Phi Beta Kappa: Our Journey
Dr. Joyce Howell
Interim Vice President for
Academic Affairs and
Batten Professor of Art History
With the announcement of Virginia Wesleyan's vision, all of us have become aware that having a Phi Beta Kappa chapter will add to the prestige of our college and its graduates. But what will be different? To achieve this distinction, must we sacrifice something? How will it affect our daily lives, and what will change?
When we wonder, or even worry about it, we should realize that the pursuit of PBK does not mean we are changing our identity. We are not re-inventing ourselves, but becoming more thoroughly who we already are.
Phi Beta Kappa is simply an Honor Society. Honor Societies at Virginia Wesleyan College are nothing new. The wall outside my office in Clarke Hall is covered with an impressive display of framed charters of the nineteen Honor Societies that have Virginia Wesleyan chapters. The Honor Societies are national or international organizations that recognize scholastic achievement in specific subjects like History, Biology, English, or Journalism, to name a few. Our oldest is Psi Chi, the Psychology Honor Society, which was chartered in 1979. Our youngest is Kappa Delta Pi, the Education Honor Society, which was chartered and inducted its first members in October. These chapters maintain at our college external standards of outstanding scholastic achievement by identifying students who meet those standards and, in annual ceremonies, inducting them as new members.
Phi Beta Kappa is an Honor Society very much like these others, but whereas most Honor Societies are for specific academic disciplines Phi Beta Kappa is for the whole college. It is the society that sets the standard for liberal arts study-for the rigor of integrating the study of all the disciplines. Based on the notion that no one branch of knowledge is sufficient, and that depth of understanding and creativity arise from considering multiple viewpoints, liberal arts is the gold standard for education in Western civilization. It is what people have in mind when they speak of "a college education" generally. It is precisely the kind of education Virginia Wesleyan has been delivering from day one.
Phi Beta Kappa sets the international standards for excellence in liberal arts. When we ask them to charter Virginia Wesleyan, they will ask us, how deep and firm is your commitment to liberal arts? How do you demonstrate that commitment with you faculty, your curriculum, your programs of study, your resources for research, and your leadership policies? Phi Beta Kappa's standards are not entirely quantitative. Our annual budget, the square footage of our physical plant, or student enrollment won't be primary issues. What matters is how studying at Virginia Wesleyan engages students in the breadth of study and depth of inquiry that defines quality in liberal arts and sciences study and research. The organization will want to see that studying at Virginia Wesleyan means generating great ideas and new understandings, treasuring humanity and its diverse creativity, making novel connections and seeking new knowledge, and rising to the challenge of solving complex problems and questioning received ideas. These standards are exciting and inspiring, but also familiar and close to home. They are, and have been, our own standards.
Pursuing Phi Beta Kappa means we have become deliberate and public with our commitment to the liberal arts and sciences; but it has been our direction for over forty years. We have not been standing still; our growth over time has served developing the infrastructure required for a high-caliber program. Gaining the distinction will affect in a positive way all graduates - not just those students who eventually will be Phi Beta Kappa inductees, but everyone who has ever earned, or will ever earn, a Virginia Wesleyan diploma. Pursuing Phi Beta Kappa entails a shift in focus which will benefit our institution and its people. It will enhance our good qualities, but won't change who we are. We are still on the same road we have been on. Phi Beta Kappa is the way forward.