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95-834: The Phi Beta Kappa Society ( ΦΒΚ ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, in December 1776. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and to induct outstanding students of arts and sciences at select American colleges and universities. Since its inception, its inducted members include 17 United States presidents , 42 United States Supreme Court justices, and 136 Nobel laureates . The Phi Beta Kappa Society had its first meeting on December 5, 1776, at

190-453: A " Hidden Ivy ". Bowdoin's dining services have been ranked No. 1 among all universities and colleges nationally by Princeton Review in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2016, with The New York Times reporting: "If it weren't for the trays, and for the fact that most diners are under 25, you'd think it was a restaurant." Bowdoin uses food from its organic garden in its two major dining halls, and every academic year begins with

285-476: A Bowdoin alumnus and professor, was present at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House in 1865. Chamberlain, a Medal of Honor recipient who later served as governor of Maine , adjutant-general of Maine, and president of Bowdoin, fought at Gettysburg , where he was in command of the 20th Maine in defense of Little Round Top . Major General Oliver Otis Howard , class of 1850, led

380-494: A Latin motto (perhaps "Fraternitas, Humanitas, Cognitioque"). A second Latin-letter fraternity at William & Mary, the P.D.A. Society, was publicly known as "Please Don't Ask". John Heath , chief organizer of the Phi Beta Kappa, according to tradition earlier sought but was refused admission to the P.D.A., though he may instead have disdained to join it (much later, his friend and fellow student William Short wrote that

475-615: A Masonic lodge also met at this tavern, but the Freemasons gathered at a different building in Williamsburg. (Some of the original members of Phi Beta Kappa did become Freemasons, but later in life). Whether the students organized to meet more freely and discuss non-academic topics, or to discuss politics in a Revolutionary society is unknown. The earliest records indicate only that the students met to debate and engage in oratory, and on topics that would have been not far removed from

570-431: A Phi Beta Kappa event. The topic of the lectures should be an important philosophical issue of current interest, and the lectures should offer contrasting (not necessarily opposing) views on that topic. Honoraria for the symposiasts are funded at an adjusted rate based on the current size of the endowment. Previous winners have won as much as $ 25,000 each. The Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship is awarded annually, alternating in

665-703: A cappella groups are on campus; the Meddiebempsters are the oldest. Founded in the spring of 1937, the Meddies performed in USO shows after World War II . Bowdoin College signed onto the American College and University President's Climate Commitment in 2007. The college followed through with a carbon neutrality plan released in 2009, with 2020 as the target year for carbon neutrality. According to

760-475: A certificate of "good moral character" as well as knowledge of Latin and Ancient Greek , geography, algebra, and the major works of Cicero , Xenophon , Virgil and Homer . Harriet Beecher Stowe started writing her influential anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin , in Brunswick while her husband was teaching at the college, and Brigadier General (and Brevet Major General ) Joshua Chamberlain ,

855-471: A first-year seminar, is also required. The most popular majors, by 2021 graduates, were: In 1990, the Bowdoin faculty voted to change the four-level grading system to the traditional A, B, C, D, and F system. The previous system, consisting of high honors, honors, pass, and fail, was devised primarily to de-emphasize the importance of grades and to reduce competition. In 2002, the faculty decided to change

950-530: A lobster bake outside Farley Fieldhouse. Recalling his days at Bowdoin in a 2005 interview, Professor Richard E. Morgan (class of 1959) described student life at the then-all-male school as "monastic" and noted that "the only things to do were either work or drink". This is corroborated by the Official Preppy Handbook , which in 1980 ranked Bowdoin the number two drinking school in the country, behind Dartmouth . These days, Morgan observed,

1045-409: A member of such an organization cannot join other honor societies representing the same field. Many honor societies are referred to by their membership or by non-members as fraternities and sororities . Honor societies exist at the high school , collegiate / university , postgraduate , and professional levels, although university honor societies are by far the most prevalent. In the United States,

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1140-607: A more loosely coordinated lobbying association of four of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor societies, called the Honor Society Caucus . Its members include Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi , Sigma Xi , and Omicron Delta Kappa . The symbol of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is a golden key engraved on the obverse with the image of a pointing finger, three stars, and the Greek letters from which

