Phi Beta Kappa Inducts 104 Seniors

One hundred and four members of the class of 2001 were inducted last week into the Massachusetts chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, an elite academic society.

Alpha Iota, as the Massachusetts chapter is called, selected new members based on their grade point averages and teacher recommendations.

Faculty committees from the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities selected the inductees from a group of nominated students.

Unlike many awards at Harvard, extracurricular activities are not taken into consideration for Phi Beta Kappa membership.

“The primary category is grade point average,” said Everett I. Mendelsohn ’57, a professor of history and science and president of Alpha Iota.

“Secondarily, we look for the nature of the courses they selected and to what extent they stretched their boundaries by taking harder classes,” he said.

William Edwards ’01, who also won a Hoopes Prize for his senior thesis, said he “shouted for joy” when he opened the letter informing him of his induction.

“It’s a great honor,” he said. “It’s not something you plan on. It just happened.”

Edwards, a government concentrator, said he tried to take a diverse range of classes, including English seminars, history and Afro-American studies classes.

“Going from high school to college, you are forced to specialize and Phi Beta Kappa rewards those who hang on to what’s really good about high school—the ability to go in one day from a math class to a chemistry class to an English class,” Edwards said.

Belinda D. Yu ’01 said she also maintained a broad academic scope while at Harvard. A linguistics concentrator with psychology as a related field, Yu also fulfilled pre-med requirements. Despite amassing an impressive academic resume, she said did not expect to be inducted.

“It wasn’t something that I was very aware of,” she said. “I am very excited to be able to have that honor.”

The honorees will attend a formal induction ceremony at 11 a.m. in Sanders Theatre today.

Literary humorist Garrison Keillor and poet Luci Brock-Broidi will address the inductees. The ceremony is open to the public.

The inductees are:

Deborah J. Abel, Michael U. Antonucci, Tal Astrachan, James C. Augustine, Erin E. Bair, Alicia L. Bannon, Judith Batalion, Megan Beck, Lauren K. Brozovich, Brad W. Butcher, Eugene K. Cha, Amy Chen, Kevin J. Cheung, Michael Chu, Adam E. Cohen, Vincent Conitzer, David M. Cooper, Russell S. Cox, Corinne S. Crawford, Kumar Dharmarajan, Haninder K. Dhesi, Lindiwe Dovey, Anne C. Durston, William Edwards, Alison F. Egan, Alexander J. Eilhauer, Michal Engelman, Lukasz Fidkowski, Kyle R. Freeny, Rachel S.C. Friedman, Kimberlee R. Garris, Jamie H. Ginott, Rebecca P. Gogel, Jennifer L. Gooden, Alexander H. Gourevitch, Elizabeth A. Greenwood, Nicholas R. Guydosh, Bilqis B. Hijjas, Susannah L. Hollister, Justin E. Howell, Katherine Huang, Inga-britt C. Hunter, Radu P. Iovita, Sarah E. Kennedy, Humayun Khalid, Hoon-Jung Kim, Joshua N. Lambert, Robert A. Lauridsen, Courtney H. Leimkuhler, Paula R. Levy, Sarah E. Lewis, Jie Li, Jennifer L. Liu, Patrick P. Liu, James B. Lounsbury, Rochelle K. Mackey, Luba T. Mandzy, Adam G.W. Matthews, Emily O. Matthews, Zoe B. McKee, Marianne E. McPherson, Gabriel Mendlow, Paul M. Monteleoni, Jacqueline A. Newmyer, Joshua P. Nichols-Barrer, Lucas G. Nivon, Pawel M. Nowak, Ziad Obermeyer, Alexandra K. Olson, Zuzanna M. Olszewska, Amy E. Ooten, Leah A.W. Plunkett, Suhas M. Radhakrishna, Renee J. Raphael, Jane L. Risen, Joel D. Rosenbaum, Julia M. Rosenbloom, David M. Rosmarin, Caroline A. Rothert, David J. Ryu, Erica L. Sanders, Wesley T.W. Shih, Jared B. Shirck, Dale R. Shuger, Adam A. Sofen, Aparna Sridhar, Charles T. Steenburg, Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos, Srdjan L. Tanjga, Trygve V. Throntveit, Rachel E. Tobey, Greg Y. Tseng, Joshua S. VonKorff, Richard J. Wegener, Sophie E. Weirich, Elizabeth H. Winthrop, Christopher N. Wisniewski, Abraham J. Wu, Pierre Yared, Belinda D. Yu, Christine A. Zimmerman.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.