Spanish majors and minors at UC Merced have a new measure of excellence to pursue, thanks to the recent charter of the university’s chapter of Sigma Delta Pi. UC Merced is the seventh UC campus to charter a chapter of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, which was founded at UC Berkeley in 1919.
Sigma Delta Pi is a registered campus organization, which means it has officers and its own operational budget. Founding members -- four students and two faculty members -- were inducted in November. Armando Lomeli is the group’s founding president; Sonia Roman is vice president; Sonia Ortiz is secretary; and Tim Alexander is treasurer.
Membership into the society comes with lifetime benefits, according to advisor Elinor Torda.
“The purpose of the society isn’t just to promote Spanish language and culture,” Torda said, “but also to encourage students to strive to meet a standard of excellence.”
In order to qualify for a charter, the university is required to offer a range of courses in Spanish language and culture. To qualify for membership, students must have a minimum overall grade-point average of 3.0, in addition to the following requirements:
- they must have completed the equivalent of three years of college Spanish, including at least three semester hours of a third-year course in Hispanic literature or Hispanic culture and civilization;
- their grades in all Spanish courses must average at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale;
- they must rank in the upper 35 percent of their class (sophomore, junior, senior);
- they must have completed at least three semesters or five quarters of college work; and
- they must show genuine interest in things Hispanic and be of good moral character.
Membership benefits include scholarships, research funding opportunities and consideration for national awards and honors.
Spanish has only been available as an undergraduate major at UC Merced since 2013, so it’s a feather in the program’s cap to already have students who qualify for the honor society.
“I think having a Sigma Delta Pi chapter at UC Merced provides students with valuable opportunities,” honorary society member and Professor Virginia Adán-Lifante said. “But what is also significant is that creating this chapter tells our students that we appreciate and support the effort they make to excel academically.”
