French Honor Society

Pi Delta Phi, a French Honor society, was founded at the University of California at Berkeley in 1906. The purpose of the Society is to recognize outstanding scholarship in the French language and its literature and to stimulate cultural activities. The society was admitted to membership in the Association of College Honor Societies in 1967. Today it numbers more than 300 chapters in almost every state in the United States.

The purpose of the Society is to recognize outstanding scholarship in the French language and its 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.

The Kappa Beta Chapter at The American University of Paris was established in 1987 on the initiative of Dean Charlotte Lacaze. Maud Nicolas, the chapter's moderator for the last 14 years, was awarded a Pi Delta Phi medal in 1997 in recognition of her work.

Every year, the chapter holds an initiation ceremony to welcome the new members, French Majors or Minors with outstanding achievement. Every summer, AUP offers a full tuition summer session scholarship to an undergraduate Pi Delta Phi member chosen through a US-wide selective examination.