Knox College Inducts 29 New Members into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society

During Knox College’s 2026 Commencement weekend, 29 students were honored with a special induction ceremony for Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society. Professor and Chair of English Cyn Kitchen ’00 was also inducted as the Knox College Alumni Initiate. 

Joining the society is a major honor for all inductees, and especially for new graduate Maddie Goss ’26, who joined her grandfather as a Phi Beta Kappa member.

“I didn’t know he was part of it until I was elected,” said Goss, a neuroscience major. “Finding out new things about the people who raised you is really cool; it means a lot.”

The Phi Beta Kappa induction was the 109th annual induction ceremony at Knox, with Associate Professor of Political Science and President of the Knox Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Katie Stewart and Associate Professor of Classics Mitchell Parks leading the initiation. As Chapter Historian, Parks delivered the Historian’s Presentation.

Out of more than 3,000 colleges and universities in the U.S., fewer than 300 have chapters. Knox's first Phi Beta Kappa induction was in 1917. As part of the ceremony, the newly inducted members signed a small, leather-bound book.

Knox College’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter was the first at a four-year liberal arts college in the state and is the fourth-oldest in Illinois. Founded on December 5, 1776, at the College of William & Mary, Phi Beta Kappa recognizes elite undergraduate achievement in the liberal arts and sciences.

“It’s very rewarding to have something I can look back on and say feels good to be part of something like this,” said East Peoria’s Bryce Woodard ’26, a history and political science double major. “I think doing the hard things, taking the hard class, and doing things you’re not comfortable with has been the best part of being here. Everywhere I go, I’m being pushed to do something bigger, and I’m really proud to be part of this.”

Phi Beta Kappa was one of many honor societies into which Knox seniors were inducted at the close of the academic year. Overall, 68 Knox graduates were inducted into various honor societies and celebrated over Commencement weekend.