At the Los Angeles Geospatial Summit presented by the Spatial Sciences Institute (SSI) of the University of Southern California (USC) on February 28, 2020, students and faculty of USC SSI's Nu Theta chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon celebrated receiving the 2018-2019 Honors Chapter Award. Gamma Theta Upsilon is the international geographical honor society, founded in 1928.
The USC Nu Theta Chapter was among those GTU chapters that were recognized in the previous year. The award is made for having increased the number of new inductees over the previous year, having provided leadership for at least two events designed to promote geography during the academic year, and helped to promote geography on social media.
Representing the Nu Theta Chapter at the summit were SSI student inductees Autumn Gupta, Samantha Levi, and Richard Windisch. Faculty members of the Nu Theta Chapter on hand to join in the celebration included Dr. Jennifer Bernstein, lecturer; Dr. Leilei Duan, lecturer, Dr. Steven D. Fleming, professor of the practice of spatial sciences; Dr. Jason Knowles, adjunct associate professor; and Dr. Andrew Marx, associate professor of the practice of spatial sciences.
Knowles, who serves as president of the GTU Nu Theta Chapter, said, “To receive this prestigious award in only the second year of our chapter’s existence speaks to the level of excellence and commitment that our entire team has to using geography as a vehicle for improving our society's well-being.”
SSI Managing Director Susan Kamei added, “Having the Nu Theta Chapter participate in the Spatial Sciences Institute 2020 Geospatial Summit was a wonderful way to bring awareness to other students and faculty at other universities of the principles and objectives of Gamma Theta Upsilon."
The Spatial Sciences Institute will hold a virtual induction ceremony for the Nu Theta 2019-2020 inductees on Monday, May 4, 2020, from 4:30 – 5:30 pm. For more information, please contact Ken Watson at watsonke@usc.edu.
