This past summer, we convened the 46th ΦBK Triennial Council, the first ever to be entirely virtual. We gathered to celebrate the fundamental role that liberal arts and sciences education plays in our society and our democracy.
Tienda (ΦBK, Michigan State University), professor emerita of sociology at Princeton University, is one of 13 prominent scholars in the liberal arts and sciences selected to serve as a ΦBK Visiting Scholar during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Phi Beta Kappa voted to establish three new chapters at the 46th Triennial Council. The Society awarded new chapters to Phi Beta Kappa faculty at Providence College, Rollins College, and University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
The Society is pleased to announce the election of Peter Quimby as president of the Society. Esther Jones was elected as vice president. Both positions are for a three-year term from 2021 to 2024. The election took place August 5 at the Society’s 46th Triennial Council.
For the fifth year in a row, Phi Beta Kappa has partnered with our local associations in cities across the country for Key Connections, an event series designed to welcome recent inductees and members who might have recently relocated.
To help chapter institutions and our alumni members meet the moment, the Society’s National Arts & Sciences Initiative offers a number of new resources.
Patton (ΦBK, Harvard University) is the 17th president of Middlebury College and the first woman to lead the institution in its 218-year history.
Two-time Tony award-winning director Julie Taymor (ΦBK, Oberlin College) is perhaps best known for her work on Broadway’s The Lion King. Her films include Frida (2002), Across the Universe (2007), and most recently The Glorias (2020).
“College is a time to be educated, it is a time to learn,” says Thompson (ΦBK, University of Washington). “Focus on that, and the rewards will be there in your career even if you can’t draw a direct line between then and now.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed received Phi Beta Kappa’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities at the 2021 triennial council.
Nguyen has written numerous books, including The Sympathizer, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and its sequel, The Committed.
Churchill’s posthumously published book, The Problem with Rules: Essays on the Meaning and Value of Liberal Education, offers an accessible, persuasive testament for the continued need and value for liberal education.
