Undergraduate Departmental Awards

At Senior Convocation many departments present awards to outstanding seniors. Such awards are often named in honor of former professors whose contribution to and development of the department and the discipline was significant.

Phi Beta Kappa, one of the few societies in America devoted to recognizing and encouraging scholarship in the liberal arts and sciences, is an honor society founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776.

Primarily concerned with the development of liberally educated men and women, the society considers an academic institution for a Phi Beta Kappa charter if the school’s curricular emphasis is on liberal arts and sciences, if the quality of work required of students is high and if the intellectual climate of the institution promotes serious concern among its students about discovering the best way to live.

Awarded in 1989, the University of Dallas is one of only 12 U.S. Catholic-affiliated schools and one of eight Texas schools to be accorded this distinction. Seniors majoring in the liberal arts are elected to the society by the university Phi Beta Kappa Chapter on the basis of academic merit. Normally, no more than ten percent of any graduating class will be elected. A minimum grade point average of 3.5 is required. Transfer students must have earned at least 60 credits at the university in order to be eligible for consideration.

Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) is the International Honor Society for AACSB-accredited schools. BGS was founded in 1913 to encourage and honor high academic achievement by students of business and management through AACSB-accredited business programs. Undergraduate students in their Junior or Senior year, who are in the top 10% of the class are invited (invitation only) to join BGS. Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program accredited by AACSB International.