Pi Gamma Mu

Pi Gamma Mu is the oldest and preeminent honor society in the social sciences. It serves the various social science disciplines which seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships and the problems and issues that arise therefrom. Pi Gamma Mu's constitution defines the social sciences to include the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, international relations, criminal justice, social work, social psychology, social philosophy, history of education, and human geography.

The mission of Pi Gamma Mu is to encourage and recognize superior scholarship in these disciplines and to foster social interaction and social service among its members.

1. History

In 1924, Dean Leroy Allen of Southwestern College in Kansas and Dean William Hamilton of the Law School of the College of William and Mary met in Winfield, Kansas to form an honor society that would serve the purposes of the social sciences, particularly during a period of autonomous existence of the younger disciplines. Allen and Hamilton named the honor society Pi Gamma Mu to stand for the initial Greek letters of its mission: Politikes Gnoseos Mathethea , the study of political and social phenomena.

Allen and Hamilton thereafter drafted a constitution and established the first 17 chapters in small private colleges and universities led by Southwestern College and the College of William and Mary in 1924. The next year, the first issue of the Society's official journal, Social Science, was published and distributed to its members. The Society was formally incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Colorado under the name "The National Social Science Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu, Inc" in 1929.

Much of the groundwork for the new Society was left to Allen who served as its national secretary for over 25 years. Pi Gamma Mu had for its early presidents several distinguished social scientists, including Dr. S. Howard Patterson, a renowned microeconomist who was professor of economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of several classic textbooks in the field, noted sociologist Charles Abram Ellwood of Duke University, who was also a founder of the Society and its president from 1931 to 1937, and political scientist W. Leon Godshall of Lehigh University, the Society's president from 1950 until his death in 1956 and under whose initiative foreign chapters were founded.

The late 1920s and 1930s was a period of expansion for Pi Gamma Mu. Columbia University was the first large university to establish a chapter of the Society. In 1927, the first chapter outside of the United States was chartered at the University of Toronto in Canada. In 1932, a chapter was installed at the University of the Philippines. The trustees of Pi Gamma Mu later granted a charter to the Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

To acknowledge its chapters outside of the United States, the Board of Trustees took action in 1980 to change the name of the Society to Pi Gamma Mu, International Honor Society in Social Science. In 1982, the name of the journal was also changed to International Social Science Review.

2. Election to Membership

Pi Gamma Mu has active chapters in about 150 colleges and universities.

Membership in the Society comes only through election by a college- or university-based chapter. An individual is traditionally invited or may petition to join an active college chapter of Pi Gamma Mu when he/she is a junior, senior or graduate student, belonging to no more than the upper one-third of the class, with at least 20 semester hours in social science courses and an overall average grade of "B" or better. Faculty and administrators may also accept the privileges and responsibilities of membership in a collegiate chapter.

Newly initiated members receive an engraved membership certificate, a membership card, a gold key or pin, and one-year subscription to its official journal and newsletter. A one-time fee of $40.00 covers these and the privilege of life membership in Pi Gamma Mu.

Famous members of the Society include former U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson, former Philippine presidents Jose P. Laurel and Ferdinand E. Marcos, noted cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, sociologist Pitirim Sorokin who founded Harvard University's sociology department, and incumbent US Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, served for a time as Honorary National President of Pi Gamma Mu, and in 1928 carried the Society's flag in a historic voyage to the Antarctic.

3. Awards and Scholarships

Pi Gamma Mu provides five named scholarships carrying stipends of $2000 and a number of $1,000 scholarships for one year of graduate study in the social science disciplines. These are awarded to selected members annually. Any member of the Society is eligible to apply as a graduating senior or as a prospective graduate student.

Outstanding chapters of the Society are eligible to receive the Roll of Distinction, Roll of Merit and the Joseph B. James awards on a purely competitive basis. The Roll of Distinction is given to chapters based on their activity and effectiveness of , as well as their efficiency of operation during a school year. The annual Roll of Merit is given as a form of honorable mention based on the same criteria. The Joseph B. James Chapter Incentive Award, named after a long-time president of the Society, is presented every three years to reward the performance of a new or newly reactivated chapter, which substantially increases its focus on one or more areas, such as membership or activities. Each of the three listed chapter-based awards are conferred by the Board of Trustees after assessing the annual chapter reports with focus on their service, service projects and yearly activities.

4. Publications

Membership in Pi Gamma Mu also serves as an opportunity for members to publish in a scholarly journal. International Social Science Review is a juried and indexed social science interdisciplinary journal which is sent to all new members of Pi Gamma Mu for one year. Social scientists in the United States and abroad contribute articles and book reviews to the publication. Members are encouraged to submit manuscripts to be considered for publication.

The Pi Gamma Mu Newsletter reaches new members six times a year. It contains pictures and news of the programs and activities of the international society and its chapters. Reports of trustee meetings and conventions are included as well as announcements and items of interest. Contributions for the Newsletter go to headquarters operations.

5. Symbols of the Society

Motto The motto of the Society is the epigram of the Master Teacher, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Key The Society’s key has a wreath at the bottom to suggest that social science is the outgrowth and fulfillment of natural science. The running figure is reminiscent of the ancient Greek torch race and symbolizes humanity bringing knowledge to the solution of its own problems and passing on the light from generation to generation. In the key are engraved the Greek letters Pi Gamma Mu and 1924, its founding date.

Colors The official colors are blue and white - for truth and light.

Flower The official flower is the blue and white cineraria.

Ritual The official ritual has been adopted for optional use in initiating new members, in inaugurating officers, and in installing new chapters. Part of the initiation and installation rituals is the recitation of the seven ideals of Pi Gamma Mu: science, society, social science, scholarship, socialization, social service, and sacrifice

6. Governance

The present constitution of the Society provides for triennial conventions, with each chapter eligible to send a delegation. The convention is vested with the supreme authority of the Society. During the convention, delegates elect two student representatives to the Board of Trustees, which exercises administrative power between conventions. Members of the Board of Trustees are elected by the chapters for three year terms. Five chancellors oversee regions made up of several provinces. The provinces are headed by governors who lend support and assistance to the collegiate chapters under their jurisdiction. Each chapter, under the direction of faculty officers, plans its own programs and specific areas of service.

The international headquarters of Pi Gamma Mu are located in Winfield, Kansas in the Carnegie Building , which is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The executive director, who serves as ex officio member of the governing board, oversees the operations of the Society. Pi Gamma Mu is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies, on whose council it has a representative.

7. External Links

The official website of the Society is www.pigammamu.org