Thirteen juniors and 58 seniors were inducted into Yale’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society at a ceremony in Battell Chapel Monday afternoon.
Election to the nation’s oldest academic honor society in the United States is based on the percentage of straight-A grades earned in college coursework. At Yale, students may be elected to Phi Beta Kappa in their junior fall, senior fall or at Commencement, but no more than ten percent of a graduating class may be elected in total, according to the society’s rules. Traditionally, only a small number of juniors are elected at the “first election” to the society.
This fall, the juniors inducted had all earned straight-A’s in at least 95 percent of their course credits at Yale, and the seniors had earned straight-A’s in 81.4 percent of their course credits, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs George Levesque said at the ceremony.
While noting that the number of A grades a student receives are an “imperfect measure” of academic accomplishment, Levesque said they do “indicate at least one kind of achievement.” Members of Phi Beta Kappa have included 17 U.S. presidents, 38 U.S. Supreme Court justices and 136 Nobel laureates, he said.
Levesque presented a brief history of the society, from its founding on Dec. 5, 1776 — exactly 235 years before this year’s induction ceremony — at the College of William and Mary to the present day, where it is present at about 10 percent of universities in the United States. Phi Beta Kappa was the first college society to have a Greek letter name, and until the 1830’s members had to swear an oath of secrecy, he said.
Today, members of the society still learn a special handshake — the “Phi Beta Kappa grip” — that Levesque asked inductees to perform as they were called up to shake hands with current Phi Beta Kappans and sign their membership into the society.
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations professor and Phi Beta Kappa Graduate President Benjamin Foster spoke to the new inductees, explaining that Phi Beta Kappa stands for the Greek words “philosophia” (love of wisdom), “biou” (life) and “kybernetes” (helsman of a ship).
“Thus, the love of wisdom sets the course of our lives,” he told them.
A reception at the Berkeley College Master’s house followed the ceremony.
Read the list of the most recent inductees:
First Election from the Class of 2013
Elizabeth Ann Chrystal
Maria Louise Haras
Micah Alexander Johnson
Stephen Worthing Leh
Jonathan James Liang
Jerome Luo
Matthew James Mitcheltree
Sudharshan Mohanram
Benjamin Marc Sherman
Jessica Su
Samuel Charles Telzak
Christine Michelle Willinger
Connie Wu
Second Election from the Class of 2012
James August Biondi
Noah Benjamin Bokat-Lindell
Luke O’Neill Bradford
Philip Jason Bronstein
Ryan Michael Caro
Janice Hanlu Chen
Zoe Beatrice Cheung
Jordana Alter Confino
Elizabeth P. Cowell
Nazih Hazem El-Khatib
Christopher Ryan Ell
Harris Ross Eppsteiner
John Tyler Ettinger
Daniel William Ewert
Adam C. Fields
Rebecca Sharon Fine
Jennifer Marie Fischer
Louis Landowne Gilbert
Jonathan Lazar Holbrook
Marian Philips Homans-Turnbull
Helen Elizabeth Jack
Paul Joo
Matthew Eric Pessar Joseph
Phillip Jay Kaplan
Tomoki Kimura
Faizaan Teizoon Kisat
Tobias Kuehne
Emily Rose Langowitz
Samuel W. Lasman
Tyler Lau
Jin Won Lee
Yang Li
Jian Li
Robert Leonard Liles
Chenyu Lin
Lauren Rose Lisann
Isabella Lores-Chavez
Carmen Xiao Wei Lu
Vanessa Jean Murphy
Cameron Nicholas Musco
McKaye Lea Neumeister
Jason Evan Parad
Finola Anne Prendergast
Lauren Elaine Provini
Allison Rabkin Golden
Michael C. Rauschenbach
Courtney Blair Rubin
Jonathan Lyle Rubin
Rick Daniel Russotto
Tal Eylan Shachar
Durga Thakral
Qi Ning Tian
Rebecca Simone Treger
Amy Huilin Tsang
Cyril Villarosa Uy
Michael Nathaniel Wysolmerski
David Yuxuan Zhang
Gabriel Mereson Zucker