1235-592: A multi-disciplinary scholarship component. Jesuit institutions of higher education   Gold These societies are open to Humanities disciplines and may be department-specific. Upperclassmen and Graduate Students These societies are open to social science disciplines and may be department-specific. and protective studies These societies are open to students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines and may be department-specific. This section also includes all healthcare-related fields, including veterinary science. Stole color

1330-701: A quarterly subscription-based journal that accepts essays on literature, history, science, public affairs, and culture. The Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award , the Christian Gauss Award (named for Christian Gauss ), and the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science . The Book Awards are given annually to outstanding scholarly books published in the United States. Winning works, which are drawn from

1425-418: A reflection, were on the vanguard of change. Several Jewish-only organizations merged into (or absorbed) formerly Christian-exclusive societies. Title IX forced most single-sex societies to admit women, though many had already opted to embrace this change. Racial barriers, where they existed, were challenged and retired, with any holdouts subject to significant criticism. The presence of these holdovers and

1520-406: A renovation of the college's art museum and a new fitness center named after Peter Buck. On July 1, 2015, Clayton Rose succeeded Mills as president. Eight years later, on July 1, 2023, Safa Zaki succeeded Rose as the first woman ever to assume presidency of the college. The acceptance rate for the class of 2027 was 8.0%. The applicant pool consisted of 10,930 candidates, up 16% from 9,376 for

1615-476: A stipend of $ 20,000. The Walter J. Jensen Fellowship for French Language, Literature, and Culture aims to help educators and researchers improve education in standard French language, literature, and culture and in the study of standard French in the United States. Established in 2001 by Professor Walter J. Jensen (ΦΒΚ, UCLA), the fellowship is awarded for at least six continuous months of study in France and carries

1710-455: A stipend originally set in 1995 at $ 10,000, to be adjusted for inflation. The stipend for 2016 was $ 15,500. The Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship is awarded annually to scholars in the field of philosophy, without restriction to any one school of philosophical thought. The professorship recognizes not only distinguished achievement but also the recipient's contribution or potential contribution to public understanding of philosophy. Since 1956,

1805-738: A student's honor society. Of these, cords and mortarboard tassels are most often used to indicate membership. Most institutions allow honor cords, tassels, and/or medallions for honor society members. Stoles are less common, but they are available for a few honor societies. Virtually all, if not all honor societies have chosen such colors and may sell these items of accessory regalia as a service or fundraiser. The Honor Society Caucus and Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) are two voluntary associations for national collegiate and post-graduate honor societies. ACHS formed in 1925 to establish and maintain desirable standards for honor societies. Later, four prestigious founding members of ACHS established

1900-679: Is   Peach and   Old gold Some universities have their own independent, open honor societies, which are not affiliated with any national or international organization. Such organizations typically recognize students who have succeeded academically irrespective of their field of study. leadership; Juniors Freshmen and service; Juniors and service; Seniors freshmen and sophomores Commonly referred to as high school societies. This list also includes middle school societies. Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( / ˈ b oʊ d ɪ n / )

1995-546: Is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education . Bowdoin was ranked first among 1,204 small colleges in the U.S. by Niche in 2017, but has since fallen to 6th. Based on students' SAT scores, Bowdoin is tied with Williams for 5th in Business Insider's smartest liberal arts colleges, with an average score of 1435 for math and critical reading combined. Among all colleges, it

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2090-454: Is $ 195,900, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% of highest-earning families and 17.5% from the bottom 60%. Although Bowdoin once had a reputation for homogeneity (both ethnically and socioeconomically), a diversity campaign has increased the percentage of students of color in recent classes to more than 31%. In fact, admission of minorities goes back at least as far as John Brown Russwurm 1826, Bowdoin's first Black college graduate and

2185-732: Is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine . When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts . The college offers 35 majors and 40 minors, as well as several joint engineering programs with Columbia , Caltech , Dartmouth College , and the University of Maine . The college was a founding member of its athletic conference , the New England Small College Athletic Conference , and

2280-698: Is a mandatory initiation fee (between $ 50 and $ 95, as of 2005), which is sometimes covered by the inductee's university. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa is typically limited to students with very high grade point averages (GPAs), at least 3.8 out of a 4.0 scale. In 2001, a quorum of PBK alumni voted to raise the GPA cutoff: though all chapters set their standards for induction, they were now instructed to be much more selective in terms of GPA. Since its inception, 17 U.S. Presidents , 42 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and more than 136 Nobel Laureates have been inducted members. Phi Beta Kappa has 293 chapters. Chapters are approved at

