Dr. Melony Shemberger, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications, was elected to the national board of directors for The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi during the organization’s 2016 biennial convention held July 28-30 in Atlanta.
Shemberger, who is vice president of Murray State’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter, is the first Murray State chapter member to serve on the Society’s national board. Her two-year term will expire in August 2018 when the biennial convention is held in Minneapolis, Minn.
She was among eight candidates from chapters across the United States to vie for one of five slots on the board.
In addition to serving as a candidate for a national office, Shemberger represented Chapter 302 as its convention delegate.
Shemberger was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi in April 2010 when she was a doctoral student at Tennessee State University. Before coming to Murray State in 2013, she was the public relations officer for Chapter 191 at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.
At Murray State, Shemberger has served the chapter as secretary and vice president. She also has been a member of the advisory council for the Society’s national magazine, Forum.
She received a national Love of Learning Award from Phi Kappa Phi in 2014 for her research in journalism history and was named the Society’s Volunteer of the Month for December 2015. She is a life member of Phi Kappa Phi.
Chapter 302 was chartered on Nov. 28, 2007, and has inducted several hundred outstanding MSU students into membership since then. The chapter seeks to recognize and encourage excellence in all academic disciplines and promote discussion of important issues across disciplinary lines. The chapter has been recognized by national headquarters as a Chapter of Excellence and a Chapter of Merit in the past three years.
Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Phi Kappa Phi inducts annually approximately 32,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni. The Society has chapters on more than 300 select colleges and universities in North America and the Philippines.
The Society’s motto is “Let the love of learning rule humanity.”
