Phi Sigma Iota

International Foreign Language
Honor Society

Member of the Association of College Honor Societies

Phi Sigma Iota is a membership society with Active Members and Honorary Members as set forth below. Membership in the Society is open to qualified candidates including persons with disability, without regard to age, color, gender, national origin, race, religion, and/or sexual orientation. New members are recruited by invitation only from established Phi Sigma Iota chapters.

Members shall meet the following minimum criteria for membership. Any chapter, at its discretion, may establish higher, more rigorous academic criteria.:

1. Active Members. Collegiate or professional members who pay annual national dues shall be active members of the Society.

1. Collegiate Members. At the time of initiation, Collegiate members shall be students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs and pursuing a curriculum with a major/minor in:
   
   • Foreign Languages, including Classics and ESL
   • Comparative Literature
   • Foreign Language Education
   • Linguistics
   • Second Language Acquisition
   • Other interdisciplinary programs with a significant foreign language component.

a. Undergraduate students shall be enrolled in the institution represented by the chapter, have completed at least one course in a foreign language at the third-year level or its equivalent (fifth semester or seventh quarter), have completed 45 semester hours or its equivalent, have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and rank in the top 35% of their class.

b. Graduate students shall be enrolled in a graduate program in one of the aforementioned programs, have attained a high degree of competence in at least one foreign language, have completed 12 semester hours of graduate work or equivalent, and have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.

2. Professional Members. Alumni of collegiate chapters shall be professional members. Others meeting the following criteria may be elected to professional membership: have made a distinctive contribution to the profession and (a) earned one or more degrees in foreign language and ranked within the top 35% of the class as undergraduates or 3.5 as graduate students and not been previously initiated into the Society, (b) earned one or more degrees qualifying them to work in the field and rank in the top 35% as undergraduates or 3.5 as graduate students, or (c) faculty of the university, after one academic year of teaching in that institution and having shown remarkable ability in their field as well as demonstrating support of the ideals of the Society .

2. Honorary Members. Honorary members shall be persons outside the field, excluding those who are employed in the field, who have made distinctive scholarly and research contributions to the study, use, or promotion of foreign languages and the ideals of the Society.