Skip to main content

Phi Beta Kappa inducts 129 new members

May 6, 2015

On Saturday, April 25 the Alpha Chapter of Wisconsin Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Wisconsin–Madison inducted 129 students into membership in a ceremony at Union South.

Initiates into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, embody excellence in both depth and breadth of study in the liberal arts. The Alpha Chapter inducts less than five percent of the Letters & Science senior class.

The Phi Beta Kappa 2015 Excellence in Teaching Awards were presented to psychology Professor Diane C. Gooding and political science Professor John Zumbrunnen. Anthropology Professor Sissel Schroeder, director of the Letters & Science Honors Program, was inducted into the society as an honorary member.

Undergraduate members of the Alpha Chapter are elected in their junior or senior years upon recommendation of the Membership Committee. Initiates must have an outstanding academic achievement record and a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.75 for seniors, or 3.9 for juniors.

According to national secretary John Churchill, “Phi Beta Kappa stands for freedom of inquiry and expression, disciplinary rigor, breadth of intellectual perspective, the cultivation of skills of deliberation and ethical reflection, the pursuit of wisdom, and the application of the fruits of scholarship and research in practical life.”

Read the list of inductees