News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Spring 2004 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 4/22/04   Click on image for publication quality photo PHI KAPPA PHI DISTINGUISHED MEMBERSHIP – Perry Snyder, executive director of the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, recently presented the society’s prestigious “Distinguished Membership” to Southeastern Louisiana University’s Roy Blackwood, who has served Phi Kappa Phi both nationally and locally since 1985. Assisting Snyder with the presentation were Southeastern President Randy Moffett, Southeastern Phi Kappa Phi chapter President Barbara Allen and Professor Emeritus of English Lou Ballard, the only other Southeastern Phi Kappa Phi member to have received Distinguished Membership in the chapter’s 48-year history. From left, are Moffett, Allen, Blackwood, Snyder and Ballard. SOUTHEASTERN’S BLACKWOOD NAMED “DISTINGUISHED MEMBER” OF PHI KAPPA PHI       HAMMOND -- Phi Kappa Phi has awarded “Distinguished Membership” to Roy Blackwood, a Southeastern Louisiana University faculty member and former department head who has served the national honor society both locally and nationally.       An accomplished sculptor, Blackwood, who headed Southeastern’s visual arts department from 1984-2001, has had a 15-year association with the university’s chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest, largest, and most selective all-discipline honor society. In the chapter’s 48-year history, only one other Southeastern faculty member, Associate Professor Emeritus of English Lou Ellen Ballard, has been awarded Distinguished Membership status.       As a Phi Kappa Phi member since 1985, Blackwood was the chapter’s secretary and vice president before serving as president from 1993-1995. On the national level, he served on the editorial advisory committee of Phi Kappa Phi’s journal, “The National Forum,” from 1995-1998 and on the selection committee for the honor society’s prestigious national fellowship.        “Phi Kappa Phi and its executive board approve very few awards of this nature,” said the honor society’s executive director Perry Snyder. “This award says a lot about Roy Blackwood and about a chapter that we nationally consider to be exemplary.”       “I can’t think of anyone in our university community more deserving of this recognition than Roy Blackwood,” said Southeastern President Randy Moffett, who is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi. “He has been an outstanding member and an outstanding Southeastern administrator. But more importantly, he has given of himself -- to the activities of Phi Kappa Phi and the scholarship expectations it stands for and to the community.”       An accomplished sculptor, Blackwood currently directs educational initiatives at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and serves as Southeastern's liaison with the New Orleans Museum of Art.       He was the first recipient of Southeastern’s President's Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity, one of the university’s highest accolades. He is co-founder of Fanfare, Southeastern's fall festival of the arts, sciences and humanities, and the university’s Cultural Resource Management curriculum. Among his many honors, he recently was elected a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce, an international multi-disciplinary organization based in London.        He is a former president of the National Council of Art Administrators and served as executive vice president of the Hammond Cultural Foundation. He also is actively involved locally and nationally with the Boy Scouts of America. He has served as a scoutmaster and troop committee chair since 1988, and currently, he is one of 25 scout leaders from throughout the nation on BSA’s Junior Leader Training Task Force. He is one of 12 national scout leaders who are designing a new junior leader training program that will debut in 2005.       Blackwood received his bachelor's degree from Ft. Hays University in 1970 and master of fine arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1972.       Southeastern has inducted approximately 2,900 members into Phi Kappa Phi since 1956, including 111 members chosen in 2003-2004. To be considered for membership, a student must be in the top ten percent of the senior or graduate class or a second-semester junior in the top 7.5 percent of his or her class. Faculty and alumni are chosen for outstanding contributions to their fields.