The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an honor society which considers its mission to be "fostering and recognizing excellence" in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. It is the oldest honor society for undergraduates in the United States, founded on December 5, 1776.

Membership is granted to around 1% of college graduates. As of 2004, there are 270 chapters and over half a million living members.

Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) stands for Φιλοσοφια Βιου Κυβερνετης (philosophia biou kubernetes), "Love of wisdom, the guide of life."

History

ΦΒΚ, the first Greek-letter fraternity, began as a secret literary and philosophical society at the College of William and Mary. The second chapter was established at Harvard University on December 4, 1779, and the third at Yale University on December 8 of the same year. Subsequent chapters were established at Dartmouth College in 1787, Union College in 1817, Bowdoin College in 1825, and Brown University in 1830. Secrecy was jettisoned during a period of strong anti-Masonic sentiment, in 1831.

By the time of the establishment of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa in 1883, there were 25 chapters in total. The first women were elected at the University of Vermont in 1875, and the first black member was elected at the same institution two years later.

Each chapter is designated by its state and a Greek letter indicating the order in which that state's chapters were founded. As an example, Alpha of Pennsylvania is at Dickinson College (1887); Beta of Pennsylvania, at Lehigh University (later in 1887); Gamma of Pennsylvania, at Lafayette College (1890); and Delta of Pennsylvania, at the University of Pennsylvania (1892).

In 1988, the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa officially changed its name to The Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Well-known past and present members

Famous Phi Betes include:

• Carl Albert
• Laurie Anderson
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Leonard Bernstein
• Jeff Bezos
• George H. W. Bush
• Jeb Bush
• Bill Clinton
• Glenn Close
• Elizabeth Dole
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• Christie Hefner
• Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper
• Gale Anne Hurd
• Ashley Judd
• Kenneth Koch
• Cynthia McFadden
• William Rehnquist
• Condoleezza Rice
• Paul Robeson
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Stephen Sondheim
• Susan Sontag
• David Souter
• Gloria Steinem
• Julie Taymor
• Lester Thurow
• William Monroe Trotter
• Mark Twain
• John Updike

External links

• Official site
• Links to chapter, association, and other Web sites
• Phi Beta Kappa: The First Fraternity — A history of Phi Beta Kappa Society