Though the executive director of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society, will be changing, the former director says the ideals that founded the national institution will still be present.

Peg Fennig, a former member of ASN and Marquette alumna, will be resigning from her position as executive director. She has held the position since 1994.

“One of the main reasons for my resignation is age — I’m not as young as I look,” Fennig said. “I’ve achieved a lot during my time here and it’s time to move onto something else.”

ASN’s Director of Alumni Clubs, Kate Gaertner, was appointed the new executive director at ASN’s national conference in Denver two weeks ago and will replace Fennig July 1.

“It’s a daunting job to take over after Peg, and I have big shoes to fill,” said Gaertner, another Marquette alumna.

The society started in 1915, when it was founded at Marquette by the Rev. John A. Danihy. In its first decade, ASN spread to Creighton University in 1921, St. Louis University in 1923 and the University of Detroit in 1924, according to Fennig.

Now it has over 55,000 members and alumni nationwide.

“We send out applications to the upper 15 percent of the junior, senior and graduate student classes,” said the Rev. Grant Garinger, Marquette’s ASN adviser. “Of that, we only select 4 percent at the maximum. So for students it’s a high recognition and a real honor to be inducted.”

Fennig, only the third executive director since the position was created in 1973, remembers when she joined ASN as an undergraduate.

“It’s a thrill to join,” Fennig said. “I was astonished and amazed, and I joined back then when Alpha Sigma Tau was the men’s honor society and ASN the women’s. They also only selected two students from each college to join.”

Establishing a bridge between ASN members and alumni has been one of the major achievements during the past 10 years, according to Fennig.

“We have three existing alumni clubs in Milwaukee, Kansas City and Omaha and have just added six more in Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, New York and Washington, D.C.,” Gaertner said. “It’s a great way for students and new graduates to connect career and socially and also spiritually.”

Fennig said she would miss her work with ASN’s students most of all.

“They are the brightest of the brightest and ASN’s strict application requirements prove that we’re not just another honor society,” Fennig said. “In the age of the dumbing of America, people should be honored and recognized for using their brains — a gift God gave them. The students of ASN will leave Marquette with the educational, social and spiritual skills needed for life and being able to work them has made this job one in a million.”,”Rikida N. Starace”

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