Phi Beta Kappa Ceremony Inducts 77 New Members
Participating in a tradition going back to 1845, 77 members of the Class of 2026 were inducted this spring into Wesleyan’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Family members, friends, and faculty filled Memorial Chapel for the initiation ceremony, which took place on May 23, the day before commencement.
Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary and is widely recognized as the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. It celebrates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. At Wesleyan, membership is limited to 12 percent of the graduating class. To be eligible, students must be nominated by their major departments, fulfill the General Education Expectations, and have a grade point average of 92 or better.
“I'm incredibly grateful and honored to be inducted,” said economics major Noah Yanowitch '26. He noted that the accolade was especially meaningful because his professors deemed him worthy of it. “One of the reasons I picked Wesleyan was the relationships I could build with my professors, and I think this is a tribute to the relationships I built with them and how they supported me as a student.”
Molecular biology and biochemistry major Leila Epstein ’26 said, “I feel like you work really hard for it all four years and to have [this] honor at the end is great.” Achieving this distinction for Epstein involved long hours in the research lab investigating functions of epithelial cells. The academic accolade took place just two days after Epstein reached a pinnacle in athletics—winning the NCAA Division III Championship title with the women’s tennis team, of which she was co-captain. “It's been a whirlwind in the last 48 hours,” said Epstein, who was among 14 student-athletes inducted at the ceremony. “It’s just so incredible—all of it.”
The initiation ceremony featured a welcome from President Michael S. Roth ’78, a Phi Beta Kappa member, remarks from Meng-Ju (Renee) Sher ’07, associate professor of physics and chapter past president, and a keynote address from Alan Miller ’76. A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist known for his investigative reporting, Miller is the founder of the nonprofit News Literacy Project, which launched the field of news literacy in 2008 and provides K–12 educators with tools and resources to help their students navigate the digital world.
Describing his career trajectory and invoking the indomitable spirit of his late mother-in-law, Miller said he knew he wanted to be a journalist by his senior year at Wesleyan. He offered the inductees six life lessons from his experiences, exhorting them to never let doubters stop them from pursuing their goals, to follow their passions, to make a difference, to cultivate close and meaningful relationships, to take care of the body and soul, and to stay connected to Wesleyan.
His words resonated with Suchita Sridhara ’26, an economics and psychology major whose thesis on the effects of economic scarcity on cognitive ability earned high honors. She said she took to heart Miller’s emphasis on staying connected to alma mater: “I think that Wesleyan offers so much with its classes, its community, its alumni. And between the resources and the people that Wesleyan gave me—it's just something that I'm very, very grateful for, especially reflecting on my time here in my last few days.”
The senior class members inducted into Phi Beta Kappa this spring join 15 other members of the class who were admitted to Phi Beta Kappa in the fall.