2375-787: Is located 8 miles (13 km) south of Orr's Island in Harpswell, Maine . Bowdoin College operates the Bowdoin Scientific Station on Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. Organized athletics at Bowdoin began in 1828 with a gymnastics program established by the "father of athletics in Maine", John Neal . In the proceeding years, Neal agitated for more programs, and himself taught bowling , boxing , and other sports. Bowdoin College teams are known as

2470-522: Is now as hard to get into Bowdoin, says the college's admissions director, as it was to get into Princeton in the 1970s." Many students apply for financial aid, and around 85% of those who apply to receive aid. Bowdoin is a need-blind and no-loans institution. While a significant portion of the student body hails from New England —including nearly 25% from Massachusetts and 10% from Maine—recent classes have drawn from an increasingly national and international pool. The median family income of Bowdoin students

2565-490: Is the Outing Club, which leads canoeing, kayaking, rafting, camping, and backpacking trips throughout Maine. One of the school's two historic rival literary societies, The Peucinian Society, has recently been revitalized from its previous form. The Peucinian Society was founded in 1805. This organization counts such people as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain among its former members. The other,

2660-401: Is the best-known of those addresses, but there were dozens of others at schools such as Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Union, and Yale. As the first collegiate organization of its type to adopt a Greek -letter name, the Phi Beta Kappa is generally considered a forerunner of modern college fraternities as well as the model for later collegiate honorary societies. Ironically, it was partly

2755-709: Is the guide of life”. Greek was chosen because it was the language of science in Roman times . Later, in May 1777, a new sign of recognition was devised: "A salutation of the clasp of the hands, together with an immediate stroke across the mouth with the back of the same hand, and a return with the hand used by the saluted". This new complex of gestures was created to allow the mutual recognition of members "in any foreign country or place." Further chapters appeared at Union College in 1817, Bowdoin College in 1825, and Brown University in 1830. The original chapter at William & Mary

2850-719: Is the oldest continuously published college weekly in the United States. The Orient was named the second-best tabloid-sized college weekly at a Collegiate Associated Press conference in March 2007 and the best college newspaper in New England by the New England Society of News Editors in 2018. The school's literary magazine, The Quill , was published between 1897 and 2015. The Bowdoin Globalist , an international news, culture, and politics magazine affiliated with

2945-496: Is tied with Brown , Carnegie Mellon , and Williams for 22nd. The college was ranked 5th in the country by Washington Monthly in 2019 based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. In 2006, Newsweek described Bowdoin as a " New Ivy ", one of a number of liberal arts colleges and universities outside of the Ivy League , and it has also been dubbed

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3040-608: Is white. The fight song, Forward The White , was composed by Kenneth A. Robinson, class of 1914. The college's rowing club competes in the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Chase Regatta annually. The rowing club also competes as a member of the American Collegiate Rowing Association; the women's team won its first national championship in 2023. The field hockey team are four-time NCAA Division III National Champions; winning

3135-573: The ACHS on December 30, 1925 . Its participation was short-lived, with the decision to withdraw and operate again as an independent society made just over a decade later, effective December 15, 1937 . In the 1960s, Vanderbilt University professor Donald Davidson claimed that Phi Beta Kappa was under the influence of Communists. In 1988, the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa officially changed its name to The Phi Beta Kappa Society , recalling

3230-647: The American Philosophical Association . The associated Lebowitz Symposium is presented annually at a divisional meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The prize was established in 2013 by Eve Lewellis Lebowitz in honor of her late husband, Martin R. Lebowitz, to provide significant, tangible recognition for excellence in philosophical thought. The Symposium program consists of a pair of lectures to be delivered at an annual APA division meeting and

3325-547: The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium , an athletic conference and inter-library exchange with Bates College and Colby College . Bowdoin has over 30 varsity teams, and the school mascot was selected as a polar bear in 1913 to honor Robert Peary , a Bowdoin alumnus who led the first successful expedition to the North Pole. Between the years 1821 and 1921, Bowdoin operated a medical school called

3420-524: The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia by five students, with John Heath as its first President. The society established the precedent for naming American college societies after the initial letters of a secret Greek motto. The group consisted of students who frequented the Raleigh Tavern as a common meeting area off the college campus. A persistent story maintains that

