We sponsor monthly events (listed in our newsletters) which help fund the scholarships and awards, and provide an opportunity to meet other members. Recent events have included excursions to such interesting places as the Museum of Modern Art, the California State Capitol, the John Muir House, a Discovery Voyage on San Francisco Bay, a cruise on the paddle-wheeler, the Petaluma River Queen, and a duo of Napa wineries, among others. 

Also, each year we host a three-day retreat at the beautiful Julia Morgan-designed Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA, where we heard a variety of interesting speakers.

At the Annual Meeting in May we present the scholarships and Teaching Excellence awards, and meet the recipients.

All activities are announced in our newsletters that are published four times a year. There are coupons in the newsletter which you can use to join us on the events. Only current Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association members receive all the newsletters, so you will miss out on the events and the opportunity to support scholastic excellence if you don't join. When you join, you will be recognized in a newsletter. In addition to the newsletters, every three years we publish a directory of all current members.

Have you joined the Northern California Association of Phi Beta Kappa? Here are the most common responses we receive when we ask that question:

I don't need another club.

Don't worry - if you are too busy to take part in the social activities the association sponsors, that's fine. However, simply by joining Phi Beta Kappa, Northern California Association, you turn your achievement - induction into Phi Beta Kappa - into more than a pin you wear on occasion or a line you highlight on your resume. You turn that honor into a deeply appreciated gift to students, many of whom are supporting families. These students are struggling to complete master's or doctoral degrees while living in an area with, arguably, the highest cost of living in the nation.

There is plenty of help available to undergraduate students - there are loans, grants, and scholarships galore, from both public and private sources. However, students opting to continue their education often find that financial support dries up. That's a shame because graduate students are unsung heroes in our society. Without their research we would know far less than we do about historical and literary figures, and we would make far slower progress in discovering why earthquakes happen or how the human genome is constructed or what we can do to better treat cancer or prevent Alzheimer's disease. That's where Phi Beta Kappa, Northern California Association steps in. Thanks to the contributions of our members, we awarded $60,000 in scholarships at our May 2014 Awards Dinner.

I'm already a member!

You can be proud that you have earned lifelong membership in the national Phi Beta Kappa Society. However, membership in the Association nearest you is not automatic, so chances are you are not a member of the Northern California Association! Those who are have the satisfaction of knowing that they are helping highly deserving students each year who deeply appreciate the scholarships we provide them. We are proud that the Northern California Association is one of the most active in the nation.

I didn't graduate in Northern California, so I can't join Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association, can I?

Yes you can! Whether you graduated from Stanford or Dartmouth, Princeton or UCLA, Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association exists to bring together Phi Betes who are living in Northern California or who want to help graduate-level students at Northern California institutions.

What do I get out of membership?

Sure, it's great to know you're helping students carry on the Phi Beta Kappa tradition of academic excellence. But many of our members are just as passionate about their own lifelong learning - indeed, our excursions to such diverse and stimulating destinations as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Museum of Anthropology, and our annual Asilomar Conference serve these members' needs, and meeting those needs is an extremely important part of the Phi Beta Kappa, Northern California Association mission.

I don't want to be on another mailing list.

Don't worry - we do not share our membership list with anyone, and if you decide to leave the Association, we take your name off the list. (Well, we will send you a reminder for a while, just in case, but after that - nothing - promise.) And you will not be inundated with mailings, we send only the four newsletters, and perhaps one letter if you haven't sent your dues by April. We also send email notices when necessary to alert you to events planned since our latest newsletter.

Please join us and make the most of the honor you received when you were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Membership in the Northern California Association is open to any person who has been initiated into Phi Beta Kappa - anywhere.

(The Phi Beta Kappa Society maintains a Membership Info Page which may be consulted for further information about election to Phi Beta Kappa.)