Princeton Sociologist Angel L. Harris to Address W&L’s Phi Beta Kappa Convocation
Washington and Lee University will induct new members into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society at its Phi Beta Kappa/Society of the Cincinnati Convocation on Wednesday, March 14, at 11:45 a.m. in Lee Chapel.
The convocation, which is free and open to the public, will recognize and honor 46 members of the junior and senior classes accepted into Phi Beta Kappa based on their exceptional academic achievements. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the worlds of business and education, the chapter will induct Rupert H. Johnson Jr. as an alumnus member of Phi Beta Kappa. Johnson is a member of the W&L Class of 1962.
The event will feature Angel L. Harris, associate professor of sociology and African American Studies at Princeton University, as the keynote speaker. The title of his talk is “Probability v. Possibility: Pursuing Goals without Losing Sight of Reality.” The chapter will induct Harris as an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Harris is the author of Kids Don’t Want to Fail: Oppositional Culture and the Black-White Achievement Gap (2011) and co-author of Raising Learners: Parental Involvement and School Achievement (forthcoming this year). He also has authored and co-authored more than 10 journal articles.
Harris is a faculty associate of the Office of Population Research, the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing and the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University.
Harris’ research interests include social inequality, policy and education, and his work focuses on the social psychological determinants of the racial achievement gap. Specifically, he examines the factors that contribute to differences in academic investment among African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and whites. Harris also studies the impact that adolescents’ perceptions of opportunities for upward socio-economic mobility have for their academic investment, and the long-term effects of youths’ occupational aspirations both within the U.S. and Europe.
W&L students being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa:
Class of 2012:
Lauren J. Acker of Bloomfield Village, Mich.; Hannah Agard of Fort Thomas, Ky.; Anthony J. Ballor of Shelby Township, Mich.; Lauren Ann Borden of Lake Leelanau, Mich.; Camille Morgan Cobb of Huntersville, N.C.; Michael Decembrino Jr. of Yardley, Penn.; Nicholas Albert Gioioso of Baltimore, Md.; Chelsea Elizabeth Carter Gloeckner of Charlottesville, Va.; Brad Harder of Redding, Conn.; David Benjamin Hosler of St. Louis, Mo.; Jasmine Marie Jimenez of Ingleside, Ill.; Eleanor Patricia Kennedy of Munster, Ind.; Samuel Mercado-Rios of Arlington, Va.; Ann Morris of Lexington, Ky.; Patrick Anthony Oley of Richmond, Va.; Barbara SoRelle Peat of St. Louis, Mo.; Melissa McRae Powell of Hattiesburg, Miss.; Olivia M. Riffle of Hudson, Ohio; David Severson of Wichita, Kansas; Kuan Si of Guiyang City, China; Roger Strong of Spencerport, N.Y.; Lauren Ashley Tipton of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Erika Leigh Vaughn of Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Raisa Velasco Castedo of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Class of 2013:
Megan Elizabeth Bock of Holmdel, N.J.; Max Laitman Chapnick of White Plains, N.Y.; Aubri Kaitlin Charnigo of Sinking Spring, Pa.; Violette Ruth Chartock of Columbia, S.C.; Upol Ehsan of Dhaka, Bangladesh; Amanda Marie Grywalski of Springfield, N.J.; Ali Hamed of New Zarqa, Jordan; Clark L. Hildabrand of Brentwood, Tenn.; Maggie Lynn Holland of Bartow, Fla.; Joseph R. Landry of New Ipswich, N.H.; Joe LaSala of Wilton, Conn.; Kerriann Elise Laubach of McMurray, Pa.; Andrew Channing Martin of Midlothian, Va.; Hang Nguyen of Hanoi, Vietnam; Tamar J. Oostrom of Richland, Wash.; Jina Park of Duluth, Ga.; Rachael Petry of Winchester, Tenn.; Lauren Schultz of California, Md.; Kathryn DeArmon Stewart of Charlotte, N.C.; Beryl Tran of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Robert Griffin Vestal of Memphis, Tenn.; and Kayla Welch of Beaver Falls, Pa.
Phi Beta Kappa will announce the winner of the Phi Beta Kappa J. Brown Goehring Sophomore Award at the convocation. The Goehring Award goes to the student with the highest cumulative scholastic average through the end of the fall term of his or her sophomore year. It is named in honor of J. Brown Goehring, a retired chemistry professor at W&L. During his 38 years at the University, he spent 22 years as secretary/treasurer of the Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary. Its motto is “Love of learning is the guide of life.”
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Julie Cline
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