3515-716: The Freedmen's Bureau after the war and later founded Howard University ; Massachusetts Governor John Andrew , class of 1837, was responsible for the formation of the 54th Massachusetts ; and William P. Fessenden (1823) and Hugh McCulloch (1827) both served as Secretary of the Treasury during the Lincoln Administration . With strained slave-relations between political parties, President Franklin Pierce appointed Jefferson Davis as his Secretary of War , and

3610-596: The Honor Society Caucus , expressing that the ACHS had diluted and lost sight of the mission of its founding members. While ACHS membership is a certification that the member societies meet these standards, not all legitimate honor societies apply for membership in ACHS. Notable national and international honor societies based in or at schools include the following: General collegiate societies are open to all academic disciplines, although they may have other affinity requirements. Leadership societies recognize leadership, with

3705-720: The SAT optional in the admissions process, and in 1971, after nearly 180 years as a small men's college, Bowdoin admitted its first class of women. On February 28, 1997 Bowdoin's Board of Trustees approved a plan to phase out fraternities on campus, replacing them with a system of college-owned social houses. In 1970, Bowdoin began competing in the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium , with Bates and Colby. The consortium became both an athletic rivalry and an academic exchange program. On January 18, 2008, Bowdoin announced that it would eliminate loans for all new and current students receiving financial aid, replacing those loans with grants beginning with

3800-588: The financial Panic of 1907 . The college went on to educate and eventually graduate Arctic explorers Robert E. Peary , class of 1877, and Donald B. MacMillan , class of 1898. Robert Peary named Bowdoin Fjord and Bowdoin Glacier after his alma mater. Peary led the first successful expedition to the North Pole in 1908, and MacMillan, a member of Peary's crew, explored Greenland , Baffin Island , and Labrador in

3895-504: The schooner Bowdoin between 1908 and 1954. Wallace H. White, Jr. , class of 1899, served as Senate Minority Leader from 1944 to 1947 and Senate Majority Leader from 1947 to 1949; George J. Mitchell , class of 1954, served as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 before assuming an active role in the Northern Ireland peace process. In 1970, the college became one of a very limited number of liberal arts colleges to make

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3990-564: The "Medical School of Maine." The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River . In addition to its Brunswick campus, Bowdoin owns a 118-acre (48 ha) coastal studies center on Orr's Island and a 200-acre (81 ha) scientific field station on Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy . Bowdoin College was chartered in 1794 by the Massachusetts State Legislature and

4085-859: The 18th century. Prominent buildings on the campus include the college's oldest building, Massachusetts Hall , the Parker Cleaveland House , and the Harriet Beecher Stowe House . The campus has two museums. The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is in the Walker Art Building and the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum is in the Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies. The 118-acre (48 ha) Schiller Coastal Studies Center

4180-558: The 2005 founding of the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society by Yale University and Howard University . Rather than adopting the traditional tapping to identify top students from a given academic class based on merit, a distinct aspect of this society's nomination process is its focus on self-nominations. A Ph.D. or Ph.D. track is required, among other qualifications. Modern honor societies are increasingly focused on creating supportive environments that promote

4275-425: The 2008–2009 academic year. President Barry Mills stated, "Some see a calling in such vital but often low paying fields such as teaching or social work. With significant debt at graduation, some students will undoubtedly be forced to make career or education choices not based on their talents, interests, and promise in a particular field but rather on their capacity to repay student loans. As an institution devoted to

4370-494: The 2022 edition of the U.S. News & World Report rankings, Bowdoin was ranked tied for 6th best overall among liberal arts colleges in the United States, tied at 3rd for "Best Undergraduate Teaching", 7th in "Best Value Schools", and tied at 23rd for "Most Innovative Schools". In the 2022 Forbes college rankings, Bowdoin was ranked 48th overall among 498 universities, liberal arts colleges, and service academies and 7th among private liberal arts colleges. Bowdoin College

4465-474: The British attempt at reclamation of the sovereign American colonies, including Virginia, there was a temporary closure of the College of William & Mary and disbandment of Phi Beta Kappa in early 1781. Elisha Parmelee, an alumnus of Yale College and Harvard College , passed through Williamsburg and took charters from the Phi Beta Kappa to establish branches of the society at these schools. A second chapter

4560-580: The Global21 organization of college magazines, has been publishing since 2012. The Bowdoin Globalist transitioned to a digital-only platform in 2015 and changed its name to The Bowdoin Review . The college's radio station, WBOR , has been operating since the early 1940s. In 1999, The Bowdoin Cable Network was formed, producing a weekly newscast and several student-created shows per semester. Six

