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unusual facts about Phi Beta Kappa



Alabama Cooperative Extension System

Seaman Ashael Knapp (1831-1911) was a Union College graduate, Phi Beta Kappa member, physician, college instructor, and administrator, who took up farming late in life, moving to Iowa to raise general crops and livestock.

Canon Tallis

Apparently English, Tallis nevertheless carries an American Phi Beta Kappa key, and wears a French Légion d'honneur ribbon.

Charles Frankel

He was a member of the American Philosophical Association, the American Association of University Professors (chair of committee on professional ethics), the Institut International de Philosophie Politique, the Authors Guild, the Century Association, and the Phi Beta Kappa society.

Charles Ritcheson

Ritcheson is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Société Française d'Archeologie, Association pour le rayonnement de l'Opéra national de Paris, Brooks's, the Beefsteak Club, London, and the Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

James Phinney Baxter III

He then attended Williams College where he was graduated as valedictorian with Phi Beta Kappa honors, was a member of The Kappa Alpha Society, and served as president of the Gargoyle Society.

Janet Dudley-Eshbach

Dudley-Eshbach has an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Latin American studies from Indiana University, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, and holds a doctorate in Hispanic literature from El Colegio de México.

John H. Hickey

John H. (Jack) Hickey graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High School in the top 2 percent of his class and received his B.A. from Florida State University in 1976 Phi Beta Kappa; Magna Cum Laude).

Kate Osann

The rear flap of the dust jacket was devoted to a self-portrait of Kate O'Sann, and a brief biography of her which reads in part, "Illustrator Kate O'sann, a native of Missouri, grew up in New York City, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She makes her home in Orlando, Florida, with her husband, William O. Chessman, and 'two large and vocal children' - William and Kathy."

Lawrence Lau

Lau has been elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a member of Tau Beta Pi, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an Academician of Academia Sinica, a Member of the Conference for Research in Income and Wealth, an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, England, an Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences.

Mamphela Ramphele

Ramphele is also a former fellow of the Bunting Institute and was elected as an honorary member of the Alpha and Iota chapters of Phi Beta Kappa at Radcliffe and Harvard Colleges.

Mary Ellis Peltz

Born Mary Ellis Opdycke, Peltz was educated at the Spence School and Barnard College (Phi Beta Kappa).

Meeghan Holaway

She has a B.A. from Pomona College in Claremont, CA, where she graduated with honors and became a Rhodes Scholarship finalist and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Michael J. Sandel

A high achiever, he was the President of his senior class at Palisades High School (1971), graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University with a Bachelor's degree in politics (1975), and received his doctorate from Balliol College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied under philosopher Charles Taylor.

Richard F. Ericson

Dr. Ericson was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Gamma Sigma, American Economic Association, American Management Association, Society for General Systems Research, American Cybernetics Association, The Academy of Management, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the World Future Society.

Todd Blackledge

Blackledge earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech communication from Penn State in 1983, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a 3.8 grade point average.

V-Nee Yeh

He graduated from Milton Academy, Cum Laude '77;Williams College, BA' 81 Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude and Columbia Law School, JD 1984, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar He is a co-founder and honorary chairman of Value Partners Group Limited, the second largest in Asian based fund manager.

Virginia Staudt Sexton

Staudt graduated from CUNY in 1936 with a B.A. cum laude in the classics and was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa and to Eta Sigma Phi, the classics’ honor society.

Walter Lippmann

At age 17, he entered Harvard University where he studied under George Santayana, William James, and Graham Wallas, concentrating upon philosophy and languages (he spoke German and French), and earned his degree in three years, graduating as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

Wes Moore

Moore graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge Military College in 1998 and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001.

William J. Chiego

Chiego received a B.A. in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Virginia.


see also

Brian Vala Nahed

In college, Dr. Nahed majored in Neuroscience at the University of California in Los Angeles and was awarded Phi Beta Kappa, his department's highest graduating honor and named one of the Bruins of the Year.

Chester Adgate Congdon

He had membership with the Kitchi Gammi, Northland Country, Commercial and Duluth Boat Clubs, all of Duluth; the Minnesota Club of St. Paul; the Minneapolis Club of Minneapolis; the University Club of Chicago; the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Bankers Club of New York; the Commercial Club of North Yakima; and with various college fraternities, including the Upsilon Kappa, Psi Upsilon, Theta Nu Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.

Christian Bjelland IV

He was educated at Sedbergh School, England (1967-1972), Dartmouth College (AB, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1976) and Harvard Business School (MBA 1978).

John Sidel

He received his Bachelor's degree (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and an MA in Political Science in 1988 from Yale University, where he worked closely with James C. Scott, and he received his PhD in 1995 from Cornell University, where he worked under the supervision of Benedict Anderson.

Mary Anderson

Mary Annette Anderson (1871–1922), first black woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa

Pablo S. Torre

He later graduated from Harvard College with a magna cum laude degree in sociology in 2007, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Saul Hertz

He attended public school, and then graduated from the University of Michigan with Phi Beta Kappa honors.

The Colony High School

W. Frank Zhou - Management Consultant, Harvard Phi Beta Kappa '12, and League of Legends expert