"Honor Societies", illustration from the 1909 Tyee (yearbook of the University of Washington)
"Honor Societies", illustration from the 1909 Tyee (yearbook of the University of Washington)

In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. Chiefly, the term refers to scholastic honor societies, those that recognize students who excel academically or as leaders among their peers, often within a specific academic discipline.

Many honor societies invite students to become members based on the scholastic rank (the top x% of a class) and/or grade point averages of those students, either overall, or for classes taken within the discipline for which the honor society provides recognition. In cases where academic achievement would not be an appropriate criterion for membership, other standards are usually required for membership (such as completion of a particular ceremony or training program). It is also common for a scholastic honor society to add a criterion relating to the character of the student. Some honor societies are invitation only while others allow unsolicited applications. Finally, membership in an honor society might be considered exclusive, i.e., a member of such an organization cannot join other honor societies representing the same field.

Academic robes and regalia identifying by color the degree, school and other distinction, are controlled under rules of a voluntary Intercollegiate Code. In addition, various colored devices such as stoles, scarves, cords, tassels, and medallions are used to indicate membership in a student's honor society. Of these, cords and mortarboard tassels are most often used to indicate membership. Most institutions allow honor cords, tassels and/or medallions for honor society members. Stoles are less common, but they are available for a few honor societies. Virtually all, if not all honor societies have chosen such colors, and may sell these items of accessory regalia as a service or fundraiser.

Many fraternities and sororities are referred to by their membership or by non-members as honor societies, and vice versa, though this is not always the case. Honor societies exist at the high school, collegiate/university, and postgraduate levels, although university honor societies are by far the most prevalent. In America, the oldest academic society, Phi Beta Kappa, was founded as a social and literary fraternity in 1776 at the College of William and Mary and later organized as an honor society in 1898, following the establishment of the honor societies Tau Beta Pi for Engineering (1885), Sigma Xi for Scientific Research (1886), and Phi Kappa Phi for all disciplines (1897). Mortar Board was established in 1918, as the first national honor society for senior women, with chapters at four institutions: Cornell University, The University of Michigan, Ohio State University and Swarthmore College. Later, the society became coeducational.

The Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) is a predominantly American, voluntary association of national collegiate and post-graduate honor societies. ACHS was formed in 1925 to establish and maintain desirable standards for honor societies. While ACHS membership is a certification that the member societies meet these standards, not all legitimate honor societies apply for membership in ACHS.

List of honor societies

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2016)

Notable national and international honor societies based in or at schools include the following:

General collegiate scholastic honor societies

These societies are open to all academic disciplines, though they may have other affinity requirements.

Leadership

These societies recognize leadership, with a scholarship component; multi-disciplinary.

Military

These are collegiate-based honor societies for students in the armed forces. There are other non-collegiate honor societies serving military branches, often listed as professional fraternities.

Liberal arts

These societies are open to the traditional liberal arts disciplines, and may be department-specific. Some are grouped by discipline subheader.

Business

Education

Fine arts

Journalism and communications

Languages

Law

Sciences

These societies are open to students in the STEM disciplines, and may be department-specific. Some are grouped by discipline subheader.

Agriculture

Architecture

Engineering

Within the larger group of STEM disciplines, these societies serve engineering disciplines.

Health sciences

This section includes all health care related fields, including veterinary science.

Information technology

Mathematics

Local honor societies

Some universities have their own independent, open honor societies, which are not affiliated with any national or international organization. Such organizations typically recognize students who have succeeded academically irrespective of their field of study. These include:

Certificate, vocational, technical, and workforce education

Two-year colleges and community colleges

Secondary school societies

Commonly referred to as high school societies.

General

Subject-specific

Boy Scouts

See also

Professional fraternities and sororities
Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS)

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Honor society" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
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