In the United States, an honor society is an organization that recognizes individuals who excel in various domains such as academics, leadership, and other personal achievements, not all of which are based on ranking systems. These societies acknowledge excellence among peers in diverse fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. While the term commonly refers to scholastic honor societies, which primarily acknowledge students who excel academically or as leaders among their peers, it also applies to other types of societies.
Phi Mu (ΦΜ) is the second oldest female fraternal organization established in the United States.
Professional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of professional education or study. This may be contrasted with service fraternities and sororities, whose primary purpose is community service, and social fraternities and sororities, whose primary purposes are generally aimed towards some other aspect, such as the development of character, friendship, leadership, or literary ability.
Service fraternity may refer to any fraternal public service organization, such as the Kiwanis or Rotary International. In Canada and the United States, the term fraternal organization is more common as "fraternity" in everyday usage refers to fraternal student societies.
Sigma Alpha Iota (ΣΑΙ) is an international music fraternity. Formed to "uphold the highest standards of music" and "to further the development of music in America and throughout the world", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its members and the general public. Sigma Alpha Iota operates its own national philanthropy, Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Inc. Sigma Alpha Iota is a member of the National Interfraternity Music Council and the Professional Fraternity Association.
Joab Langston Thomas was an American university administrator and scientist, who served as president of Pennsylvania State University, North Carolina State University and The University of Alabama.
Marilyn Barrueta was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 2005 after 48 years of teaching. Since 1978, "Señora Barrueta" has taught Spanish 1-6, advanced placement Spanish, and Spanish for Fluent Speakers at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia in the United States.
The Professional Fraternity Association (PFA) is an American association of national, collegiate, professional fraternities and sororities that was formed in 1978. Since PFA groups are discipline-specific, members join while pursuing graduate degrees as well as undergraduate degrees. PFA groups seek to develop their members professionally in addition to the social development commonly associated with Panhellenic fraternities. Membership requirements of the PFA are broad enough to include groups that do not recruit new members from a single professional discipline. The PFA has welcomed service and honor fraternities as members; however, Greek letter honor societies more commonly belong to the Association of College Honor Societies.
Martin King Whyte is an American sociology professor emeritus at Harvard University who is best known for his research on contemporary Chinese society in both the Mao and reform eras. He joined the Harvard Faculty in 2000. Previously, he served on the faculties of the University of Michigan and George Washington University. Whyte completed his graduate work at Harvard in the 1960s. Professor Whyte's primary research and teaching focuses on comparative sociology, sociology of the family, sociology of development, the sociological study of China, and the study of post-communist transitions.
Elizabeth Caroline Crosby was an American neuroanatomist. Crosby received the National Medal of Science from President Jimmy Carter in 1979 "for outstanding contributions to comparative and human neuroanatomy and for the synthesis and transmission of knowledge of the entire nervous system of the vertebrate phylum." Her "careful descriptions" of vertebrate brains - especially reptiles - helped "outline evolutionary history" and her work as a clinical diagnostic assistant to neurosurgeons resulted in "the correlation of anatomy and surgery."
Maxine Baca Zinn, née Baca, is an American sociologist known for her work on gender, race, and ethnicity and particularly, the experience of women of color at the intersection of race, class, and gender.
Valree Fletcher Wynn was the first African-American professor at Cameron University from 1966 until her retirement in 1985. Wynn became the first African-American to serve on the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges in 1986 and served as the president from 1988–1989. She was the recipient of many awards and was inducted into both the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame.
Charles Larimore Jones, also known as Charlie Jones, was an architect of the U.S. Air Force's forward air control doctrine, as well as one of its early practitioners during the Laotian Civil War. He was trained in forward air control techniques as a Combat Controller in 1954. In 1962, he was one of the Operation Jungle Jim volunteers who reestablished the Air Commandos. He was the first Combat Controller committed solely to support the U.S. Army Special Forces. Based on his experience, in 1963 he was assigned to Hurlburt Field to write the field manual on forward air control while expanding the Combat Controller curriculum.
Louise Nixon Sutton was a mathematician. She was the first African-American woman to be awarded a PhD in mathematics education by New York University, and the first chair of the Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics at Elizabeth City State University.
Delta Psi Kappa (ΔΨΚ) was an American professional fraternity in the disciplines of health and physical education, health sciences, and recreation that was established in 1916.
Phi Epsilon Kappa (ΦΕΚ) is a national professional fraternity for persons engaged in or pursuing careers in the fields of physical education, health, recreation, dance, human performance, exercise science, sports medicine and sports management.
Carolyn Cummings Perrucci (née Cummings) is an American sociologist specializing in gender roles, family, and education, who is currently a professor of sociology at Purdue University. She joined the Purdue University College of Liberal Arts department of sociology in 1966. Perrucci headed the women's studies program from 1980 to 1981 and has published several books on the career patterns of women in STEM fields.
