Pi Sigma Alpha, the only honor society for political science students in the nation, has returned to permanent status at Auburn University and welcomes all students interested in political science topics to join the organization.
Nationally, Pi Sigma Alpha strives to instill scholarship and leadership in political science students.
Benefits of lifetime membership with Pi Sigma Alpha include scholarship possibilities, starting at a GS-7 pay grade as a federal employee and connections to over 300,000 members. Notable alumni members include former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist and U.S. Senator Gary Peters.
Pi Sigma Alpha was first formally chartered in 1920 at the University of Texas at Austin, and at Auburn, it existed for many years. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organization became inactive, but as of Monday March 17, Student Involvement granted Pi Sigma Alpha permanent status.
“A lot of my professors, when I explained to them how we're getting started back, they were surprised. Like, Auburn hasn't had one already?” said Joey Weston, president of Pi Sigma Alpha and junior in political science.
Auburn's charter includes an honor society component and a club component which is open to all majors. This club component allows any students interested in similar fields like law and international studies to join the organization.
Weston shared that creating a community for students interested in political science topics, regardless of party affiliations, is one of the main goals of Pi Sigma Alpha, and it’s his favorite part of the organization.
“It comes back to that community for poli sci and adjacent,” Weston said. “There wasn't really much of anything like that, that wasn't partisan before because you had your college republicans or college dems, but we’re just political science.”
Kacy Nelson, senior in law and justice and public relations officer for Pi Sigma, is also a member of the pre-law honor society Pi Lambda Sigma. Her connections outside of the political science major as a pre-law student and experience with revamping Photography Club at Auburn have been helpful in promoting the new organization.
To join the honor society component, undergraduate students must have completed at least 60 total credit hours towards a degree and at least 10 semester hours of political science courses. Graduate students must be pursuing a degree in the department of political science and have passed nine graduate semester hours of political science courses with no grade lower than a B.
Invitations for the honor society are sent to qualifying students at the end of each term, while students interested in the club can join at any time.
Triston Buckley, senior in political science and philosophy, serves as the treasurer for Pi Sigma Alpha. Buckley explained that since the organization is still finding its feet on campus, they are mainly trying to grow the club component of Pi Sigma Alpha but is also looking to expand their involvement through community service.
“As we're going to grow, we're hoping kind of to build upon that community service aspect,” Buckley said. “We're hoping that people can come to us with ideas, and once we're big enough, we can create committees. In a way, push them to lead them to do these projects, and we just kind of help oversee it.”
At their first event earlier this year, Pi Sigma Alpha hosted a moderated panel featuring Auburn University professor Dr. Paul Harris, a court of criminal appeals judge, multiple law professors and the city of Auburn Mayor Ron Anders Jr. The officers are always searching for guest speakers to educate and network with its members.
Pi Sigma Alpha moderated panel discussion. Contributed by Kacy Nelson.
Pi Sigma Alpha also encourages fellowship with events like the recreational game night they hosted last Wednesday, offering pizza and laughs for its members.
Robbie Reuse, junior in political science, is an inducted member. Reuse joined Pi Sigma Alpha last year and has witnessed the organization grow since its reboot, appreciating all the connections it has brought him.
When asked the importance of connecting with other political science students, Reuse said, “it allows you to help connect within school and if you're also going towards the same career path, that's a good thing to know, because, like, you may end up at the same job together.”
Students interested in joining Pi Sigma Alpha can join on AU Involve.
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Jennifer Santiago is a freshman in exploratory studies from Enterprise, AL. Santiago has been with The Auburn Plainsman since Fall 2024.
