Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and to induct the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at only select American colleges and universities. It was founded at the College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776, as the first collegiate Greek-letter fraternity and was among the earliest collegiate fraternal societies. Since its inception, 17 U.S. presidents, 40 U.S. Supreme Court justices, and 136 Nobel laureates have been inducted members.
The Golden Key International Honour Society is an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit organization founded in 1977 to recognize academic achievement among college and university students.
Emory & Henry College is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises 335 acres (1.36 km2) of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is the oldest institution of higher learning in Southwest Virginia.
Florida Blue Key is a student leadership honor society at the University of Florida. It was founded in 1923.
Lincoln University (LU) is a public state-related historically black university (HBCU) near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded as the private Ashmun Institute in 1854, it has been a public institution since 1972 and is the second HBCU in the state, after Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. Lincoln is also recognized as the first college-degree granting HBCU in the country. Its main campus is located on 422 acres near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university has a second location in the University City area of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides undergraduate and graduate coursework to approximately 2,000 students. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Phi Alpha Theta (ΦΑΘ) is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history. It has more than 400,000 members, with new members numbering about 9,000 a year through its 970 chapters.
Alpha Lambda Delta (ΑΛΔ) is an honor society for students who have achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher during their first year or term of higher education.
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. Chiefly, the term refers to scholastic honor societies, those that recognize students who excel academically or as leaders among their peers, often within a specific academic discipline.
Alpha Kappa Delta (ΑΚΔ) is a non-secret, democratic organization founded in 1920 by Dr. Emory S. Bogardus. It is an international honor society of sociology, and has over 80,000 members and more than 490 chapters established around the world.
Gamma Theta Upsilon is an international honor society in geography.
Phi Eta Sigma (ΦΗΣ) is an American freshman honor society. Founded at the University of Illinois on March 22, 1923, it is the oldest and largest freshman honor society and has chartered three hundred and eighty-six chapters throughout the United States and inducted more than 1,250,000 members since its founding.
Sigma Pi Sigma (ΣΠΣ), founded at Davidson College on December 11, 1921, is the oldest and only American honor society for physics and astronomy. It is an organization within the Society of Physics Students and the American Institute of Physics and a member of the Association of College Honor Societies. The society's stated goals are "to honor outstanding scholarship in physics and astronomy; to encourage interest in physics and astronomy among students at all levels; to promote an attitude of service of its members towards their fellow students, colleagues, and the public; to provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics and astronomy." The society has some 90,000 historical members.
Phi Sigma Iota (ΦΣΙ) is an honor society whose members are elected from among outstanding advanced and graduate students of foreign languages and literatures including Classics, comparative literature, philology, bilingual education, and applied linguistics. The primary objectives of this honorary are the recognition of remarkable ability and attainments in languages and literatures, and the promotion of a sentiment of amity between cultures with differing languages.
Omicron Delta Kappa (ΟΔΚ), also known as The Circle and ODK, is a prestigious honor society located in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by 15 student and faculty leaders. The society recognizes achievement in five areas: scholarship; athletics; campus and community service, social or religious activities, and campus government; journalism, speech and the mass media; and creative and performing arts. Some circles of ΟΔΚ are quasi-secret, in that newly selected members remain undisclosed for some time.
There are many collegiate secret societies in North America. They vary greatly in their level of secrecy and the degree of independence from their universities. A collegiate secret society makes a significant effort to keep affairs, membership rolls, signs of recognition, initiation, or other aspects secret from the public.
Alpha Epsilon Delta (ΑΕΔ) is a U.S. health preprofessional honor society. The organization currently has more than 144,000 members within 186 chapters at universities throughout the United States, making it the world's largest Honor Society serving all students from different backgrounds in the pursuit of a career in healthcare.
Pi Gamma Mu or ΠΓΜ is the oldest and preeminent honor society in the social sciences. It is also the only interdisciplinary social science honor society. It serves the various social science disciplines which seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships as well as their concomitant problems and issues. Pi Gamma Mu's constitution defines the social sciences to include the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, international relations, criminal justice, social work, social philosophy, history of education, and human geography. Membership is also extended to interdisciplinary social science fields that build on the core social science disciplines, such as business administration, education, cultural and area studies, public administration, and organizational behavior.
The Mystical Seven was a society founded in 1837 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Members were called Mystics. The society died in 1890, with its surviving temples merging into other national fraternities. Restarted as a local honorary at Wesleyan, the society apparently continues as two rival groups.
