| Over the course of its first century, Beta Gamma Sigma has gone through some significant changes. While many individuals have been involved in the Society's evolution, few had a greater impact than Beta Gamma Sigma's presidents.
A
conversation with
James H. Bearden
Beta Gamma Sigma President 1986-1990
 Deans
of business schools have a multitude of responsibilities.
What was it about BGS that made you want to take the time
to be a part of the Society and what was it that kept you
involved for as many years as you have been?
I became
a member of Beta Gamma Sigma at the University of Alabama,
and my teaching assignment and my academic career began at
East Carolina, East Carolina College at the time. It wasn’t
a designated university, but we had to go through all of the
hoops to become accredited, and part of that process was the
understanding that if we in fact became accredited by AACSB,
then we would have the chance to create an honor society of
Beta Gamma Sigma. And so that was a red-letter day for me
when we became accredited because not only was that a judgment
on our academic quality, but it enabled us to award membership
to an honor society of the caliber of Beta Gamma Sigma.
That certainly was an attraction
for me. I saw how Beta Gamma Sigma could be part of the fabric
of an institution. I could see the value of an honor society
on campus. So, that’s why my connection has continued
for a long time. I see the value of it to higher education.
Along
those lines, how do you perceive that BGS has been beneficial
to your university?
My university has probably
benefited, as most universities do, by having an honor society
and certainly by having Beta Gamma Sigma. I think there are
many times when we are looking for avenues at any university
to celebrate the accomplishments of our students. More than
that, it serves as an inducement to other students, to do
well and to be recognized. I think by having membership in
an honor society of the caliber and the quality of Beta Gamma
Sigma, an institution benefits because it really stresses
the kind of values we place on hard work, on accomplishment
and on recognition.
What
was your most memorable accomplishment during your tenure
as BGS president?
When I look back at the times
I had with Beta Gamma Sigma, there were so many different
themes that ran through my tenure. There were relational things,
there were organizational changes.
The first biennial convention
of Beta Gamma Sigma that I attended was in 1968. I was representing
my university at that convention, and on the discussion agenda
for that board of governors meeting was the mention that Beta
Gamma Sigma had operated in a number of schools, but they
were not touching a lot of schools that were not accredited.
The question was whether or not they had a responsibility
for trying, in some way, to relate to all of those institutions
that were not accredited and might never aspire to accreditation.
I heard that discussion in 1968.
It didn’t go anywhere, but when I became the president
of Beta Gamma Sigma in 1986, the strategic issues committee
began to sketch out what we envisioned for the future of Beta
Gamma Sigma to be. One of the points I made in my recommendation
to the strategic issues committee was that we needed to examine
whether or not we need to revisit that early discussion of
stretching Beta Gamma Sigma to schools that were not eligible
for AACSB. We put it on the agenda, and to be candid with
you, it came up in discussion many times.
In 1990, my last year as president,
we decided that Beta Gamma Sigma would have to carve out another
honor society to serve all those schools that had great students
but were represented by regional accrediting bodies. We were
going to see that these other students - who would never get
the chance to have a Beta Gamma Sigma key - would have an
honor society. And so, we created another honor society that
would be called Sigma Beta Delta. The first chapter was started
at Belmont University.
That accomplishment has touched
the lives of many students. Sigma Beta Delta has chapters
installed at about 370 institutions, has now about 280 active
chapters, about 70,000 alumni members.
I think Beta Gamma Sigma, being
the founder of that in so many ways, must be very proud of
that accomplishment.
Past
presidents of Beta Gamma Sigma seem to be some of the society’s
biggest supporters. What is it about Beta Gamma Sigma that
you see the value in, that’s worth, you know, your maintained
attention even after your presidency was done?
Beta Gamma Sigma just continues
to represent the essence of higher education. And that is
excellence. That’s our ambition. That’s our aspiration.
That’s what we’re about. And so, consequently,
I think that whenever we have an opportunity to host an institution
that represents excellence the way that our honor society
does and so many others, then I think we ought to take advantage
of that. And so, that’s why I think that you want to
stay involved with any entity that enhances and embraces the
notion of excellence. And that’s really a part and parcel
of what Beta Gamma Sigma’s about.
BGS
has grown quite a bit over the years. We now have actually
over 700,000 members coming from more than 500 collegiate
chapters located on six continents. What impact do you see
that this large membership could have on the next generation
of business leaders?
When I
became president, Beta Gamma Sigma was a national organization.
