For students who want to get more involved in the university community, UB offers over 30 honors societies that bear Greek names, each pertaining to a specific major or interest that range from pre-med to foreign languages.
Like social Greek organizations, these honor societies are secretive and members refer to each other as brothers and sisters. Unlike social fraternities and sororities, however, honors societies focus less on the social interactions of their groups and concentrate more on academics and professional achievement after graduation.
Information about each society can be found in their respective departments, as well as the Leadership Development Center in the Student Union.
The requirements to become a member of any society usually include a 3.0 grade point average and a specific number of completed semesters.
John Lee, junior sociology major, said the skills acquired in academic honor societies have greatly benefited him.
"(Honors societies) teach you professional skills like networking, as well as things like resume writing and interviewing skills," said Lee.
Many academic honor societies strictly focus on one scholastic area.
Four honor societies are dedicated to medical or pharmaceutical students. Alpha Epsilon Delta, Kappa Psi, Rho Chi, Sigma Theta Tau and the women-only Lambda Kappa Sigma offer vital skills for practicing pharmaceutical majors.
There is also an honors society for evening students, Alpha Sigma Lambda, as well as transfer students - Tau Sigma.
The business department offers four different honor societies, each of which focus on a different components of the major. Beta Alpha Psi focuses on accounting, Pi Sigma Epsilon focuses on marketing and sales, while Beta Gamma Sigma and Delta Sigma Pi offer general business and management skills.
For the liberal arts student there is Phi Beta Kappa, as well as Pi Kappa Lambda, which focuses on musical achievement.
Smaller departments also offer their own groups. Sigma Delta Pi is a society that is geared toward those who study Spanish language and culture.
Elizabeth Scarlett, the advisor to Sigma Delta Pi, said the society accepts members who have done well in that area.
"The society is aimed at all students who have taken and excelled at advanced courses involving the literature, culture or civilization of Spain and other Spanish-speaking nations, and who also maintain a high grade-point average in general," said Scarlett.
The Leadership Development Center houses two honor societies, Phi Eta Sigma, which inducts students based on their freshman year performance, and the Mortar Board society.
Some honor societies, like Tau Beta Pi, are by invitation only.
"Each year we admit about 50 students and they are juniors and seniors," said Robert Barnes, advisor to Tau Beta Pi. "We induct, at the undergraduate level, juniors in the top eighth of the engineering school and seniors in the top fifth of the engineering school."
Scarlett said they induct about 15 students each year, most of whom are juniors and seniors, as well as a few graduate students in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
