An MTSU honor society that dedicates itself to service has received its national organization’s highest prize.

The Gamma Beta Phi Society has presented MTSU’s chapter with its Exemplary Chapter Award.

Only 13 of the group’s more than 100 chapters nationwide were so honored this year.   

Kim Page

“The ECA is highly competitive and is awarded by reaching several criteria,” said Kim Page, chapter co-adviser and a research analyst in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Research. “We were commended for our outstanding efforts in supporting the Murfreesboro and Middle Tennessee area.”

Page said MTSU chapter members donated nearly 1,500 hours of service to organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels and Greenhouse Ministries.

“Additionally, we donated food, money and items to the MTSU Student Food Pantry, Raider Relief, the American Cancer Society, the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center, and Beesley Animal Foundation,” Page said.

MTSU Gamma Beta Phi members also donated more than 100 pounds of pet food and supplies to people devastated by the tornado that ripped through the Nashville area March 2 and 3.

In partnership with campus chapters of Pinnacle Honor Society and Chi Omega sorority, the Gamma Beta Phi chapter also sponsored a donation drive to gather supplies for local women displaced by domestic violence.

Chartered in 1964 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Gamma Beta Phi was founded as an extension of the Beta Club, a high school honor society.

The late Aaron Todd, an MTSU chemistry professor, served as the local chapter’s first faculty adviser and the national group’s second leader, known then as the executive secretary. During his tenure, the organization moved its headquarters to Murfreesboro.

Now based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Gamma Beta Phi has chapters at liberal arts institutions, private and public research institutions and community colleges across the nation.

Lisbet Juarez

Its three-part mission includes promoting high levels of scholarship, serving as a catalyst for civic engagement through community service, and promoting character development through service leadership.

One MTSU chapter member also was singled out for special recognition by the national group.

Lisbet Juarez, a sophomore psychology major from Shelbyville, Tennessee, won Gamma Beta Phi’s national character scholarship.

The group awards the stipend to student members who emphasize strong character along with academic performance and financial need.

“Lisbet was inducted in the spring of 2020 and dove in headfirst to participate in community service activities,” Page said. “She serves on our chapter executive board and is an impressive, polished and friendly young woman.”

Juarez said she plans to graduate in spring 2023 and continue her education in graduate school. She aspires to a career in physical therapy.

“Overall, it is a very rewarding occupation,” Juarez said of her career field “My hope is that my learning experience and education will help me lay a foundation for this occupation in the health care field and leave footprints in the lives of many people.”

Juarez, who’s also the MTSU chapter’s vice president of records, said Gamma Beta Phi’s emphasis on service to others is very important to her.

“It is much more than fulfilling a requirement,” Juarez said. “It is genuinely and heartily wanting to engage in activities that will impact the lives of others. When a community comes closer together, it flourishes.”

For more information about Gamma Beta Phi at MTSU, contact Page at 615-904-8161 or kimberly.page@mtsu.edu, or visit the chapter’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gammabetaphimtsu.

— Gina Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)