Lambda Pi Eta, a national honorary society for communication students, is opening a chapter at Miami University. Charter members will be inducted tonight at 7 p.m. at Kumler Chapel. Lauren Warner, incoming president of Lambda Pi Eta, said the organization recognizes communications students who are exceptional in the field; have earned outstanding scholastic achievement in communication studies; and are leaders in the department. "We are opening this up to all communications majors and we really want to promote and encourage professional development," Warner said. "We want to merge the gap between faculty and students, and establish open communication lines for internships." Warner said Lambda Pi Eta currently has 13 members consisting of mostly juniors and seniors who will be initiated tonight following months of work getting the chapter started. "We will start recruiting for more members next semester," Warner said. "Since all of the seniors will be graduating, we will be looking for underclassmen to take over and make sure this fraternity gets as strong as possible." Tina McCormack, the internal and external relations director, said that it is fairly competitive to join Lambda Pi Eta as some of the requirements to apply are 60 semester hours - 12 of which are courses in communication; a cumulative grade point average of 3.0; and a communications grade point average of 3.25. "Students must also be in good standing with the university, have leadership and/or outstanding interest in the field of communication," McCormack said. According to McCormack, the communications department started to look into opening up a chapter at Miami last year because they wanted to have a community of leaders within their major that was nationally recognized. "There was no type of organization like this for communication students and this will be a great addition to the department," McCormack said. "Lambda Pi Eta is accredited by the Association of College Honor Societies, and has chapters at 420 big name universities around the nation." Some of the many activities Lambda Pi Eta will work on throughout the year are networking with professionals, bringing speakers in the field to campus, attending conferences, and doing outside work such as submitting work to review boards. "I'm completely obsessed with my major and I know a lot of students have a genuine passion for it," Warner said. "Lambda Pi Eta is a great organization for people who want to get more involved with their major and start networking for their future career."