Phi Beta Kappa, the old­est, most respected hon­orary soci­ety in Amer­ica, was founded on Decem­ber 5, 1776.  Phi Beta Kappa — “PBK” — are the Greek ini­tials for the motto “Love of learn­ing is the guide to life.”  The found­ing struc­ture of col­lege and uni­ver­sity chap­ters exists to this day in insti­tu­tions of higher learn­ing through­out the coun­try, with over half a mil­lion members worldwide.

A cen­tury after PBK was founded, it expanded its orga­ni­za­tion to include local asso­ci­a­tions as a means for mem­bers to con­tinue their inter­ests in schol­ar­ship and an intel­lec­tual life.

On May 11, 1918, fol­low­ing two years of pre­lim­i­nary work by a small group of Phi Beta Kappa mem­bers in the area, the south­ern Cal­i­for­nia alumni association—Alpha Association—was offi­cially launched at a lun­cheon meet­ing in Clare­mont. The mis­sion then was the same as it is today: to sup­port lib­eral edu­ca­tion and life­long learn­ing by pro­vid­ing high qual­ity pro­grams and inter­ac­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties for mem­bers and schol­ar­ships for students.

We welcome new members, and encourage you to consider joining Alpha Association.