Libraries Host Phi Beta Kappa Exhibit

Top: Contemporary gold watch key.  Lower: Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain" (right front), inducted in 1902.

Where: Raynor Library, 2nd floor, East wall

When: October 16 - December 19, 2009

Marquette University's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa is hosting a national traveling exhibit describing the history of the nation's oldest and most widely known academic honor society. The exhibit features fifteen framed historic and contemporary images from various university archives.

Founded by five students at the College of William and Mary in 1776, the society now boasts over half a million members and chapters at 280 American colleges and universities. Members have included some of the most distinguished Americans--17 U.S. presidents, seven of the nine current Supreme Court justices, 131 Nobel Laureates, and people accomplished in letters, natural sciences, and social sciences. The exhibit documents Phi Beta Kappa's history and what it means to be a member.

Marquette's chapter, Zeta, dates to 1971 and its charter is included in the exhibit. For more information about the Marquette chapter's activities or about the traveling exhibit, contact chapter secretary Jessica Slavin, associate professor of legal writing, Law School.