Welcome to Phi Beta Kappa - Alpha of Pennsylvania chapter! In 1887, Dickinson College founded the Alpha, or first, chapter in Pennsylvania. Since 1776, Phi Beta Kappa chapters across the country have been selecting the leaders of tomorrow in the arts, sciences, law, medicine, politics, and academia. You might have heard of a few of our half million members:
In an increasingly complex and changing world, broad learning is imperative to the survival of humanity and the freedoms we enjoy. As I plead with all my history students: ask the question "Why?" as you did so often in your childhood. Too much in our society is accepted on faith without any critical understanding of how we have arrived at a given "truth". How often have your read a newspaper article, listened to or watched a news broadcast, or even listened to a professor that presented information as "fact" without any justification for why it should be considered valid? This is not a new phenomenon, but we are now seeing an increase in binary thinking in which complex issues are, with surprising ease, divided into black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. Binary thinking is simple; it requires no further thought once the paradigm has been established. What if the original paradigm was flawed? Is our existence so static that we do not need to reconsider and revisit issues as the circumstances change? We require critical thinkers and disciplined minds to understand and adjust to the constant challenges of existence. PBK seeks to honor, acknowledge, and foster the love of learning, an open mind, and a critical approach to all ideas. If you feel that you are a "student of the mind" and are wondering how you can become one of the few people selected into the oldest and most respected academic honor society in the United States, please feel free to contact me. Yours in learning, Mara Donaldson , President |