The Phi Beta Kappa Story

by Hal Drake

UCSB's California Lambda chapter of Phi Beta Kappa is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

The nation's oldest and most prestigious scholastic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa was founded by three students at the College of William and Mary in December of 1776.

As chapters were added, they were designated by the name of the state they were in and a Greek letter in alphabetical order.

So Berkeley, the first California chapter, is Alpha of California. UCSB, which received its charter in 1968, is the 11th college or university in this state to meet the national requirements.

"You do not apply for membership in Phi Beta Kappa," chapter president Eric Prieto, associate professor of French and Italian, explained. "The chapter invites students to join after reviewing their transcripts."

While some students are admitted as juniors, he said, most members are only admitted in their senior year.

Phi Beta Kappa's requirements are rigorous.

The minimum GPA to be considered for membership is 3.4, but the GPA of students who are selected is usually much higher, according to Dr. Mary Jacob, director of the Office of International Students and Scholars, who serves as the chapter's recording secretary.

There are two additional requirements that frequently trip students up, she added.

First, members much have reached the intermediate level of foreign language study; this means completing at least level 4 of a language at UCSB or four years of high school training.

Second is the "breadth" requirement, which Dean Jacob defined as "intellectual curiosity."

"Phi Beta Kappa is not an award for distinction in the major," she explained. "Students need to show an interest in subjects outside their specialty."

In general, this means science majors need to have taken some upper-division work in the humanities, and humanities majors some coursework beyong the G.E. minimum in science or math.

Each spring, the Registrar's office prints out the transcripts of students who have met the minimum requirements. These are then reviewed by chapter members for breadth and distinction, with at least two members reading each transcript.

"Too many core courses taken passed/not passed can trip a student up," Dean Jacob said. "Readers will also take into account the difficulty of a student's program and improvement in the record."

UCSB's selection is rigorous.

Starting with anywhere from 300-500 transcripts from the Registrar, the process usually winnows the number of students selected to about 100.

That's out of some 3,500 students who graduate each year.

"Selection is a real distinction," Professor Prieto said. "We're aware that students get a lot of invitations to join one society or another in their senior year, and that most of these are of little value."

"We do everything we can to make sure students know they shouldn't throw this one away, if they get it."

Interested students can learn more about the UCSB chapter and find contact information for chapter officers at http://www.oiss.ucsb.edu/pbk/.

Harold Drake is professor emeritus in the Department of History.

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