Phi Beta Kappa may come to USU
The oldest honor society in the United States might be coming to Utah State University’s campus in the coming year.
Phi Beta Kappa is unknown to many USU students, but when 40 of USU faculty and administration are members, and when it’s one of the most prestigious honor societies in the nation, it can possibly help USU retain some of the brightest it has to offer.
“Having a chapter at USU is not so much about the attracting of new students as much as retaining our best,” said assistant professor of English Phebe Jensen, who is also the chair of the Phi Beta Kappa Application Committee at USU.
USU already has a high-caliber student body, she said.
“Phi Beta Kappa opens chapters for previous members to meet in and then eligible students are able to join,” said Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research.
USU sent a quantitative application of 140 pages and a $750 fee Nov. 1, Jensen said.
“It would improve [USU’s] stature in academic communities,” said Steve Kubisen, vice president of technology, management and commercialization. “It would increase our prestige and make us more competitive with academic programs in the nation.”
There has never been a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on campus and the application process is held every three years.
“In the year 2000, 40 universities applied and only 10 made the first cut,” Jensen said.
She added, from the 2000 application process, only eight universities were chosen for active chapters. Applicants in 2003 will wait for the Committee on Qualifications to find a “commitment to Phi Beta Kappa’s ideals” in the evidence presented by each college. Following thorough examinations, on-site visits are offered to each of the institutions that made it through the rigorous and in-depth review process – the first cut.
“Nothing is guaranteed,” Jensen said.
Making the second cut involves paying a $2,500 fee for three members of the Committee on Qualifications to travel to the institution and evaluate the college or university. Final recommendations for new chapters will be presented in December of 2005. USU is waiting for word on the first cut.
Phi Beta Kappa’s main focus is the liberal arts and sciences. In USU’s case, the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences along with the College of Science would be included in the chapter’s inductees. Kinkead said, in USU’s situation the department of social work would be excluded from Phi Beta Kappa, as it is a professional program, but the economics and psychology departments would be added.
Jensen said, “[Phi Beta Kappa] wants to see how well a university is studying the human individual, how we are in touch with our student body.”
President Kermit L. Hall is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was inducted a decade ago while doing graduate work at Ohio State University, and would love to see an active chapter on campus for faculty and students.
“It’s a wonderful way to affirm [the university’s] mission,” he said.
USU’s current mission statement commits the university to academics first, Hall said. After years of faculty discussing the opportunity, he initiated the application process this fall.
Lectures and forums by the honor society are held in chapters around the country, grabbing the attention of high school and college students, and their teachers and professors through Visiting and Presidential Scholars, and Fellow Lectureships.
Kubisen’s first employer had a chapter where speakers came quite often to “improve the intellectual stimulation of employees.”
“It’s rare to have a chapter at a workplace,” he said. “They’re on college campuses more often.”
Phi Beta Kappa began in 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Yale, Dartmouth and Harvard picked up chapters in later years. Currently, “262 of the nation’s leading colleges and universities shelter chapters of Phi Beta Kappa,” as reported in “The Founding of New Chapters” pamphlet from the honor society.
“Honor societies are great resumé builders,” said Marie Brown, a junior majoring in health education.
Eligible University of Utah students have had the opportunity to join Phi Beta Kappa since 1935. If USU makes the final cut it will be the second university in the state to have an active chapter on its campus. According to the honor society’s Web site, it admits 15,000 new students each year and has 50 associations in cities all over the country that offer service and commitment to liberal arts and sciences.
Phi Beta Kappa is known around the nation as a prestigious and scholarly organization. It would be wonderful to have on campus, Brown said.
“USU is focused on quality, preparedness and excellence,” Hall said. “Phi Beta Kappa will help us do that.”
-ireneh@cc.usu.edu