A Brief History
The Tau Beta Pi Association, national engineering honor
society, was founded at Lehigh University in 1885 by Dr. Edward
Higginson Williams, Jr., 'to mark in a fitting manner those who
have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished
scholarship and exemplary character as undergraduates in
engineering, or by their attainments as alumni in the field of
engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in
engineering colleges'. -- Preamble to the Constitution.
An honor society is an association of primarily collegiate
members and chapters whose purposes are to encourage and
recognize superior scholarship and/or leadership achievement
either in broad fields of education or in departmental fields at
either undergraduate or graduate levels.
The honor society has followed the expansion and
specialization of higher education in America. When Phi Beta
Kappa was organized in 1776 no thought was given to its proper
field, since all colleges then in existence were for the
training of men for 'the service of the church and the state.'
With the expansion of education into new fields, a choice had to
be made, and the society elected to operate in the field of the
liberal arts and sciences. Although this was not finally voted
until 1898, the trend was evident years earlier, and 1885 saw
the establishment of Tau Beta Pi.
Founder Edward H. Williams, Jr., was born at Proctorsville,
Vermont, on September 30, 1849; he died at Woodstock, Vermont,
on November 2, 1933. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, he was head of
the mining department of Lehigh University when he determined to
offer technical men as good a chance of recognition for superior
scholarship in their field as that afforded by the other society
in the liberal arts and sciences.
Working alone he conceived an organization, gave it a name,
designed its governmental structure, drew up its constitution,
prepared its badge and certificate, established its membership
requirements, and planned all the necessary details for its
operation including the granting of chapters and the holding of
conventions.
Thus, with only a paper organization, he offered membership
to qualified graduates of Lehigh and received their acceptances
and enthusiastic endorsement. Late in the spring of 1885 he
invited the valedictorian of the senior class, Irving Andrew
Heikes, to membership and he accepted, becoming the first
student member of Tau Beta Pi; but there was no time to initiate
the rest of the eligible men from the class of 1885.
Mr. Heikes returned for graduate work, however, and in the
fall of 1885, he, Dr. Williams, and two alumni who had earlier
accepted membership, initiated the eligible men from the class
of 1886 and organized the chapter. The parent chapter, Alpha of
Pennsylvania, existed alone until 1892 when Alpha of Michigan
was founded at Michigan State University.
A detailed account of the founding and early history of Tau
Beta Pi was written by Edwin S. Stackhouse, Pennsylvania Alpha
'86, after years of painstaking research work (THE BENT, April
1941). Records of essential dates were lost, but Mr. Stackhouse
deduced that June 15, 1885, was the day on which the first
undergraduate student was initiated. Subsequent evidence, in the
form of Mr. Heikes' original invitation to membership,
discovered in 1943, confirmed this date.
Since the founding of the Michigan Alpha chapter, Tau Beta
Pi has grown steadily; there are now collegiate chapters at 235
institutions, chartered alumnus chapters in 59 cities, and a
total initiated membership of 505,611.
The Association was incorporated under the laws of Tennessee
on December 1, 1947. The official name of the society is The Tau
Beta Pi Association, Incorporated. It is a not-for-profit,
educational organization with no stock-issuing power. Its assets
are held in its corporate name or in trust. The Association is
classified under Section 501 (c)(3) (not private) of the United
States Internal Revenue Code, and gifts and bequests to it are
tax deductible.
Tau Beta Pi is a founding member of the Association of
College Honor Societies, an association member of the American
Society for Engineering Education, an associate member of the
American Association of Engineering Societies, and an affiliate
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
the Junior Engineering Technical Society.
The official badge of the Association is a watch key in the
form of the bent of a trestle, engraved on the reverse side with
the member's name, chapter, and class. The colors of the
Association are seal brown and white. The official quarterly
magazine is THE BENT of Tau Beta Pi. The name of the
Association, its badge, and the title of its magazine are
registered in the United States Patent Office. The creed of Tau
Beta Pi, adopted in 1991, is Integrity and Excellence in
Engineering.
The word key describes the insignia of many organizations.
It comes from the fact that it was first designed, in the late
eighteenth century, to include a pocket watch winding feature,
hence key. The bottom stem, added to the basic insignia, had a
tapered square hole fitting the common sizes of watch-winding
shaft. The top stem and ring were added so that the key could be
worn as a pendant from a chain, rather than as a pin or badge,
thus easily used to wind watches. When the 'stem-winder' watch
was introduced in the late nineteenth century, it replaced the
key-winder. But the insignia key remained, although with a
vestigial hole now round for manufacturing ease and economy.
The Headquarters of Tau Beta Pi are located on the campus of
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, and have been
there since R. C. Matthews went to the University as a young
instructor in 1907. R. C. Matthews served as Tau Beta Pi's
Secretary from 1905 to 1912 and as Secretary-Treasurer from 1912
until his retirement in 1947. Before he assumed office in 1905
the headquarters offices had been moved to wherever the offices
of the Secretary were located. Professor Matthews' long service
to Tau Beta Pi and the University of Tennessee has made the
university the permanent headquarters of the Association. In
1963, the headquarters staff moved into a suite of offices
designed specifically for Tau Beta Pi in the then-new Nathan W.
Dougherty Engineering Building.
