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Phi Betta Kappa

On December 5, 1776, a group of young men, students of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, meeting in the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, formed the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which they dedicated to high purposes with eighteenth-century eloquence. In the Phi Beta Kappa Handbook you will find a brief account of the early days of the Society in Virginia and of the fortunate establishment at Yale in 1780 and Harvard in 1781 of New England branches which ensured the perpetuation and propagation of the Society when the parent chapter became inactive. During the following half-century, four more chapters were founded: at Dartmouth in 1787, Union in 1817, Bowdoin in 1825, and Brown in 1830. Then after a pause of fifteen years, a slightly more rapid expansion began in 1845. At the end of the next half-century of growth, twenty-five chapters had been founded. The need of a closer unity and greater uniformity of practices led, in 1883, to the organization of the national body, the United Chapters of Phi beta Kappa, headquartered in Washington, DC.

From this office come most of the ongoing programs and publications you will read about in your Handbook for New Members. Phi Beta Kappa now counts over 500,000 living members, who have been elected by the Societys 255 chapters located at the nations finest colleges and universities. There are also more than 50 alumni associations which support the Societys mission of excellence in communities across the United States.

Our own history with Phi Beta Kappa at St. Marys College of Maryland began many years ago when faculty began to petition for the granting of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. It was on September 27, 1997, at the Triennial Council Meeting of Phi Beta Kappa where St. Marys was elected. We held our first chapter meeting on November 11, 1997, to discuss amendments to the model constitution and bylaws. Our first induction ceremony was held in the HSMC State House on April 22, 1988.

Please call Academic Services at 4388 to learn the current president of the Zeta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Each year approximately the top 5% of the graduating class, and those juniors with a 4.0 average who also have fulfilled the PBK's commitment to breadth of study in the liberal arts and to being of good moral character are invited into membership into this campus-wide honorary society. http://www.pbk.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home3