Sigma Tau Delta returns after five year hiatus

Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honors Society, has been inactive at Truman State University since COVID-19 first hit during 2020. English professor Jamie D’Agostino and English major Finnian Waldron got the organization back together during the spring of 2025. D’Agostino and Waldron have been working on the restoration of this organization since spring of 2024.

D’Agostino and Waldron started putting together a committee during fall 2024. When spring semester came, they were ready to elect the executives and get the club running again. Waldron said most of the work was finding the members with interest in joining and the persistence to continue.

“Our goal is to provide a place where students can go to get information about English, writing, teaching, or whatever the case may be. D’Agostino and I talked about it a lot, and how we wanted to give the English major more involvement and he’s a big part of a lot of the other writing- and reading-based organizations on campus like Windfall, so he’s the one I wanted to ask about that kinda stuff,” Waldron said.

Waldron says he has been in contact with some of the alumni who were in the organization before getting disbanded and they have been more than willing to help him out on the journey of getting it back on track.

D’Agostino said he believes this club is important because Truman students have a lot to contribute to the campus, but also to the world. He says they are passionate about the knowledge that are in the books that we read and talk about, but also things that are reflected in their own writing.

“I chose to be the advisor for the club because it’s such a good chance to work with English students who are at a dynamic point in their career at Truman, mapping out their futures, but also still connecting to campus and wanting to have fun and some professional development. I was a fan of the club in the past so I’m excited to be part of its restoration,” D’Agostino said.

D’Agostino said he wasn’t directly involved with the organization in the past, but he had colleagues who served as faculty advisors.They used to do open mic nights, readings and would take donations for blind dates with a book to host events.

D’Agostino says that there were students who were excited and motivated to bring the club back, one of those students being Waldron.

“I don’t remember precisely when it was, either early 24 fall semester or the spring before that,” Waldron said. “But all my friends at the time were all in organizations for their majors and I was like, ‘Well why isn’t there one for English?’ And it was perfect timing because couple days later, D’Agostino came up to me about it and asked if I’d be interested in getting it back up and going, and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’” 

Sigma Tau Delta had multiple presentations such as becoming a writer or teacher within the English major. They had a “hot take night” last semester where members discussed their views on Harry Potter Vs. Percy Jackson and expressed their “hot takes” on pieces of the books. 

Waldron plans to bring writers to campus to give lectures or workshops to students of the organization, as well as other professors.

“I plan on coming up with fundraisers for the club to do. Hopefully by next year we’ll have enough money for our club to take the organization members to the National Sigma Tau Delta Convention, which happens every year and it’s a place for all the different chapters from across the states to come together and meet or talk about authors. I believe they’ve done it in the past with this club before it became dormant and it’d be really fun to get that experience. I also want to collaborate with other writing/reading based clubs on campus like TruWriters and TruPoets.” Waldron said.