Academic Honors and Awards

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President's List

The President's List is compiled at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters to recognize undergraduate students who have earned a grade point average of 4.0 (all A’s) on a load of 12 semester hours or more during Fall or Spring, provided they have no grade of Incomplete (I) or Not Passing (NP) for the term. Courses taken for pass/fail credit will not be used in computing the minimum academic load. However, a grade of NP will disqualify a student from the President’s List.

Dean's List

The Dean's List is compiled at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters to recognize undergraduate students who have completed 12 or more lettergraded units at Reinhardt during the semester with a 3.5 grade point average or better for that term, with no grade less than a B. Grades of Incomplete (I) and/or Not Passing (NP) will disqualify a student from the Dean’s List.

Recognition of Academic Honors

Students may be honored for excellence in scholastic achievement by being placed on the President’s list or the Dean’s list, by being named to receive special certificates and awards, or by being selected for honor societies. The President’s list and the Dean’s List are prepared by the Office of the Registrar and distributed to hometown media by the Office of Marketing and Communications after the Fall and Spring semesters.

Each year the faculty designates two graduating seniors as “most outstanding” — one traditional and one non-traditional student. Special awards are given for excellence in various academic subject areas. Students on non-academic probation are not eligible for academic awards.

Honors Day is held during Spring Semester to acknowledge students who have demonstrated exceptional scholastic achievement or significant service in campus activities. Specific awards are identified through the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs

Honor Societies

Honor societies on campus include:

  • Alpha Chi: A national, coeducational interdisciplinary academic honor society founded in 1922 whose purpose is to promote academic excellence and exemplary character among college students, and to honor those who achieve such distinction. Active membership is restricted to the top ten percent of members of the junior and senior classes with provision that a student may qualify for membership at the time of graduation with the baccalaureate degree.
  • Alpha Kappa Delta: An international Sociology Honor Society dedicated to promoting, facilitating, and recognizing academic scholarship in the subject of sociology.
  • Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta): A society for students, particularly undergraduates, dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study. Since its founding in 1922, more than 175,000 persons have been accepted into lifetime membership, and more than 430 chapters have been established throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
  • Kappa Delta Pi: An International Honor Society in Education that is dedicated to scholarship and excellence in education. The Society is a community of scholars dedicated to worthy ideals. It recognizes scholarship and excellence in education, promotes the development and dissemination of worthy educational ideas and practices, enhances the continuous growth and leadership of its diverse membership, fosters inquiry and reflection on significant educational issues, and maintains a high degree of professional fellowship.
  • Kappa Pi: Kappa Pi is an international honorary art fraternity with the purpose of uniting artists who care about art in its role in life. This fraternity bonds conscientious artists together to form a unit which is influential in the art program as well as in the community.

    To become a member of Kappa Pi, one must first meet the minimum requirements: completion of 12 semester hours in art, attainment of an overall B average in all art courses with an overall academic average of C, and production of outstanding artwork.

    Students who meet these minimum requirements are eligible for membership in Kappa Pi. They may be selected for membership in Kappa Pi by nominations of faculty member of the art program and/or portfolio review.
  • Lambda Pi Eta (LPH): The official communication studies honor society of the National Communication Association (NCA). The membership in Reinhardt University’s chapter of Lambda Pi Eta is composed of undergraduate communication majors who have achieved a high level of academic excellence. To be eligible for membership, students must be currently enrolled as a full-time student in good standing and have completed 60 semester hours in undergraduate course credits, including 12 semester hours in communication courses, with a grade point average of at least 3.25 in the major courses and 3.0 overall. All persons considered for membership shall exhibit high standards of personal and professional character and shall support the purposes of the honor society

    The goals of Lambda Pi Eta are to recognize, foster, and reward outstanding scholastic achievement in communication studies; to stimulate interest in the field of communication; to promote and encourage professional development among communication majors; to provide an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas in the field of communication; to establish and maintain closer relationships between faculty and students; and to explore options for graduate education in communication studies. LPH is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS).
  • Phi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history. The society has over 400,000 members, with some 9,000 new members joining each year through 970 chapters nationwide.

