Beta Kappa Chi
| Beta Kappa Chi | |
|---|---|
| ΒΚΧ | |
 | |
| Founded | January 31, 1923 Lincoln University |
| Type | Honor |
| Affiliation | ACHS |
| Status | Active |
| Emphasis | Natural science and Mathematics |
| Scope | National |
| Motto | "Science holds the Golden Key to the Royal Palace of Knowledge" |
| Colors | Golden Yellow and Royal Blue |
| Symbol | Clover Leaf, Skull and Crossed Bones, Circle, Retort, Balance, Scroll with stencils |
| Publication | Beta Kappa Chi Bulletin |
| Chapters | 67 |
| Members | 66,000 lifetime |
| Headquarters | c/o Southern University and A&M College 244 William James Hall PO Box 10046 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813 United States |
| Website | www |
Beta Kappa Chi (ΒΚΧ) is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes academic achievement in the fields of natural science and mathematics. It was established in 1923 at Lincoln University, a historically Black university near Oxford, Pennsylvania. It has established more than 65 chapters in the United States, and is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies.
History
[edit]Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Society was founded by science students and faculty at Lincoln University on January 31, 1923.[1][2][3][4] Its faculty supporters were Harold Fetter Grimm, head of the department of biology; Arthur E. James, professor of chemistry' and Walter Livingstone Wright, professor of mathematics.[5][4]
Its 24 charter members were:[3][4][6]
- Horace Mann Bond
- Lawrence N. Brown
- Walter C. Coles
- Edward D. Dukes
- Emanuel R. Ferguson
- Adelphus N. Gordon
- James W. Grimes
- Irving S. Hamer
- William B. Hamer
- Henry A. Haskell
- Robert S. Jason
- Carson C. Johnson
- Paul H. Logan
- Fletcher A. Moncur
- Clifford D. Nixon
- Hildrus Poindexter
- Henry C. Redmond
- Lewis E. Redmond
- Harvey J. Reynolds
- Anderson T. Scott
- Maceo A. Simmons
- Fred L. Stiger
- Samuel T. Washington
- I. J. K. Wells
Six of its charter members became medical doctors, one became a dentist, and another became a college president.[3][4]
The charter members created a constitution and selected the society's keys and symbols.[4] Initially, Beta Kappa Chi operated as a local science club.[2] Its first guest speaker was Ernest Everett Just, a biologist from Howard University.[3][4]
It became a national organization on May 8, 1926, with the establishment of the Beta chapter at West Virginia State College.[3][2] Beta Kappa Chi Honorary Scientific Society was incorporated in 1929.[3] Its purpose was to encourage and advance scientific education, research, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge.[7][6] Chapters were limited to accredited "grade A" colleges and universities.[7]
Next, Gamma chapter was established at Howard University.[2] By 1936, there were eight chapters. The society expanded to other historically black colleges and universities in the United States through 1941.[5][3] However, the organization almost collapsed in 1941, surviving by the re-establishment of the Delta chapter at Johnson C. Smith University by its local science club and by the recruitment activities by members of the Alpha chapter.[3][8] Gamma chapter was reestablished in 1943.[8]
To increase organizational stability, the society added a faculty sponsor for each chapter.[3] This helped stabilize all eight of the Beta Kappa Chi chapters and brought the addition of thirteen more chapters.[3] A grand chapter was established to oversee the national organization and to support alumni engagement.[3]
The society published its first newsletter, Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Society News Letter, in May 1943; its name was changed to the current Beta Kappa Chi Bulletin with the third issue in May 1944.[2]
The society changed its name to Beta Kappa Chi National Honor Society in 1960.[5] It was admitted to the Association of College Honor Societies in 1961.[9][6] Nearly every historically Black college and university in the United States had a chapter of Beta Kappa Chi by 1965.[5]
As of 2024, Beta Kappa Chi honor society has 67 active chapters across the United States, and 66,000 members.[10] It is a scholastic honor society that recognizes academic achievement among students in the fields of natural science and mathematics.[1][9] It is the oldest mostly Black scientific organization in the United States.[6]
Symbols
[edit]The motto of Beta Kappa Chi is ''Science holds the Golden Key to the Royal Palace of Knowledge''.[7][11] The meaning of the Greek letters Beta Kappa Chi are only known to the society's members, but represent its motto.[7][11] Its colors are golden yellow and royal blue.[11][1]
The Beta Kappa Chi key designed by charter member John Martyne Howe.[4] Its key is shaped like a benzene ring with the Greek letters ΒΚΧ and a clover leaf above the Β, a skull and crossed bones above the Κ, and a circle above the Χ. There is a retort below the Β, a balance below the Κ, and scroll with stencils below the Χ.[1][7][11]
The symbols were selected by charter members Horace Bond, W. C. Coles, and Adolphus Gordon.[4] The clover leaf symbolizes botany, the scull and crossed bones represent anatomy, and the circle stands for astronomy.[7][11] The retort represents chemistry, balance is a symbol of physics, and the scroll with stencils represents mathematics.[7][11]
Its publication is the Beta Kappa Chi Bulletin.[9][2]
Membership
[edit]Membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students.[9] Undergraduates are eligible for membership if they have completed 64 hours of college courses with 17 hours in the sciences, with a B average, and rank in the upper fifth of their class.[9] Graduate students must have completed fifteen hours in the sciences with a mix of As and Bs.[9]
Activities
[edit]Beta Kappa Chi has an annual national convention that includes research presentations by its members.[9] This meeting is held in conjunction with the National Institute of Science in Washington, D.C.[12][6][13] In 2017, it held a joint annual meeting with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Science.[14]
Chapters
[edit]As of 2024, Beta Kappa Chi honor society has 67 active chapters across the United States.[10][15][16] Chapters were assigned Greek letter names in alphabetical order until 1950; at that time Greek letter names were abolished and all chapters were named by their host institution.[17]
Notable members
[edit]- Horace Mann Bond (Alpha), president of Fort Valley State College and father of civil-rights leader Julian Bond[3][4][6]
- Ulysses Grant Dailey (Alpha), surgeon and president of the National Medical Association[2]
