More than 40 of MTSU’s most brilliant scholars will soon join the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society.

Phi Kappa Phi will hold its fall 2014 initiation ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, in the Student Union Ballroom.

The organization has chapters on more than 300 campuses in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

To be eligible, juniors must have completed at least 72 credit hours and rank scholastically in the top 7.5 percent of their class. Seniors and graduate students must rank in the top 10 percent of their class.

The main speaker at the fall 2014 initiation ceremony will be Dr. Debra Rose Wilson, a Phi Kappa Phi member since 2002 and recipient of the Tennessee Nurses Association’s 2013 Excellence in Nursing Education Award.

Dr. Debra Rose Wilson

Wilson, who is an associate professor of nursing at Tennessee State University, has expertise in public health, obstetrics, epidemiology, breast-feeding trends, wellness, disease prevention and nursing education.

She earned her bachelor’s degree and her nursing degree from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario in Canada, her master’s from TSU and her doctorate from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The former MTSU nursing professor currently is conducting research in a liaison with the University of the Western Cape in the Republic of South Africa and the University of Botswana.

Dr. Dianna Rust

Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also may be eligible for membership in the organization. Its motto is “Philosophia Krateito Photon,” which is “Let the love of learning rule humanity” in Greek.

The fall 2014 faculty initiate will be Dr. Dianna Rust, an associate professor of university studies at MTSU and chair of the Quality Enhancement Plan Committee. The QEP panel is charged with recommending a topic for the plan and developing it with an eye toward improving student outcomes.

MTSU must develop a Quality Enhancement Plan to be reaccredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The association will conduct its on-site review of MTSU in spring 2016.

According to www.phikappaphi.org, the honor society was created in 1897 at the University of Maine with a mission “to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”

To learn more about joining MTSU’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter, go to its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pkpmtsu.

For more information, contact Gina Logue, MTSU chapter secretary, in the MTSU Office of News and Media Relations at 615-898-5081 or gina.logue@mtsu.edu.

For parking information, go to http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking14-15.