KU Office of Public Affairs
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society has initiated 91 new members.
Among those initiated was Lainey Monnington, senior, Herington.
Jennifer Harrison, president of KU’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter and director of the Business Leadership Program and Jack Dicus Business Honors Program, presided at the May 15 ceremony. Initiates were individually recognized, presented with a certificate of membership, and invited to sign their names in the chapter register — a tradition that dates to 1912.
Mary Klayder, associate director of undergraduate studies in the Department of English and University Honors Program lecturer, was inducted as an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa. She spoke to the grit and resiliency initiates have shown since the start of the pandemic in her address titled, “After all this…”
Leah Stein, a graduating senior in sociology who was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2021, gave the student response address.
Election to Phi Beta Kappa recognizes a student’s high academic achievement while pursuing a broad and substantive liberal arts curriculum. To be eligible for consideration for membership, students must be seniors with a minimum grade-point average of 3.65 on a 4.0 scale or juniors with a minimum 3.9. Anonymous transcripts of candidates are reviewed holistically by a committee of Phi Beta Kappa faculty and staff members.
Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest national academic honorary society, was founded Dec. 5, 1776, at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. KU’s Alpha chapter, founded in 1890, was the first chapter west of the Mississippi and is one of 286 Phi Beta Kappa chapters nationwide. About 10% of institutions of higher learning in the United States have Phi Beta Kappa chapters. The chapter’s vice president is Dietrich Earnhart, professor of economics and director of the Center for Environmental Policy. Sarah Crawford-Parker, director of the University Honors Program, serves as the chapter’s historian. The secretary-treasurer is Harry Swartz, assistant director of admissions for the University Honors Program.