Five local students have recently been initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.
Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation only and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership.
Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.
Inducted into the honor society from Blacksburg were Chance Bisquera at Virginia Tech, Christian Heryakusuma at Virginia Tech and Kavan Shah at Virginia Tech.
Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi from Radford was Rebecca Jaronski at Oregon State University.
Inducted into the honor society at Radford University was Brianne Pearon of Hiwassee.
Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 under the leadership of undergraduate student Marcus L. Urann who had a desire to create a different kind of honor society, one that recognized excellence in all academic disciplines. Today, the Society has chapters on more than 300 campuses in the United States and the Philippines. Its mission is “to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”
The organization’s notable members include former President Jimmy Carter, NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, novelist John Grisham and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. Each year, Phi Kappa Phi awards nearly $1 million to outstanding students and members through graduate and dissertation fellowships, undergraduate study abroad grants, funding for post-baccalaureate development, and grants for local, national and international literacy initiatives.