The Portland State University chapter of Tau Beta Pi was
created on February 13, 1993, to honor engineering students who exemplify the
motto "Integrity and Excellence in Engineering." Our chapter was
the second founded in Oregon, hence the Oregon Beta designation.
The Tau Beta Pi
Association, the 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." Tau
Beta Pi is the nation's second oldest academic honor society (only Phi Beta
Kappa was founded earlier).