Our Partners

Five students at the College of William and Mary founded Phi Beta Kappa in 1776, during the American Revolution. For over two and a quarter centuries, the Society has embraced the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression. Laptops have replaced quill pens, but these ideas, symbolized on Phi Beta Kappa’s distinctive gold key, still lay the foundations of personal freedom, scientific inquiry, liberty of conscience and creative endeavor.

Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities. The Society sponsors activities to advance these studies — the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences — in higher education and in society at large.

Since 2003, ACAD and The Phi Beta Kappa Society have co-sponsored three biennial conferences that reflect each organizations commitment to the ideals of the liberal arts education. Each conference attempts to go beyond the typical “nuts and bolts” of academic administration and focus on re-igniting the intellectual spark that brought people to academics in the first place. The next ACAD/PBK joint conference is expected to take place in Fall of 2011.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises 1,200 member institutions—including accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size. The ACAD Offices are housed in the AAC&U building, and ACAD was established in 1945 as a national organization for academic deans only from institutions belonging to AAC&U. That restriction was removed in 1968, and membership was opened to all academic officers. The historic affiliation between the two organizations continues through their mutual commitment to fostering liberal education, through the co-sponsorship of meetings and other collaborative programming efforts, and through some joint membership recruitment efforts. Most ACAD members continue to come from AAC&U member institutions. For information on membership in AAC&U, contact Dennis Renner, Director of Membership at renner@aacu.org.