39 students inducted to the Fairfield chapter of Phi Beta Kappa | Press Releases

The Fairfield chapter of Phi Beta Kappa inducted 39 new members at its fourth annual induction ceremony on April 19 in the Dolan Common dining hall. The Zeta Chapter of Connecticut inducted 32 members of the Fairfield class of 1998 and seven members of the class of 1999.

Caroline Lenox, a member of the class of '95 and one of the chapter's first inductees, delivered the keynote address. She encouraged the new inductees to take the best of Fairfield with them wherever they go and to suggest to high school students to make membership in Phi Beta Kappa a goal in college.

After graduating cum laude with a degree in history from Fairfield, Lenox became assistant director of Collegium, a program at Fairfield devoted to discussing faith and intellectual life on college and university campuses. She now volunteers full-time to teach algebra and social studies at Mother Caroline Academy in Boston, a tuition-free middle school for 60 inner-city students.

Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest and most respected honorary society, and has 250 chapters across the country.

The new members of the Zeta Chapter of Connecticut include:

Lynn Andriani was an invited participant in the 1998 24th Annual Undergraduate Honors Conference at DePauw University and spent her junior year studying at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Stephanie Baldino is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Council of Teachers of English and the International English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta. She is on the National Dean's List and has been named an All American Scholar.

Jason Boyea is president of Circle K and a member of Alpha Sigma Nu. He has led food drives and soup kitchens and arranged elementary school homework assistance through the local libraries.

Catherine Capuzzi spent last summer at Northern Arizona University, participating in the Research Experience for Undergraduates. She did research in graph theory and wrote a paper summarizing the results on semi-transitive graphs. She will be on a teaching assistantship in a Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland next year.

Naomi Cavanaugh is a member of Phi Alpha Theta (National Honor Society for History) and Fairfield's Honors Program. She has studied abroad in Florence, and completed a research project comparing women's suffrage movements internationally.

Sarah Devine has been active in Peer Education as vice president and treasurer in the Math and Computer Science Club, as President, she has been co-president of Pi Mu Epsilon, and a tour guide.

Sandra DiMauro has been on the Dean's List for four years, is a member of Alpha Phi Sigma, and has been a volunteer with the Upward Bound tutoring program.

Robert Fewkes is a philosophy major who has read a paper on biopatenting and the ethics of human subjects research at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. For the past year he has interned with the Bridgeport Hospital Institutional Review Board.

Cheryl Fox has been involved with the Campus Ministry's Protestant Ministers for the past three years, and served as president of the group this year. She is a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta.

Michele Fox organized and co-led a seminar at the National Honors Convention in 1996. She has studied a semester each in Chile and Honduras, and has completed an independent research project entitled The Phenomena of Latin American Populism in the 20th Century.

Carla Gazlay has served as an intern at the Westport Nature Center and the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, and volunteered at the McGivney Community Center. She has been a member of the crew team for three years, and served as captain for the 1997-1998 season.

Danielle Gillis is a playwright and author of "Alive and Kicking" for Festival 1998. She has served an internship at Young and Modern Magazine, a volunteer for the McGivney Community Center, and is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu.

Christopher Grindle is involved with the Glee Club and "On the Spot," Theatre Fairfield's resident improv troupe. He is completing a research project involving the association between mitochondrial DNA and aging and disease.

Samantha Khamvongsa is president of the Asian Student Association and COSO student leader of the month for March 1998. She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, the sociology honor society. She presented a research paper entitled "Gender and Self-Perceptions: Skills and Abilities," at the 23rd annual New England Undergraduate Research Conference in Sociology.

Jennifer Manzo has been costume designer, stage manager, and ensemble cast member in several Theatre Fairfield productions. Her poetry has appeared in The Sound, and has been read in "Creative Exposures" and the 1996-97 Student Black Box poetry reading.

Jessica Martinesi has completed an independent oral history project in which she interviewed and recorded the oral histories of nursing home residents which are in the Greenwich Library archives. She will be a student leader on a trip to Kentucky with Habitat for Humanity in May.

Melissa McArdle is co-recipient of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Connecticut Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art History.

Paul McSherry has been captain of the men's soccer team for the last two years, and a member of the All-MAAC Conference Academic Team. He was awarded the Harry Fishman Award from the Sociology Department, and is a member of the Sociology Honor Society, Alpha Kappa Delta.

Scott Middlemiss , an economics major with a minor in environmental studies, was chair for the Great Hunger Cleanup in 1997 and 1998, a mission volunteer, Appalachian volunteer, Ignatian volunteer, and a N.A.M.E. volunteer. He is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu and Omicron Delta Epsilon.

Ryan Murphy is a Presidential Scholar, a research associate in the Bridgeport Hospital Emergency Department, Treasurer of Alpha Epsilon Delta, and has received Early Assurance Acceptance to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Alicia Nicoletti is a member of the National Sociology Honor Society. She volunteers at the Fairfield Senior Center and as a mentor for inner-city high school students. She is a tutor in Spanish.

Edward Smith works in the Culpeper Language Resource Center, and teaches French as an assistant teacher.

Laura Taylor won Fairfield University's Mary-Irene Gallagher Award for Theology this year; and the Frank Bukvic German Scholarship and Scolaro Scholarship for German Achievement last year. She has been a mission volunteer in Tijuana, Mexico.

Jaime Vassallo is a member of the National Foreign Language Honor Society and Beta Gamma Sigma, the international academic honor society for students in international collegiate programs.

Natalie Van Eron has been a mission volunteer to Duran, Ecuador, a member of the Fairfield University Dance Ensemble, a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, vice president of Phi Sigma Alpha (the National Politics Honor Society), and Fairfield's nominee for the Harry Truman National Scholarship.

Bethany Walcott is a psychology major, minoring in English. She has been co-principal flutist for the Fairfield University orchestra. She is president of Fairfield's Psychology Association, editor of the yearbook's senior section, and will pursue an M.S.W. at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.

Class of 1999

Jim Araujo has done research and software development at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and NSF-sponsored research in chemistry at the University of Vermont. He was inducted as a sophomore into Pi Mu Epsilon, the national honor society for mathematics, and has done extensive tutoring in chemistry and mathematics for Student Services and Project Excel.

Michael Franz is a member of the Town of Fairfield's Representative Town Meeting, the town's legislative body. He is a member of the multicultural task force, and was selected to USA Today's 1998 All-Academic Third Team.

Tammy Hughes has been accepted into Sigma Tau Delta. She is a member of the Fairfield University Student Honors Association, and volunteers in the Bridgeport schools.

Christine Kelleher , a politics/music double major with a religious studies minor, is a Presidential Scholar, and a member of the University Honors Program, Alpha Sigma Nu, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Alpha Mu Gamma. She is a member of the Fairfield University Glee Club and Orchestra.

Brian Mello has been named the FUSA Vice President for Multicultural Relations for the 1998-99 academic year, and has been active with the TEAM (Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism) task force.

Mark Sabo is a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, and recipient of the Ira W. DeCamp scholarship. He is also a eucharistic minister at Saint Mary Church in Milford.

Shirley Shames is a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the honor society for history, and this year's winner of the Rev. James M. Murphy Award for Excellence in the study of British history for her essay, "The Rough and Racist Road to Irish Assimilation."