![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/apsulogo-2.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
Shortly after APSU\u2019s Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society won \u201cBest Chapter\u201d in the nation last year, the University hosted an unrelated celebration marking its record enrollment of 10,188 students. For the history professors and students standing in the Morgan University Center Plaza that day, the event was bittersweet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was good for the University, but I knew it would be harder for us to win best chapter again,\u201d Dr. Minoa Uffelman, assistant professor of history and club adviser, said.<\/p>\n
The National PAT is split into different divisions, representing different sized schools. Last year, APSU won \u201cBest Chapter of 2009\u201d for Division III, which accounted for schools with 10,000 students or less. The new enrollment numbers put the chapter in a different division against larger universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith bigger schools, we thought we\u2019d be hurting,\u201d Dr. David Nelson, assistant professor of history and co-adviser, said. \u201cWe thought, we\u2019ll just send off the application and hope for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
So it came as a surprise earlier this month when Uffelman and Nelson learned that the honor society was named \u201cBest Chapter of 2010\u201d for Division IV. Division IV consists of schools between 10,000 and 15,000 students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just so proud that they won in the larger division,\u201d Uffelman said.<\/p>\n
The club earned the designation of \u201cBest Chapter\u201d in the nation because its members again spent a busy year hosting lectures, attending workshops and roundtables, volunteering in the community and delivering papers at academic conferences.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things we try to do is provide opportunities for students to present their own research,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cWe have a Phi Alpha Theta Conference that we attend. Last year we had three students present at that conference at Lee University, and two of our three that presented won awards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several of the students responsible for the club winning two \u201cBest Chapter\u201d awards graduated in May, but Uffelman said they set a high standard for younger PAT members and history students.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents now have the expectation that they will present at conferences,\u201d she said. \u201cFour of my undergraduates asked if they could participate at the Tennessee Conference of Historians. They have this mindset that they can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The younger members also seem ready to carry on the tradition. Classes have yet to begin at APSU, but Uffelman and Nelson both said they already have a busy semester planned. That could mean a third \u201cBest Chapter\u201d award next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going for a three-peat,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cIn bowling, what do they call (three strikes in a row)? A turkey? Next year, we\u2019re going for a turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shortly after APSU\u2019s Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society won \u201cBest Chapter\u201d in the nation last year, the University hosted an unrelated celebration marking its record enrollment of 10,188 students. For the history professors and students standing in the Morgan University Center Plaza that day, the event was bittersweet. \u201cI knew it was good for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,4469,262,4470,4473,4472,4471],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-XO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3709,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708\/revisions\/3709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}