Assisted by interested professors, these students formed the Lambda Sigma Eta Society. One year later the name was changed to the Morrill Society, in honor of the sponsor of the Congressional Act that provided support for land-grant colleges. From Marcus Urann's vision has emerged The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the oldest and largest interdisciplinary honor society whose primary objective has always been the recognition and promotion of superior scholarship. The current basic structure of Phi Kappa Phi is centralized, with a general convention held triennially that exercises planning and supervisory functions. The influence of the Society on each campus in large part depends upon the interest of the members and the activities of the local chapters.
Many chapters cite students for excellence as early as the freshman year.
Many grant awards or scholarships to students and researchers performing work of scholarly quality. Some also extend recognition to superior faculty and community leaders. The Phi Kappa Phi key consists of the badge-a globe against the background of the sun, whose rays form an expansive corona and radiate in a number of symmetrical concentrations from behind the globe. These rays signify equivalence among the various branches of learning and represent the dissemination of truth as light. Encircling the globe is a band containing the Greek letters PKP that symbolizes a fraternal bond that girds the earth and binds the lovers of wisdom in a common purpose.