Former MSU Student, Prof Earn Honors

STARKVILLE, Miss.–A former student and current faculty member at Mississippi State are selections for Love of Learning recognitions by Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Receiving $500 each are Ashley D. Boatner of Benton, a May 2014 summa cum laude graduate in kinesiology/clinical exercise physiology, and forestry professor Donald L. Grebner of the College of Forest Resources’ Forest and Wildlife Research Center.

Established in 2007, the award program annually recognizes members who seek to continue their educations. The funds may be applied to graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development, and travel related to teaching and studies.

Demonstrated leadership and community service experiences, along with academic honors and awards, are among criteria for selection. For more information, visit www.phikappaphi.org/loveoflearning.

Boatner and Grebner were among the 147 Phi Kappa Phi members from around the country honored this year.

Boatner now is enrolled at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and will apply her award toward tuition. The daughter of Timmy and Glynda Boatner, she is a 2013 initiate of MSU’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter.

Grebner is a March 2003 initiate who has held various leadership positions in the campus chapter, including two years each as secretary, vice president, and president. He will use the funds to attend the upcoming World Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He is a University of Maine forestry graduate who also holds a master’s degree in forestry from Yale University, as well as a master’s in economics and doctorate in forest management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi currently has more than 300 university and college chapters throughout North America and the Philippines. Its more than 32,000 members include students, faculty, professional staff and alumni.

Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty and other non-students who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. For more, see www.phikappaphi.org.