The illustrious college honor society known as Phi Beta Kappa has inducted several academic all-stars that currently attend UNC-Chapel Hill into its selective ranks.

A ceremony was held on campus last week to present 150 academically distinguished students with their signature golden keys from the storied fraternity.

Honorees earned those keys by maintaining grade point averages of at least 3.85 while separately accruing 75 hours of course work in the liberal arts and sciences.

North Carolina is well-represented among the new inductees, with 93 of the 150 hailing from the state and 5 of those 93 having familial roots in Chatham and Orange counties.

Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at The College of William & Mary and is the oldest academic honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the country.

The UNC chapter of the society was started in 1905 as one of the first to be chartered among universities in the southern United States after the American Civil War.

Image by Phi Beta Kappa.