Texas State named Phi Kappa Phi Excellence in Innovation Award finalist

The Phi Kappa Phi Excellence in Innovation award is part of society’s awards program, giving nearly $1 million each year to outstanding members and students on chapter campuses.

Texas State University has been named one of three finalists for the 2020 Excellence in Innovation Award by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi—the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Texas State is nominated for the NASA Future Aerospace Engineers and Mathematicians Academy, led by Araceli Martinez Ortiz, executive director of the LBJ Institute for STEM Education and Research, and research associate professor of engineering education in the College of Education.

The $100,000 award, given once per biennium, recognizes one institution of higher learning for achievement in finding powerful answers to important local, regional, national or global challenges.

The finalists, selected by a jury of emeritus presidents and provosts, were chosen from a pool of six semifinalists representing multifaceted projects at institutions across the nation. Each institution was assessed on the project’s ability to achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes to create systemic large-scale change. In addition to Texas State, the other two finalists are Nazareth College and Widener University.

“The projects presented by the semifinalists in the Phi Kappa Phi Excellence in Innovation Award posed a challenge to the jury, as each represents a fine example of the innovation for which higher education is known. We are so pleased to recognize all six of these fine institutions and celebrate their excellence,” said Society Executive Director Mary Todd.

The 2020 recipient will be announced Tuesday, May 26, and will receive $100,000 in tangible recognition of its best practice in response to the changes and challenges facing higher education in the 21st century.

The three semifinalist institutions receiving honorable mention are Moravian College, the University of Houston-Downtown, and the University of Memphis.

The Phi Kappa Phi Excellence in Innovation award is part of the society’s robust awards program, which gives nearly $1 million each year to outstanding members and students on chapter campuses through study abroad grants, dissertation fellowships, funding for post-baccalaureate development, member and chapter awards, and grants for local, national and international literacy initiatives. The Excellence in Innovation Award, first awarded in 2016 to Tulane University, is the society’s only award for institutions.

For more information about the award, visit www.phikappaphi.org/innovation.