Morgan Political Science Honor Student Group Earns National ‘Best Chapter Award’

Pi Sigma Alpha Recognition for Civic Engagement Is the Third for Morgan’s Zeta Psi Chapter

Morgan senior Kyler Johnson found her passion for political science early in life, working with her father, a former Fisk University poli sci major, serving communities in and near their home in The Bronx, New York.

“My dad has his doctorate in education, and my mother went to (SUNY at Old Westbury),” Johnson says. “…My upbringing emphasized the importance of community education and ambition, which pushed me to strive for success at Morgan State University, and hopefully…beyond Morgan, and to explore fields that would allow me to create a meaningful change in the world.”

Johnson was one of the like-minded Morgan students who were honored for their work in 2023–24, supporting student civic engagement and stimulating scholarship and intellectual interest in political science, as the members of Morgan’s Zeta Psi Chapter of the national political science honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha. Last year, Zeta Psi received its third Best Chapter Award from Pi Sigma Alpha in the past decade. Zeta Psi has been directed since 2000 by Morgan Political Science Professor and Interim Political Science and International Studies Chair Alice Jackson, Ph.D., a former Pi Sigma Alpha national president.

As a part of its “Best Chapter Award,” Morgan’s Zeta Psi received a cash prize of $500 for the chapter, as well as an additional $200 to the advisor for their service. Promotion of this honor was broadcast throughout the Pi Sigma Alpha network and across the organization's digital-social platforms, in addition to being highlighted in the American Political Science Association’s magazine, Political Science Today.

Dr. Jackson and Morgan’s director of Student Life and Development, Danny Molock, Ph.D., combined two student organizations several years ago: the Zeta Psi Chapter and Morgan’s Political Science Association, she explains. “Pi Sigma Alpha are the honor students within the Political Science Association.”

Dr. Jackson says she counsels her students to “‘excel in everything you do.’ That’s why to be a part of Pi Sigma Alpha, you must have at least a 3.4 overall GPA, and in political science courses, you must have a least a 3.5.”

Dr. Jackson says she also works to have her students be campus leaders and active citizens, encouraging them with her words and by facilitating campus events, including four in 2023–24. The League of Women Voters presented information about the history of challenges to African Americans’ voting rights and held a voter registration drive assisted by Morgan political science students, during a session at the National Treasure in March 2024. Civil rights activist Carl Snowden addressed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the student groups a month earlier, in February. In October 2023, F. Michael Higginbotham, professor of law at the University of Baltimore, spoke to Zeta Psi/Political Science Association students about his book “Ghosts of Jim Crow.” And C. Vernon Gray, Ph.D., Morgan’s first Political Science chair and one of the founders of the Zeta Psi Chapter, was the guest speaker at the 50th-anniversary celebration for the chapter last May, among the many activities that led to Zeta Psi’s Best Chapter honor.

Kyler Johnson had a leading role in the golden anniversary celebration as mistress of ceremonies and holds the title of Miss Political Science Association/Miss Pi Sigma Alpha at Morgan, part of what she calls a great experience with the University’s political science student organizations. That experience has boosted her toward her goal of attending law school after graduation from Morgan “to pursue a career in corporate law. I hope to work in a field where I can help companies navigate legal landscapes while advocating for ethical practices and social responsibility,” says Johnson, who held a 4.0 GPA in 2023 and was inducted into the Phi Sigma Alpha Honor Society that year.

The star student was pleased but says she was not surprised by Zeta Psi’s latest Best Chapter honor.

“This is not our first year winning the award, so I feel like it’s just (another) accomplishment,” says Johnson, “maintaining that legacy for more Morgan State students to come and just making sure that we leave the pathway for everybody to follow.”

Congratulations to Kyler Johnson and her Poli Sci peers of Morgan’s Zeta Psi Chapter for being exemplars of civic engagement, community activism and academic excellence.