It was during that time when I got to see our first chapter
outside of the United States created at the University of
Calgary. There were around 200,000 something plus members
of Beta Gamma Sigma during the time that I was active in it
as president. We are far beyond the borders of this country
now.
It has just been amazing to see
the progress that has been made not just in terms of numbers,
but the numbers of people who now have the opportunity to
know about Beta Gamma Sigma. There’s been a stretch
of our honor community beyond the United States, which is
an American tradition. There is no similar country of origin,
that I know of, that had something that was similar to the
honor society. So, all of the honor societies have made a
move to stretch beyond this country. I doubt that many have
had the major move as has Beta Gamma Sigma.
As I read the publications that
come out of our office now, it’s regularly noted of
a new program or new school or new entity that has a Beta
Gamma Sigma touch to it. That’s a good move, I think.
Not only does it enhance our own standing as an honor society,
but it does, in fact, enhance the whole notion of higher education,
how it relates to excellence.
There are so many dimensions of this worldwide expansion of
Beta Gamma Sigma that bodes well, I think, for higher education.
More than that, this bodes well for the entire business community.
These students have demonstrated
excellence in what they were doing in their schoolwork, in
their programs at a university. Those are the best students
that we have. Their talent, let’s say, has been demonstrated,
and they’ve been rewarded, they’ve been given
a key, and they’ve been given a certificate—they
are our gold medallists in so many ways.
They have, at the same time, not been challenged to the extent
that they could be. We probably have missed an opportunity
to say, “We want to keep up with you in terms of how
your life is going to make a positive difference in other
peoples’ lives. How are you going to coalesce all of
this talent in a way that would be beneficial to society?”
We, in some ways, have not met
that challenge yet. I think that that’s, really, still
an opportunity that’s awaiting us. Beta Gamma Sigma
clearly has the membership, it has the capacity to do things
positively. They’ll do that—they’ll do that
in their profession. But is there some dimension beyond that
that is yet to be served by our Beta Gamma Sigma members and
certainly our other honor society members?
That’s a challenge that’s
yet unmet. How can we meet that challenge? That’s a
good opportunity for us in the honor society to continue to
look at in the future.
Given
the number of honor societies that are out there, what is
it about Beta Gamma Sigma that makes it stand out to be able
to reach the Centennial milestone?
Beta Gamma Sigma’s history has to highlight, in some
way, the values that those three letters represent. I think
that when you look at what Beta Gamma Sigma stands for, that
we’ve been very fortunate to have carved out some things
that we believe, it would be very important to a life. Wisdom,
honor and earnestness are the bedrock of what a good society
is about. We label those to be part of our ritual and part
of what we’re trying to, embrace not only just in a
ceremony, but in a lifestyle. I think the founders of our
society were remarkable in the sense that they put down, in
words, things that are still valuable today, things that still
we ought to look at as something that can be aspired to in
our lives.
We’ve had good administrations,
we’ve had so many people who have given many hours and
many days in their life to fostering what that concept of
Beta Gamma Sigma means in a person’s life, and so it’s
far more than just a reward. It is really a responsibility.
And I think that’s what gives longevity to something
like Beta Gamma Sigma. A hundred years is a long time. At
the same time, the future beckons us to not only nourish that
original concept but stretch it far beyond.
Finally,
how does Beta Gamma Sigma continue to be part of your life,
or in other words, what does lifetime membership mean to you?
As a member of Beta Gamma Sigma for these long years, I really
don’t think that I can get away from what occurred to
me when I received a key myself. More than that, was how it
touched the lives of other people over the years. You don’t
have to experience many times the expressions that you see
on the faces of people as they receive recognition for hard
work, for the time they’ve spent, for the commitment
that they’ve made to do something outstanding now in
life.
Beta Gamma Sigma is one of the
few places in higher education where you really can bring
to a head all of the hard work, all of the hours that have
been spent on trying to advance your own knowledge and your
own opportunity into something that would be significant not
only for your life, but for others around you.
The Beta Gamma Sigma key brings
it to fruition. And you see it on the faces of the young people,
the older people, but more than that, the parents of those
recipients of that key, the friends of the recipients of that
key, the spouses. There are so many players that really get
to see the benefit that occurs and accrues when a key and
a certificate is passed to that recipient.
I’ve seen it so many times
in my life. I just don’t think that you can convey any
better what the meaning of Beta Gamma Sigma - or Sigma Beta
Delta - membership is until you see how it is expressed in
the attitude of those people who are receiving it and those
around them who have been a part of their lives.
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