Welcome to the Northern Virginia Community College Website

Accessibility Navigation:

myNOVA

Honors Programs

  • Wise logo

National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS)

The National Society of Collegiate Scholars is the honor society for high-achieving first- and second-year college students, who are in the top 20 percent of their class with a 3.6 or better grade point average on a 4.0 scale. NSCS is recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. NSCS has more than 600,000 lifetime members from 245 university-recognized on-campus chapters in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Campus chapters are student-run organizations with oversight from an on-campus advisor affiliated with the university and dedicated NSCS staff members.

The NSCS Community College Program was founded in 2009 on the Northern Virginia Community College campus in Annandale, Va., and the Hillsborough Community College campus in Tampa, Fla. The NSCS Community College Program was established to create a meaningful community college experience; provide two-year students with a network of members (two-year, four-year and online), faculty and administration, and recruitment partners; offer a unique and robust package of membership benefits to high achieving two-year students, and bridge the gap between two- and four-year institutions.

NSCS is the ONLY interdisciplinary honor society that offers membership to students from both two-year AND four-year institutions. This allows two-year members to take advantage of their NSCS membership throughout the entire transition process so that they may transfer membership into the chapter on their four-year campus and be engaged in an organization on their four-year campus immediately upon transferring.

For more information, please contact the Chapter Advisor, Ghada Abdelmoumin.

Phi Theta Kappa

Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society that has been recognized for academic excellence since 1918. With 1,100 chapters throughout the world and 1.3 million members, it is a prestigious organization whose members comprise the top 10 percent of students enrolled in two-year colleges. ΦΘΚ members receive benefits ranging from program opportunities to more than $36 million in transfer scholarships.

The utility of membership extends beyond the academic world. Intelligent, hard-working and reliable -- these are the traits of members, and businesses look for these qualities in job applicants. Membership in serves as evidence of your achievements. If you are considering membership, the eligibility requirements state that you must have completed 12 hours of coursework leading to an associate degree and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better. If you meet these requirements, you may apply to enjoy the privileges of membership.

For more information, please contact the appropriate campus advisor:

Alexandria: Tau Nu Chapter - Emblom-Callahan, Margaret C.

Annandale: Alpha Beta Rho - Joann Credle

Loudoun: Alpha Zeta Rho Chapter - Christopher Blake

Manassas: Alpha Iota Zeta Chapter - Hadlock, Timothy D.

Medical Education (MEC): Beta Nu Psi Chapter - Martin-Mattocks, Patricia T.

Woodbridge: Alpha Delta Tau Chapter - Theana Kastens

Sigma Chi Eta Communication Honor Society

In the Fall 2007 semester, NOVA established the Alpha Alpha Chapter of Sigma Chi Eta, the National Communication Association's society for two-year colleges. Students completing 9 credit hours in Communication Studies and/or Theater with a 3.25 and an overall GPA of 3.0 are eligible for membership. We hold an induction ceremony each spring for membership. Various events are also held throughout the year across our campuses.

Professor Nan Peck is the college faculty advisor for the society.

NOVA's Faculty Advisors to Sigma Chi Eta:

To apply to join Sigma Chi Eta, contact your faculty advisor.

The SEAL Award

NOVA's most prestigious college-wide student award recognized annually. The NOVA SEAL Award recognizes students that best exemplify Service, Engagement, Academics, and Leadership. Students can be nominated by faculty, staff, and other students. Self-nominations are also accepted with a letter of recommendation. Nominations open at the end of the fall semester, and recipients are recognized in the spring semester.

Sociedad Honoraria de la Lengua Española

La Sociedad Honoraria de la Lengua Española (SHLE) is a program of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, which was founded in 1919 by Ruth Barnes, an undergraduate junior at the University of California, Berkeley. Sigma Delta Pi is the largest world language honor society and has more than 615 chapters at four-year colleges and universities nationwide. The first chapter of SHLE, which recognizes outstanding students of Spanish at community colleges, was founded at Coastal Bend College (TX) on November 9, 2017. SHLE has since expanded to include 12 chapters nationwide. NOVA's chapter was the first to be founded in Virginia.

