History
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897. Originating with a group of students who felt the need for an honor society on broader lines than any then in existence, it was soon transformed into a national society by action of a committee composed of the Presidents of the University of Maine, the University of Tennessee, and what was then Pennsylvania State College. The chapters in these institutions were the original chapters.
The Kansas State University chapter, the fourteenth to be organized, was established and formally installed on November 15, 1915.
College faculty who had been elected to Phi Kappa Phi at other institutions and who served as a nucleus to organize a chapter here were President Henry J. Waters; Edward N. Wentworth, Professor of Animal Breeding; N.E. Olson, Instructor of Dairy Husbandry; and R.I. Throckmorton, Assistant Professor of Agronomy. The chapter was installed by Dr. E.E. Sparks, then president of the national society and also president of Pennsylvania State College.
Forty-seven charter members were initiated at the organizational meeting, of whom J.E. Ackert, L.E. Call, L.E. Conrad, R.A. Seaton, and R.I. Throckmorton were living at the fiftieth anniversary in 1965.
The local chapter also sponsored a chapter at Fort Hays Kansas State College.
Dr. A.M. Guhl, Professor of Zoology, served the national society as president from 1962-1965.
