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Inaugural Phi Beta Kappa Lecture Series, New York City

Five days before President Barack Obama took the oath of office, Phi Beta Kappa members in New York City participated in the inaugural Phi Beta Kappa Lecture Series, “The Changing of the Guard in Washington — What to Expect?” The speaker, broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff from “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” discussed the outlook for the new president, problems facing the United States, and the domestic and international issues his administration will face. Immediately following Woodruff’s lecture, Bill Baker served as the moderator in a roundtable discussion with other journalists. Baker is the Claudia Aquaviva Distinguished Professor of Education Journalist-in-Residence at Fordham University and president emeritus of Educational Broadcasting Corporation. The lecture was held on the evening of January 15, 2009, at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus.

Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards 2008, Williamsburg, Va.

The Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are given annually in December. This year, Leor Halevi received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award for Muhammad’s Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society, Peter Brooks received the Christian Gauss Award for Henry James Goes to Paris and Neil Shubin received the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in Science for Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. The Society presented the awards on December 5 at the Williamsburg Lodge in Colonial Williamsburg, Va. Donald Lamm, former chairman of the board of W. W. Norton, was the keynote speaker.

Churchill Inaugurates ODK Distinguished Lecture Series at Emory University

John Churchill, the secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, gave the first Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Lecture on February 20, 2008. Using leadership models from the Heroic Age to the Age of Reason, with an eye toward leadership for more contemporary times, Churchill explored the ethical dimension of leadership. This lecture marks the beginning of a new program by ODK, America’s national leadership honor society.

Paul Farmer at Occidental College, Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa

New York entrepreneur Robert Merriman Ruenitz has given Occidental College $320,000 to establish the Phi Beta Kappa Distinguished Speakers Forum. This initiative will bring a provocative speaker to the campus each spring.The inaugural program was held February 17, 2008. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health and Harvard University addressed an overflow audience on "Global Health Equity Examples from Haiti to Rwanda." After the presentation, he joined students for a luncheon at the home of Occidental President Susan Prager.