The Mission of the SHLE is to:

  1. Recognize students in community colleges who excel in the study of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.
  2. Recognize those who have made Hispanic contributions to modern culture better known in the English-speaking world.
  3. Encourage students to acquire a greater interest in and a deeper understanding of Hispanic culture.
  4. Build and advocate friendship and mutual respect between the nations of Hispanic speech and those of English speech.
  5. Serve its membership in ways that will contribute to the attainment of the goals and ideals of the society.

The NOVA chapter of SHLE was founded on December 18, 2020. The founding active members are Maram Baider, Dana Graham and Allen de Meneses Medeiros. The founding honorary members are Dr. Martha Davis, Prof. Shonette Grant, Dr. Nakul Kumar, Dr. Jimmie McClellan and Dr. Dali Tan.

We look forward to expanding our membership and welcoming new members. Applicants for active membership must have a 3.0-grade point average in Spanish classes and a 3.2 cumulative grade point average. Individuals whose professional activities notably reflect the goals and ideals of this honorary society may apply or be nominated for honorary membership. The one-time membership fee is $15.

Please contact the SHLE advisor Dr. Martha E. Davis at mdavis@nvcc.edu for information about joining NOVA's chapter of the Sociedad Honoraria de la Lengua Española.

For more information about the national organization and benefits of membership, including summer scholarships to Spain, visit https://sociedadhonoraria.org/.

National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society

I. Missions

The National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society, sponsored by the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA (CLTA), is founded to recognize the outstanding academic achievement of college students in learning Chinese as a second language, to encourage them to continue to study Chinese after they graduate from college, and to promote the study of Chinese language, literature, and culture in the United States.

II. Eligibility

To be inducted into the National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society and receive its certificate, students must meet the following qualifications.

Qualifications for two-year college students:

  • Must be a full-time student who has successfully completed three semesters or five quarters of Chinese language courses at the college undergraduate level.
  • Must have enrolled in the fourth semester or the sixth quarter of the Chinese course or other upper-level Chinese language courses.
  • Must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4-point scale in Chinese language courses and have an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale for all college level courses taken.
  • Must demonstrate strong evidence of engagement and commitment to Chinese language and culture related in school or community activities.
  • Must preserve an excellent record of behavior in and out of school.

Qualifications for four-year college students:

  • Must be a full-time student who has successfully completed five semesters or eight quarters of Chinese language courses at the college undergraduate level or have been placed in the third year Chinese after the placement test.
  • Must have enrolled in the sixth semester or the ninth quarter of the Chinese course.
  • Must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4-point scale in Chinese language courses and have an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale for all college level courses taken.
  • Must demonstrate strong evidence of engagement and commitment to Chinese language and culture related in school or community activities.
  • Must preserve an excellent record of behavior in and out of school.

III. Membership Application

Students who have met the qualifications specified in Section II must be invited to apply by the faculty member in charge.  The faculty member in charge need to get the needed information from each of the candidates if the invitation is accepted and fill in the required information for each candidate online. The deadline for submitting the application form to the CLTA Honor Society Committee is March 1 each year.  The completed application should be submitted electronically as indicated in the application form. The faculty member in charge should also collect $20 USD per candidate to cover processing and evaluation of the application and production of the certificate. The faculty member should  make an online payment after submitting the application form on the CLTA website.
Upon receiving the applicant information and the payment, the National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society will verify and approve the application.  Certificates for accepted students will be sent to the faculty member in charge, and the name of each accepted student will be listed on the webpage for the National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society on the CLTA website. (Please allow up to four weeks for delivery of the certificates.)
The faculty member in charge should hold a brief induction ceremony to issue the National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society certificates to the accepted students.

 IV. Qualification and Responsibility of Faculty Advisor

The faculty member in charge must be a current CLTA member, and a full-time teacher at the college/university where students can be inducted into the National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society.  The faculty member in charge must stick to the eligibility/requirements set by the National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society and stated in Section II when inviting students to apply and will be responsible for the entire process, including inviting qualified candidates to apply, submitting the application form, making the application payment, delivering the certificate(s), and conducting the induction ceremony.

 

Top