Alpha Kappa Delta – Mu Chapter

Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD) is an international sociology honors society.  According to our constitution, the purpose of our organization is to invest in social and intellectual activities that will improve the human condition.  To accomplish this, AKD sponsors several events throughout the school year that foster academic growth among its student members, such as brown bag seminars that focus on professional development.  As an organization, we also support local non-profit organizations through various fundraising events.

Two of our main events are our annual Silent Auction and AKD Awards Banquet.

Silent Auction

Each March, our AKD chapter holds a Silent Auction fundraising event.  Donations are collected throughout the year from fellow students, faculty, and local businesses.  The items donated are then auctioned off to the highest bidder during the event. The proceeds from this fundraiser benefit both our own organization and ACCESS House, a local homeless shelter that serves women and children in the Akron area.  The ACCESS program is meant to provide immediate shelter and assist their tenants in gaining their independence from the shelter by linking them to local services that will provide financial and educational support.

Link to ACCESS website: http://www.access-shelter.org/

AKD Awards Banquet

Every April, we host our annual AKD Awards Banquet.  The banquet provides the chance for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students to get together and acknowledge the accomplishments of the past year.  Our banquet event is an all-day affair in which we host a senior researcher in Sociology who is provided with a modest honorarium.  Our accomplished guest presents their current research in a research talk open to all University of Akron students and faculty during the afternoon.  Our guest then meets with our graduate students for a Q & A session.  At the evening banquet, our speaker presents an informal, motivational speech about the field of sociology and academia in general.  Throughout the banquet, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty members, are presented with various awards they have earned based on their academic and teaching accomplishments over the course of the prior year.  We have been honored to have several distinguished speakers present their research and attend our banquet over the years.

Our past speakers include:

2018 - Jorge Chavez, Associate Professor, Bowling Green State University

2017 – Jill McCorkel, Associate Professor, Villanova University

2016 – James Messerschmidt, Professor, University of Southern Maine

2015 – Sarah Fenstermaker, Professor, University of Michigan

2014 – Ruth Peterson, Emerita Professor, The Ohio State University

2013 – Lisa Wade, Associate Professor, Occidental College