Professors Thomas Near and Paul Turner accepted into the National Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society

Edward Alexander Bouchet (1852-1918) graduated from Yale College in 1874. He went on to be the first self-identified African American to earn a doctorate from an American university when he earned a PhD in physics at Yale University in 1876. At that time, Bouchet was the sixth person in the western hemisphere to earn a doctorate in physics. He was also one of the first African Americans to be elected to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.

The Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society (Bouchet Society) recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate. The Bouchet Society was inaugurated on Thursday, September 15, 2005 with a simulcast ceremony held at Yale University and Howard University. As the co-founding chapters, Yale University and Howard University seek to recognize and continue Dr. Bouchet’s pioneering contributions to doctoral education. The Bouchet Society seeks to develop a network of preeminent scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support, and serve as examples of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy for students in the academy. In the spirit of Bouchet’s commitment to these pursuits both within and without the academic realm, inductees into the honor society bearing his name should also exhibit these qualities.