Welcome!

Established in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, the Society has played an important part in the intellectual history of the nation for more than two hundred years, and has counted among its members leading scholars, justices of the Supreme Court, business leaders and others. The Society publishes an academic journal, The American Scholar, which takes its name from the address delivered by Ralph Waldo Emerson to the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Harvard University on August 31, 1837.

The North Carolina Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro early in 1934.

We are looking for lost PBK’s!

Were you inducted into PBK? Do you live or work in the Greensboro area? If so, please send us an email so we can inform you of future events. Be sure to include information on when and where you were initiated!

Election to PBK at UNCG

Phi Beta Kappa is an honor society for the recognition of outstanding scholarship in the liberal arts and sciences. The requirements for admission include a liberal course of study, which is usually satisfied by a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science major in a liberal area. This includes most majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, and selected majors in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance and the Department of Economics. It does not usually include the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the College of Arts and Sciences. In addition, the student must have the following:

• An extremely high grade point average
• At least 6 credit hours of a foreign language (excluding American Sign Language) at the intermediate level (203/204 or the equivalent)
• Three fourths of the total number of hours in courses of a genuinely liberal character, as determined by the chapter

Courses considered to be liberal include most of those offered in the College of Arts and Sciences, with the general exception of courses in performance, studio art, media development, and others of an applied nature. Some programs of study that combine liberal and applied courses (such as Drama or Media Studies) require a course review to determine the proportion of liberal courses taken. Courses outside the College are generally considered to be non-liberal because they are of a professional or applied nature. Students who transfer from another college must have completed at least 45 credits at UNCG and be enrolled for additional credits such that the total credits at UNCG will be 60 or more.

Election to Phi Beta Kappa usually takes place during the Spring of the student’s senior year; however, a few students with exceptionally high GPAs may be elected as juniors. Review of transcripts takes place each Spring without an application from the student. The Epsilon Chapter extends invitations to students who meet the above standards during the first week of March.