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
University | 2:03 pm | December 6, 2011 | By Antonia Woodford
Phi Beta Kappa inducts 71
