{"id":29469,"date":"2026-05-13T11:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=29469"},"modified":"2026-05-13T11:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:39:26","slug":"marshall-university-names-spring-2026-national-society-of-acta-scholars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/marshall-university-names-spring-2026-national-society-of-acta-scholars\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall University names Spring 2026 National Society of ACTA Scholars"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University\u2019s John Deaver Drinko Academy for American Political Institutions and Civic Culture has announced its Spring 2026 class of National Society of ACTA Scholars.<\/p>\n

ACTA is an academic honorary society that was founded in 2020 by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes rigorous studies in the arts and sciences, and advocates for the study of civics at the college level. Marshall University was one of the first institutions of higher education in the country to establish a National Society of ACTA Scholars Chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cACTA Scholars complete a set of course requirements providing advanced preparation for the responsibilities of informed and engaged citizenship, for effective communication and competition within the global marketplace, and for skilled and creative problem solving to address our present and future challenges,\u201d said Dr. Montserrat Miller, executive director of the Drinko Academy. \u201cThree of the seven courses needed for National Society of ACTA Scholars eligibility are already built into Marshall\u2019s core curriculum. But only a few majors require students to study U.S. government, U.S. history or economics. The National Society of ACTA Scholars chapter at Marshall encourages more students to take such courses, along with literature and foreign language classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forty-four Marshall University students qualified to graduate as ACTA Scholars in the second half of the 2025-2026 academic year. Graduating Marshall ACTA Scholars are from 10 different counties in West Virginia and from Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland. These students completed degrees with majors and minors in the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Arts and Media, the College of Education and Professional Development, the College of Health Professions, the Lewis College of Business and the College of Science:<\/p>\n

Harper Aulick of Wheeling, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in Creative Writing & Literary Studies with minors in History, Theatre and Women’s Studies, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Abigail Baldwin of Rio Grande, Ohio.: B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Harrison Blatt of North Chesterfield, Va.: B.A. in History, cum laude<\/p>\n

Michael Borsuk of Wheeling, W.Va.: B.B.A. in Management and BA in Political Science with a minor in Constitutional Democracy, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Cecelia Burke of Eleanor, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in Anthropology & Spanish with a minor in English, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Isaac Campbell of Flatwoods, Ky.: B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Cell, Molecular & Medical Biology and minors in Chemistry and Pre-Professional Healthcare Studies, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Abigail Carney of Red House, W.Va.: B.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeological Anthropology and a minor in History, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Thomas Chilton of Charles Town, W.Va.: B.A. in History with minors in U.S. History, Geography, Management and General Business<\/p>\n

Reagan Clagg of Leonardtown, Md.: B.A. degrees in Political Science & International Affairs with minors in Constitutional Democracy, Spanish and Journalism and Mass Communications, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Ivan Claypool of Saint Albans, W.Va.: B.A. in Professional Writing with a minor in Creative Writing, cum laude<\/p>\n

Erik Cochrane of Man, W.Va.: B.A. in Psychology with minors in English and Chemistry, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Mia Crookshanks of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in Humanities & English with a concentration in Philosophy with minors in Constitutional Democracy, Political Science and Classical Studies, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Tayler Dyer of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Creative Writing with minors in Professional Writing and Spanish<\/p>\n

Devan Ellis of Charleston, W.Va.: B.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in Theatre<\/p>\n

Hailey Ferrell of Hurricane, W.Va.: B.A. in Psychology<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Fry of Wayne, W.Va.: B.A. in Creative Writing with minors in History and Professional Writing, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Kathleen Gilchrist of Scott Depot, W.Va.: B.A. in Spanish<\/p>\n

Adam Gollihue of Wilkinson, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in History & Secondary Education with a Social Studies concentration and a minor in Geography, cum laude<\/p>\n

Ben Gorby of South Charleston, W.Va.: B.A. in Japanese with minors in History, Asian Studies-History and Japanese Studies, cum laude<\/p>\n

Cierra Haynes of Charleston, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in Creative Writing & Literary Studies with a minor in History, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Angela Henning of Hurricane, W.Va.: B.A. in Psychology with minors in English and Pop Culture Studies, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Kyleigh Hoey of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeological Anthropology with minors in Sustainability Management and Tech, Biology, English and Marketing, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Jenna Howdyshell of Junction City, Ohio.: B.A. in Psychology with minors in English and Criminal Justice<\/p>\n

Kristopher Jackson of Northfork, W.Va.: B.A. in Psychology with a minor in English, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Paige Jennings of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Psychology, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Allie Jones of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in English with a minor in Psychology<\/p>\n

Blessing King of Lewis Center, Ohio.: B.A. in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism and Mass Communications, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Andrea Lindsey of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Japanese with minors in Psychology and Political Science<\/p>\n

McCain Lucas of Milton, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in Japanese & International Affairs with a minor in Human Resource Management, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Julia McAndrews of South Charleston, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in English & Humanities with a minor in History, cum laude<\/p>\n

Natalie McDavid of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Psychology, cum laude<\/p>\n

Jackson Murphy of Barboursville, W.Va.: B.A. degrees in Political Science & English with minors in Political Psychology and Professional Writing, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Chelsea Och of Triadelphia, W.Va.: B.A. in History<\/p>\n

Kylie Olszewski of Gassaway, W.Va.: B.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in Religious Studies, cum laude<\/p>\n

Ashton Pack of Wayne, W.Va.: B.A. in Journalism with a concentration in Multimedia Journalism, cum laude<\/p>\n

Blayde Pinnell of Bridgeport, W.Va.: B.S.W. in Social Work with Social Work in Healthcare Certification, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Luke Rezek of Saint Albans, W.Va.: B.A. in Japanese with a minor in History, cum laude<\/p>\n

Sydney Scholl of Saint Albans, W.Va.: B.A. in History & Criminal Justice with a minor in General Business, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Brianna Slone of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in History with a minor in Geography, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Tierney Sollars of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in English with minors in Biology, Creative Writing, and Communication Studies, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Rainier Spears of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Humanities with a concentration in Philosophy and minors in Constitutional Democracy, English, Political Science and Religious Studies, magna cum laude<\/p>\n

Alexus Steele of Proctorville, Ohio: B.A degrees in Political Science & Psychology with minors in Constitutional Democracy and Political Psychology, summa cum laude<\/p>\n

Grace Stowers of Huntington, W.Va.: B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Communication Studies<\/p>\n

Connor Waller of Ironton, Ohio: B.A. degrees in Political Science & History with minors in Constitutional Democracy and International Affairs, summa cum laude<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University\u2019s John Deaver Drinko Academy for American Political Institutions and Civic Culture has announced its Spring 2026 class of National Society of ACTA Scholars. ACTA is an academic honorary society that was founded in 2020 by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes rigorous studies in the arts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29469"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29473,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469\/revisions\/29473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}