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Six members of the Class of 2006 who were elected to St. Lawrence's chapter of the national honor society Phi Beta Kappa in August participated in an induction ceremony during Family Weekend on campus.

Pictured, from left, are Katherine Gay, Malone, NY; Katie Seward, Amsterdam, NY; Kira Krumhansl, Amherst, NH; Christine Hogan, Scotia, NY; Raluca Dragusanu, Romania; and Wendy Berner, Hamburg, NY.

Election to Phi Beta Kappa is one of the highest distinctions of academic achievement a student can obtain. Minimum requirements include a grade-point average of 3.5 (out of a possible 4.0) and at least 20 credit-hours of work completed at St. Lawrence.

Elections for students are held three times each year: in August, the chapter elects the top four to six students in the new senior class; in March, an additional 25-30 seniors are elected; and in May, approximately 10-15 students win the coveted membership, just two days before graduation. In total, about 10% of the senior class is elected.

The St. Lawrence chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Lambda of New York, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1999 with a reunion of Phi Beta Kappa alumni that included several seminars led by PBK alumni and St. Lawrence faculty. A charter for the chapter, the 12th to be established in New York State but only the 50th nationwide, was approved September 7, 1898, with Harvard University as its sponsor. The chapter held its first organizational meeting June 24, 1899.

Over the ensuing years, many of St. Lawrence's most famous names were elected as either student or alumni members of Phi Beta Kappa, including Owen D. Young, Emily Eaton Hepburn, Richard Eddy Sykes, John Murray Atwood, Edwin Lee Hulett, Millard H. Jencks, Charles Kelsey Gaines, Joseph J. Romoda, Rutherford "Doc" Delmage and University President Daniel F. Sullivan.

Phi Beta Kappa at St. Lawrence

Posted: September 28, 2005