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Election to Honor Societies


Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest liberal arts honor society, founded in 1776, granted a charter that established Chi Chapter of New York at Lehman College in 1970. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa is an honor conferred by invitation in recognition of scholarly achievement in the liberal arts and sciences. Election to the Chapter is based on high scholarship in a broad liberal arts curriculum as distinct from a vocationally oriented course of study. To be eligible for election, a student must have completed a year of college-level study in mathematics or a natural science or a semester of each, have completed two years of foreign language at the college level or its equivalent, and have a minimum 3.6 GPA with 90 credits in liberal arts courses.

Sigma XI

Sigma Xi, the national honor society in scientific research, founded in 1886, granted a charter to establish a chapter at Lehman College on November 2, 1974. The Lehman chapter can elect to membership students who have demonstrated outstanding ability in the field of scientific research. The chapter provides an opportunity for the presentation of undergraduate and graduate student research papers, as well as for attendance at the chapter's annual dinner and scientific lecture.

Golden Key International Honor Society

Golden Key, an international academic honors organization founded in 1977, granted Lehman College a charter on May 8, 1986, with 175 initial charter members. The society is interdisciplinary, and its members are sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as top-performing graduate students, based solely on their academic achievements that are in the top fifteen percent of their class. Part-time as well as full-time students are eligible for membership.

Other Honor Societies

The following honor societies at Lehman College encourage students to take an active interest in independent and advanced study:

Beta Beta Beta (biology), Chi Sigma Iota (counseling), Sigma Beta Delta (economics and business), Kappa Delta Pi (education), Pi Delta Phi (french), Phi Alpha Theta (history), Chi Alpha Epsilon (SEEK), The National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Sigma Theta Tau (nursing), Phi Sigma Tau (philosophy), Pi Sigma Alpha (political science), Psi Chi (psychology), Alpha Kappa Delta (sociology), Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish).