Nineteen additional members of the Class of 2021 have been elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

Nineteen members of the Class of 2021 have been elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, joining 19 classmates who were elected earlier in the academic year. An initiation ceremony was held in the sunshine in Guerry Garth on Friday, May 21. 

Election to Phi Beta Kappa is perhaps the most prized honor a college student can receive. Students who have demonstrated exceptional academic excellence become eligible for election after completing at least six consecutive semesters. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary; the Sewanee Chapter, Beta of Tennessee, was established in 1926.

Congratulations to Sewanee’s newest members:

  • Sarah Marie Asinger, French and English major, Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Edward Webster Johnston Austin, Spanish and English major, Rossville, Tennessee
  • Laura Jane Briley, art history major, San Antonio, Texas
  • Mary Louise Cecil, neuroscience major, Scarsdale, New York
  • Robin Kate Davis, mathematics major, Houston, Texas
  • Elisabeth Patterson Dawe, economics major, Dallas, Texas
  • Grace Marquet Donner, biology major, Rome, Georgia
  • Grace Sinclair Evans, economics major, Mountain Brook, Alabama
  • Henry Ian Fields, biochemistry major, Kingston, Georgia
  • Rebecca Emerson French, Spanish major, New Orleans, Louisiana
  • John Stephen Haight, mathematics major, Sewanee, Tennessee
  • Samuel Girma Kebede, economics major, Bethesda, Maryland
  • Bernice Joyce Leveque, politics major, Smyrna, Tennessee
  • Jana Lynn Michalik, music major, Church Hill, Tennessee
  • Sarah Virginia Murphy, art history major, Alexandria, Virginia
  • Jacob William Piatt, biochemistry major, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
  • Elizabeth Lacey Shackelford, politics major, Mer Rouge, Louisiana
  • Hannah Elizabeth True, classics major, Marana, Arizona
  • Owen Joseph Zalesak, biochemistry major, Tullahoma, Tennessee

Members of the Class of 2021 who were previously initiated are: Marjan Maria Ata, Adelle Gay Dennis, Ryan Andrew Dix, Hayden Margaret Dunbar, Erin Bishop Elliott, Hayden Orville Everett, Carl William Walker Failing, Alexa Shea Fults, Emily Hunter Green, Katherine Dyer Griffin, Greer Marie King, Kcenia Rose Kloesel, Barbara Anne Ramsey, Maxwell Ward Saltman, Máté István Szurop, India Elaine Tisdale, Mandy Moe Pwint Tu, Alicia Sarah Faye Wikner, and Abigail Gage Wrather.

Each year the Sewanee chapter elects a total of approximately 10 percent of the senior class to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Two percent of the class generally is elected at the beginning of the first semester, on the basis of six semesters' work; additional members are elected at the beginning of the second semester and during Commencement Weekend.