Twelve Juniors Win National Honors

Cabot and Quincy Houses shared top academic honors yesterday as each contributed three of 12 junior women inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa society's Radcliffe chapter.

Dunster House and Leverett House each had two representatives in the group, and one woman was chosen from both North House and Lowell House.

"Inductees become part of a community of scholars," said Elizabeth D. Hodder '59, secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society's Radcliffe chapter. The branch of the national academic honor society annually names 12 junior members to its ranks, usually reserved for seniors.

Inductees, selected with the help of faculty recommendations from the 24 junior women with the highest grade point averages, were notified of the honor by hand-delivered letter yesterday evening.

Honorees are as follows: Laura E. Auricchio, psychology; Margot F. Harrison, literature and Jennifer T. Kennedy, women's studies; all from Cabot;

Christine M. Hogan, English; Roong Pofhyananda and Alyssa F. Wolpin, both economics from Quincy; Mary C. Hallward, social studies and Hillary A. Zaid, English from Dunster;

Ulrike D. Drees, biology, and Michelle Q. Wang, computer science and linguistics from Leverett; Tina L. Lu, East Asian language and civilization, Lowell House; and Jennifer Y. Wu, economics, North House.

"It's nice to be recognized, but the Phi Beta Kappa award isn't really something you work for," said Wang, a violinist from Madison, Wisc.

Wolpin, who hails from Toronto, Canada, said, "I'm very pleased, and a bit suprised," noting that after the induction "there's a lot of purchasing involved." Society honorees pay a $30 membership fee and have the option to buyceremonial keys.

Kennedy, a "non-hobby person" from Cambridge,Massachusetts, criticized the Phi Beta Kappasociety, saying that "an organization like thishighlights the bad aspects of grades." But sheadded that she would still accept the award.

And other recipients expressed jubilation. "Iwas jumping up and down for a good five minutes,"Drees said. According to Lu, raised in Houston,she has earned a "14-and-a-half" grade pointaverage on the University's 15-pointscale--placing her exactly between an `A' and `A-'rank.

According to Hodder, a Phi Beta Kappa selectioncommittee composed of three professors and thechapter president, secretary and assistantsecretary selected the 12 on the basis of "breadthand depth of scholarship, promise based onprevious work, and general demonstrated academicexcellence."

A dinner will be held in their honor on May 2.The Harvard chapter will name a counterpart listof 12 men later this spring