Meredith College Phi Kappa Phi Chapter Welcomes First Student Members

Meredith College’s Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society welcomed its first student members during an April 17, 2024 ceremony. 

Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. The Meredith chapter was established in Fall 2023.

At the initiation ceremony, 63 students and six faculty/staff members joined the honor society. Membership in Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty, professional staff, and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. Each new member received a certificate, a pin, and a medallion that can be worn at commencement.

“Today, we celebrate excellence. We gather to initiate worthy individuals … into a century-old community of scholars and professionals that includes individuals who have distinguished themselves in positions of leadership, and whose careers have been characterized by achievement,” said Associate Professor of Psychology Betty-Shannon Prevatt, who serves as the chapter’s first president. 

Meredith College President Jo Allen served as the event’s keynote speaker. In her address, she encouraged the members to remember the meaning of Phi Kappa Phi’s motto, “Let the love of learning rule humanity,” by using their intelligence to make a difference.

“Being smart requires us to look outside ourselves to the lives of others and their needs,” Allen said. “You are being inducted into a society because you are smart, but your charge is to use your love of learning in the service of humanity.”

Meredith’s chapter was approved after a thorough petitioning process, site visit, and approval from the Society’s board of directors. To be eligible, an institution must be a regionally accredited four-year college or university with an established reputation of excellence and an expressed commitment to upholding the values of the Society.