Louisiana Tech University associate professor of history V. Elaine Thompson and professor emeritus of history Stephen Webre were honored recently for their service to Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society in history. The recognition came at the presidential banquet held at the organization’s biennial national meeting in New Orleans in January. Presenting Thompson and Webre with plaques acknowledging their contributions to the organization, Phi Alpha Theta national executive director Graydon W. “Jack” Tunstall praised the Tech faculty members for their combined 48 years of service as faculty advisors of the University’s Lambda-Rho Chapter. In particular, Tunstall called attention to the Tech chapter’s impressive record in annual “Best Chapter” competitions: Tech has claimed honors more than 30 times since 1980. Also attending were Tech undergraduate history majors Matthew Flanders of Zachary, Julia Vanchiere of Shreveport, and Hope Moreland of Keller, Texas. Tech history students performed important service by staffing the registration table during the four-day meeting. They also reported on their own research during student research paper sessions. Flanders presented a study titled “Aristotle and Aquinas: The Evolution of Classical and Medieval Political Philosophy.” Vanchiere spoke on “Gin and Criminality in Eighteenth-Century London: Reputation Versus Reality.” Founded in 1921 and with more than 800 active chapters at colleges and universities in the United States, Phi Alpha Theta is the nation’s oldest and largest disciplinary honor society. Membership is open only to students with outstanding academic records and a minimum number of hours earned in history courses.