It must be good karma.

Monica “Mickey” Dunn, the first elected president and a charter member of the Alpha Chapter of Alpha Upsilon Alpha at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), is again Alpha Chapter’s president on the 25th anniversary of the creation of the International Reading Association (IRA) Honor Society.

And she’s excited that the Chapter, officially chartered May 1, 1986, is itself being reborn with a renewed sense of energy. Dunn, who was active in the first decade of the Chapter’s existence, recalled her excitement at being asked to be one of the first group of 15 initiates.

“It was a prestigious honor,” she said in a recent interview. “I remember receiving the beautiful, engraved invitation to the initiation ceremony. What a sense of elegance it inspired, and I knew I wanted to be part of it.” The honor society was created by IRA to recognize and encourage scholarship, the development of personal and professional leadership, and service to the field of reading at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Greek letters for the honor society come from the words Anagnosis (reading), Upotrophia (scholarship), and Archon (leadership). The society motto, attributed to the early Roman poet Horace, is “Lege sapere aude,” or “Read, dare to be wise.” Initiates are invited to join because they have excelled in their chosen field of study and are recognized as professionals committed to the importance of reading and language arts in education.

According to Dunn, “Our clearest memory (and this is collectively speaking) is that Dr. Ned Ratekin and Dr. Sharon Moore spearheaded the origin of the organization.” In addition to Dunn, three other charter members currently serve on Alpha AUA’s board: Karen Agee, past president; Debra Rich, secretary; and Carol Watson, treasurer.

As a charter member, Dunn realized that the chapter was identifying the best and the brightest among those studying to be educators at UNI, but thought there should be more to it than that.

“That’s all well and good to be recognized and have it be part of your résumé,” she said, “but we thought the society should provide opportunities to use that brightness.” An action committee was formed that published and distributed brochures and children’s books to local hospital maternity wards, and a newsletter was started to keep members informed about upcoming local and international events as well as to showcase members at work.

Revitalizing, renewing

Today, Alpha Chapter is working to reconstruct its membership roster. So far, about 250 initiates have been identified and the group is gathering information on 35–40 others. The Chapter has renewed its semiannual newsletter, Alpha Honors, and for those with an interest in conducting and writing about research there is a professional writing group for networking. A Books ’n’ Brunch group meets monthly on Saturday mornings to discuss books for children and adults, professional publications, and members’ works in progress.

Dunn said the group also is developing a mentoring program to match seasoned members with initiates who share professional interests. The honor society’s Board also hopes to extend its community outreach efforts to identify clusters of members across Iowa who could form their own action committees to raise funds to buy and donate books to shelters and schools, or to volunteer at their local libraries and schools.

Part of the reason, Dunn said, is that “We are beginning to realize how much more time we have for professional endeavors as our children graduate and leave home, and we believe retirement could be a very productive phase in our professional lives.” The group also has revised its bylaws to create a new category of emerita and emeritus members—pending approval of IRA and Alpha Upsilon Alpha International—for those who want to remain active into retirement.

Spreading the word about what the society does is a website, www.uni.edu/studentorgs/aya. “Our chapter has been busy getting into the ‘digital age,’ with all that entails,” said Jacqueline Smith, who is just finishing her term as the Chapter’s faculty advisor. “These past two years the Board and I have really worked hard to revitalize our chapter using the website, Skype, and Facebook, in addition to making all of our files electronic. It’s been quite a process but very rewarding! As a member of the IRA Steering Committee for the honor society, I hope to stay actively involved,” Smith said.

In the future, the Chapter’s goal is “to maintain the integrity that was established for our group by its founders,” Dunn said. “Our plan is to safeguard its history and to strengthen its membership, not only in terms of numbers, but in terms of impact on our profession and our communities. We like to think that the honor society has helped to shape the futures of our members and our members continue to play vital roles in IRA.” For example, charter member Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell was asked to be a candidate for IRA’s 2010–2011 Board of Directors, and Anne Kirpes recently served a term on the IRA committee overseeing AUA International, Dunn said.

This process of reinventing and strengthening the Alpha Chapter has its own good karma. “At our meetings,” Dunn said, “ideas flow and eyes sparkle. We engage in a level of discourse that is distinctive. The people in our chapter are all deeply passionate about their profession and their craft. Being able to have a forum that allows us to associate with that type of person is priceless.”

To learn more about AUA, visit www.reading.org and follow the Professional Communities link.

 

Alpha Chapter of IRA's honor society comes full circle (August 2010). Reading Today, 28(1), 18.