Last Updated on April 26, 2015 by cassnetwork
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Steve Daily, chancellor emeritus of Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region, was honored Friday with the Michael Bennett Lifetime Achievement Award during NerdNation 2015, Phi Theta Kappa’s annual international convention held last week in San Antonio, Texas.
In a rare honor for a single community college region, two other campus leaders from Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Region received high recognition from the international honor society. Logansport Campus President Kevin Bostic and Wabash Campus Executive Director Pam Guthrie were among 23 campus leaders honored with Phi Theta Kappa’s Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction.
The honored administrators were nominated by members of Ivy Tech Kokomo Region’s two Phi Theta Kappa chapters – Alpha Phi Pi on the Kokomo Campus and Beta Sigma Zeta on the Logansport Campus.
Daily was one of 16 college leaders who received the Michael Bennett Lifetime Achievement Award, which is presented to college presidents or campus CEOs at two-year or senior institutions and state community college system directors who are retiring and who provided consistently
outstanding support to Phi Theta Kappa chapters and advisors during their careers. The award is named in honor of the late Dr. Michael Bennett, longtime president of St. Petersburg College in Florida.
Daily retired as chancellor of Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Region in January after serving Ivy Tech in leadership roles for 20 years. He was recognized as a strong advocate of Phi Theta Kappa and the recognition and support it offers its members. His many contributions to Phi Theta Kappa during his tenure include serving as the Phi Theta Kappa Indiana regional ambassador, attending several regional and international conventions, allowing local chapters to host regional conferences, supporting advisors in their work, and offering a $100 book credit for students joining Phi Theta Kappa.
Daily previously had been honored with the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction, named in honor of Phi Theta Kappa’s longest serving board chair and a founder and long-time president of Highline Community College in Washington. College presidents and campus chief executive officers, nominated by their Phi Theta Kappa chapter, are selected for this award based on their outstanding support of Phi Theta Kappa.
In winning the 2015 Gordon Award, Bostic and Guthrie were described in nomination materials as exceptional leaders committed to helping their students succeed.
Bostic was cited as an incredible supporter and ally of the Beta Gamma Zeta chapter at the Logansport Campus, providing office space and equipment for the organization, purchasing a display case to showcase chapter awards, and working hard to connect the chapter and its members with the Logansport community. Of special note was his outreach to local schools, paving the way for the chapter’s award-winning programming for elementary, middle and high school students.
As executive director of Ivy Tech’s Wabash Campus, Guthrie works to promote the Alpha Phi Pi chapter there, recruiting active members and empowering students to create new lives for themselves through scholarship opportunities and her extensive commitment to diversity and acceptance. Her support of Phi Theta Kappa includes office space and equipment, release time for advisors and a variety of recognition opportunities for its members.
Nearly 4,000 members of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for students in community colleges, gathered from around the world for NerdNation 2015, Phi Theta Kappa’s 97th annual convention. Beta Gamma Zeta Chapter Advisor and Indiana Phi Theta Kappa Regional
Coordinator Leo Studach, a faculty member at Ivy Tech’s Logansport Campus, and 25 Ivy Tech students from around the state were among the participants at the convention. Along with educational sessions to foster personal and chapter development, training to cultivate leaders and networking opportunities to share ideas, the conference included as keynote speakers Grammy Award-winning musician John Legend and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society has been recognizing and encouraging excellence among community colleges since it was founded in 1918. Today, Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in higher education with more than 3 million members and 1,275 chapters located in 50 states, U.S. territories, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Germany, UAE and the Republic of Palau. The recognition and scholarship opportunities that Phi Theta Kappa brings to an institution, its faculty advisors, and most importantly to its student members are unparalleled by any other student organization.
SOURCE:News release from Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region