4655-480: The P.D.A. "had lost all reputation for letters, and was noted only for the dissipation & conviviality of its members"). The new society was intended to be "purely of domestic manufacture, without any connection whatever with anything European, either English or German." The founders of Phi Beta Kappa declared that the society was formed for congeniality and to promote good fellowship, with "friendship as its basis and benevolence and literature as its pillars." Before

4750-694: The Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has offered undergraduates the opportunity to spend time with some of America's most distinguished scholars. The purpose of the program is to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus by making possible an exchange of ideas between the Visiting Scholars and the resident faculty and students. Phi Beta Kappa also sponsors a National Arts & Sciences Initiative, which taps into its cross-country network of members, chapters, and associations to connect with leaders, shares

4845-613: The Polar Bears. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III level, primarily competing in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), of which they were a founding member in 1971. The mascot for all Bowdoin College athletic teams is the Polar bear , generally referred to in the plural, i.e., "The Polar Bears." The uniform color

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4940-841: The Sustainable Endowments Institute. In 2003, Bowdoin committed to achieving LEED -certification for all new campus buildings. The college has since completed construction on Osher and West residency halls, the Peter Buck Center for Health & Fitness, the Sidney J. Watson Arena , 216 Maine Street, and 52 Harpswell all of which have attained LEED, Silver LEED or Gold LEED certification. The new dorms partially use collected rainwater as part of an advanced flushing system. Bowdoin College's main campus in Brunswick ranges over an area of 215 acres (87 ha) and includes 120 buildings, some of which date back to

5035-612: The Triennial Conventions. In 2008, the Phi Beta Kappa Society was awarded the Arts and Sciences Advocacy Award from the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences ( CCAS ). CCAS bestows this award upon an individual or organization demonstrating exemplary advocacy for the arts and sciences, flowing from a deep commitment to the intrinsic worth of liberal arts education. Honor society The origins of honor societies in

5130-427: The United States can be traced back to the establishment of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 at the College of William and Mary , which began as a debating society and did not initially impose grade point average (GPA) restrictions for membership. Many honor societies invite students to become members based on the scholastic rank (the top x% of a class) and/or grade point averages, either overall or for classes taken within

5225-566: The academic and personal development of all scholars, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups. This evolution reflects a broader movement within academic institutions towards a more equitable and comprehensive recognition of student excellence. Academic robes and regalia identifying by color the degree, school, and other distinctions, are controlled under rules of a voluntary Intercollegiate Code. In addition, various colored devices such as stoles , scarves , cords , tassels , and medallions are used to indicate membership in

5320-502: The campus set heating point from 72 to 68 degrees, and by adhering to its own Green Design Standards in renovations. In addition, Bowdoin runs a single stream recycling program, and its dining services department has begun composting food waste and unbleached paper napkins. Bowdoin received an overall "B−" grade for its sustainability efforts on the College Sustainability Report Card 2009 published by

5415-453: The categories of Natural Sciences /mathematics, social and behavioral sciences , humanities / Fine Arts , and foreign studies (including languages) took effect for the class of 1987 and have been gradually amended since then. Current requirements require one course each in natural sciences, quantitative reasoning, visual and performing arts, international perspectives, and difference, power, and inequity. A small writing-intensive course, called

5510-417: The chapter at Dickinson College , founded in 1887; Beta of Pennsylvania, the chapter at Lehigh University (founded later that same year); Gamma of Pennsylvania, the chapter at Lafayette College (1890); and Delta of Pennsylvania, the chapter at the University of Pennsylvania (1892). By 1920, a total of 89 chapters existed at a variety of schools. Phi Beta Kappa was one of six honor societies that co-founded

5605-439: The class of 2026. The college received just over 13,200 applications for the class of 2028 – the highest application numbers in the college's history and a continuation of the rise in applications over the past two years. Applications increased by about 20%, surpassing the 10,930 applications received in the class of 2027. U.S. News & World Report classifies Bowdoin as "most selective". Of enrolling students, 89% are in

5700-555: The class. Some chapters also elect graduate students graduating with Master's or Doctoral degrees who have exceptional academic records. Each chapter sets its academic standards, but all inductees must have studied the liberal arts and sciences, demonstrated "good moral character", and, usually, earned grades placing them in the top tenth of their class. However, at least one school, Princeton University , includes Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) students in Phi Beta Kappa. There

