Honors Societies

Honors College students are often invited to join a variety of national honors societies and local chapters. The following are ones supported by the Honors College. The decision to join an honor society, whether included on this list or not, is an individual decision, and you are encouraged to look into each honor society’s benefits, fees, local chapter activity, and more as you are making your decision to join.

Phi Eta Sigma

Phi Eta Sigma is a national honor society for college freshmen. Their goal is to encourage and reward academic excellence among first year students in institutions of higher learning. The oldest and largest freshman honor society, Phi Eta Sigma was founded at the University of Illinois on March 22, 1923. They now have more than 300 chapters throughout the United States and more than 625,000 inducted members. This chapter has been temporarily paused and is inactive.

Phi Kappa Phi

The purpose of Phi Kappa Phi, unique among honor societies, is not only to recognize and encourage superior scholarship but also to bring together the best scholars in all disciplines and to foster mutual respect and cooperation to the benefit of all. The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi was founded at the University of Maine in 1897 and has now grown to a total membership of over 800,000. The University of Illinois at Chicago Chapter is the one hundred fifty-second chapter of the Society. This chapter has been temporarily paused and is inactive.

Additional Honor Societies: Heading link

Phi Beta Kappa

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society, inviting into membership outstanding seniors who have attained a liberal arts education with demonstrated breadth and depth. The organization gets its name from the first letters of the Greek phrase Φιλοσοφία Βίον Κυβερήτης – which in English means “Love of learning is the guide to life.”

https://www.las.uic.edu/students/current-undergraduate/opportunities/phi-beta-kappa

All UIC Honor Societies

Visit the Undergraduate Catalog to learn about the many honor societies and chapters that exist at UIC:

https://catalog.uic.edu/ucat/colleges-depts/honors-college/