ECU Professor inducted into Sigma Delta Pi's Order of Don Quijote

On July 6, 2017 during the 99th Annual Conference of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Dr. Benjamin Fraser, professor and chair of East Carolina University’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, was inducted into Sigma Delta Pi‘s Order of Don Quijote, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society’s highest award that is conferred annually upon only 2-3 three people worldwide.

Professor Fraser’s exemplary record of scholarship and professional contributions have earned him this international distinction. Past inductees include renowned literary figures such as Carlos Fuentes, Carmen Laforet, Fernando Arrabal and Camilo José Cela, among other highly accomplished literary artists and scholars. A complete list of past honorees is available here.

Established in 1919 at the University of California, Berkeley, Sigma Delta Pi honors those who have completed three years of study of college-level Spanish, including at least three semester hours of a course in Hispanic literature or Hispanic culture and civilization with a minimal grade point average of 3.0 in all Spanish courses taken.

Candidates must also rank in the upper 35% of their class–sophomore, junior, or senior–and must have completed at least three semesters or five quarters of college work. Graduate students may also be elected to membership upon completion of two graduate courses in Spanish with an average which, if continued, will make them eligible for a graduate degree.

With over 610 chapters nationwide and its national office at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Sigma Delta Pi is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, the nation’s only certifying agency for college and university honor societies.

–By Mark P. Del Mastro, delmastromp@cofc.edu