Pitt’s Phi Beta Kappa Chapter Inducts 113 Into 2012 Class

The University of Pittsburgh chapter of Phi Beta Kappa inducted 113 Pitt students into its 2012 class during an April 28 initiation ceremony in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room.

Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa is America’s oldest college honor society. Election to Phi Beta Kappa is considered by many to be the most prestigious honor of academic excellence that can be conferred upon students majoring in one of the liberal arts and sciences. Among the organization’s past inductees are 17 U.S. Presidents, 38 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and 136 Nobel Laureates.

Local chapters work within the organization’s national guidelines to establish their own criteria for election to the society. At Pitt, eligibility requirements include, among others, proficiency in a foreign language as well as completion of a demanding, broadly distributed program of course work spanning the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Completing a well-distributed program of course work is more important than a 4.0 grade point average. Grade point average requirements range from 3.5 to 3.9, with the lower criterion applying to students who have earned at least 90 liberal arts credits at Pitt and the higher criterion applying to those who have earned 60 liberal arts credits at Pitt.

Pitt's Phi Beta Kappa Class of 2012 inductees are:

Valerie Alstadt
Danielle Arbogast
Cheryl Augenstein
Megan Ault
Elizabeth Barrington
Olivia  Beaubrun
Jason Bigenho
Kaitlin Brown
Suzanne Cake
Anne Caruso
Hatim Chafi
Brittany Charsar*
Caitlin Cocilova
Alexander Cornhill
Andrew Coulter
Ryan Demkowicz
Mark Dietrich
Genevieve Dobihal
Thomas Dohle Jr.
Brandon Ellis
Andrew Espenlaub
Brian Faber
Devin Fabian
Heather Fagan
Jessica Ferraro
Joseph Filippini
John Galebach
Collin Gannon
Thomas Gerber
Brittney Gewolb
Michael Gowen
Akash Goyal*
Paige Griffiths
Annie Gula*
Ragini Gupta*
Katrina Han
Roman Harlovic
Mary Hegarty
Brooke Heyman
Azad Hirpara*
Daniel Hoffman
Carolann Howard
Hao Hua
Anneka Jankowiak
Qinyi Jiang
Morgan Kain
Ian Kang
Adnan Kazim
Lorraine Keeler*
Gail Kim
Miranda King
Arielle Klein
Kathleen Kolumban
Andrea Kostura
Samantha Larsen*
Neil Lax
Ly Li
Niamh Linehan
Ashley Lippert
Rene Lloyd
Cory Malagise
Sarai Martinez-Suazo
Keely McCaskie*
Brianna McDonough
John McElhattan*
Maureen McGowan
Gregory McKee
Thomas Michalik*
Aaron Middleton
Lindsay Miller
Jessica Minsky
Elizabeth Mitgang
Bailey Moorhead
Ross Morgan III
Patrick Musgrave
Christopher Nolan
Diana Pak
Andrew Pelesko
Harolyn Phillips
Valerie Pierpoint
Amy Pignataro
Allison Plummer
Vincent Pronesti
Chen Qian
Priya Raghavan
Preethi Rajendran
Sean Rigby
Cory Rodgers
Heather Ross
Nikita Roy
Anneliese Ruggeri
Suman Sajjan
Raul Sanchez
Rachel Schoenburg
Alexandra Spallone
Raymond St. Marie
Michael Stefanowicz
Brenna Sweetman*
Lauren Taylor
Rebecca Toole*
Eric Torres
Jacob Volpe
Erin Walker
Caroline West
Alyssa Willig
Alan Wilson
Kathleen Wilson
Alexis Wnuk
Stephanie Wyrostek
Victoria Wytiaz*
Wen Xu
Young-Gyue Yi
Richard Zou

(* indicates Pitt junior)