5795-537: The college awarded the soon-to-be President of the Confederacy an honorary degree. The Jefferson Davis Award was given to a student who excelled in legal studies after a donation was given to the college by the United Daughters of the Confederacy . The award, however, was discontinued in 2015, with the current college president citing it as inappropriate because it was named after someone "whose mission

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5890-443: The college offers a far broader array of recreational opportunities: "If we could have looked forward in time to Bowdoin's standard of living today, we would have been astounded." Since abolishing Greek fraternities in the late 1990s, Bowdoin has switched to a system in which entering students are assigned a "college house" affiliation correlating with their first-year dormitory. While six houses were originally established following

5985-465: The college was on track to meet the 28% own source reduction target, and efforts have continued in the areas of energy conservation, efficiency upgrades and transitioning to lower carbon fuel sources. Bowdoin's facilities are heated by an on-campus heating plant that burns natural gas. Between 2002 and 2008, Bowdoin College decreased its CO 2 emissions by 40%. It achieved that reduction by switching from No. 6 to No. 2 oil in its heating plant, reducing

6080-400: The common good, Bowdoin must consider the fairness of such a result." In February 2009, following a US$ 10 million donation (equivalent to $ 14.2 million in 2023) by Subway co-founder and alumnus Peter Buck , class of 1952, the college completed a $ 250-million capital campaign. Additionally, the college has also recently completed major construction projects on the campus, including

6175-531: The construction of two new dorms, two were added effective in the fall of 2007, and one added in the fall of 2019, bringing the current total to eight: Baxter, Quinby, MacMillan, Howell, Helmreich, Reed, Burnett, and Boody-Johnson. The college houses are physical buildings around campus that host parties and other events throughout the year. Those students who choose not to live in their affiliated house retain their affiliation and are considered members throughout their Bowdoin career. The largest student group on campus

6270-614: The curriculum. In the Phi Beta Kappa Initiation of 1779, the new member was informed, Older fraternal societies existed at College of William & Mary . The F.H.C. Society (nicknamed "the Flat Hat Club "), founded in 1750, is the first collegiate secret society recorded in North America; unlike the newer Phi Beta Kappa, the F.H.C. was a Latin-letter society, its name taken from the initial letters of

6365-484: The date that a particular fob or key was awarded, when in fact it is merely the date of the founding of the society). Only in 1912 was the key made to a uniform standard of size, golden appearance (some are plated), and engraving with the school's name, recipient's name, and date of the award. The Phi Beta Kappa Society publishes The Key Reporter , a newsletter distributed quarterly to all contributing members and biannually to all other members, and The American Scholar ,

6460-401: The demise of those that exhibited overt racism offer an opportunity for a critical reassessment of the criteria and culture within honor societies. While changes sparked from within these societies were prevalent between the massive influx of students after World War II and before and after the adoption of Title IX, additionally, the demand for recognition of racially diverse scholars spurred

6555-476: The discipline for which the honor society provides recognition. In cases where academic achievement would not be an appropriate criterion for membership, other standards are usually required for membership (such as completion of a particular ceremony or training program). Scholastic honor societies commonly add a criterion relating to the student's character. Most honor societies are invitation-only, and membership in an honor society might be considered exclusive, i.e.,

6650-413: The era of honor society expansion in the early 20th century, these organizations were generally supportive of cultural changes that challenged racism, classism, and sexism. Like other aspects of academia, honor society integration and diversity grew with the expansion of an increasingly multicultural and co-educational student body. There were some holdouts, but academia in general, and its honor societies as

6745-532: The fields of Greek and French. The award may be used for the study of Greek language, literature, history, or archaeology, or the study of French language or literature. Established in 1934 by Isabelle Stone (ΦΒΚ, Wellesley College) in honor of her mother, Mary Isabel Sibley, the fellowship was designed to reward the women in these two fields of study with the experience of studying and living abroad, which Miss Stone did in Greece during her studies. The fellowship carries

6840-432: The fields of the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and mathematics, must be of broad interest and accessible to the general reader. Each award carries a $ 10,000 prize. The winners were selected from five short-listed titles in each category. The Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution is awarded by the Phi Beta Kappa Society in conjunction with

