Hughes, who is from Parkersburg, West Virginia, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing, summa cum laude. She plans to pursue her master’s degree in English at the University of West Georgia, and plans to work toward global education about disability issues, particularly by employing her writing skills.
“Hailey is such a hard worker and this award was well deserved,” says Mallory Carpenter, the program manager for national scholarships at Marshall. “I’m thrilled that she’s continuing Marshall’s tradition of excellence by winning the Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship.”
During her time at Marshall, Hughes served as a tutor at the Marshall University Writing Center, volunteered with numerous organizations including AmeriCorps and Amedisys Hospice, and interned with both the Appalachian Studies Association and the Boyd County Public Library.
Phi Kappa Phi awards 51 fellowships of $5,000 each and six at $15,000 each to members of the society who are entering their first year of graduate or professional study. Each chapter is permitted to nominate one candidate, from among its local applicants, for a fellowship.
Marshall’s chapter was established in 2010 and was named a Chapter of Excellence last year.
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Annually, it inducts approximately 32,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of second-term juniors. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. Since its founding, more than 1.25 million members have been initiated into Phi Kappa Phi. The society has awarded approximately $15 million since the inception of its awards program in 1932. Today, more than $1 million is awarded each biennium to qualifying students and members through graduate fellowships, undergraduate study abroad grants, member and chapter awards, and grants for local and national literacy initiatives. For more information, visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.