March 2024
2024 Essay Competition Announced! Learn about the competition - April 15, 2024 deadline
August 2023
Passing of Professor Grover Marshall: Professor Marshall was a dedicated member of the Beta of New Hampshire Chapter often serving as an officer. Professor Marshall's obituary
December 2022
Former UNH PBK Inductee Returns to Campus as Faculty Member: Michael Mignanelli was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2016. While at UNH, he earned a B.A. in classics with a minor in political science and served as a COLA student fellow. After graduating, Mignanelli attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his M.A. in classics and where he is currently completing his dissertation on Aristophanes and Athenian law.
November 2022
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, professor of physics and core faculty in women's and gender studies, won the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science for her book "The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, & Dreams Deferred." In this book, Prescod-Weinstein shares her love for physics, from the Standard Model of Particle Physics and what lies beyond it, to the physics of melanin in skin, to the latest theories of dark matter — along with a perspective informed by history, politics and the wisdom of Star Trek. One of the leading physicists of her generation, Prescod-Weinstein is also one of fewer than one hundred Black American women to earn a Ph.D. from a department of physics.
May 2022
Pictured is Madison Bouchard-Liporto, who was inducted last year during our virtual ceremony, but we caught her on camera this year. Congratulations, Madison, and all the new, 2022 PBK members inducted this past Saturday!
April 2022
Beta of New Hampshire is sad to say goodbye to one of the most active and energetic Phi Beta Kappa members in its 70-year history. Martha Burton, a mathematician, was the long time director of the UNH Math Assistance Center where she was beloved by generations of students. She helped write the first computer program which PBK uses to help select its members and was a stickler about making sure that every student invited to join possessed the requisite qualifications. She loved math, music, dogs, baking and volunteering, and has helped to create and fund several scholarships at UNH. Secretary Sue Siggelakis remembers fondly her bringing a plate of her homemade, delicious Swedish cream buns to one particular Phi Beta Kappa election meeting. Even after her retirement she was helping us to review files and consult about the selection process as it evolved. She represented the best of UNH and Phi Beta Kappa and we will miss her greatly. Read her obituary.
December 2021
Effective in AY 2024-2025, Beta Chapter (UNH) will no longer accept Personal Finance, Paul 450, as a mathematics course satisfying the mathematics requirement of Phi Beta Kappa.
June 2021
UNH faculty Harriet Fertik, Scott Smith and Jason Sokol, all members of UNH's PBK Chapter, have been recognized for excellence in teaching and research by UNH. Read the story.
March 2021
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu announced that he will nominate John Formella to serve as the next Attorney General of the State of New Hampshire. Formella is Phi Betta Kappa and a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Florida State University. Read the news story.
February 2021
Prof. R. Scott Smith of the Department of Classics, Humanities & Italian Studies is the recipient of the 30th Jean C. Brierley Award for Excellence in College Teaching at UNH. The annual Brierley presentation is the signature event celebrating the university’s commitment to excellence in teaching and student learning. Prof. Smith will deliver the presentation on College Teaching: Why (Dusty Old) Languages Matter. Prof. Smith is a PBK member and has served on a number of chapter committees.
February 2021
Allen Linden, professor emeritus of history, passed away on April 16, 2020. He served as president of the UNH PBK Chapter in 1968-1969 and 1989-90. Read more about Allen Linden.
September 2020
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed away. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell.
September 2020
UNH alumnus and former New Hampshire Gov. Stephen Merrill has died. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Read story.
Spring 2020
The Beta of New Hampshire chapter of Phi Beta Kappa is pleased to announce its 31st Annual Essay Competition winners. First Place goes to Taylor Landry for Octavia Butler’s Kindred and the Contemporary Relevance of Slavery (Prof. Briggs Bailey, ENGL 419). Second Place goes to Bailey Prasad for National vs. Cosmopolitan “Citizenship” in Covid-19 (Prof. Janet Polasky, HIST 444). The Phi Beta Kappa competition was initiated by Professor Barbara Cooper to encourage students in general education (now Discovery) courses to strive for excellence in written work.
Spring 2020
Phi Beta Kappa members Darby O’Neil and Jake Gehrung stand out at Hamel Center Undergraduate Research Conference. Read about their research:
Media, Gender, and National Identity in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Darby spent two months in Almaty, Kazakhstan, analyzing how the country’s evolving gender roles are portrayed in popular magazines and on billboard images.
Growing as an Undergraduate Researcher and the Benefits of Directed Research
What’s the most efficient way for an undergraduate to learn the research process? Jake Gehrung reflects on his three undergraduate research experiences to answer that question.
