12 members of the Canisius community were inducted into the national Jesuit honor society on Wednesday. Formed in 1955, Canisius’s chapter of Alpha Sigma Nu, as the honor society is known, inducts students who display commitments to scholarship, loyalty and service.
Vivian Mundschau, chapter president, presided over the ceremony at Christ the King. Mundschau spoke on the importance of loyalty to the society and the college. Matthew Johnson, chapter treasurer, spoke on the importance of scholarship and service, the other core ideals.
Dr. Michael H. Wood, chair of Canisius’s Quantitative Sciences Department, gave a well-received address to the initiates. Himself an honorary inductee, Wood called on new members to be missionary Jesuits in spirit, spreading the honor society’s values of scholarship, loyalty and service.
Inducted honorarily alongside Wood were Dr. Ray Barker, professor of history; Dr. Barbara Irwin, professor and director of the journalism program; and Rev. Thomas Slon, S.J., rector of the Canisius Jesuit community.
Student inductees included master’s students Allison Kurthy, Dominique Augustin and Alyssa Foley, and undergraduates Abigail Bradley, Patrick Healy, Ryan Iacono, Thea Keppel, Marisa Taylor Warren and Katara Willis.
College President John Hurley, a 1998 honorary inductee, was unable to attend. Serving in Hurley’s stead to induct the students was Bennie Williams, director of Canisius’s ALANA Center and also a member of the Alpha Sigma Nu National Board of Directors. Chapter advisor Fr. Patrick Lynch, S.J., led the pledge, and Dr. Thomas Chambers, dean of Arts and Sciences and a 2020 honorary inductee, introduced the new members.
Inductees and their family members were treated to a musical interlude by Canisius’s Cantio Sacra chorale, which included a rendition of the “Anthem to Canisius.”