VCU School of Engineering inducted into national honor society

By Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education

Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Engineering has reached another milestone. The seven-year-old school has been inducted into the nation's only honor society for engineering - Tau Beta Pi, which recognizes students of distinguished scholarship and exemplary character.

"The induction process can take up to 20 years but you did it in six," Tau Beta Pi executive director James D. Froula, Ph.D., told an audience of 100 people attending an installation and dedication ceremony at the school earlier this month. "We're here because VCU's School of Engineering believes in excellence as a way of life. Happy birthday."

Also on hand to welcome the school into the nation's second-oldest honor society was Matthew W. Ohland, Ph.D., president of the society's fourth district executive council, and district director Russell L. Werneth, Ph.D. The fourth district consists of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

A five-foot tall, 150-pound bronze sculpture of Tau Beta Pi's insignia, The Bent, was dedicated by School of Engineering Dean Robert J. Mattauch, Ph.D., and will be placed in the school's courtyard. "This achievement has come because of you," he told the 47 current and former students initiated into the new Virginia Epsilon Chapter.

Founded at Lehigh University in 1885, Tau Beta Pi has 233 collegiate chapters in 16 districts and more than 410,000 members. To be eligible, undergraduate students must be in the top 12 percent of the junior class or top 20 percent of the senior class. Graduate students must be in the top 20 percent of their class or have a letter of recommendation from their primary advisors and have completed at least 50 percent of their coursework including research. Students who have already graduated must have placed in the top 20 percent of their class.

Virginia Epsilon's first student officers are: president Jacob H. Leach, vice president Ryan M. Mitchell, coordinating secretary Katie E. Peters, recording secretary Allison M. Varmer, treasurer Christopher M. Zeh and cataloguer Roger Zhi Guan Wong.

Faculty Tau Beta Pi members at VCU are: Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Timothy M. Cameron, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, Esther A. Hughes, Robert H. Klenke, Robert J. Mattauch, Peter S. Lum, John E. Speich, Gary C. Tepper and Jennifer S. Wayne.