You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

St. Olaf political science honor society earns top honors

By David Gonnerman '90
August 16, 2006

Assistant Professor of Political Science Katherine Tegtmayer Pak has announced that the St. Olaf chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, has earned a "best chapter" award from PSA this year, one of 16 chapters (of 650 nationally) so honored. This is the fourth such award for the group since 2000-01.

"We've got a great group of political science majors who care deeply about the issues of the day," says Tegtmayer Pak, the group's faculty adviser. "PSA has become a way for our best students to place current events into an intellectual context through organizing campus events with outside speakers."

A BUSY YEAR
Last year's main event was a forum on environmental ethics and energy policy. The forum, which attracted 120 participants from the St. Olaf and area communities, brought three distinguished guests to campus: Donald Brown, senior counsel for Sustainable Development for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; Myron Ebell, who oversees all global warming and international environmental work at the Competitive Enterprise Institute; and David Morris, vice president and co-founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

The chapter also organized or helped organize a speaker series on the vocation of politics, a talk by former FBI agent and Zacarias Moussaoui investigation whistleblower Coleen Rowley and various other events. "Our students are energetic and they're able to make connections between current events and deeper questions -- and they're able to enrich campus life all year long," Tegtmayer Pak says of the group.

Last year's chapter officers were President Caitlin Groh, Vice President Kristin Anderson, Secretary Christine Hinrichs and Treasurer Lindsey Thoreson. Officers for the 2006-07 academic year will be: Michael Reading, president; Tony Olson, vice president; Ross Latchaw, secretary; and Lauren Radomski, treasurer. Tegtmeyer Pak will remain the adviser for the 2006-2007 academic year.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.