In his latest book, A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems, Joseph L. Graves Jr. challenges the misuse of evolutionary biology as a tool for justifying racism and social hierarchies.
Not only is an embrace of free expression central to the creation and discovery of knowledge, it also turns out to be the best way to deal constructively with the challenges of our time. Universities can serve as role models for a “vigorous civility” that is sorely lacking in public life, a commitment to disagree without delegitimizing and to begin difficult conversations with a search for shared values and common ground.
Kate Manne of Cornell University and David Livingstone Smith of University of New England have won the 2024 Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution. Given annually by Phi Beta Kappa in conjunction with the American Philosophical Association, the prize awards each winner an honorarium of $25,000.
ΦBK is pleased to announce the winners of our three annual book awards. These $10,000 prizes are given to outstanding works of non-fiction that engage a wide audience with important ideas in science, history, and literature.
Find new and updated resources from the Society to share the importance of arts and sciences education with policymakers, opinion shapers, campus administrators, and students all year.
Madelyn G. Torchin (ΦBK, University of Missouri) donated $50,000 to Phi Beta Kappa to fund the Love of Learning Professional Development Grants program. Established in honor of the Phi Beta Kappa motto, “love of learning is the guide to life,” the program was designed to provide funds to ΦBK members who wish to pursue endeavors to continue lifelong learning and advance in their professions.
At the 47th Triennial Council, Phi Beta Kappa presented the Society’s President’s Award to former ΦBK President Lynn Pasquerella and its John Hope Franklin Award to Susan Hagen.
This past summer, as the Society has every three years since the first Triennial Council convening in 1883, representatives from Phi Beta Kappa’s 290+ chapters and nearly 50 alumni associations gathered to chart the course of our future. This was a particularly significant conference as we gathered on the cusp of our 250th anniversary in 2026.
The Society is pleased to announces the election of Esther L. Jones (ΦBK, Fisk University) as President of the Society and Ronald A. Crutcher (ΦBK, Miami University) as Vice President. Both positions are for a three-year term.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (ΦBK, Yale University) is the recipient of Phi Beta Kappa’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities. The Society presented the award to Gates during the 47th Triennial Council.
The Triennial Council is Phi Beta Kappa’s legislative body, which convenes every three years to conduct Society business and hold elections. Our executives, senators, and representatives from the ΦBK chapters and associations met for our 47th Triennial Council from July 31 to August 4 in Baltimore, Maryland. Phi Beta Kappa voted to establish three new […]
Douglas Emlen, Regents Professor of Biology at the University of Montana, is one of 13 preeminent scholars in the liberal arts and sciences selected to serve as ΦBK Visiting Scholars during the 2024–2025 academic year.
