Dr. Susy Ziegler, president of Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), the international geographical honor society, has announced that SSI’s Nu Theta chapter at the University of Southern California has received the Honors Chapter Award for 2019-2020.
Each year the GTU Honors Chapter Award recognizes outstanding GTU chapters. The criteria are increasing the number of new inductees over the previous year, providing leadership for at least two events designed to promote geography during the academic year, and helping to promote geography on social media.
In notifying the Nu Theta chapter of this award, Dr. Ziegler wrote, “Congratulations on another banner year for the Nu Theta Chapter!” Founded in 2018, SSI’s GTU chapter has now received the Honors Chapter Award for two years in a row.
Dr. Elisabeth Sedano, assistant professor (teaching) and president of the Nu Theta chapter, said, “In the three years of our chapter’s existence, we have received this prestigious award twice. We remain committed to furthering the mission of GTU, which promotes geography knowledge and awareness. In particular, through our chapter activities, we are committed to the goals of GTU, which include encouraging high-quality student research and student work towards publishing their research.”
Dr. Sedano announced this award at the April 29, 2021 ceremony which inducted the 2021 initiates to the Nu Theta chapter.
SSI Managing Director Susan Kamei added, “Each year we induct the very best of our undergraduate and graduate students into GTU. We recognize them as academic leaders and contributors to the science that promotes global sustainability and human well-being.”
“This award speaks to the accomplishments of our students and our faculty who teach and mentor them. We see them applying geographic principles to addressing the pressing issues affecting our environment and society. We are proud to sponsor an active GTU chapter here at USC and thank GTU for this honor,” said John P. Wilson, professor and founding director of the Spatial Sciences Institute.
The Nu Theta chapter co-sponsored the four annual USC-UCLA mapathon challenge in October 2020. Chapter leaders organized other virtual events in the academic year 2020-2021 for students interested and engaged in the spatial sciences.
For more information about GTU and the Nu Theta chapter, please contact Susan Kamei, SSI managing director, at kamei@usc.edu.
