Phi Beta Kappa Accepts 48

Forty-eight new seniors have been elected to the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha-Iota of Massachusetts. These students joined the 24 other members of the Class of 2009 who were elected last spring.

The Massachusetts chapter of the honor society was established in 1779 and annually inducts students who have demonstrated high academic achievement.

“I was very excited, especially since before being invited to join, I always imagined it to be a society with learned scholars speaking Greek,” said Diana C. Wise ’09, a History and Literature concentrator who is pursuing a secondary field in medieval studies. “The idea of me being part of this society put me in awe.”

Brian M. Weller ’09, new inductee and Applied Mathematics concentrator who has done extensive research in economics, had a similar reaction.

“Wow, I’m in the company of amazing people throughout the University and throughout the country,” he said. “It’s humbling to be with these people.”

The officers of the Harvard chapter notified 96 seniors of their eligibility for induction in mid-October. The initial group was chosen based on grades, difficulty of class work, and intellectual experience, according to chapter president and Leverett House Master Howard Georgi ’68.

The students were then asked to submit two letters of recommendation in order to be further evaluated.

Of this particular group of elected seniors, Georgi said that he did not notice any changes in academic quality compared to years past.

“Over many years there have been trends,” he wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Some fields attract more of the best students. But these effects are very slow and usually not huge or dramatic.”

Weller attributed his election to his research and to the seven graduate courses he has completed.

“I think it has to do with working really hard at something I really enjoy,” he said. “People here are passionate in general, which enables them to work longer hours and maybe work even better.”

Philippa G. Eccles ’09, another inductee and a History of Art and Architecture concentrator, attributed a part of her success to her enjoyment of both Core and concentration courses.

On Wednesday there will be a ceremony held in Leverett House to honor the newly elected students. The guest speaker at the ceremony will be English professor Louis Menand.

The 48 senior inductees are Kelly A. Alverson, Kathryn S. Austin, Joanna R. Binney, Andrew K. Chan, Charles Chen, Allen Cheng, Patrick R. Chesnut, Lin Cong, David P. Daniels, Thomas B.S. Dolinger, Connemara Doran, Philippa G. Eccles, Christine A. Eckhardt, Hannah K. Frank, Roger R. Fu, Jamie R. Fuld, James E. Goldschmidt, Ruwan Gunaratne, Kyle Q. Haddad-Fonda, Mitchell C. Hunter, Jean A. Junior, Jesse M. Kaplan, Russell P. Kelley, Christopher B. Lacaria, Nadira Lalji, Alice N. Lee, John D. Lesieutre, Tracy Li, Eric I. Lu, Maxwell S. Mishkin, Charles G. Nathanson, Garrett G.D. Nelson, Won H. Park, Julia L. Renaud, Charles H. Rhodes, Keller C. Rinaudo, Jacob N. Sanders, Adam R. Singerman, Brenton N. Speed, Dana A. Stern, Vivek Viswanathan, Brian M. Weller, Diana C. Wise, Xiaodi Wu, Wenxin Xu, David C. Yang, Norman Y. Yao, and Fan Zhang.