More than 800 of UBC's top second-, third- and fourth-year students will be officially inducted into the new UBC chapter of the Golden Key National Honour Society at a special ceremony Nov. 16 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.
Membership in the international non-profit honours organization is open to the top 15 per cent of full- and part-time students in each undergraduate program and year.
UBC President Dr. Martha Piper, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Emeritus Michael Smith, and registrar and director of Student Services Richard Spencer will become the first honorary members of the chapter.
Evelyn Lett, one of the founding members of UBC's Alma Mater Society and K.D. Srivastava, former vice-president, Student and Academic Services, will also become honorary members.
Scholarships will be awarded to three new student members who are active at UBC and in the community. The winners will be announced at the ceremony.
"I am pleased to lend my support to an organization which shares UBC's goal of developing strong and vital links with the community," says Piper.
The society, founded at Georgia State University in 1977, is run by students and brings members, university faculty and staff and the community together.
Membership in the society is also recognized by major Canadian companies and international corporations, some of which provide scholarship funding.
More than $2 million US in scholarships has been presented to Golden Key members, including annual undergraduate scholarships awarded by each chapter and awards to members who pursue postgraduate studies.
The society has some 800,000 lifetime and honorary members at more than 270 chapters in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Malaysia. Students pay a one-time $80 membership fee to help maintain the society.
UBC is the society's first chapter in British Columbia. McGill and McMaster universities, the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta also have active chapters.