Phi Beta Kappa -- Penn State

Benefits of Phi Beta Kappa Membership

The Key

The emblem adopted at the first meeting of the Society was a square silver medal, engraved on one side with the letters S I, the initials of the Latin words Societas Philosophiae, and on the other with [Phi]BK, the initials of the Greek motto Philosophia Biou Kybemetes, "Love of wisdom,[is] the guide of life." A pointing finger and three stars symbolized the ambition of the young scholars and the three distinguishing principles of their Society -- friendship, morality, and literature [learning]. Later a stem was added to the medal, converting it into a watch key. Before the form of the key was standardized in 1917, there were many variations in the keys among different chapters. The present-day gold key incorporates the letters S P and the original symbols, the pointing finger and the three stars, much as they appeared on the original 18th-Century William and Mary medal. Because the Phi Beta Kappa key is a symbol of academic achievement, it should be worn only by the recipient. Any unauthorized manufacture, sale, or use of the key or any imitation of it should be reported to the Society's national office. Both the use of the Greek characters in the format of the insignia and the name "Phi Beta Kappa" are protected by trademark registration. Phi Beta Kappa keys, which are available in several sizes and styles, may be obtained by application to the Phi Beta Kappa Society or to the chapter secretary. Membership certificates, which may be ordered framed or unframed, and membership plaques, which come in two sizes and styles of stainless steel on wood, are also available for members. For prices and ordering information, please contact the Society's national office.

Publications

The Society sponsors two quarterly publications:

The Key Reporter is a 16-page newsletter that contains news of the Society's activities, plus feature articles and book reviews of general interest; it is mailed free to all members of Phi Beta Kappa.
The American Scholar is a distinguished journal of contemporary thought available by subscription to anyone who wishes to receive it.

Programs and Awards

Since 1956 the Society has sponsored the Visiting Scholar Program, under which each year a dozen or more distinguished scholars visit campuses sheltering Phi Beta Kappa chapters around the country, participating in classroom lectures and seminars, meeting informally with faculty and students. and presenting public lectures. Over the years the Society has established a number of annual and triennial awards to foster or to recognize scholarship and excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. The annual awards are as follows:

Book Prizes. In 1950 Phi Beta Kappa inaugurated the first of a series of annual prizes for books that make a significant contribution to the advancement of scholarship. Three $2,500 awards are offered in different areas of the liberal arts and sciences. Nominations for the awards are made by book publishers and scholarly presses for books published during the twelve months preceding the April submission deadline. The awards are presented each December.
The oldest of the three awards is the Christian Gauss Award, named in honor of the late Christian Gauss, the distinguished Princeton University scholar, teacher and dean, who also served as president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Established in 1950, the Gauss Award recognizes work in the field of literary scholarship or criticism.
The Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science was first offered in 1959 to recognize books by scientists that demonstrate the connection between the sciences and the liberal arts.
The Sibley Fellowship. In 1934 Isabelle Stone (Wellesley, 1905) left a bequest to Phi Beta Kappa for the establishment of a fellowship for women scholars. The Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship, named in honor of the donor's mother, is awarded every year, alternately in the fields of Greek studies and French language and literature. The fellowship carries a stipend of $10,000. According to the terms of the bequest, candidates must be unmarried women between 25 and 35 years of age who hold a doctorate or have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation, have demonstrated their ability to carry on original research and plan to devote full-time work to their proposed research during the fellowship year. Further information and application forms may be obtained by writing to the national offices of the Society.
The Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship in Philosophy. This program is intended to bring national recognition to an academic philosopher each year by supporting a series of three public lectures by the scholar in his or her home community. The Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship carries a stipend of $6,000 and is awarded annually to a philosopher on the faculty of an institution with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. The professorship is intended not only to recognize distinguished achievement in philosophy but also the recipient's contribution or potential contribution to public understanding of the discipline. The recipient's lectures are given in the course of one academic year on the campus of the home institution and they are open to the interested public. Nominations for the professorship are made by the Phi Beta Kappa chapters, with the endorsement of their sheltering institutions. The professorship was made possible by an endowment from Patrick and Edna Romanell. Patrick Romanell, a Phi Beta Kappa member from Brooklyn College, is retired H.Y Benedict Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, El Paso. The first award was given for the academic year 1983-84.

