Articles

Key Conversations Kicks Off Its Third Year

The podcast has had a number of special episodes that highlight ΦBK members and award winners, including renowned author and MacArthur Fellow Edwidge Danticat (ΦBK, Barnard College), the 2019 Lebowitz Prize winners Michael E. Bratman (ΦBK, Haverford College) and Margaret P. Gilbert, and the 2019 ΦBK Book Award recipients Imani Perry, Adam Frank, and Sarah Igo.

Visiting Scholar Susan R. Wolf

Susan R. Wolf (ΦΒΚ, Yale University), the Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is one of 16 prominent scholars in the liberal arts and sciences selected to serve as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Key Connections Goes Virtual

Although the Society’s fourth annual Key Connections program looks different this fall, our commitment to offering a warm welcome to recent graduates is stronger than ever.

The Art and Science of Encouraging Public Service at a Critical Time

When the Society began accepting applications for our Key into Public Service program last fall, we could never have imagined how health, economic, and racial justice crises would soon make clear the crucial need for arts and sciences in government.

From the Secretary: A Year of Uncertainties and Opportunities

The creativity and energy characteristic of the liberal arts enables us to continue our growth and our positive impact on the lives of our members and our nation.

What Do You Teach? A Brief Essay on Education

Bob Colyer (ΦBK, Dartmouth College) has been a highly successful instructor, coach, and administrator on the high school and college levels. He is the author of Swim Better: A Guide to Greater Efficiency for Swimmers and Instructors.

Ellen Ochoa on the Importance of Representation in Science

Former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, engineer and astronaut Ellen Ochoa (ΦBK, San Diego State University) now serves as chair of the National Science Board.

Graphic Novelist François Vigneault

François Vigneault (ΦBK, Reed College), a freelance cartoonist, illustrator, designer, is the co-creator of the YA comic book series 13e Avenue.

Publisher and Early Civil Rights Icon William Monroe Trotter

A founder of the Boston Guardian and the Niagara Movement, Trotter was the first African American ΦBK member elected by the Harvard chapter.

Princeton Student Makes History as First Black Valedictorian

Nicholas André G. Johnson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton in May 2020. He begins his Ph.D. studies at MIT in the fall.

Remembering Rudolph Fisher, Leading Figure of the Harlem Renaissance

Renowned in both the sciences and the literary world, Rudolph Fisher (ΦBK, Brown University) was the definition of a Renaissance Man. 

Darwin T. Turner, Father of African American Studies

Darwin T. Turner (ΦBK, University of Cincinnati) dedicated his life and career to the struggle to legitimate the literature of African American and Black authors as subjects of serious scholarly attention.