As a Georgia Tech undergraduate, Anna Pinder, ME 03, heard rumblings about the ANAK Society and swirling rumors about its role on campus. The mystery intrigued her, especially as she read the names of departing ANAK members in the Technique—a public unmasking that remains one of the society’s longest-held traditions.
“Still, I honestly had no idea what was really involved,” Pinder recalls.
That all changed in 2001 when Pinder, a President’s Scholar who was deeply involved with FASET, Georgia Tech’s new student orientation, as well as the Georgia Tech Student Foundation, was “tapped” to join ANAK.
Pulled behind the curtain, Pinder began to understand ANAK’s mission. She also felt an immediate surge of responsibility to deliver on the group’s lofty aims—and long legacy—to create a better Georgia Tech.
“I didn’t want to waste the opportunity,” Pinder says.
A century-old history
Founded on New Year’s Day 1908, ANAK bills itself, 116 years later, as the “oldest known secret society and honor society” at Georgia Tech.
The group’s rituals are governed by silence and its activities, particularly over the last seven decades, do not arrive with public signatures. According to its sparse black-and-white website, ANAK “strives to advance the Institute in its mission of progress and service.” The sentiment is as bold as it is ambiguous.
But ANAK wasn’t always a secret society shrouded in mystery.
In fact, ANAK—a name connected to a race of giants and warriors found in the Old Testament—was a public force throughout its first five decades and played a key role in establishing campus institutions such as the Technique, The Blueprint yearbook, the Student Government Association, and the Ramblin’ Reck Club. The organization is also credited with playing a prominent role in forming the Judicial Council, tasked to evaluate instances of student academic infractions, as well as crafting the first Student Honor Code.
“Over the years, ANAK has been a legitimate mechanism to solve problems and give an important perspective in how student functions are carried out on campus,” says Dr. Richard Barke, Phys 72, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy, and ANAK’s current faculty advisor alongside Dr. Kim Harrington, Tech’s interim associate vice president for Arts, Belonging, and Community.
Around 1960, however, the group turned to secrecy as the campus prepared for the arrival of its first Black students. ANAK members worked behind the scenes to make sure racial integration on campus went smoothly, including meeting with the school’s earliest Black students and their families before enrollment. The secrecy was designed to limit pushback and conflict, Barke says, and succeeded in driving a more peaceful integration in 1961 than at other universities.
And the secrecy has remained passionately practiced by current members who attend private meetings and rally support for ANAK-supported plans without waving the ANAK flag in front of Tech Tower.
A community of ‘doers’
ANAK’s alumni ranks feature prominent Yellow Jackets, including corporate, civic, and institutional leaders. Current Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, ChE 98, was a member of the society as was one of his predecessors, two-term Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., Com 1933. Georgia State University President Brian Blake, EE 94, was inducted in 1994, and former Georgia Tech College of Engineering Dean Gary May, EE 85, now chancellor of the University of California-Davis, served on ANAK during his undergraduate years, as did revered Georgia Tech Dean of Students George Griffin, CE 22, who is memorialized on campus with a statue outside the Smithgall Building.
But no one saunters into ANAK focused solely on gaining prestige—and that’s because no one saunters into ANAK on their own accord.
The group has no formal application process. Rather, current ANAK members select new candidates—juniors or seniors only—based on their character, leadership, and demonstrated commitment to Georgia Tech. Most are students holding leadership positions across campus—in student organizations, clubs, Greek life, school programs, and the like. Assembling a diverse group of doers is important to impacting Georgia Tech in a positive way, one current member says.
“We’re all in our own bubbles and don’t see every problem. Together, we can make change in a more impactful way than we could on our own,” the current member says.
There is an annual initiation ceremony for new members featuring current ANAK members and alumni, an initiation script that has evolved with the times, and a special pin that new members receive.
“There’s no fog or burning incense, no secret handshake,” a person familiar with ANAK initiation says.
Student membership typically hovers around 15 to 20, according to Barke. Once upon a time, the group was exclusively male. Recently, Barke says, women have comprised 50 to 60 percent of the members. In addition, the group taps one or two faculty or staff members each year as honorary members. Barke himself received the honor in 2001, when he was serving as associate dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
“I guess they thought I was useful,” jokes Barke, who says honorary members are typically chosen for a combination of their affinity for Georgia Tech and their ability to help ANAK accomplish its objectives.
Members then choose projects they want to address and work collaboratively—and rather covertly—and often working with the Tech administration to execute plans, particularly those transcending the reach or ability of any single organization.
“It’s the classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts,” Barke says. “And if you’re a member, you’re expected to contribute. No one coasts.”
Pursuing a better Georgia Tech
ANAK’s insistence on secrecy has, at times, sparked criticism from some corners of the campus community. Some have questioned the purpose of a “secret society” and even characterized ANAK as a self-serving, elitist group designed to retain power and peddle outsized influence at a school with more than 45,000 students.
Both current and former ANAK members, however, reject talk of anything nefarious, saying the organization’s secrecy is intended to boost Tech, to elevate and enhance the institution, not propel personal agendas. The secrecy ensures the focus sits on the greater good, not any individual’s ego or pursuit of public glory.
“With anonymity comes the ability to be an influence for good without taking personal credit,” says Pinder, who served as ANAK’s president during the 2002–2003 academic year.
As one current ANAK member puts it, the group seeks to “facilitate progress and service while holding the Georgia Tech community’s universal well-being as the highest priority.”
During Pinder’s two-year run with ANAK, for instance, she recalls building allyship to ensure Coming Out Week at Tech, founded in 2002 by Jonathan Duke, IE 02, and Sid Kossowsky, ChE 03, would be a successful event. She remembers ANAK members agreeing internally to be a supportive presence and encourage those in their own networks to show support as well.ANAK also offers scholarships and recognitions to members of the Tech community. The George Wingfield Semmes Scholarship provides a total of $20,000 to three high-achieving College of Engineering undergrads while the ANAK Award recognizes faculty and staff with outstanding service to Tech. A grant program for campus organizations, meanwhile, provides new and struggling non-dues-collecting organizations up to $500 to bolster operations.
“One thing ANAK is able to do well is take the overall temperature on campus and rally different student leaders to draw support without having anything be slanted to one organization or another,” Pinder says. “It’s why I’m proud to be a part of the group’s history. ANAK gets student leaders together, pulls resources, and pushes impact to improve Tech.”