PSA-PBK Members Join Governing Body of National Phi Beta Kappa Society
Zev Handel (right) of the University of Washington Department of Asian Languages and Literature, a former PSA-PBK board member and ex-president of Washington Alpha, and Kathleen Woodward (below, left), director of the UW Simpson Center for the Humanities, were elected at the 2012 Phi Beta Kappa Triennial Council to serve eight-year terms as senators. As such they will guide Phi Beta Kappa on policy matters and shape its future.
Joining them from the UW is Mary-Claire King (below, right) of the Department of Genome Sciences, thus creating a unique event: having three senators simultaneously from the same institution. Only one university, Yale, with two senators currently, has more than one. The three UW faculty members were elected from a panel of 18 candidates to fill eight at-large seats. The total number of senators is 24. The UW professors thus constitute 1/8 of the total. Our member Bill Reinhardt was a member of the society's nominating committee.