KTA at The University of Texas at Austin
Kappa Tau Alpha is a national honor society for students in journalism and mass communication. Our chapter, in the School of Journalism and Media at The University of Texas, was established in 1961 and is named in honor of a longtime professor of journalism, Olin Hinkle.
To be invited, a student has to be a graduating senior whose GPA is in the top 10 percent of the class. Graduate students may also be inducted based on similar standards.
Our chapter was inactive for several years and renewed in the spring of 2018. We invited 23 students to KTA in 2018, 15 undergraduates, and eight graduate students.
The University of Texas chapter of KTA has two advisers, Professor Kevin Robbins and Dr. Mary Bock.
View highlights from the KTA 2020 Ceremony
Once invited to KTA, students are asked to pay a nominal fee which includes a certificate and a commemorative pin. The process for identifying the top-ten percent of graduating seniors starts early in the spring semester and invitations will go out sometime around early March. There are no special activities or obligations to become a member of KTA, but inductees are expected to maintain the organization’s high standards of media practice and ethics.
School of Journalism and Media Kappa Tau Alpha Initiates 2019
Top Row, L to R Dr. Mary Angela Bock, co-adviser, Jonathan Polasek, Luke Hendry, Martin Riedl, Graduate Initiate, Professor Kevin Robbins, co-adviser, Front Row, L to R Ever Figueroa, Graduate Initiate, Danielle Ortiz, Stephanie Adeline, Abigail Rosenthal
KTA Beginnings
The chapter at the Missouri School of Journalism is the original chapter of the Society, founded in 1910 by the School’s first dean, Walter Williams. The University of Missouri serves as the national headquarters for the Society and its 96 campus chapters, including ours at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Bock has been a member of KTA since she was inducted as an undergraduate at Drake University in 1982.
In 2018, The University of Texas at Austin revived its KTA chapter with a reception for new inductees.
Kappa Tau Alpha Initiates 2018
