The New York Delta Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society inducted 48 GS students at the Initiation Ceremony on Friday, May 16 at Faculty House. "The most students inducted in decades," said Professor Peter J. Awn, Vice President of the GS Division of the Delta Chapter of New York and Dean of the School of General Studies.
The ceremony began with Dean Awn welcoming the candidates, declaring that they are exemplary of GS accomplishments as a whole. "I am in awe of your accomplishments, and how they glow with intellectual light," he said.
To be inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, students must be recommended by faculty who are members of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and who work closely with the students. Faculty members make recommendations based on the students' academic programs and their ability to support the society's ideals of academic, social, and community-based programs.
Professor Deborah B. Mowshowitz, President of the Delta Chapter, traced the development of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, from its origins at the College of William and Mary to its presence today at 283 colleges and universities. She added that the GS division was established in 1952. After this brief history, Dean Awn administered the Phi Beta Kappa promise.
Senior Associate Dean Victoria Rosner, Secretary of the GS division of the Delta Chapter of New York, broadly profiled the candidates’ diversity. She pointed out that these students are notable not only for their high grade point averages but also because of where they come from, their previous education, and the personal challenges they had to overcome to arrive at where they are today. Rosner quoted from faculty members who had worked closely with some of these students. One faculty member said, "I had 140 students enrolled in my class and he got an A+, but that's not the most impressive thing about him."
GS Class of 2015 valedictorian Lindsay Hadad and salutatorian Andrew King were this year's recipient of the Phi Beta Kappa award. The award is given to a GS senior elected to Phi Beta Kappa who, during his or her academic career, has best exemplified intellectual integrity, tolerance for others' views, and a broad range of academic interests.
Following the presentation of the award, Eleena Melamed '06 delivered the Phi Beta Kappa address. Malemed is the Vice President of Private Equity and Principal Investments at Lehman Brothers Holdings, and before coming to GS she was a professional ballet dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. In her speech entitled "Lessons Learned," she recounted the story of the lessons learned from closely working through a large-scale corporate failure.
“I learned a lot about integrity, loyalty, and values,” she said and described how those who do the right thing even though it hurts are the ones who succeed in the long run. Melamed spoke about the value of “eulogy virtues”—the who a person is—over "resume virtues," taken from David Brooks’s article in The New York Times, “The Moral Bucket List.”
She advised, “make decisions with not only resume virtues in mind, but with eulogy virtues as your guiding light.”
Following Malemed's inspiring speech, Professor Mowshowitz and current members of Phi Beta Kappa performed the initiation of the candidates. As their names were called, inductees signed the chapter register and received their certificate and pin. To close, Dean Rosner formally inducted the candidates and offered her congratulations to the now fully-fledged members of the New York Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa academic society.
Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest academic honor society, and its initials represent the society's motto: "love of learning is the guide of life." Roughly ten percent of U.S. institutions of higher learning have Phi Beta Kappa chapters, and among those institutions, only about ten percent of arts and sciences graduates are selected for membership, making it one of the highest academic honors for undergraduate students in the nation.
