Nine public health students make the grade with Phi Beta Kappa

Stephen Gray Redding

Eight undergraduates studying at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and one recent graduate were inducted this spring into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most honored of college honorary societies.

The recently inducted students include:

• Rachel Tomomi Baum, a junior majoring in health policy and management and global studies, from Boulder, Colo.
• Sessaly Noelle Craft, a May graduate with a nutrition major, from Raleigh, N.C.
• Caroline Mary Johnson, a junior with an environmental health science major and a minor in Japanese, from Wilmington, N.C.
• Caroline Mary Jones, a junior nutrition major, from Shelby, N.C.
• Kelli Michelle Paice, a junior with an environmental health science major and a geography major, from Mansfield, Mass.
• Stephen Gray Redding, a junior environmental sciences and engineering major, from Pittsboro, N.C.
• Gina Nicole Sacks, a junior majoring in nutrition and in Spanish, from Nashville, Tenn.
• Raj J. Shah, a junior majoring in nutrition, from Charlotte, N.C.
• Douglas Roy Wilson Jr., a junior with mathematics and biostatistics majors, from Charlotte, N.C.

Phi Beta Kappa inducted 139 new members this spring. About two-thirds of them hail from North Carolina.

Rachel Tomomi Baum

The induction ceremony featured remarks by Steven P. Miller, executive vice president of the Biltmore Company. New members received certificates and Phi Beta Kappa keys, 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 with a GPA of 3.85 or better (on a 4-point scale) is eligible for membership. Also eligible is any student who has competed 105 hours of course work in the liberal arts and sciences with a 3.75 GPA. Grades earned at other universities are not considered. Less than 1 percent of all college students qualify.

Caroline Johnson

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.

Phi Beta Kappa has 280 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.