The newest members of UMW’s Kappa of Virginia chapter of Phi Beta Kappa pose at Mary Washington’s Heslep Amphitheatre. Phi Beta Kappa membership is a prestigious honor, with chapters existing at just 10 percent of America’s colleges and universities, and fewer than 10 percent of students at each of those schools being selected for membership.
The newest members of the nation’s oldest academic honor society celebrated their induction recently, as UMW’s Kappa of Virginia chapter announced its 2023 Phi Beta Kappa Society cohort.
“These are among our most outstanding junior and senior students, all of whom have demonstrated particular strength in both the disciplines and methods of the liberal arts and sciences. We’re tremendously proud of these wonderfully accomplished students,” said Kappa Chapter President, Professor of English and Department of English and Linguistics Chair Jonathan Levin.
The induction ceremony on Sunday, April 2, featured a keynote by Virginia Poet Laureate Emerita Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda ’69, an honorary Kappa of Virginia member. Her reading included Monarch Butterfly, inspired by her own work with her husband to establish a habitat for the insects, and meant as guiding words to the newest inductees.
It concludes with “Let me be a leading light; a luminary, destined to survive.” Read more.