Sigma Tau Delta

Alpha Beta Xi Chapter
Luther College

Annual Initiation Ceremony April 17, 2012
Welcome:  Peter A. Scholl, Campus Sponsor
4:30 p.m. Farwell Lounge
Initiation Ceremony by ΣΤΔ Officers

Program

Election of Officers for 2012-13

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Membership in ΣΤΔ is an outward recognition of personal accomplishment.  The ΣΤΔ Chapter of Luther College has two main functions.  The first is that of an academic honor society:  “to confer distinction for high achievement in…studies in English language and literature; to provide cultural stimulation, and to encourage creative and critical writing.” The second is “to furnish community interest” within the Department of English, its teachers and students. Thus ΣΤΔ organizes and hosts various programs, service projects, and social events.

In 2011, eleven of our members had their critical essays, poems, fiction, or creative non-fiction accepted for the program at the International Convention in Pittsburgh, PA. In the first days of March 2012, seven members—Lauren Nielsen, Danielle Koch, Antonia Lliteras Espinosa, Allyson Batis, Hannah Lund, Tonya Tienter, Allison Croat (plus faculty Diane and Peter Scholl)—attended the convention in New Orleans.

Several of these students, including the five who were in a panel presentation on this year’s Common Reader, Bellocq’s Ophelia, presented a version of this panel at the Black History Conference in February here at Luther and they will also be presenters at Luther’s Research Symposium, May 5, as will Hannah Lund. Though 2012 did not bring prizes our way at the convention, our chapter members have frequently been awarded scholarships and prizes which are announced first at the convention.

Next year the convention will be in Portland, OR, March 20-23, 2013, and the convention theme will be “Open Book.” The Common Reader for 2012-13 is Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman. Remember that May 14, 2012 is the submission deadline for ΣΤΔ journals, The Rectangle and Delta Review—the former publishes creative writing, the latter critical essays. For full information, visit the Sigma Tau Delta website, www.english.org. Kristi Wietecha had her 2011 convention essay on Chaucer published in the latest Delta Review.

Alpha Beta Xi Chapter Officers for 2011-12:
President: Danielle Koch
Vice President:  Antonia Lliteras Espinosa
Secretary:  Allison Croat
Historian/Treasurer:  Kristine Wietecha (Fall) / Melissa Erickson (Spring)

Chapter Sponsor: Peter A. Scholl

Members in course:

Ellen Amundson, Allyson Batis, Allison Croat, Melissa Sue Erickson, Angela Haug, Jill Hughes, Danielle Koch, Antonia Lliteras Espinosa, Hannah Lund, Lauren Nielsen, Aaron Schmaltz, Aimie Schreiber, Emilie Taylor, Tonya Tienter, Kristine Wietecha, Karel Zenor

Initiates to Sigma Tau Delta

Eve Christensen, Michael Crowe, Kirsten Hash, Cooper Jacks, Caroline Mares, Aubrey McElmeel, Katherine Mohr, Brita Moore, Virginia Morrell, Mary Maiden Mueller, Joseph Schifsky, Nathan Schmidt, Marissa Schuh, Chelsea Tegels, Kathleen Towell