WVU History Club
The History Club welcomes all students to participate in history-related activities outside the classroom. The club is coordinated by Phi Alpha Theta, the international history honorary, but it is not necessary to be a member of Phi Alpha Theta to join. If you enjoy history, please attend our next meeting.
In the past, the History Club has organized weekend trips to battlefields in Antietam and Gettysburg, the Heinz Regional History Museum in Pittsburgh (as well as side trips to the Strip and Oakland) and to regional and local museums. The club organizes events with history faculty to discuss their research, view historical films, attend special lectures and organize social events every semester. The club often sponsors workshops on graduate school applications, summer internships and conference presentations.
Members also volunteer their time for peer-tutoring in introductory history courses. In the recent past, WVU has hosted the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference. This event brings in over one hundred students from area colleges and universities.
See the national Phi Alpha Theta website for more information.
Phi Alpha Theta members Elena Dugan, Jordan Riggs, Elizabeth Satterfield, Madelyn Lawrence, and Haleigh Posey presented research at the Western Pennsylvania Regional Phi Alpha Theta Conference.
Phi Alpha Theta
Mission Statement
We are a professional society whose mission is to promote the study of history through the encouragement of research, good teaching, publication and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians. We seek to bring students, teachers and writers of history together for intellectual and social exchanges, which promote and assist historical research and publication by our members in a variety of ways.
Membership Requirements
All members of the Honor Society are inducted through the local Phi Alpha Theta chapter at their respective college or university. Undergraduate students must complete at least 12 semester hours in history with a history GPA of at least 3.5, must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 and be in the top 35 percent of their class. Membership is not limited to history majors. Graduate students must have completed a minimum of 12 semester hours towards their master’s degree in history, have a GPA of at least 3.5 and have completed approximately 30 percent of the residence requirements for the master’s degree.
Initiation
Letters of invitation are sent to undergraduate candidates each spring. The initiation ceremony takes place in April. Our initiation fee of $65.00 per student is payable at the time of initiation. This fee includes a membership certificate and four issues of our journal, The Historian. Membership in Phi Alpha Theta is a lifetime membership. Members who wish to continue supporting the society may do so by subscribing to The Historian and/or to our newsletter.
Students who are not or not yet initiated, but remain interested in history, can also participate in our activities as we combine with the History Club.
Contact
Sean Lawrence, Faculty Advisor
Austin McCoy, Faculty Advisor
facebook.com/WVUHistoryClub.PhiAlphaTheta