UMW Students Join Prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society

Dozens of University of Mary Washington students are the newest members of the nation's oldest and most prestigious academic honor society.

Thirty-eight UMW juniors and seniors were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa during a recent ceremony announcing the 2024 cohort of the University's Kappa of Virginia chapter. They join an impressive roster of members, including 17 U.S. Presidents, 42 Supreme Court Justices and more than 150 Nobel Laureates.

Founded during the American Revolution under the motto "Love of Learning is the Guide to Life," Phi Beta Kappa grew into an organization grounded in liberal arts and sciences learning in higher education. The ultra-selective, merit-based, invitation-only honor is reserved for the best and brightest liberal arts and sciences undergraduates from fewer than 300 top schools across the nation. Only 10 percent of American colleges and universities have Phi Beta Kappa chapters, and at each of those schools, fewer than 10 percent of students are selected as members.

Along with excellent academic achievement, considerations for induction include breadth and depth of study, and demonstrated success in a second or non-native language. But it's another aspect of the honor that truly stands out, said Professor of History Steven E. Harris, current president of the UMW chapter.

"Phi Beta Kappa has long recognized academic achievement but perhaps more importantly, it recognizes and encourages the pursuit of lifelong learning," he said. "For me this has always been the core value of the organization - to pursue knowledge not for the purpose of a finite goal such as the completion of any particular course or degree, but to make such a pursuit a lifelong practice that informs one's sense of self and their place in this world."

UMW's 2024 Phi Beta Kappa inductees include:

Anna Mei Blake
Riley Boyd
Jennifer Elaine Bullock
Bonnie Elizabeth Butler
Eleanor Gray Clark
Julia Marie Ehrmantraut
Mackenzie Ellington
Eliza Koss Franklin
Emma Jeannette Goehner
April Groce
Reina Hammer
Blaine Snow Hower
Nathaniel Chandler Huff
Kylie Jackson
Arden Rebecca Jones
Morgan Kelley
Madison Taylor Kidd
Eva M. McCrehin
Alexandra Marie Mills
Gabriella Rose Molseed
Jenna Montijo
Emma Trinidad Najdzionek
Gabriella Thanh Nguyen
Emily Nolan
Mason Alexander Oberle
Jessica Fern Oberlies
Harmony Peura
Timothy Lee Philbeck
Aleksandra Poletes
Tabitha Robinson
Emily Michelle Roets
Samantha Schwarting
Brieanna Smith
Burke Steifman
Rylie Vann
Norah Kathryn Walsh
Maria C. Werner
Jonathan Ray Windsor