With the inaugural induction ceremony next week, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga becomes
the state’s first university with an honor society specifically for first-generation students.
The ceremony to recognize new members of the University’s first Alpha Alpha Alpha national honor society chapter will occur on March 3 in Patten Chapel. UTC Student Success Programs, which oversees first-gen programming, is organizing the event.
Also known as Tri-Alpha, the organization recognizes academic achievements in first-gen college students, promotes scholarship and leadership and provides support networks for first-gen students within and across college chapters.
Criteria for induction into Tri-Alpha is based on GPA—3.2 for undergraduates, 3.5 for graduate students—and the number of completed credit hours.
Tri-Alpha has 127 chapters in 35 states. The organization recognizes UTC as Tennessee’s first university to both start a chapter and hold an induction ceremony.
Crystal Edenfield, director of Student Success Programs, said the 906 UTC students—722 undergraduates and 184 graduate students—invited to the ceremony represent approximately 35% of the University’s first-gen students.
“A lot of our students come to college with a barrier that they don’t belong because no one in their family has set the example for them,” Edenfield said. “Making it into an honor society is something that is such a proud moment for our students who might have thought going to college wasn’t a possibility for them.
“They’re not only going and continuing, but they’re making excellent grades and they’re on their path to graduating. There’s a lot of pressure—but a lot of pride—associated with our first-gen students when it comes to setting and achieving their goals.”
According to data from the University’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Institutional Research (OPEIR), more than 2,000 UTC undergraduates identify as first-gen college students, including 550 fall 2021 freshmen.
OPEIR research also showed that, in the last three years, UTC awarded more than 1,300 bachelor’s degrees to first- gen college students from 65 Tennessee counties and 13 other states.
“We’re excited about adding Tri-Alpha,” Edenfield said, “because the First-Gen program has grown fast and has become a tradition here in a very short time.”
She said first-gen UTC faculty and staff members also are eligible to be inducted into Tri-Alpha as honorary members.
Alpha Alpha Alpha was founded on March 24, 2018, at Moravian College (now Moravian University) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Steps later were incorporated to start chapters on other campuses across the country.
Tri-Alpha is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization to support the activities of the honors society.
