Elon SHRM chapter wins merit award

The student organization was recognized for its initiatives by the world’s largest human resource association.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has awarded a 2016-17 Merit Award designation to the Elon University SHRM student chapter for providing superior growth and development opportunities to its members.

Of the 327 student chapters from across the U.S., Elon was one of 149 winners.

The SHRM student chapter merit award program encourages student chapters to require ongoing excellence in the following areas: student chapter requirements, chapter operations, chapter programming and professional development of members, support of the human resource profession and SHRM engagement.

“These chapters truly represent the future of the HR profession,” said Susan Post, SHRM-SCP, east divisional director at SHRM and the lead for SHRM’s student programs. “Their achievements go above and beyond their everyday academic and work commitments and we applaud the positive impact their efforts have on their schools, their local communities and beyond.”

SHRM student chapters have the opportunity to earn an award based on the number of activities they complete during the merit award cycle, which lasted from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017.

This past academic year, the Elon chapter, led by president Rebecca Karpinos, hosted seven educational events, which featured guest speakers from the local and national HR community. The chapter also competed and placed within the top 10 at the East Regional Case Competition in Philadelphia, and the executive board held a fundraiser at YoZone that benefitted a local school. The chapter, advised by Associate Professor Brian Lyons, has 33 student members, with the majority also being student members of national SHRM.

SHRM represents 285,000 members in more than 165 countries. For nearly seven decades, the society has been the leading provider of resources serving the needs of HR professionals and advancing the practice of human resource management. SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China, India and United Arab Emirates.