Lee University’s Alpha Alpha Gamma Chapter has received the Best Chapter Award for the 2021-2022 season from Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honors society.

Each season, Pi Sigma Alpha selects chapters across the country to receive the award in order to “recognize local chapters that are particularly active in their institutions and communities and that embody Pi Sigma Alpha’s mission to stimulate scholarship and intellectual interest in political science,” as stated in a celebratory email from Tanya Schwarz, the executive director of Pi Sigma Alpha, to Dr. Ana Shippey, chapter advisor and associate professor of political science at Lee.

The political science department at Lee has run its own chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha for 20 years, and the 2021-2022 season is the seventh year that Lee’s chapter has been awarded this title since 2013. Alpha Alpha Gamma received a $500 cash prize for their hard work and dedication throughout the season, according to Schwarz.

Dr. Thomas Pope, professor of political science; Dr. Mark Scully, assistant professor of political science; and Shippey are the faculty members who run this chapter alongside the student officers.

“Our local chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha had an amazing 2021-2022 year, and that is the result of an outstanding team of officers,” said Shippey. “Under the leadership of PSA president Emily Harris, our chapter hosted various events that served our community and, in doing so, also strengthened our major.”

Shippey won the Best Chapter Advisor Award for the 2021-2022 season for her commitment to building and sustaining the chapter.

Lee political science alumna Emily Harris was the president of Alpha Alpha Gamma for 2021-2022, and Andrew Rumfelt has recently been appointed to the position for 2022-2023.

For more information on Alpha Alpha Gamma, contact the Department of History, Political Science, and Humanities at (423) 614-8137 or [email protected].