Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary society. Tulane’s Alpha chapter of ΦBK was founded 107 years ago. At the end of each academic year, the chapter offers membership to a select number of graduating seniors. Membership is life-long. Tulane faculty and staff who were inducted into ΦBK are members in residence, who manage the chapter’s business and oversee the induction of new members each year.
Several locations on campus are named after Tulane ΦBK chapter members: Butler Hall (Piece Butler), Dinwiddie Hall (A. B. Dinwiddie), Dixon Hall (Brandt Dixon), Patterson Hall (Innis Patterson), Caroline Richardson Hall, Sharp Hall (Robert Sharp), and Woodward Way (Ellsworth Woodward). Among the notable inductees of the Tulane chapter are the journalist Howard K. Smith (1936), John Kennedy Toole (1958), and Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr. (1935).
To be eligible for an invitation to join ΦBK, a student must be a full-time undergraduate enrolled in Newcomb-Tulane college, have completed at least 60 hours of courses in liberal arts and sciences, including advanced college-level coursework in mathematics and foreign language, and be of good moral character.