Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society
Pi Gamma Mu is an international honor society in social sciences whose mission is to encourage and promote excellence in the social sciences and to uphold and nurture scholarship, leadership, and service. The honor society also has a vigorous scholarship program.
About Pi Gamma Mu
Founded in 1924, Pi Gamma Mu is the oldest and preeminent interdisciplinary social science honor society. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt, charitable organization, Pi Gamma Mu has been certified by the Association of College Honor Societies since 1953. Its mission is to encourage and promote excellence in the social sciences and to uphold and nurture scholarship, leadership, and service. Pi Gamma Mu serves the various social science disciplines that seek to understand and explain human behavior and social relationships as well as their related problems and issues. Currently, there are about 150 active chapters in the United States and overseas.
Pi Gamma Mu’s bylaws define the social sciences to include those disciplines that emphasize the scientific study of human societies and social relationships including but not limited to anthropology, criminal justice, economics, geography - human, gerontology, history, history of education, human services, international relations, political science, psychology, social philosophy, sociology, social work, as well as related interdisciplinary programs anchored in the social sciences, particularly those that focus on age, environment, ethnicity, gender, race, and regional studies.
Soka Scholarship Winners
Three Soka graduates have received Pi Gamma Mu scholarships since 2019
- Mehak Advani ’20, $2,000 Carroll Parrish scholarship
- Takako Muramoto ’19, $1,000 Gordon Mercer scholarship for Public Policy
- Ting Chang ’19, $1,000 scholarship
Apply for Pi Gamma Mu scholarships
Membership Criteria
Students must have the following:
- 45 completed credit hours,
- a declared concentration in SBS,
- 20 credit hours in SBS courses (including Modes, Core II, and Pacific Basin),
- at least a 3.0 GPA in all social sciences classes, and
- must be in the top 35% of their respective class.
For more information contact Peter Burns (pburns@soka.edu).
Pi Gamma Mu Statement Against Racial Injustice and All Forms of Discrimination
As social scientists, we are deeply saddened by the horrific and blatant injustices many Americans have been experiencing, especially the unacceptable incidents of police brutality against Black people. While our words cannot take away the pain, we want our members to know that we stand unified and condemn all forms of discrimination prohibited by law including but not limited to age, disability, national origin, race/color, religion, and sex.
We especially stand behind our friends in the Black community in these paramount endeavors for social change and public safety measures that would require all people to be treated with dignity and respect.
Diversity is an integral part of Pi Gamma Mu’s fabric and is the essence of our society. As an interdisciplinary honor society, we value and appreciate different social science disciplines and celebrate their individual contributions to academia and the greater community.
We hope that all of our members will become part of the dialogue looking to find new ways to mend these serious and devastating societal inequalities and injustices—so that we may emerge stronger and change society for the better.
