Phi Beta Delta
is the honor society for international scholars. Students can participate in group activities and events, and can take advantage of guest speakers and academic programming on campus.
Phi Beta Delta, founded at California State University, Long Beach in 1986, was established as an organization in 1987 with 38 chartered chapters, many of which had existed for a considerable time previously at the local level. It is the first honor society dedicated to recognizing scholarly achievement in international education. As of December of 2007, 168 chapters have been chartered.
Phi Beta Delta traces its background to the eighteenth-century founding of Phi Beta Kappa. In the nineteenth century, Greek fraternities divided into the social, professional, and academic Greeks. Phi Beta Delta is an academic and professional society, unique because it is resolutely interdisciplinary and international. Its formal organization brought together numerous pre-existing internally-oriented campus groups. Its goals are:
- to recognize the scholarly achievement of international students and scholars, who have studied abroad and faculty and staff who are involved in international activities;
- to serve as a vehicle for the development of academic-based international programming;
- to provide a network on each campus of faculty, staff and students involved in international endeavors; and
- to extend this network to thousands of members in chapters throughout the world.