Phi Beta Kappa

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society with the mission of fostering and recognizing excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. Founded at the College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776, as a student society devoted to the pursuit of liberal education and intellectual fellowship, it is the oldest academic society in the United States. Membership is granted to approximately 1% of college graduates, and today there are 290 chapters at America's leading colleges and universities and over half a million living members. No member school may induct more than 10% of its arts and sciences graduates, and most chapters invite a smaller percentage of membership. Phi Beta Kappa is generally considered to be the most selective and prestigious of all college honors societies, so election to membership is one of the highest honors available to undergraduate collegians. Occasionally, outstanding Ph.D. graduates are also invited to join the Society. The Phi Beta Kappa national office sponsors several awards, fellowships, lectureships, and scholarships, and works with other institutions to advance the liberal arts and sciences. It publishes two journals, including The American Scholar.

History

The Texas A&M University chapter (Kappa of Texas) inducted its first class in the spring of 2004. Because Texas A&M does not have a “College of Arts and Sciences,” its Phi Beta Kappa members come from across the campus, but all inductees have excelled in an extensive range of challenging courses in the humanities, performing and visual arts, mathematics, natural science, and social and behavioral science. As Phi Beta Kappa graduates, they join the ranks of 40% of U.S. Presidents, 136 Nobel laureates, seven of the nine current U.S. Supreme Court Justices and one third of all past Supreme Court Justices, and some of America’s most accomplished scientists, artists, and athletes. Included among that number are John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Dewey, Theodore Roosevelt, W. E. B. Dubois, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Stephen Sondheim, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ralph Nader, Gloria Steinem, Kris Kristofferson, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Brokaw, Steven Chu, Glenn Close, Condoleezza Rice, Ben Bernanke, Sonia Sotomayor, George Stephanopoulos, Ashley Judd, Elena Kagan, and Peyton Manning. Currently, there are 146 Phi Beta Kappa “members in residence” on the faculty and staff of Texas A&M.

Constitution and Bylaws

Selection Criteria

Every semester, three groups of students are considered for induction into Phi Beta Kappa by Texas A&M members-in-residence (faculty and staff): graduating seniors, non-graduating seniors, and juniors, and students graduating with a Ph.D. The criteria used in selecting candidates are based on guidelines provided by the national Phi Beta Kappa Society as specified in the Stipulations Concerning Eligibility for Membership in Course and in the Feb. 1, 2011, Revised Stipulations.
The Texas A&M chapter Members-in-Course Committee has adopted specific criteria for implementing those stipulations. In any one semester, these specific criteria can be adapted to ensure that the chapter does not elect more members than it is allowed.

Selection Criteria for Texas A&M Undergraduate Students

Acceptable courses listed are for illustration purposes only. The Members-in-Course Committee will evaluate each candidate's record individually.

at least 90 semester hours of courses designated as Arts & Science courses—including all transfer, advanced placement, credit-by-exam, CLEP, SAT II, International Baccalaureate (IB), or TRNS courses accepted by the University for credit
at least 72 hours of A&M credit coursework (at least 54 of which are graded) in Arts & Science courses
at least 12 hours of acceptable courses in the Humanities or Visual/Performing Arts (excluding HIST 105 & 106)
at least 6 hours of acceptable courses in the Social & Behavioral Sciences (excluding POLS 206 & 207)
at least 14 hours of acceptable courses in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics or Logic
Proficiency in a second or non-native language equivalent to completion of 14 hours of college-level courses in the same foreign language. Such proficiency may be shown by coursework at Texas A&M, and/or transfer credit and/or placement testing. Sign language does not count as a foreign language.
For graduating seniors: a GPA of 3.70 or greater in Arts & Science courses; in some semesters, this is 3.75
For non-graduating seniors and juniors: a GPA of 3.90 or greater in Arts & Science courses; in some semesters, this is higher

Officers

Position	Officer Name	Email	Phone
President	Nancy Klein	nklein@tamu.edu	(979) 458-1328
Vice-President
Treasurer
Secretary	Jaclyn Upshaw-Brown	jaclynu@studentlife.tamu.edu	(979) 845-1107
Chapter Coordinator	Emily Finbow	efinbow@tamu.edu	(979) 845-5749

Induction

The annual induction ceremony will take place in May during the week of graduation for all initiates, including May, August, and December graduates.

Candidates will be screened automatically for selection by the Members-in-Course Committee. No application is required. Nominees who are selected will be notified by the Secretary at the end of each semester.

Invitations to the ceremony will go out in April of each year.

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