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Phi Alpha Tau (ΦΑΤ) is the oldest professional communicative arts fraternity in the United States, founded in 1902 by Walter Bradley Tripp at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded to support the student-run debate society at Emerson College, and maintain its status as a student run organization. Currently, members are involved in all areas of communications including film, comedy, politics, theatre, marketing, publishing, writing, television and radio.
Some of the organization's honorary members include Edward R. Murrow, Elia Kazan, Rex Trailer, William F. Buckley Jr., Robert B. Parker and Boston radio personality David Brudnoy.
Tau, led by president Michael Burditt Norton, inducted Boston mayor Thomas Menino into the fraternity on January 28, 2007 and presented him with an award named in Brudnoy's honor.
The Fraternity also awards the Joseph E. Connor Memorial Award for Excellence in the Communicative Arts to men of national distinction who embody the ideals of the fraternity and further the communicative arts. The Award commemorates Connor, a beloved brother and adviser of the Fraternity who died in 1952. In addition to Murrow, Kazan, Frost, and Parker, past recipients include actors Yul Brynner and Jack Lemmon, TV personality Bob Keeshan, Speaker of the House John W. McCormack, along with many others. In December of 2007, Tau honored Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart, making him the third consecutive Pops conductor to receive the award, following Arthur Fiedler and John Williams. On May 26, 2010 the most recent recipient was photojournalist David Burnett.
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