Sigma Delta Pi

Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, is a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of South Carolina, a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and partners with the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Estudio Internacional Sampere, the Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Estudios Norteamericanos Benjamin Franklin, the International Association of Hispanists and the North American Academy of the Spanish Language. Founded at the University of California, Berkeley in 1919.

The Westfield State University chapter is Rho Delta.
We were founded in 1987.

The purposes of the Society are:

• to honor those who attain excellence in the study of the Spanish language and in the study of the literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking peoples;
• to honor those who have made the Hispanic contributions to modern culture better known in the English-speaking world;
• to encourage college and university students to acquire a greater interest in and a deeper understanding of Hispanic culture;
• to foster friendly relations and mutual respect between the nations of Hispanic speech and those of English speech;
• to serve its membership in ways which will contribute to the attainment of the goals and ideals of the society.

Membership qualifications:

Active membership shall be limited to college students who have demonstrated high scholarship in general and excellence in the academic study of Spanish. Specifically, they must meet the following requirements:

1. Each must have completed three years of study of college-level Spanish (eighteen semester credit hours) or the equivalent thereof, including at least three semester hours of a course in Hispanic literature or Hispanic culture and civilization at the junior (third-year) level. A student may be admitted to active membership while still enrolled in the second junior-level course if all other requirements have been met and if the instructor of the course certifies that the student’s work is of “B” or “A” quality.

2. The candidate for active membership must have a minimal grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 point scale in all Spanish courses taken.

3. The candidate must rank in the upper 35% of his/her class–sophomore, junior, or senior–and must have completed at least three semesters or five quarters of college work.

4. Graduate students who have been unconditionally admitted to a degree-granting program may be elected to membership upon completion of two graduate courses in Spanish with an average which, if continued, will make them eligible for a graduate degree.

5. Sigma Delta Pi shall not discriminate on any basis prohibited by law.