Tau Sigma helps transfer students maximize OU experience

By Dan Bodene, contributing writer

College is tough enough, but may be even tougher when a student changes schools. That’s where Oakland University’s Tau Sigma academic honor society comes in.

Tau Sigma is geared specifically for transfer students who are studying full-time with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, to help them establish connections with OU and with the community. The Oakland chapter is new, chartered after informational meetings in June 2010 and organizational meetings two months later.

“The national group was founded in 1999 on the premise that there is now a more transient population among college students,” said Pamela Kellett, Ph.D., OU assistant vice president for outreach and Tau Sigma’s adviser. “We knew that many transfer students at OU didn’t feel they had a connection to the university, so we wanted to engage them.”

One such student was Ryan Hundt, a junior in Political Science who transferred from Lansing Community College. He now is Tau Sigma’s president.

“I spent a great deal of time during my first year at OU in the confines of my apartment, often heading back to my hometown of Haslett during the weekends in order to maintain a healthy social life,” Hundt said. “Luckily, Tau Sigma has afforded me with the opportunity to meet a diverse group of students who come from similar backgrounds and experiences in terms of college and the transition to student life at Oakland University.”

Although Tau Sigma helps bring transfer students together to ease the transition process, it offers much more than that. The key is involvement.

“It has a greater purpose than just bringing students together to talk,” said Dr. Kellett. Hundt agrees. “Our goal here at the Oakland chapter is to provide transfer students with an organization which will allow them to display both academic excellence and community involvement.”

One measure of involvement is with a cause the group has adopted. Members of Tau Sigma participated in a suicide prevention walk in October at Dakota High School in Macomb Township, and are planning on working with Dennis Liegghio, founder and president of KnowResolve, an organization dedicated to reducing youth suicides.

“We’d like to bring presentations to campus next fall, and may organize our own walk event in the spring of 2012,” said Dr. Kellett.

Oakland’s Tau Sigma chapter has about 25 members right now, but the chapter is looking for new members.

“We want to work with Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair County and Mott community colleges,” Dr. Kellett said. “They all have academic honor societies, and students can continue that right here with Tau Sigma.”

For more information on Tau Sigma, contact Dr. Kellett by e-mailing kellett@oakland.edu.