67 Students Elected to Phi Beta Kappa
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — At a ceremony over Commencement weekend, Don Wyatt, the John M. McCardell, Jr. Professor of History, welcomed 57 new members to the Middlebury chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. The newest members joined 10 of their classmates, who had been elected last year as juniors for a total of 67 members from the class of 2015.
Student speaker Katie Paradies ’15 told her fellow inductees that it took some research to fully appreciate the meaning of Phi Beta Kappa. “I discovered that the Greek initials signify that ‘Love of learning is the guide of life,’” she said. “I quickly recognized that students and faculty at Middlebury embrace this motto, creating the unique culture of this institution.”
Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. The first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established at the College of William and Mary in 1776. Each year the Middlebury chapter elects up to 10% of the senior class to membership: 2% of the class is elected in August, on the basis of six semesters’ work, and up to an additional 8% is elected in May, on the basis of work completed over eight semesters.
As one of the charter chapters, the Middlebury chapter is free to establish its own criteria for the election of students to Phi Beta Kappa, and is not governed by election rules established by the national society. The members of the Middlebury chapter are those members of the Middlebury faculty who were themselves elected to Phi Beta Kappa by their undergraduate institutions.
Inductees from the Middlebury College Class of 2015 are:
Bree Bella Baccaglini, Jeanne Betts Bartlett, Amitai Ben-Abba, Garrett Chadwick Brann, Anna Louise Breu, Philip Chang, Scott Alexander Collins, Catherine Anne Costley, Taylor Grey Custer, Brendan Haggerty Cullen, Erielle Rebecca Davidson, Michael Wade Dola, Yannick R. Doyle, Emma Carolyn Eastwood-Paticchio, Megan Else Ernst, Jason D. S. Feinman, Leah Marie Fessler, Joseph T. Flaherty, Lian Vaida Folger, Martin Wik Fowler, Jacob Aaron Fox, Dante Pasquale Francomano, Erica L. Furgiuele, Kyle Preston Petkanics Gerstenschlager, Vivian L. Guo, Blake Anderson Harper, John Quincy Hunsicker, Carolynn Hrynowski Johnson, Gregory Zorba Karabinos, Tran T. Le, Andrew Mose Lebovitz, Jamie H. Lee, Jenna Lifhits, Xiner Liu, Cathryn Margaret Manduca, Brian Louis Marland, Michael Louis Martini, Kristen Kathleen Meredith, Bianca Haley Messner, Margaret Kathryn Morris, Anna Claire Mullen, Claire Hanna Shizuye Nishioka, Evann Makati Normandin, William Reed Palmer, Katie Dara Paradies, Anne Sexton Powers, Daniel Walker Reed, Hannah Cross Reeve, Samuel Martin Rives, David Guy Russell Jr., Arjun Shriraj Shah, Robert Alexander Silverstein, Kyle Christopher Slugg, Edward Bliven Smyth, Sarae Townsend Snyder, Molly Hartnett Stuart, Ellen Catharine Taylor, Samuel Catlin Tolzmann, Jennifer M. Wenzler, Amanda Kathleen Werrell, Chloe Anne Wilwerding, Rebecca Mutsumi Hue Tong Wong, Hilary Dixon Woodworth, Rosalie Mayne Wright-Lapin, Frank Christopher Wyer, Kevin Liang, Qian Zhe (Danny) Zhang
Reporting by Stephen Diehl; Photo by Trent Campbell