National Honor Society, says it is a great group for young men to join. “It is definitely something you ought to do because you get fellowship with guys who are like yourself, who can help you learn and teach you things. It builds good characteristics,” says Shepherd. Blue Key National Honor Society is all over the country. 

    Cardinal Key National Honor Society is the sister organization to Blue Key.  Cardinal Key is an organization for female students of at least Junior status in American colleges and universities who are leaders in the college community and potential leaders in the future.

    The Phi Alpha Honorary Society is the National Social Work Honorary Society and recognizes those Social Work Majors that have earned excellent grades. Phi Alpha helps Social Work majors to stand out and earn qualities that will help them in their future careers. Dr. Ida M. Mills is an advisor for the group. “It recognizes the people who have worked hard and that have been working in the field,” says Mills. Members can be recognized for activities they have done in the community such as helping the less fortunate or working on community service projects.  

    Besides the numerous Honor Societies available on campus is the Concord University Honors Program open to students of any major. Dr. Tracy Luff, Sociology Program Chair and Concord University Honors Program Director, has been the director for two years and welcomes anyone who would like to join the program. The program is very beneficial to students with their futures after graduation. “Being involved in the Honors Program shows potential employers and grad school committees that the student is interested and is willing to do extra work,” says Luff. 

    Students who are interested in joining the Honor Program must have earned a minimum grade point average of a 3.50 and a score of 26 on the ACT. Students must retain a grade point average of 3.30 to remain in the Honor Program. Honors students must also participate in extracurricular activities. There are a wide-range of extracurricular activities to choose from such as athletic activities to community service projects. Some extracurricular activities can be a sponsored field trip. Students needs to take a minimum 18 hours’ worth of honors course work. 

    The Honors Program offers several benefits to students that are very useful and can help make busy schedules much easier to handle and less stressful. Students in the Honors Program can register for classes on the first day of registration which is very useful to freshman and sophomores when they need to get into classes they need for their majors. There is also an Honors study lounge available to Honors students that provides a quiet space for studying and to relax between classes. There are computers, printers, and a conference table available in the lounge to use for studying.  

    All the Honor Societies and the Honor Program are valuable and provide students with high quality education and help them to be better prepared for the working world once they have graduated.

    Contact information for all Honor Societies and the Honors Program can be found in the Organization Directory on the Concord University website.