KU News Service

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society has initiated 125 new members.

Meagan Patterson, president of KU’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter and professor of educational psychology, presided at the May 13 ceremony immediately before university commencement. David Slusky, vice president of the chapter and professor of economics, welcomed and congratulated the new initiates as they received their Phi Beta Kappa certificates.

Chancellor Douglas A. Girod was inducted as an honorary member of the chapter. He gave an address titled “A Complete Education.”

Toni Rufledt, senior in psychology and sociology, who was inducted last year as a junior and served as a student co-president of the chapter, 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, including language study. To be eligible for consideration for membership, most students must have senior status and a minimum grade-point average of 3.65 on a 4.0 scale. Students elected as juniors must have a 3.8 grade-point average.

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 percent of institutions of higher learning in the United States have Phi Beta Kappa chapters. Secretary-Treasurer of the KU Chapter is Anne Wallen, Program Director of the Office of Fellowships in Undergraduate Studies.

Sana Cheema, a senior from Hays, is among the new members.