Former Associate Professor of Communication Dr. Rosanne Hartman founded Lambda Pi Eta at Geneseo. Our Chapter, Beta Eta was chartered by the national office in 1993. The first induction class consisted of a dozen members. Nisha Ferry was our first elected President.

In the early days, Lambda's key purpose at Geneseo was to serve as the Communication Department's liaison to the Student Government. Lambda members represented the interests of the Society, the Communication Department itself, and all of the co-curricular organizations affiliated with communication at Student Senate meetings. We played a crucial role in securing funding from the college for these organizations.

Another important focus was promoting cohesiveness and an enterprising spirit within the Communication Department. Lambda members brought numerous guest speakers to campus, inlcuding Pulitzer Prize winner and colleague to Dr. Hartman, Maura Casey, who has worked in post-Glasnost Russia teaching reporters how to work for a free press. Lambda sent a number of Geneseo Communication students to the NCA and ECA annual conferences to present their own research in the field. The original members of Beta Eta also began the tradition of the annual induction ceremony for new members. In more recent years, Beta Eta has begun a tutoring program for COMN students and has organized graduate school workshops for our upperclassmen preparing to graduate and pursue higher degrees in the field.

Dr. Hartman left Geneseo to direct a new M.S. program in Communication and Leadership at Canisius College in 2005. Since then, Beta Eta has gone through one, if not several, "rebirths." The title of faculty advisor first passed to Assistant Professor Dr. Andrew Herman on to our current advisor, Dr. Meredith Marko Harrigan.

Dr. Hartman once described what she sees as the mission statement and purpose for Lambda Pi Eta at Geneseo:

"It seems that the mission and goals of Geneseo, and the goals of the department, are to create a continuous learning environment. Also, as a college with a strong academic reputation, it seemed to be appropriate to further create an atmosphere where students and faculty meet and discuss communication issues outside of the classroom... It was important to have the organization at Geneseo, active and maintaining student involvement."

We are proud to be a part of that continuing legacy.