On May 4, 2020, the University of Southern California Nu Theta Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU) inducted 39 new members into the honorary society. Keep reading to find out more about the Gamma Theta Upsilon newest members.
Since 1949, GTU has been the international geographical honor society. In 2018, the USC Spatial Sciences Institute sponsored the charter for the Nu Theta Chapter of GTU.
Dr. Jason T. Knowles, adjunct associate professor of the practice of Spatial Sciences and president of the Nu Theta Chapter, conducted the induction ceremony. Due to the pandemic considerations, the chapter convened this year’s ceremony virtually. The silver lining was that initiates and their family members and friends were able to log in from across the country and around the world.
Inducted from the USC M.S. in Geographic Information Science and Technology Program were:
Lindsay Aazami
Jorge Amar
Kelly Gulledge
Sarah Halpern
Bryan Lam
Liling Lee
Craig Misajet
Michelle Ramirez
Sarah Rosenthal
Victoria Scherelis
Rachel Shanks
Steven Sloan
Alexander Toy
Inducted from the USC M.S. in Human Security and Geospatial Intelligence Program were:
Jillian Combs
Herberth Jovel
Jong Su Kim
Inducted from the USC M.S. in Spatial Data Science Program were:
Xuanyan Chen
Hua Hao
Yue Wu
Danping Wu
Inducted from the USC Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science and Technology were:
Katrina Kaiser
Anne Warner
Robyn Howell
Inducted from the USC Graduate Certificate in Geospatial Intelligence were:
Megan Kelly
Jenna Pollard
Gamma Theta Upsilon newest members inducted from the USC B.S. in GeoDesign Program were:
Charles Curtin
Alexander Matta
Sarah Ta
Cameron Whiteside
Siyu Wu
Wanying Xie
Courtney Fassett
Deanne Aiau
Jose Rico
Cameron Levine
Benjamin Rose
And inducted from the USC Minor in GIS and Sustainability Science was:
Julie Ho
Following the administration of the GTU oath, President Knowles announced that as a token of support, the Spatial Sciences Institute has paid the lifetime membership fee for each inductee. The inductees will receive certificates of membership suitable for framing in the mail.
COL [R] Steven D. Fleming, Ph.D., Professor of the Practice of Spatial Sciences and the Institute for Creative Technologies, provided keynote remarks on “Just Who Will You Be?” Founding Director John P. Wilson, Ph.D., offered congratulations on behalf of the Institute. John McDermott, a student in the M.S. in Geographic Information Science and Technology Program and 2019 inductee, extended his welcome to the newest members of the Nu Theta Chapter.
Family, friends and SSI faculty and staff shared their congratulations to those honored as the virtual ceremony by Zoom concluded.
In 2019, the USC Nu Theta Chapter was among those GTU chapters that were recognized this past year with an Honors Chapter Award. 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 for helping to promote geography on social media.
For more information and news about the USC Nu Theta Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, visit https://spatial.usc.edu/gamma-theta-upsilon/.
