Katherine Soule has been elected to serve as president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The election of new officers took place August 3 at the Society’s 43rd Triennial Council in Palm Beach, Florida.
Soule is Director of Arts and Sciences Finance and Research Administration at Dartmouth College and has served as the Society’s vice president since 2009. She has an outstanding record of service to ΦBK on the national, regional, and local level as secretary and treasurer of the Dartmouth chapter, as president of the ΦBK Association of Northern New England, as a past district chair, and as a ΦBK Senator.
“This is a time of great change in higher education, and I believe that ΦBK is uniquely positioned to participate in the conversation,” Soule commented.
“I look forward to continuing to promote the liberal arts on campus and in the community, to preserve ΦBK’s position as the nation’s preeminent honor society, to ensure ΦBK’s fiscal prosperity, and to help the Society and its constituent chapters and associations to collaborate and flourish,” she added. “It is a privilege to serve ΦBK as president.”
A third generation member and a second generation chapter officer, Soule is one of only a few ΦBK Senators in the history of the Society to hold offices at every organizational level. Soule’s talent for calligraphy is of special value to the Dartmouth chapter as she prepares the membership certificates for each new initiate.
In addition to her work for ΦBK, Soule has served on the finance committee of Northern Stage, a professional theater company in White River Junction, Vermont, and she is the treasurer for MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak, 50 miles west of Tucson, Arizona. The observatory is owned and operated by a consortium of five universities: the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, the Ohio State University, Columbia University, and Ohio University.
Catherine White Berheide of Skidmore College has been elected to serve as vice president.
John Churchill, secretary and chief executive officer of the Society, praised the election of Soule and Berheide: “These are two of our most outstanding senators,” said Churchill, “and both have distinguished records of service to Phi Beta Kappa. I look forward to working with them as they bring their vision and experience to the leadership of the Society.”
Both Soule and Berheide will serve three-year terms in office.