Love of Learning is the Guide to Life
Nationally, 17 U.S. Presidents, 40 Supreme Court justices, and 140 Nobel laureates can be counted among the ranks of Phi Beta Kappa Members.
PBK Member Spotlight: January 2023
2023.01 – Zachary Griggy
About Zachary Zachary Griggy is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Political Science and Urban Studies. A third year Phi Beta Kappa inductee, Zachary is part of the Campuswide Honors Collegium, ASUCI, the College Democrats at UC Irvine and the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity. As a longtime observer of school board and city council meetings in his hometown of Novato, Calif., Zachary is passionate about local government and ensuring it’s responsive to the people it’s supposed to serve. After being elected to the ASUCI Senate in the Spring 2021 student government elections, Zachary enacted policy reforms to strengthen open meeting requirements in the student government and led a successful effort to reform the ASUCI constitution. He currently serves the undergraduate...
2022 Member Spotlights
A collection of all of our featured PBK members for 2022.
2021 Member Spotlights
A collection of all of our featured PBK members for 2021.
Recent UCI Alumni
MALAK KUDAIMI
Throughout her time in college, Malak Kudaimi was active in establishing and maintaining food security efforts on campus, including serving as Student Manager at the FRESH Basic Needs Hub, the largest college basic needs center in the country.
Kudaimi achieved summa cum laude honors in two majors, International Studies and Public Health Policy; was elected to Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society as a junior (top 1%); and was among only nine students to complete the highly selective Public Health Honors Program in 2017-18.
DEAN FRANCO
Dr. Dean Franco was awarded an honorary PBK membership by The Phi Beta Kappa Chapter at Wake Forest University in April 2019. With a BA from UC Irvine, a MA from California State University, Long Beach, and a PhD from University of Southern California, Dr. Dean Franco now holds a double appointment as Wake Forest Professor of Literature and Director of the Wake Forest Humanities Institute.
Since joining Wake Forest in 2001, he has introduced new courses into the curriculum, including Studies in Chicana/o Literature and Multiethnic American Writers, and he has taught courses on comparative race studies, human rights and literature, literature and theory, and first year seminars on secularity and religion, and uncertainty.
YARELI CASTRO SEVILLA
Yareli Castro Sevilla was inducted as a PBK member her junior year in 2016. In 2017, Yareli graduated from UC Irvine with a joint degree in Political Science and History, and served as the 2017 School of Social Sciences commencement speaker. Yareli currently attends Harvard University as a PhD student, studying American Studies.
During her time at UCI, Yareli was an active member of the UCI community. As a strong advocate and leader for immigrant and undocumented rights, her involvements at UCI were dedicated to taking action for causes she believes in. She participated in several on-campus organizations throughout the years, including DREAMS at UCI, Anteater Ambassadors Network, and ASUCI.