Forty new student members were recently inducted into Coastal Carolina University's chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. To be eligible for membership, students must have earned at least 12 hours of history courses, maintain an overall grade point average of 3.0, and exceed an average of 3.0 in their history courses.

The keynote speaker for the induction ceremony was Hartmut Keil, director of the American Studies Institute at the University of Leipzig in Germany. His presentation was "The Americanization of Francis Lieber." Keil has served as deputy acting director at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., and has compiled an extensive record of scholarly publications.

The 2009 student inductees are Katelyn Babcock, Kerri Bleess, Micah Bucy, Brandon Count, Joseph Davis, Christopher Draewell, Heather Eurell, Justin Gandy, Jessica Handy, Kirby Hood, Hilary Johnson, Reginald Jones, Brian Kane, Melanie Knies, Karsten Krauss, Michael Latwaitis, Heidi Ludwig, Brett McCormick, Heather Merkel, Melanie Maxon, Justin Mortlock, Chelsey Mozingo, Meghan Mumford, Patrick Nemes, Ashley Pedano, Michael Phillips, Ellen Purtell, Carolyn Quaranta, Mary Rafail, Erica Smith, William Smith, Alexandra Tamburro, Andrew Thompson, Alexander Todd, Michael Vincent, Desmond Wallace, Alyson White and Mikkenna Woods.