Three from School inducted into Phi Beta Kappa

Jahan Mohiuddin

Melissa Marit Asmar, Shannon Marie Mentock and Jahan Joyce Mohiuddin, juniors in the Bachelor of Science in Public Health program at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, have been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest college honorary society.

Melissa Asmar

Asmar, a nutrition major from Apex, N.C.; Mentock, a nutrition and French major from Durham, N.C.; and Mohiuddin, an environmental sciences and engineering major from Smithtown, N.Y., were among the 156 inductees this spring at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Shannon Mentock

The induction ceremony featured remarks by David Matas, an attorney in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and lecturer at the University of Manitoba. Each new member received a certificate and a Phi Beta Kappa key, the organization’s symbol.

Phi Beta Kappa membership is open to undergraduates in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences and professional degree programs who meet stringent eligibility requirements.

A student who has completed 75 hours of course work and has a grade-point average of 3.85 (on a 4-point scale) or better is eligible for membership. Also eligible is any student who has competed 105 hours of course work and has a 3.75 grade-point average. Grades earned at other universities are not considered. Less than one percent of all college students qualify to be members.

Past and present Phi Beta Kappa members from across the country have included 17 American presidents and numerous artistic, intellectual and political leaders. Seven of the current nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices are members.

There are 270 Phi Beta Kappa chapters nationwide. UNC’s chapter, Alpha of North Carolina, was founded in 1904 and is the oldest of six chapters in the state.

Each year, Phi Beta Kappa chapters and alumni associations across the country raise and distribute more than $1 million in awards, scholarships and prizes benefiting high school and college students.

Phi Beta Kappa officers at Carolina for 2008-2009 are students Rachel Harper, president; Yan Yan, vice president; and Meaghan Jennison, recording secretary. Dr. Robert Lowman, associate vice chancellor for research, is chapter secretary and faculty adviser.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.