An Introduction to Phi Alpha Theta

Phi Alpha Theta, an international Historical Honor Society, was first formed March 17, 1921 at the University of Arkansas. At this time it has approximately 850 active chapters. Since its beginning, Phi Alpha Theta has had more than 200,000 members in all 50 of the United States.

As a professional society, Phi Alpha Theta promotes the study of history through the exchange of learning and ideas amongst historians, excellent teaching, and the encouragement and publication of research.

Both students and professors gain the opportunity to meet distinguished historians and to present their own research papers at its biennial convention.

Eligibility

Undergraduate students must have a junior standing or better, and must be in the upper thirty-five percent of their class.

Student must have completed at least 12 hours in history with an average grade point of better than a 3.1/B for said courses.

Student must have an average of 3.0/B for two-thirds of the rest of the work, excluding history courses.

Graduate student must have completed thirty percent of the resident requirements of the master’s degree with an average grade of at least half being of the highest grade in the working scale and half of the second highest in the working scale.

For an application for membership, contact Dr. Doug Catterall, our faculty advisor, or come by the History & Government Department's Office in Burch Hall, room 202.

Publications

As a benefit of membership, Phi Alpha Theta offers their publication The Historian, a quarterly journal of history that publishes articles that contribute new information to historical knowledge. Articles are not the only way in which The Historian conveys information. There are also photo essays, interviews with historians, and book reviews.