The University of Miami is a chapter institution of the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, which was named for Edward Alexander Bouchet. 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 Ph.D. 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.
Membership into the Bouchet Honor Graduate Society is by nomination only and requires approval by the National Steering Committee. Doctoral Student Membership is available to any individual who is currently a Ph.D. student in good academic standing, and through initial research achievement in a humanities, social sciences and sciences field, has shown outstanding promise as a scholar, as evidenced by independent investigation or current work on a dissertation project.
Each year, Yale University hosts the “Annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Graduate Education”. Click here for information. University of Miami graduate students may attend the conference and present their research, and a group of nominated students are inducted into the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.
*Information is sourced from the Yale University website.