6935-430: The first African-American member, George Washington Henderson , was elected at the same institution two years later. In 1885, however, Phi Beta Kappa eliminated those majoring in engineering from eligibility. This practice continues today. Each chapter is designated by its state and a Greek letter indicating its position in the order in which that state's chapters were founded. For example, Alpha of Pennsylvania refers to

7030-544: The grading system to incorporate plus and minus grades. In 2006, Bowdoin was named a "Top Producer of Fulbright Awards for American Students" by the Institute of International Education. Other notable Bowdoin faculty include (or have included): Edville Gerhardt Abbott , Charles Beitz , John Bisbee , Paul Chadbourne , Thomas Cornell , Kristen R. Ghodsee , Eddie Glaude , Joseph E. Johnson , Richard Morgan , Elliott Schwartz , Kenneth Chenault , and Scott Sehon . In

7125-548: The manner in which the older fraternities (and the Masonic bodies on which the collegiate societies were in part patterned) wore their insignia. Later, the size of the medallion was reduced and men took to wearing the insignia on their watch chains as fobs. Though several stylistic details have survived since the earliest days—the use of the stars, pointing hand, and Greek letters on the obverse, for example—notable differences exist between older keys and current examples. The name of

7220-416: The members, who have been initiated into the S.P. alias Phi Beta Kappa Society." The "key" of Phi Beta Kappa did not begin as a copy of a watch key. The first insignia was a larger, cut-and-engraved silver medallion, essentially a square of metal with a loop cut integrally with the body of the square from the same sheet of silver, to allow for suspension from one or two ribbons worn around the member's neck in

7315-552: The name under which the organization had been established in 1776. In 1996, Emily Bernstein of The New York Times reported declining rates of Phi Beta Kappa membership acceptances at the University of Connecticut due to a decrease in social prestige. Citing an article by The Key Reporter , Bernstein claims that this is due in part to increasing numbers of 'first-generation college students, students who do not consult their parents on such matters, and students who have gone to public schools, all of whom are less likely to have heard of

7410-550: The nation's 100 black colleges and universities are members of Phi Beta Kappa " due to a rule that 10 faculty members at a university must be existing members, for which Black faculty would be socially disadvantaged due to a historic lack of admittance into relevant universities. Additionally, they created a list of "Predominantly White But Second- or Third-Tier Colleges and Universities That Have Been Awarded Phi Beta Kappa Chapters," which included Allegheny College and Millsaps College . Today, Phi Beta Kappa participates in

7505-684: The now-defunct Athenian Society, included Nathaniel Hawthorne and Franklin Pierce as members. Bowdoin competes in the Standard Platform League of RoboCup as the Northern Bites, where teams compete with five autonomous Aldebaran Nao robots. Bowdoin won the world championship in RoboCup 2007, beating Carnegie Mellon University , and finished 2nd in the 2015 US Open. Bowdoin's student newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient ,

7600-429: The obverse has also changed over the years, with never fewer than three, but on some known examples with as many as a dozen (the explanation as to the meaning of the stars in these early cases varies from chapter to chapter). Also, the date of the awarding of the honor is only seen on keys from the second quarter of the nineteenth century onward (some people mistake the date that appears on the fob or key—December 5, 1776—as

7695-423: The oldest academic society, Phi Beta Kappa , was founded as a social and literary fraternity in 1776. Other honor societies were established a century later, including Tau Beta Pi for engineering (1885), Sigma Xi for scientific research (1886), and Phi Kappa Phi for all disciplines (1897). Mortar Board was established in 1918 and was the first national honor society for women who were college seniors. During

7790-529: The plan, general improvements to Maine's electricity grid will account for 7% of carbon reductions, commuting improvements will account for 1%, and the purchase of renewable energy credits will account for 41%. The plan includes the construction of a solar thermal system, part of the "Thorne Solar Hot Water Project"; cogeneration in the central heating plant (for which Bowdoin received $ 400,000 in federal grants); lighting upgrades to all campus buildings; and modern monitoring systems of energy usage on campus. In 2017,

7885-409: The recipient was not engraved on the earliest fobs or keys and was not until the first decade of the nineteenth century. The name of the school from which the fob or key came was also not routinely included on the earliest models, and sometimes the only way to trace a key to a particular school's chapter is by researching the name of the recipient against surviving class records. The number of stars on

