Lone Star College-Tomball English professor Dr. Rebecca Tate was named an Advisor Emeritus by Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner, President and CEO of Phi Theta Kappa International during the 2016 President’s Fall Welcome in the LSC-Tomball Performing Arts Center. Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society for two-year colleges.
The prestigious recognition is given to a select number of advisors who have served Phi Theta Kappa with distinction at the international level. Recipients must be nominated by PTK International Headquarters, and those selected are noted for being outstanding student coaches and mentors. This honor follows the recent success of the LSC-Tomball chapter of PTK, Alpha Rho Mu, which, under Dr. Tate’s leadership, was named the highest ranking chapter out of 1285 chapters in the world two years in a row when it received the 2015 and 2016 Most Distinguished Chapter awards, a monumental achievement. This honor also follows the unparalleled success of the Alpha Rho Mu student officer teams, which under Dr. Tate’s mentorship, received over $750,000 in dedicated transfer scholarship monies.
In her five-year tenure as the LSC-Tomball advisor, first from 2000-2003, and then again from 2014-2016, Dr. Tate has received several awards given to outstanding chapter advisors, including the Paragon Award for New Advisors in 2003, the Distinguished Advisor Award in 2015, and the Continued Excellence Advisor Award in 2016. Additionally, Tate was named PTK Faculty Scholar in 2016 as well as the 2016-2017 PTK Mayfield Scholar. In conjunction with the Mayfield Scholarship, Tate participated in the PTK Leadership Development Certification Program in Atlanta, Georgia, in the summer of 2016, and is now certified to teach the humanities-driven PTK Leadership Development course for students which is recognized by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation as one of only eight Exemplary Leadership Development Programs in higher education.
“Having served only a total of five years, I never expected to receive the Advisor Emeritus designation since it is usually reserved for retiring advisors who have served with distinction—often for decades,” Dr. Tate said. “I am very grateful for this honor, and I’m especially delighted that Dr. Tincher-Ladner was present at LSC-Tomball to personally confer the designation.”
Although Dr. Tate will no longer be an advisor of PTK, she will continue to teach English courses at LSC-Tomball, where she’s served with distinction on the faculty since 1990, having been named a Piper Professor as well as being selected four times as a recipient of the LSC-Tomball Faculty Excellence Award.