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For Immediate Release
Neil
Gibson Awarded $5,000 Graduate Fellowship
by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
Neil Gibson, an Agricultural Business major at California
State University, Fresno, was selected as one of sixty 2005 Phi Kappa Phi
Graduate Fellowship recipients awarded nationally. Neil was also named the
Hohenstein Fellow from the Western Region of the United States. He has been
accepted by the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, a
division of Johns Hopkins University located in Washington, D.C., and plans to
study International Relations.
The Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship Program awards sixty $5,000
Fellowships and forty $2,000 Awards of Excellence annually for post-graduate
study at accredited institutions of higher learning. The 100 fellowships are
awarded on a competitive basis for first-year graduate or professional study.
Each chapter may nominate one student for the national competition. Neil was
nominated by the Fresno State Chapter.
Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi
is the nation’s oldest, largest, and most selective all-discipline honor
society. The Society’s mission is “to recognize and promote academic
excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of
scholars in service to others.” Nearly 300 chapters of the Society exist on
campuses of colleges and universities across the United States, Puerto Rica, and
the Philippines.
The Fresno State chapter of Phi Kappa Phi was established
in 1953 and is one of the most awarded chapters in the country. Students are
selected on the basis of their grade point average. This year for students to be
eligible, GPA requirements for second semester juniors were 3.73, seniors 3.65,
and post-baccalaureate students 4.0. Neil has maintained a GPA of 4.0 throughout
his entire academic career. The chapter also recognizes alumni, administrators,
faculty, and staff who have been extraordinary in promoting academic excellence
at the university.
Neil is a 2000 graduate of Lucerne Valley High School in
San Bernardino County. He is a student in the Smittcamp Family Honors College at
Fresno State. Among his many activities and awards, Neil continues as a member
of the prestigious President’s List, has served as an intern in the office of
Congressman Calvin Dooley, was elected the President of the California State
University, Fresno Associated Students during his junior year, was selected as a
Kenneth L. Maddy Scholar in 2003, and served in Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s Office of Protocol in 2004.
In his "Reflections from the President" column of
November 1, 2004, to the university community, President John Welty stated that
"Neil has made a major contribution to our campus."
(Photo at www.csufresno.edu/alumni/2003/09)
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