Three Alfred University students and two faculty members of the Division of Modern Languages, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were inducted this week into the Alfred University chapter of Phi Sigma Iota, the international foreign language honor society that recognizes outstanding accomplishment in the study or teaching of any of the academic fields related to foreign language, literature and culture.
The students were Milla Prokhorov, Alyra Rain, and Brynn Russell. The faculty members were Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant Victoria Ambrosi, and Assistant Professor of Spanish Ariela Parisi.
The five were inducted Monday at a ceremony in Alfred University’s Susan Howell Hall. Welcoming remarks were offered by the Chair of Modern Languages, Sandra Singer, and Alfred University Phi Sigma Iota Chapter President Casey Curran ’23. Additional speakers included Assistant Professor of French Elise Bouhet, Professor of Spanish Kerry Kautzman, and English Professor Susan Morehouse.
Milla Prokhorov majors in Art and Design and minors in Visual Arts Education. Alyra Rain is an English major with a minor in French, and Brynn Russell majors in Foreign Language and Culture Studies with a Concentration in French.
Induction into Phi Sigma Iota is the highest academic honor in the field of foreign languages. It requires students to have reached the third- or fourth-year level of study; to have at least a 3.0 average in all foreign-language courses and their entire college work; to have completed at least one course in a foreign language at the third-year level; and to rank in the highest 35th percentile of their class in general scholarship.
The Phi Sigma Iota society was founded in 1922 at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa. Its national headquarters remain in Meadville, and it currently numbers approximately 50,000 members.