Graduating Senior Wins Phi Kappa Phi Award of Excellence

Sarah Gates, a senior psychology major and dance minor, has won a Phi Kappa Phi Award of Excellence for the 2001-2 school year. Given by the Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship Program, the awards offer $1,000 to be used for graduate study. Every year each of the 282 chapters of Phi Kappa Phi may submit one nominee for an award of excellence. Gates was one of 30 chosen for the honor.

"Selection is based on a number of factors, including undergraduate academic performance, leadership and service on campus and in the community, and evidence of potential success in graduate study," says Ruth E. Brasher, director of fellowships at Phi Kappa Phi. "Sarah’s achievement speaks highly to the quality of education at Ithaca College."

Gates will start graduate school at Penn State in the fall and work toward a master of science degree in kinesiology with a concentration in the psychology of motor behavior.

"I’m not exactly sure where I will go after that," Gates says, "but right now, I hope to continue on and get my doctorate."

Founded in 1897, the Phi Kappa Phi honor society numbers some 900,000 members. Each year the graduate fellowship program offers 50 fellowships and 30 awards of excellence. Ithaca College students have won fellowships or awards six of the past eight years.