Industrial Engineering Student Honor Society Chapter Receives National Award

The U of A Chapter of Alpha Pi Mu in Industrial Engineering has been selected as the second-place winner of the Outstanding Chapter award from the National Headquarters.

The award recognizes the chapter's activities in three categories: chapter and university activities, betterment of the field of industrial engineering and betterment of the national society.

Activities of the 2020-2021 chapter were led by the following elected officers: Madeline Suellentrop, president; Parker Tankersley, vice president; Jaclyn Walls, treasurer; Natalia Sandhu, secretary; Lawson Porter, media chair; Esteban Lopez, historian; and Lauren Law, social chair. The chapter was also supported by faculty adviser Kelly Sullivan and staff liaison Carrie Pennington.

 "Our chapter is extremely pleased to receive this recognition," Sullivan said. "I am thankful for the outstanding officers whose hard work and leadership made this recognition possible."

With the pandemic limiting interactions, many of the chapter's usual activities became more challenging. Despite these challenges, the chapter facilitated a variety of service events, networking activities and training opportunities for students in the department. With other universities facing similar challenges, the chapter collaborated with chapters at Virginia Tech and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez to organize a number of virtual events, including the first ever nationwide retreat for student officers of Alpha Pi Mu.

The Alpha Pi Mu Honor Society was started at Georgia Tech in 1949 and gained full membership in the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) in 1959. Alpha Pi Mu is the only nationally accepted industrial engineering honor society, due to its affiliation with ACHS. Chapters now exist in almost every major university and accredited engineering program.

At the U of A, Alpha Pi Mu was chartered in 1956. The charter members included: John L. Imhoff, founding department head at the U of A; Palmer Terrell, past scholarship chair and Charter Member of the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineering; and William L. Cravens, banker, former chair of Alltel Information Systems and Arkansas Business Hall of Fame inductee.

The chapter boasts many accolades over the years, receiving first place in the Outstanding Chapter competition on multiple occasions. Students of industrial engineering at the U of A are routinely selected for outstanding scholarships and recognitions by the national group.