PBK Awards (Left to right) Gregory Smith, John Griffin and Elizabeth P. Allen '11, pose for a photo with Robert Orwoll and Kathleen Jenkins after receiving their awards. Photo by Matthew Allar, Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance
The College of William and Mary’s Alpha of Virginia chapter of Phi Beta Kappa gathers annually to celebrate the academic and professional achievement of its membership. On March 1, the chapter held a dinner in honor of an outstanding student in chemistry, Elizabeth P. Allen '11, and two exceptional professors, Gregory Smith, associate professor of applied science, and John Griffin, associate professor of biology and director of the neuroscience program.
Smith was awarded the John D. Rockefeller Award for the Advancement of Scholarship, and Griffin received the Rockefeller Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Founded by five students at the College of William and Mary
in 1776, during the American Revolution,
Phi Beta Kappa, for over two and a quarter centuries, has embraced the
principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression. Laptops
have replaced quill pens, but these ideas, symbolized on Phi Beta Kappa's
distinctive gold key, still lay the foundations of personal freedom, scientific
inquiry, liberty of conscience and creative endeavor.
Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and
sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts
and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities. The society sponsors activities to advance these studies — the humanities, the
social sciences, and the natural sciences — in higher education
Additional information about the College of William and Mary’s founding chapter of Phi Beta Kappa may be found here.
