2009 Rice Phi Beta Kappa initiates

By Cindy Dinh     5/14/09 7:00pm

Seventy-three alumni were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society by the Rice University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta of Texas May 8. The society emphasizes learning for the sake of learning, Beta of Texas chapter Secretary Randal Hall (history graduate student '98) said. In addition to graduating within the top 10 percent of their class, students must also have a minimum of 90 credit hours in the liberal arts with at least 10 of these classes outside of their declared major. All inductees of Phi Beta Kappa this year are in the top 10 percent of their class, with a GPA of 3.937 or above, Registrar David Tenney said. During the induction ceremony, the two top ranking seniors, Edward Swidriski III (Hanszen College '09) and Mimi Zhang (Baker College '09), gave a speech on their experience at Rice.

"Even the very top student recognizes Rice's unique social side," Hall, a managing editor of the Journal of Southern History, said. "Both emphasized the non-academic side of college as what they valued the most."

The society also recognized Computer Science Professor Luay Nakhleh for the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize. Every year a faculty committee reviews student course evaluations to select an assistant professor for the award to encourage excellent teaching among junior faculty, Hall said.

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Since the society has more stringent requirements for membership than graduation requirements, Hall encourages undergraduates to think ahead about which courses to take in order to fulfill the extra-divisional courses that are necessary for admittance into the society. Courses that are considered non-vocational are listed on the Rice Phi Beta Kappa Web site, www.ruf.rice.edu/pbk/.

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