The triennial awards are as follows:

The Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities is given, as its name suggests, to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions in the field of the humanities. The award includes a cash prize and a medal named for Mr. and Mrs. William B. Jaffe, whose gift of $25,000 enabled the Society to create the award in 1970. Mr. Jaffe was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Union College. Recipients of the award, who have usually been honored at the triennial Council banquet, include Barnaby C. Keeney, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and former president of Brown University (1970); Howard Mumford Jones, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University (1973); Louis B. Wright, former director of the Folger Shakespeare Library (1976); the National Humanities Center in memory of Charles Frankel, the teacher and philosopher who helped found the Center and served as its first director (1979); Dumas Malone, the distinguished Jefferson scholar and Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia (1982); Robert M. Lumiansky, past president of both the American Council of Learned Societies and Phi Beta Kappa (1985); Daniel J. Boorstin, retired Librarian of Congress (1988); and John E. Sawyer, former president of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and Congressman Sidney R. Yates, who were honored jointly in 1990 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Senate.
The Sidney Hook Memorial Award, Established in 1991 in memory of the distinguished American philosopher Sidney Hook (1902-1989) who was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at City College of New York, this award recognizes national distinction by a single scholar in each of three endeavors--scholarship, undergraduate teaching, and leadership in the cause of liberal arts education. The award of $5,000 has been presented twice in conjunction with the meetings of the Phi Beta Kappa Council. Recipients have been Leon Lederman, former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago (1991); and John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Profrssor of History Emeritus and professor of legal history in the Law School at Duke University. Funding for the Sidney Hook Memorial Award was made possible by a grant from the John Dewey Foundation.

Association Activities

Although upholding standards and selecting new members at institutions of higher learning remain the responsibility of individual Phi Beta Kappa chapters, for more than a hundred years groups of Phi Beta Kappa members in society at large have been forming Phi Beta Kappa associations to foster friendship and learning in their communities. There are now more than 50 active Phi Beta Kappa associations across the country. Many award certificates of achievement or scholarships to high school and college students in their areas. Some sponsor lectures and other cultural and social events for members and guests. For example, in 1993-94:

The Southern California association (1,925 members) awarded 31 fellowships to foreign students pursuing graduate work at California institutions, and 10 graduate fellowships to Phi Beta Kappa initiates from 10 different chapters in the state.
The Metropolitan Houston, Texas, association (with 636 members) increased to 65 the number of $1,500 scholarships it presents each year to outstanding high school graduates in the area.
In Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley association augmented its already ambitious awards and recognition program for local high schools by sponsoring an "Academic Decathlon" competition in the city.

Quite a few chapters have expanded the scope of their activities beyond the role of scrutinizing the transcripts of their institutions' brightest liberal arts students and picking which of these talented undergraduates shall be offered membership in the Society.. For example: The chapter at Albion College sponsors an annilal cash prize for the Faculty Scholar of the Year and presents book awards to Albion's top-ranking juniors and seniors and to local high school students. The chapter at the University of California, Berkeley, annually awards eight graduate scholarships of $2,500 each to students at the university. The chapter at the University of Hawaii at Manoa annually conducts a public lecture series. Members of the chapter at Lehigh University have participated in a program of the local school system designed to deal with the student dropout problem.

The Schools Program In recent years the Society has become increasingly concerned with the vitality and quality of the nation's elementary and secondary schools. The Phi Beta Kappa chapters and alumni associations have been encouraged to work with schools and teachers in their areas on workshops and other projects to share their members' expertise and intellectual enthusiasm with their teaching counterparts in the schools. Phi Beta Kappa was instrumental a generation ago in creating the National Faculty, now an Atlanta-based organization devoted to fostering the professional development of teachers at all levels of public education. More recently, the two organizations have formed a partnership to conduct teacher institutes in several communities across the nation on broad themes in the liberal arts. At the same time, Phi Beta Kappa has been expanding its historic links to the National Honor Society, the academic honors organization for secondary schools. The purpose of these efforts is to encourage outstanding teachers to remain in the profession and to foster the idea of academic excellence among students even before they begin their undergraduate experience.

The Schools Program

In recent years the Society has become increasingly concerned with the vitality and quality of the nation's elementary and secondary schools. The Phi Beta Kappa chapters and alumni associations have been encouraged to work with schools and teachers in their areas on workshops and other projects to share their members' expertise and intellectual enthusiasm with their teaching counterparts in the schools. Phi Beta Kappa was instrumental a generation ago in creating the National Faculty, now an Atlanta-based organization devoted to fostering the professional development of teachers at all levels of public education. More recently, the two organizations have formed a partnership to conduct teacher institutes in several communities across the nation on broad themes in the liberal arts. At the same time, Phi Beta Kappa has been expanding its historic links to the National Honor Society, the academic honors organization for secondary schools. The purpose of these efforts is to encourage outstanding teachers to remain in the profession and to foster the idea of academic excellence among students even before they begin their undergraduate experience.

Benefits of Phi Beta Kappa Membership

The Key

Publications

Programs and Awards

Association Activities

The Schools Program

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