Updated May 4, 2023

Florida State University’s Alpha of Florida Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa society welcomed 147 new members during an induction ceremony April 27 at Miller Hall.

Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society and membership is a rare honor. Only 10 percent of the country’s colleges and universities have a chapter of the honor society, and those chapters invite only 10 percent of its arts and sciences graduates to join.

“This is an amazing opportunity to be able to recognize some of Florida State University’s most high-achieving students,” said Annelise Leysieffer, Ph.D., president of the Alpha of Florida Chapter. “Through initiation, students promise to be true and faithful to the Society and to help elect future members who demonstrate high intellectual achievement and moral character.”

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Clark, the ceremony’s featured speaker, lauded inductees for their achievement. 

“To be selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa is an extraordinary accomplishment,” Clark said. “Your invitation to what is widely considered the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society is hard earned and you should be very proud of yourself.”

Since its founding 247 years ago, Phi Beta Kappa members have embraced the pursuit of a liberal education and intellectual fellowship. They have included 17 presidents, 42 Supreme Court Justices and more than 150 Nobel Laureates — as well as artists, athletes, diplomats, scientists, innovators, and business leaders.  

In 1926, 10 faculty members from the Florida State College for Women, FSU’s predecessor institution, began a campaign to establish a chapter and submitted extensive academic documentation to the national office. The charter was granted in 1934 as the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in Florida. 

“Florida State University was built on a strong liberal arts tradition that seeks to instill a love of learning,” Clark said. “That’s why it’s so appropriate that we are home to Florida’s very first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.” 

FSU’s chapter is one of only a handful among the nation’s 290 chapters that also have student involvement.

Student President Andrea Lopez and the Student Treasurer Alissa Kalyan also presented the Phi Beta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award to a pair of FSU faculty — J. Perry Howell, senior lecturer in the English Department, and Brittany Kraft, teaching faculty in the Department of Biological Science.  

The 2023 inductees are:

Summer and fall 2022 initiates were also recognized at the ceremony.

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