    Phi Alpha Theta was established on March 17, 1921 at the University of Arkansas by Professor Nels Cleven. Cleven had become convinced in his time at the university that a fraternity of scholars (which would accept men or women) was important for the study of history. He invited students to a meeting to form the society (then called the “University Historical Society”) on March 14, and the society was officially recognized on the 17th. In April, the decision was made for the society to be known by the Greek letters Phi Alpha Theta.
  • Pi Gamma Mu: The mission of Pi Gamma Mu is to encourage and recognize superior scholarship in social science disciplines and to foster cooperation and social service among its members. Pi Gamma Mu serves the various social science disciplines which seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships as well as their related problems and issues. Pi Gamma Mu's constitution defines the social sciences to include the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, international relations, criminal justice, social work, social philosophy, history of education, and cultural/human geography. Membership is also extended to interdisciplinary social science areas that build on the core social science disciplines, such as business and society, education, minority studies, public administration, international studies, public finance, leadership studies, consumer behavior, public policy and organizational behavior. An individual may be invited or may petition to join an active chapter of Pi Gamma Mu when he/she is or was a junior, senior or graduate student in the upper 35 percent of the class, with at least 20 semester hours in social sciences and an average grade therein of B or better.
  • Pi Kappa Lambda: The only college honor society in music; it is so recognized by its membership in the Association of College Honor Societies. Since its establishment more than eighty years ago, Pi Kappa Lambda has consistently adhered to the principles of its founders in honoring scholarship, musicianship, and personal character. Chapters of the Society annually extend invitations to membership in PKL to the highest-ranking students from junior, senior, and graduate classes. The elections are the responsibility, as well as the privilege, of a faculty committee representing all of the active members of the chapter.
  • Pi Sigma Alpha: The national political science honor society. It is the only recognized college honor society in the discipline of political science and is now one of the largest constituent members of the Association of College Honor Societies.

    Students are eligible for induction in Pi Sigma Alpha if they have completed at least one-half the credits required for the baccalaureate degree; completed at least ten semester-credits of work in political science including at least one upperdivision course, with an average grade of B or higher in those courses; and they must have achieved an overall GPA placing them in the top one-third of their whole class (e.g., junior or senior class). They need not be political science majors to qualify for membership. Students who are inducted have, through their coursework, demonstrated high scholastic achievement and that they have the potential to excel as citizens and scholars

    Student members are also eligible for tangible benefits including reduced-cost test preparation courses through Princeton Review, scholarships for study, or engaging in internships in Washington, D.C. The U. S. Office of Personnel Management allows its Pi Sigma Alpha members to apply for federal government positions listed at a higher entry-level grade than non-member candidates.
  • Sigma Beta Delta: A professional society in business. Membership in Sigma Beta Delta is the highest national recognition a business student can receive at a college or university with a Sigma Beta Delta chapter. Its purpose is to promote higher scholarship in business and to recognize and reward scholastic achievement in businesses and economic subjects. Candidates for bachelor's degree who rank in the upper 20% of their class at the time of invitation to membership may be inducted into membership following completion of at least one-half of the degree program in which they are enrolled.
  • Sigma Tau Delta: The international English honor society whose focus is on conferring distinction upon students of the English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies. The society’s goals are to encourage cultural stimulation, to further interest in English language and literature, to foster good reading and writing practices, to promote exemplary character and good fellowship among members, to exhibit high standards of academic excellence, and to serve society by fostering literacy. Candidates must be juniors or seniors majoring or minoring in English, Creative Writing, Interdisciplinary Studies, or English/Language Arts Education. They must rank in the top 35% of their class with an overall GPA of 3.0. They must have taken at least two English classes above a 100 level and have a minimum GPA of 3.25 in their English courses.