Phi Kappa Phi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi) is the oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society in the United States.
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[edit] Membership
Membership is by invitation only and is reserved for the top 7.5 percent of university juniors and top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. Only Phi Beta Kappa has requirements for honor society membership as exacting as Phi Kappa Phi's.
Approximately 32,000 new members are added each year from the 300 college-based chapters in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Since its creation, more than 1.2 million members have been initiated into Phi Kappa Phi. Among its prominent members are former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, former Philippine president Fidel V. Ramos, U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russ Feingold, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling and Chemistry Nobel Laureate George Olah, best-seller novelist John Grisham, internationally renowned sculptor Glenna Goodacre, acclaimed jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence and Netscape founder Jim Barksdale.
[edit] Initiation fees
Initiation can cost around $70, depending on the chapter and the number of guests taken to the initiation ceremony. The initiation fee also covers the cost of an engraved membership certificate, the Society emblem, and initial subscription to its publications. Alternately, an active-for-life membership can be obtained for $300.
[edit] History
Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 at the University of Maine as Lambda Sigma Eta (renamed less than three years later to Phi Kappa Phi) under the leadership of undergraduate student Marcus L. Urann. In all, the society was founded by 10 senior students, two faculty members, and the university president, Abram Harris. The goal was the creation of an honor society, unlike any other, which drew the best and brightest members from all academic disciplines. In 1900, it became national in scope by action of the presidents of the University of Maine (the founding chapter), University of Tenessee, and Pennsylvania State University. That same year, the first national convention was held in New Haven, Connecticut and attended by delegates representing the three original chapters. Chapters gradually increased in number between 1904, when the University of Massachusetts was chartered, and the early 1920s when chapters were established in the west coast.
In 1933, the first chapter outside of the United States was founded at the University of the Philippines. Chapter 105 was chartered at the University of Puerto Rico in the 1960s. Today, Phi Kappa Phi has 300 active chapters in select private and public colleges and universities.
In 1969, the Phi Kappa Phi Foundation was incorporated to promote academic excellence and achievement by means of scholarships and fellowships. To support first-year graduate work, the Society offers annually through the Foundation 60 Fellowships and 30 Awards of Excellence, on a competitive basis, to graduating students who have been initiated into the Society and who have also been nominated by their chapters for the competition.
The history of the Society has been recorded in two volumes, In Pursuit of Excellence: The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, 1897-1971, by Edward Schriver (c. 1971), and Making Heroes of Scholars: The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, 1971-1983, by Neal O'Steen (c.1985).
[edit] Mission
Phi Kappa Phi's mission is "to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others." Its motto is Philosophía Krateítõ Phõtôn: "Let the love of learning rule humanity." In pursuit of this mission, the society awards more than $700,000.00 in national and local scholarships annually, as well as grants and graduate fellowships. Phi Kappa Phi awards the largest amount of scholarships and fellowships of any college honor society in the world today.
Phi Kappa Phi is unique among honor societies in that it recognizes scholastic achievement in all fields of study, rather than restricting its membership to a specific and limited discipline. It extends its interest and eligibility across the entire range of subject matter of the modern university, and by so doing, calls attention to the fact that the world needs a breadth of understanding far beyond that of specialists who restrict their outlook to their specialties. This policy becomes one of the unifying forces which brings members of the campus together, especially at large institutions.
Phi Kappa Phi fosters community service and leadership through its grants for local and national literacy initiatives, promotion of excellence grants, and training and leadership opportunities available to its membership.
[edit] Publications
Phi Kappa Phi publishes a multi-awarded quarterly journal, The Phi Kappa Phi Forum, for distribution to its active membership. Each issue of Phi Kappa Phi Forum is devoted to a significant theme and addresses prominent issues of the day from an interdisciplinary perspective. The journal features articles by scholars inside and outside the academic community. In addition to timely articles, each issue of Phi Kappa Phi Forum contains selected poetry and reviews of current books and periodical literature.
Active members of the Society also receive bimonthly issues of the Phi Kappa Phi Newsletter. The Newsletter features news items of interest to members on both the national and local levels.
[edit] Governance
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is governed ultimately by the Triennial Convention, supplemented by any interim - though rare - special conventions deemed necessary. Each chapter may send two official delegates to a convention held every three years at a major city in the United States.
Between conventions, the business of the Society is conducted by the Board of Directors, composed of 12 directors, of whom nine are elective (president, president-elect, a national vice president, five regional vice presidents, and the immediate past president) and three are appointive (executive director of the Society, regent and director of fellowships). The executive director is in charge of the Society's national office.
Each of the 300 active chapters of Phi Kappa Phi elect their own set of chapter officers and is governed by the chapter constitution and by-laws.
The Phi Kappa Phi national headquarters are located in a building of its own at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
[edit] Society Symbols
The Seal
The Seal of the Society has at its center the badge. This, in turn, is surrounded by a crenelated line which represents the battlements and walls of Troy and which symbolizes a technological aspect of the ancient Greek culture reflected by the Society. In the space between this line and the periphery of the seal appear three stars just above the badge, one for each of the three original chapters. Just below the badge is the phrase "Founded 1897."
The Badge
The badge, which appears on the key, is the terrestial globe with the sun's corona extending behind it in eight symmetrical configurations. The sun has traditionally been a symbol for the source of truth and knowledge that enlightens the world. Derived from the eight divisions of general education common in 1900, the eight equivalent rays represent the equal value of truth in all academic fields. Encompassing the globe is a band with the Greek letters Phi Kappa Phi, representing the honor society's motto, Philosophía Krateítõ Phõtôn. This band represents the bond of fellowship that binds all lovers of learning in a common purpose.
The Ribbon
The ribbon of the Society portrays the meander pattern common in Greek art, suggesting the enduring values and ideals of learning and community leadership promoted by Phi Kappa Phi.
