PhiAlpha Theta was established on March 17, 1921 at the University of Arkansas by Professor Nels Cleven. Cleven had become convinced in his time at the university that a fraternity of scholars was important for the study of history. He invited students to a meeting to form the society on March 14, and the society was officially recognized on the 17th. In April, the decision was made for the society to be known by the Greek letters Phi Alpha Theta.
Publication and leadership
Phi Alpha Theta publishes a quarterly historical journal entitled The Historian, which has over 12,500 individual subscribers and 1,000 library subscribers. The society's national headquarters and the journal's editorial offices are located at the University of South Florida. The Historian splits the space in its quarterly issues between articles and book reviews. The book review section of the journal has been based at Ohio Wesleyan University since 1994. Voces Novae: Chapman University Historical Review was founded in the Spring of 2009 by the Alpha Mu Gamma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta at Chapman University. Jacob M. Blosser of Texas Woman’s University is the current president of Phi Alpha Theta and Wendy Tunstall is Interim Executive Director. Adrian O’Connor of the University of South Florida is managing editor of The Historian, and Jonathan Scott Perry also of USF is the journal's book review editor.
Membership requirements
Undergraduate students must have a 3.0 overall grade point average, at least a 3.1 average in their history courses and have completed 12 credits of history classes. Undergraduate candidates must also be in the top 35% of their class. Students enrolled at an online university are not eligible for membership. Students need not be majoring in history, but must have taken at least four history courses at the university level. Specific universities may develop higher qualifications. For example, the College of Staten Island's PAT chapter requires undergraduate students to have a GPA of or better than 3.25, History GPA of or better than 3.5 and at least 16 hours completed in History classes. Graduate students must have a GPA of better than 3.5 and have completed approximately 30% of the residence requirements for the master's degree.
