The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences has chartered a chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon.

Sigma Gamma Epsilon, which is the national honorary society for earth science students, was founded in 1915 at the University of Kansas and now has more than 200 chapters on colleges across the country. UA Little Rock’s new chapter is only the second chapter in Arkansas with the first being at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

Earth science students submitted a petition to begin the chapter in 2016, which included support statements from Joshua Spinler, instructor of geophysics and the chapter’s faculty advisor; Department Chair Beth McMillan; and Dr. Lawrence Whitman, dean of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology.

“The desire to start a chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon was entirely student-driven,” Spinler said. “The process started in the fall of 2016 with a small group of seniors in the Earth Sciences department, led by Matt Acree. They each submitted personal statements and had to meet specific GPA and credit totals in order to qualify for membership.”

National officers of Sigma Gamma Epsilon visited UA Little Rock on Sept. 18, and the organization’s national council approved the UA Little Rock chapter during the national convention held Sept. 22-24 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.

“Starting a chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon on campus was a monumental move for a department that, some 20 years ago, did not have a degree-granting program,” said Tyler Kee, who will serve as secretary of the new student organization. “We wanted a Sigma Gamma Epsilon chapter because it would clearly demonstrate our dedication to success and passion for our community, both to the university and to future employers and graduate admission committees.”

Kee represented UA Little Rock at the national convention, where he was selected as chairman of the National Chapter Affairs Committee.

“Attending the convention was an exhilarating and invaluable experience,” Kee said. “I was given the privilege to listen to decades-old chapters speak on their success. I met students from as close as Tennessee and as far as Utah, and we were all connected through our love of the earth sciences.”

In this position, Kee is responsible for leading the committee and ensuring that issues critical to the success of Sigma Gamma Epsilon are discussed and solutions are proposed. He also is responsible for reporting the committee’s findings and proposals in a letter that is published in Sigma Gamma Epsilon’s journal, The Compass.

The new UA Little Rock chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon is planning its first initiation ceremony on Oct. 20.

Any UA Little Rock student who is majoring in an earth science-related major, has completed 10 credit hours, and has a minimum 3.0 GPA in all earth science courses and a minimum 2.67 cumulative GPA is eligible to join Sigma Gamma Epsilon.

For more information, contact Joshua Spinler at jxspinler@ualr.edu or 501-569-3544.

In the upper right photo, members of the UA Little Rock Department of Earth Sciences faculty are pictured at Big Rock Quarry in North Little Rock. Pictured, from left to right, back row: Jeff Connelly, professor and associate dean of Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology; Tom Colby, visiting assistant professor; and Laura Ruhl, assistant professor. Pictured, from left to right, front row: Beth McMillan, chairperson of the Department of Earth Sciences; Rene Shroat-Lewis, assistant professor; Josh Spinler, instructor; and Michael DeAngelis, assistant professor. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/UA Little Rock Communications.