News and Reports

Eta Kappa Nu chapter receives Outstanding Chapter Award two years in a row

By Elizabeth Myers

New Mexico State University’s Gamma Chi chapter of Eta Kappa Nu, a national electrical and computer engineering honor society, has been awarded the Outstanding Chapter Award for 2006-2007.

Eta Kappa Nu is a nonprofit public-service organization with nearly 200 university chapters, a variety of committees, many active member volunteers, and thousands of student members.

Chapters are judged on service activities for their fellow students, their department, their school and their community. The judging committee focuses on activities that improve professional development, raise instructional and institutional standards, encourage scholarship and creativity, provide a public service, and further the goals of Eta Kappa Nu.

Nineteen other chapters from universities around the country received the award, including Auburn University, Purdue University, Arizona State University, Marquette University and the University of Southern California.

The award will be presented at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association annual meeting March 17 in San Diego.

Members for 2006-2007 are Aaron Griener, Angela Atma, Antony Baca, Ben Wilhelm, Daniel Chavez, David Romero, Eric Lance, Jacob Gilbert, James Riggens, Justin Hogan, Kyle Clifford, Patrick Day, Wade Freeman, Will Farenkrog and Zac DeHerrera. The faculty advisor is Robert Paz.

Activities included Pledge Saturdays, where new pledges helped the electrical engineering department with cleaning and repair. Students also offered tutoring in lower division electrical engineering classes, spending 572 total hours helping their fellow classmates.

The chapter also sponsored speakers, including Steven Castillo, dean of the College of Engineering, and Jerry Shaw, one of the founders of Volt Information Sciences.

Members also volunteered at NMSU’s recycling center and the New Mexico Southern Regional Science Fair, and helped with the Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology competition, an event held for local middle- and high-school students.

A favorite activity was volunteering at the Jornada Elementary After-School program, where kids enjoyed a visit from Nexus, Eta Kappa Nu President Zac DeHerrera’s pet boa constrictor.

DeHerrera feels one of the reasons the group is “outstanding” is the member’s willingness to change the honor society for the better. A loss of members due to graduation paired with a boost in new members “enabled the new members to change the honor society into an organization that kept the good ideas and changed the ideas that hindered the organization from growth in the past,” said DeHerrera.

“In addition,” DeHerrera said, “the members were shown that leadership within the organization, college, and community comes with hard work and leading from the ground, not the chair.”

“Eta Kappa Nu members are the top percentage of electrical engineering students. DeHererra said.  “Not only do they keep their grades up, but they volunteer their time for good causes. This self-sacrifice to the honor society, college and community are the hallmarks of a leader in the engineering field and for these reasons, Eta Kappa Nu members have earned the one thing that many people search for and cannot find...self-respect.”