- Harold Fetter Grimm (Alpha honorary), head of the department of biology and dean for fifty years at Lincoln University[8][18]
- Mary Elliott Hill, one of the earliest African-American women to become a chemist
- Robert S. Jason (Alpha), head of the department of pathology at the Howard University College of Medicine[3][2][4]
- Lynda Marie Jordan, biochemist and associate professor of chemistry at North Carolina A&T State University
- Angie Turner King, professor of chemistry and mathematics at West Virginia State College
- Evelyn Nicol, immunologist, microbiologist, and the first to isolate the herpes zoster virus
- E. E. O'Banion, chairman of the chemistry department and director of the natural sciences department at Prairie View A&M University from the 1940s to the 1970s[19][20][13]
- Joseph Alphonso Pierce, mathematician and statistician
- Hildrus Poindexter (Alpha), bacteriologist, pioneer in tropical medicine, and head of the department of preventative medicine, bacteriology, and public health at the Howard University College of Medicine[2][3][4][6]
- Johnnie Hines Watts Prothro, professor at the Tuskegee Institute, University of Connecticut at Storrs, and Georgia State University
- Carl Glennis Roberts (Alpha), one of the first African Americans to be elected to the American College of Surgeons and a president of the National Medical Association[2]
- Gladys W. Royal, early African-American biochemist
- Alberta Jones Seaton, professor of biology at Texas Southern University and the first African-American women awarded a doctorate in zoology
- Jerome Singleton, Paralympic athlete
- Frederick D. Stubbs (Alpha), thoracic surgeon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[2][21][22][23]
- Louise Nixon Sutton, first chair of the Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics at Elizabeth City State University
- Thyrsa Frazier Svager, head of the Department of Mathematics at Central State University
- Thomas Wyatt Turner (Alpha honorary), botanist, head of the department of natural sciences at Howard University, first Black American to receive a Ph.D. in botany, and helped found the NAACP and the Federated Colored Catholics[8]
- Levi Watkins, heart surgeon who was the first to successfully implant an automatic defibrillator in a human patient
- I. J. K. Wells (Alpha), state supervisor of Negro schools for West Virginia[3]
- Michael Duryea Williams, professor at Clark Atlanta University
- James Edward Young, professor physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Johnson, Leroy Dennis. History of Beta Kappa Chi, National Scientific Honor Society; Golden Anniversary, 1923–1973. Beta Kappa Chi, c. 1974.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Anson, Jack L.; Marchenasi, Robert F., eds. (1991) [1879]. Baird's Manual of American Fraternities (20th ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Baird's Manual Foundation, Inc. p. VI-18–19. ISBN 978-0963715906.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Williams Joseph L. "Beta Kappa Chi: A Challenge Not To Be Ignored." Journal of the National Medical Association, vol. 37, no. 1 (January 1945): 26. via PubMed Central.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Williams, Joseph L. "JSTOR 4604825 Betta Kappa Chi Honorary Scientific Society]." Bios vol. 15, no. 3 (October 1944): 137–139.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bond, Horace Mann (November 6, 1943). How Beta Kappa Chi Began (Letter to Dr. Joseph L. Williams). Beta Kappa Chi – via University of Massachusetts Amherst Library.
- ^ a b c d "Our History". Beta Kappa Chi. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Lincoln Sponsors Golden Anniversary of Beta Kappa Chi". New Pittsburgh Courier. 1973-03-31. p. 11. Retrieved 2024-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Constitution and By-Laws of Beta Kappa Chi Honorary Scientific Society". University of Massachusetts Amherst Library. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Chapter News". Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Society News-Letter. 1 (1): 2–3. May 1943 – via University of Massachusetts Amherst Library.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Beta Kappa Chi Honor Society – Natural Sciences and Mathematics". Association of College Honor Societies. February 12, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2024-09-08 – via web.archive.org.
- ^ a b "Home". www.betakappachi.org. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ a b c d e f "Ritual, Symbols and Colors". Beta Kappa Chi. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ "SU students present research at joint meeting of the National Institute of Science and Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Honors Society". Southern University and A&M College. 2018-04-29. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ a b "Many Colleges Represented at Join Science Convention at Prairie View". The Call. Kansas City, Missouri. 1952-05-02. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-09-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Join NIAID at the Beta Kappa Chi & National Institute of Science joint annual meeting, 3/13-3/17". National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ "Beta Kappa Chi Honor Society Chapters, ACHS". Association of College Honor Societies. June 7, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2024-09-08 – via web.archive.org.
- ^ "Our Chapters". Beta Kappa Chi. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ "Societies – Freddye T. Davy Honors College". Hampton University. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ "Grim Hall". Lincoln University. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ "Scholarship at PVAMU in memory of O'Banion". Chron. September 10, 2003. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ "Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Society, 1943–1953 (letter)". University of Massachusetts Amherst Library. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ^ "Topic | Dr. Frederick Douglas Stubbs, M.D., F.A.C.S. | The History of African Americans in the Medical Professions". CHAAMP (Consortium on the History of African Americans in the Medical Professions). University of Virginia. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ Mahoney, Eleanor (2018-01-14). "Frederick D. Stubbs (1906–1947)". Black Past. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
- ^ "Frederick Douglass Stubbs". Blacks@Dartmouth 1775 to 1960. Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association. Retrieved 2024-09-08.