Phi Beta Kappa Elects 24 Juniors

Harvard’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honors society announced the election of two dozen members of the Class of 2003 to its ranks Monday.

The “Junior 24” are chosen annually by a committee comprised of current members of Harvard’s Alpha Iota chapter and faculty members.

Lisa P. Carlivati ’03, a chemistry and physics concentrator, said she opened her mailbox to find “this little tiny envelope.”

“I was disappointed,” she said, “because I thought it was too small to be a good thing.”

But when she found that the envelope brought good tidings, the Kirkland House resident said she shared the good news with her parents. Carlivati is the co-director of MINHUET, a campus organization that performs songs for patients in hospitals and nursing homes, using what the group terms “music therapy.”

Newly elected member Amanda E. Kowalski ’03, an economics concentrator with an interest in medicine, also said she was “very excited to hear the news.”

The Undergraduate Council representative received the letter in her mailbox yesterday from the election committee, and she said she is looking forward to the welcoming event, which is usually hosted by the University president and other members of the chapter.

Last year, for example, Lawrence H. Summers, who was then the University’s president-elect, invited newly selected juniors to a dinner as part of his early efforts to learn more about the Harvard community.

A date for this year’s ceremony has not yet been set.

For the initial membership selection round, the sole criterion for nomination is a student’s grade-point average. The committee then considers the difficulty of courses taken, two faculty recommendation letters and the variety of completed course work.

Prospective members are also reviewed by discipline, in the areas of humanities, social sciences and hard sciences.

Two more groups from the Class of 2003 will be selected next year.

The Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, established in 1781, is the oldest continuously operating chapter in the country.

The newly elected Juniors, listed by residential House, are:

Adams: Yi-Ching Ong

Currier: Eric F. Citron, John Y. Hsu and Richard C. Worf, Jr.

Dunster: Jason L. Steorts

Eliot: Rachel A. Aicher, Amanda E. Kowalski and Lisa B. Schwartz

Kirkland: Caitlin E. Barrett and Lisa P. Carlivati

Leverett: Jeremy L. England, Eugenia V. Levenson, Elias R. Sacks and Istvan Zollei

Lowell: James A. Fowler

Mather: Alexander G. Ioannidis and Aaron M. Tievsky

Pforzheimer: Gabriella S. Rosen and David F. Zhang

Quincy: Gina L. Kramer

Winthrop: Sean J. Cloonan, Aarti N. Khanolkar, Micah J. Maxwell and Kirsten G. Wickelgren