Question: 'Sigma cum laude'?

[Brad Ferguson]

I'd never heard the term "sigma cum laude" before today. It came up in
the obit WBTV did for its weathercaster, Melissa Greer. Greer wrote on
her job application (which is shown in the obit) that she'd graduated
sigma cum laude from Mississippi State. I thought it might be a
mistake, but Google shows that it's a common term, although I can't
find anything that tells me what it *is*. (There's a bunch of people
who think it's a mistake made by people who actually mean "summa cum
laude," but this does not seem to be the case here.)

It may be an honor that some schools slid in between magna cum laude
and cum laude, although the word "sigma" is actually a Greek letter and
doesn't really mean anything.

So does anybody know? Thanks.

[Aje RavenStar]

"Brad Ferguson" <thir...@frXOXed.net> wrote in message
news:210420071044357559%thir...@frXOXed.net...

From Wikipedia:
In Switzerland, the degrees rite, cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum
laude and insigni cum laude are used.

Maybe that last is what they were thinking of?

I also found this on the Dartmouth U website:

THE SOCIETY OF SIGMA XI
Sigma Xi is a scientific honor society, originally established at Cornell
University in 1886. Its mission is to honor scientific accomplishments, to
encourage and enhance the worldwide appreciation and support of original
investigation in science and technology, and to foster a creative and
dynamic interaction among science, technology, and society. A fundamental
responsibility of the Society is honoring research scientists or those with
aptitude for research. Candidates are nominated by full members of Sigma Xi.
Membership is determined by a vote of the Dartmouth College chapter's
Committee on Admissions. The president of the Dartmouth College chapter is
Dean E. Wilcox, the vice-president is Jacqueline A. Sinclair, the treasurer
is Charles P. Daghlian, and the secretary is Susan Taylor.

That fits the bill, if her degree is in meteorology (SP?). So I googled
Mississippi State Sigma XI, and found this:
http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=2480

So MSU does participate in that particular honors society.

[Bill Schenley]

It's a designation that some universities use within certain honors programs
... and it's not the same as summa cum laude.

For example, and this is the way it was explained to me, a person may get an
undergraduate degree in English with a sigma cum laude designation for the
English Honors Program (only) even though that person sucked at some of the
other required courses they took.

[Brad Ferguson]

In article <462a5d5c$0$9967$4c36...@roadrunner.com>, Bill Schenley
<stra...@ma.rr.com> wrote:

Thanks very much, Bill -- and to Aje, too.