7980-460: The rise of true "social" fraternities modeled after Phi Beta Kappa later in the nineteenth century which obviated the social aspects of membership in the organization, transforming it into the honorary society it is today. By 1883, when the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa were established, there were 25 chapters. The first women were elected to the Society at the University of Vermont in 1875, and

8075-444: The society takes its name. On the reverse are found the initials "SP" in the script. One official historian of the society, William T. Hastings, and some others believe that the "S" and "P", which stood for Societas Philosophiae , "Philosophical Society", were the original name of the Society and that "Phi Beta Kappa" came only over time to be taken as the name of the society. The heading on the original list of members states, "A List of

8170-567: The society. Earlier, in 1970, Robert Reinhold similarly reported for The New York Times that recipient students at the University of California at Berkeley expressed a mix of distaste and shame about the degree. Other members expressed a lack of satisfaction with the society for its significance. A 1997 article from The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education critiqued the society for under-representation at historically black colleges and universities . The authors wrote that "Only 3 of

8265-478: The third Black graduate of any American college. Course distribution requirements were abolished in the 1970s but were reinstated by a faculty majority vote in 1981 due to an initiative by oral communication and film professor Barbara Kaster. She insisted that distribution requirements would ensure students a more well-rounded education in a diversity of fields and therefore present them with more career possibilities. The requirements of at least two courses in each of

8360-510: The title in 2007 (defeating Middlebury College ), 2008 (defeating Tufts University ), 2010 (defeating Messiah College ), and 2013 (defeating Salisbury University ). The men's tennis team won the 2016 NCAA Division III Championship after defeating Emory University in Kalamazoo, Michigan . Principal athletic facilities include Whittier Field (capacity: 9,000), Morrell Gymnasium (1,500), Sidney J. Watson Arena (2,300), Pickard Fields, and

8455-598: The top 10% of their high school graduating class. Although Bowdoin does not require the SAT in admissions, all students may submit a score upon application. The middle 50% SAT range for the verbal and math sections of the SAT is 660–750 and 660–750, respectively—numbers of only those submitting scores during the admissions process. The middle 50% ACT range is 30–33. The April 17, 2008, edition of The Economist noted Bowdoin in an article on university admissions: "So-called 'almost-Ivies' such as Bowdoin and Middlebury also saw record low admission rates this year (18% each). It

8550-476: The value of the arts and sciences through all of life, and advocate for policies that strengthen an arts and sciences education. Phi Beta Kappa has chapters in only about 10% of American higher learning institutions, and only about 10% of these schools' Arts and Sciences graduates are invited to join. Although most students are elected in their senior year, many colleges elect a limited number of extremely select students in their junior year, generally less than 2% of

8645-493: The writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , both of whom graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1825. Pierce and Hawthorne began an official militia company called the 'Bowdoin Cadets'. From its founding, Bowdoin was known to educate the sons of the political elite and "catered very largely to the wealthy conservative from the state of Maine." During the first half of the 19th century, Bowdoin required of its students

8740-455: Was founded at Yale College in late 1780; a third, at Harvard College in 1781; and a fourth, at Dartmouth College in 1787. Phi Beta Kappa was a secret society to protect its members and to instil a sense of solidarity. The new society was given the motto, Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτη or in Latin letters Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs , which loosely translated to English means "Love of learning

8835-614: Was later redirected under the jurisdiction of the Maine Legislature . It was named for former Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin , whose son James Bowdoin III was an early benefactor. Bowdoin began to develop in the 1820s, a decade in which Maine became an independent state as a result of the Missouri Compromise and graduated U.S. President Franklin Pierce . The college also graduated two literary philosophers,

8930-610: Was re-established. In 1831, the Harvard chapter publicly disclosed the fraternity's secrets during a period of strong anti- Masonic sentiment. The first chapter established after Phi Beta Kappa became an "open" society was that at Trinity College in Connecticut, in 1845. University of Alabama established in 1851. In the pre-Civil War period, Society chapters frequently sponsored addresses by distinguished speakers. Ralph Waldo Emerson 's 1837 address at Harvard, "The American Scholar",

9025-666: Was to preserve and institutionalize slavery". Although Bowdoin's Medical School of Maine closed its doors in 1921, it produced Augustus Stinchfield , who received his M.D. in 1868 and became one of the co-founders of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota . In 1877, the college would go on to graduate Charles Morse , the American banker who established a near-monopoly of the ice business in New York, which directly led to

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