The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Alpha Chapter of South Dakota
History of Phi Beta Kappa
On December 5, 1776, a group of young men, students of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, meeting in the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, formed the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which they dedicated to high purposes of fostering the liberal arts and sciences with eighteenth-century eloquence. Today there are 293 chapters of PBK faculty in various colleges and universities in the United States in seven regional districts. These chapters, along with 50 Associations (organizations of PBK members that are not connected with a college or university) form the national body of The Phi Beta Kappa Society. The chapter of the USD PBK faculty was chartered in Spring 1926, on the 150th anniversary of the society and is the only chapter in the state of South Dakota.
What does Phi Beta Kappa do?
PBK sponsors several book awards in the sciences, humanities, and the intellectual tradition. The Society publishes The American Scholar, a quarterly magazine that is recognized as the leading intellectual quarterly published in the U.S. Phi Beta Kappa created the National Arts & Sciences Initiative to strengthen support for the value of the arts and sciences in higher education. PBK Associations also provide college scholarships for top-ranking high school seniors, grants to public and school libraries, and other community projects that enrich the educational and intellectual life of a community.
What does USD's Alpha Chapter do?
Alpha Chapter brings to the campus, through the PBK Society's Visiting Scholar Program, one speaker a year. During the two-day residence, the scholar meets with classes or seminar, or brown-bag discussions with students and presents a public lecture. Through the Lifto Amundson endowment, Alpha Chapter also hosts annually the Lifto Amundson Lecturer. In addition to giving a public lecture at the spring initiation, the Lifto Amundson Lecturer meets with classes and with students informally. At its spring initiation, the Chapter awards the Grace L. Beede Scholarship to the top-ranking junior initiate and the Marjorie H. Beaty - PBK Alumni Award to the top-ranking senior initiate who will enter a graduate program of study at USD.
What are Alpha Chapter's requirements for election?
Members in course are to be elected from among students with junior or senior standing in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of South Dakota upon the basis of excellence of scholarship, breadth of course, and good moral character. Candidates shall fulfill the following requirements to be deemed eligible for election:
The candidate must have at least 45 hours of work in residence at the University of South Dakota at the time of election.
The candidate must be pursuing a course prescribed for the B.A., B.S., or B.L.S. degree in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The candidate must have a GPA of at least 3.7 in the liberal arts.
The candidate must be pursuing a liberal arts and sciences major or a course of study with at least 75% of the coursework in liberal arts and sciences. Students in applied or vocational majors (Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Speech Disorders, Contemporary Media and Journalism) are generally not eligible unless they are pursuing a second, liberal arts major. The major in Economics (offered jointly by the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Business) is a liberal arts major.
Grades earned in applied or professional coursework will not be counted in computing the grade-point average for purposes of eligibility.
Breadth of coursework ordinarily shall be demonstrated by completion of all the following area requirements:
one semester of calculus; or pre-calculus and Logic; or pre-calculus and statistics, all at the college level.
one year of language study at the college level and one additional demonstration of related cultural, language, or linguistic competence.
breadth of study in the 1) humanities, 2) natural sciences, and 3) social sciences beyond general education requirements of the University or Regental System in at least two of the three areas.
The selection by Alpha Chapter of this roster of courses arises from the national society's Stipulations for Election to Membership-in-Course. These stipulations direct the chapters to give weight to the breadth and proportion of the program of each candidate as shown by the number and variety of courses taken outside the major and that candidates shall have demonstrated in mathematics and foreign language knowledge appropriate for a liberal education.
The chapter takes the stand that, at the minimum, liberally educated students should have an understanding of mathematics, which is the basis of most modern theories of science and the technological revolution in which we are living; knowledge of what language is and how it gives insight into another culture; some depth in the study of humanities, social science, and natural science.