Phi Beta Kappa elects 69 members

The Brandeis chapter of Phi Beta Kappa has elected 62 new members from the class of 2014 and seven from the class of 2015.

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honors organization in the United States. Founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776, its high and rigorous standards of excellence have made election to it one of the highest academic honors an undergraduate at a college in the United States can receive.

Brandeis established a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1961. This earned Brandeis the distinction of achieving the quickest chapter chartering in relation to an institution’s founding.

Selection for membership in Phi Beta Kappa is based on the quality of the candidate’s academic record, the breadth of their academic interest beyond their concentration, and the opinions of the faculty and senior administrators concerning the scholarly achievements and character of the candidate.

The initiation ceremony will be held Saturday, May 17, 1:30 pm, on the Spingold Theater Center Main Stage and will feature a talk by Joyce Antler, the Samuel B. Lane Professor of American Jewish History and Culture and professor of women’s and gender studies. A reception will follow for new Phi Beta Kappa members and their families and friends.

Electees from the Class of 2014:

Laili Amighi, Kochava Ayoun, Benjamin N. Barber, David J. Benger, Ariana L. Boltax, Aliza D. Braverman, Daniel Brog, Jenny Cheng, David Meir Clements, Rebecca M. DeHovitz, Katherine Gordon Doody, Katey Duchin, Charlotte Rose Erb, Kara Lynn Faktor, Gabriella E. Feingold, Avital Batsheva Fagen Friedland, Heather G. Friedman, Philip Meyer Berlin Gallagher, Adam P. Gelman, Katharine P. Glanbock, Jack Z. Hait, Shafaq Hasan, Jeffrey Michael Herman, Leah Meryl Igdalsky, Joseph R. Jacobowitz, Chunhui Ji, Anita Lee Kao, Rafi Kohen, Margo Louise Kolenda, Michael S. Kosowsky, Cindy Kui, Sarah Sue Landau, Rebecca Tamara Loewenstein-Harting, Jacob Michael Lurie, Yael B. Marks, Laura Ben Marger Moore, Dillon T. Morris, Kerry Morse, Anthony Huy Nguyen, Ryan James Nicoll,  Zoe Fay Oppenheimer, Samuel L.  Porter, Isaac Jonathan Rabbani, Richard Dylan Rosen, Julia Rosner, Danielle I. Sackstein, Mara Alyssa Sassoon, Suzannah Lee Scanlon, Jeremy Michael Schmidt, Martha R. Schwarz, James L. Shen, Abigail Michelle Simon, Christopher M. Stanton, Helen Stolyar, Abraham B. Troen, Kyle J. Van Gorkom, Andrea Verdeja Vicente, Naomi L. Volk, Samantha R. Weinerman, Andrew E. Wingens, Qiyu Zhang, and Rebecca Lan Zhang

Members from the class of 2014 who were inducted last year as juniors:

Skyler Whitman Kasko, Michael Dror Keselman, Corrie Elizabeth Legge, Maya Missouri Riser-Kositsky, Aaron Morris Schluger, Sara Shahanaghi, and Songyi Wang

Electees from the Class of 2015:

Isabel S. Ballan, Michael Benjamin Kahn, Jessica Gorman Kramer, Jeffrey M. Lowenstein, Melissa Faith Tannenbaum, Meredith Hope van der Walde, and Benjamin Bo Wang