Two ISU Students Attend National Tau Beta Pi Convention

Idaho State University College of Engineering undergraduates Chris Smith, president of the Idaho Beta chapter of Tau Beta Pi, and Edwin Guerra, vice president, attended the 101st Tau Beta Pi National Convention held in Denver, Colo., this October. The Idaho Beta chapter was awarded the Secretary's Commendation Award for the third consecutive year.

Smith participated as a voting delegate on the convention committee and Guerra as a non-voting delegate in the engineering futures sessions.

Tau Beta Pi is the only engineering honor society representing the entire engineering profession. It is the nation's second-oldest honor society, and was founded at Lehigh University in 1885 to recognize students of distinguished scholarship and exemplary character. There are now collegiate chapters at 230 U.S. colleges and universities, active alumnus chapters in 16 districts across the country, and a total initiated membership of 485,416.

The Tau Beta Pi, was formally installed on Jan. 17, 2004. At that time, eight ISU students were the first initiates into the new chapter. Prior to establishing this chapter, ISU maintained its own engineering honor society, Pi Beta Tau, established in 1994 by the ISU engineering faculty and local practicing engineers. Pi Beta Tau's constitution and bylaws were modeled after those of TBP. Leaders from ISU's Pi Beta Tau engineering honor society secured a charter from TBP at the 98th annual national TBP convention in Lubbock, Texas, in October 2003.