Sigma Tau Delta () is an international
excelled English honor society
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...
for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in the United States and abroad.
The organization inducts over 9,000 new members annually, and is the largest honors organization in its field and one of the largest members of the
Association of College Honor Societies The Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) is a predominantly American, voluntary association that serves a number of functions with respect to national collegiate and post-graduate honor societies. ACHS coordinates member organizations, faci ...
(ACHS).
Sigma Tau Delta's central purpose is to confer distinction for high achievement in English language, literature, and writing, and the organization is dedicated to fostering literacy and all aspects of the discipline of English. The Society offers its members tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, internships, grants, and awards, as well as publication opportunities in its journals ''The Rectangle'' and ''The Sigma Tau Delta Review.'' Annually the Society provides an international convention, where over 1,000 students and faculty participate in scholarly and creative paper presentations, workshops, and roundtables, and hear featured speakers such as
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
,
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
, and Poets Laureate
Kay Ryan
Kay Ryan (born September 21, 1945) is an American poet and educator. She has published seven volumes of poetry and an anthology of selected and new poems. From 2008 to 2010 she was the sixteenth United States Poet Laureate. In 2011 she was named ...
and
Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey (born April 26, 1966) is an American poet who was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and again in 2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection ''Native Guard'', and she is a former Poet L ...
.
Sigma Tau Delta also sponsors the National English Honor Society (NEHS), currently with over 600 chapters, which serves students and faculty in high schools throughout the U.S. and abroad.
The Society's central office is located at
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...
in
DeKalb DeKalb or De Kalb may refer to:
People
* Baron Johann de Kalb (1721–1780), major general in the American Revolutionary War
Places Municipalities in the United States
* DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb
**DeKal ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
.
History
Sigma Tau Delta was founded on as the English Club of
Dakota Wesleyan University
Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a private Methodist university in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was founded in 1885 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly fewer than 800 students. The campus of th ...
in Mitchell, South Dakota. A group of professors developed a national constitution and ritual in preparation for expansion as a national organization, with Fadner contributing the Ritual and Owen the original constitution. The nascent Society adopted its current name in , soon holding its first convention on - . At this first convention the first twelve chapters were installed, the insignia and regalia was formally adopted, and the Society's publication, ''The Rectangle'' was established.
Founders
* Prof. Judson Quincy Owen (Dakota Wesleyan)
* Prof. Frederic Fadner (Lombard College)
* Prof. P.C. Sommerville (Dakota Wesleyan)
The society has grown swiftly through its first hundred years, having established over 850 chapters. It is one of the largest member organizations of the ACHS.
Literary honor society
Lambda Iota Tau
Lambda Iota Tau () was an American international honor society for literature, whose purpose was to recognize and promote excellence in the study of literature in all languages. It was admitted to the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) ...
went dormant in 2016-2017, with many members joining Sigma Tau Delta.
Organization
Sigma Tau Delta is divided into six regions: Eastern, Far Western, High Plains, Midwestern, Southern, and Southwestern. Each region has three elected regional officials: a Regent, a Student Representative, and an Associate Student Representative.
The Regents are voting members of the Board of Directors, which also includes the society President, Immediate Past President, Vice-President/President-Elect, Historian, Treasurer, and two Student Advisors.
Serving the Board of Directors in a non-voting capacity are the Executive Director, Director of Communications and Chapter Development, Editor of Publications, Student Representatives, Alumni Representative, Web Facilitators, Business Manager, Project Coordinator, and NEHS Director.
Membership
Student membership is available to students currently enrolled in four-year colleges and universities that have active chapters; applications are submitted through the student's local chapter.
Candidates for undergraduate membership must have completed at least three semesters or five quarters of college work and a minimum of two college courses in English language or literature beyond the usual requirements in freshman English. They must also have a minimum of a B or equivalent grade point average in English and must rank at least in the highest 35 percent of their class in general scholarship. (Local chapters may raise, but not lower, these criteria.)
Candidates for graduate membership must be enrolled in a graduate program in English or one of its specializations, have completed six semester hours of graduate work or the equivalent, and have a minimum grade point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale.
Conventions
The Society organizes a convention every year in March, at which members present original
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
,
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
,
critical
Critical or Critically may refer to:
*Critical, or critical but stable, medical states
**Critical, or intensive care medicine
*Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences.
*Critical Software, a company specializing in ...
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
s, and personal
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
. Workshops and roundtable discussions are presented by members and guest experts. Attendees also hear keynote presentations and readings and attend workshops, Q&A sessions, and book signings by featured speakers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, and Poets Laureate Kay Ryan and Natasha Trethewey.
Recent international conventions have been held in St. Louis, MO (2010), Pittsburgh, PA (2011), New Orleans, LA (2012), Portland, OR (2013), Savannah, GA (2014), Albuquerque, NM (2015),
Minneapolis, MN (2016), Louisville, KY (2017), Cincinnati, OH (2018), and St. Louis, MO (2019). At the 2013 Convention in Portland, nearly 550 papers were presented and over $10,000 was awarded for student works presented at the convention. Another $60,000+ was awarded for various other scholarships and writing awards. This year's convention location is Las Vegas, NV (March 25-March 28, 2020).
The National English Honor Society (NEHS)
The National English Honor Society (NEHS)is sponsored b
Sigma Tau Delta It currently has over 600 chapters in high schools in the United States and abroad. High schools can petition for a local chapter. Individuals may be inducted through these chapters as a member of NEHS.
The NEHS awards over $30,000 in scholarships annually.
References
External links
Sigma Tau Delta: The International English Honor Society
{{authority control
Association of College Honor Societies
Honor societies
Student organizations established in 1924
1924 establishments in South Dakota