Pi Delta Phi is the National French Honor Society for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited public and private colleges and universities in the United States. The highest academic honor in the field of French and the oldest academic honor society for a modern foreign language in the United States, Pi Delta Phi was founded as a departmental honor society at the University of California at Berkeley in 1906. The Society was nationalized when the Beta Chapter was established at the University of Southern California in 1925. The society was admitted to membership in the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) in 1967, and was officially endorsed by the American Association of Teachers of French as the only collegiate French honor society in 1949. There are currently more than 370 chapters of the Society in the United States and two representative chapters at the American Universities in Paris and Aix-en-Provence in France.

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The purpose of the Society is to recognize outstanding scholarship in the French language and Francophone literatures, to increase the knowledge and appreciation of Americans for the cultural contributions of the French-speaking world, and to stimulate and to encourage French and francophone cultural activities.

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Membership in Pi Delta Phi is open to all, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or disability, provided that each candidate meets the eligibility requirements of the Society. Pi Delta Phi supports, moreover, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility efforts of the ACHS. Membership in Pi Delta Phi is lifetime.

 

The Society's Executive Board is chaired by an elected President, and includes four elected regional Vice-Presidents, and an Executive Director and Digital Media Editor that are appointed by the President. All Board positions are volunteer. The official newsletter publication of Pi Delta Phi À Vous l'honneur.

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Pi Delta Phi would like to thank our longstanding partner the Schoen Trimming and Cord Company, Inc. in New York, New York which supplies the official Pi Delta Phi pins and honor cords in blue, white and red. Only honor cords and pins purchased from Pi Delta Phi are recognized by the Society; cords purchased anywhere else are fake.

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Pi Delta Phi operates as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. For more information about Pi Delta Phi and the history of the society, visit our History page. Pi Delta Phi and ΠΔΦ are trademarks registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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