Pi Delta Phi, 1948-1982

Pi Delta Phi (PDP) is the national French honor society for undergraduate and graduate students in the United States. It was founded as a departmental honor society at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1906, and was “nationalized” when the University of Southern California established a chapter in 1925 (PDP website, accessed March 11, 2019). The Phi chapter of PDP was established at Notre Dame at an initiation ceremony on May 20, 1948. Charter members were accepted; and M. Laurent Bonnet, the French consul, was the speaker. Columns reported that membership in the society was open to juniors and seniors, as well as graduate students, who have completed at least eight credits in advanced French courses with an acceptable GPA. Additional members were inducted on October 24, 1948; and Madame Engelde Janosi addressed the group in French on the impressionist painter Rouault. Judging from the pages of Columns, the society’s main activities were annual meetings with guest speakers at which new members were admitted.

It cannot be ascertained exactly when or why Notre Dame’s chapter was discontinued, but it is no longer listed as one of the university’s honor societies on the NDMU website (accessed March 11, 2019). The last year for which officers are recorded in the archives is 1981-82.