The Phi Beta Kappa Society
DELAWARE VALLEY ASSOCIATION
PHI BETA KAPPA DELAWARE VALLEY ASSOCIATION
Upcoming Events
Book Club - "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" - Thu. Dec. 12, 7:00 pm; virtual; no charge.
Movie Club - "Farewell Mr. Haffmann" - Thu. Jan. 9, 2025, 7:00 pm; virtual; no charge.
Board Games & Brunch - Twenty One Pips, Ardmore, PA - Sat. Jan. 11, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm; in-person; game library access fee + individual brunch expense. Note: Registration must close on 1/4/25 for restaurant advance notice.
Book Club - "James" - Thu. Feb. 13, 7:00 pm; virtual; no charge.
Woodmere Art Museum, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA - private guided tour. Sat. Feb. 22, 10:30 am; in-person; fee.
Movie Club - "American Fiction" - Thu. March 13, 7:00 pm; virtual; no charge.
News Briefs
PBK's Enjoy Tour of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Africa Galleries.
On November 9, 2024, PBK's enjoyed a private guided tour of the Penn Museum's reimagined Africa galleries, led by Penn archaeology graduate student, Chris Lamack. The galleries celebrate the richness and diversity of Africa, from art and language, to spiritual practices and family systems, tracing the journey from maker to museum to consider why, where, and how objects were made, as well as how they were used in daily life, on special occasions, or in religious ceremonies, and why they were meaningful to the cultures that produced them. Following the tour, PBK's enjoyed a group lunch in the Penn Museum Cafe for more good conversation.
Phi Beta Kappa Assn. of the Delaware Valley 2024 Key Connections Event
On October 17, 2024, recent PBK inductees enjoyed great conversation and trivia Quizzo with other PBK members from the SE PA, So. Jersey, and No. Delaware region at PBK Delaware Valley's annual Key Connections event, held this year at the Victory Brewing Company's pub restaurant on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City Philadelphia. Hosted by our PBK Delaware Valley's Young Professionals Advisory Committee (YPAC) co-chairs, Shea Sandifer & Carissa Petzold, the event consisted of a meet & greet happy hour with appetizers and drinks, followed by an hour for dinner and team Quizzo trivia in small impromptu teams, with PBK logo mugs for prizes. This successful event gave recent PBK's an opportunity to meet each other as well as meet established PBK Delaware Valley members for a great evening of networking and career connections.
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar at Saint Joseph's University
On October 7-8, 2024, the Phi of Pennsylvania Chapter at Saint Joseph's University hosted Tammie Kernodle, PhD., Distinguished Professor of Music at Miami University of Ohio, for campus engagement and a free public lecture on 10/8, "All Rhythm But None of the Blues: Black Music, Black Women and the De-Mythologizing of Post-Racial America". Professor Kernodle's research is focused on African American music, gender studies in music, and race in American popular culture. She is the author of the biography Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams, which chronicles the six-decade career of the jazz pianist/arranger and educator; served as Associate Editor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of African American Music and on the Editorial Board for the revision of the New Grove Encyclopedia of American Music; and was the President of the Society for American Music. The lecture was co-sponsored by the SJU Department of Music and the SJU Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
Private Guided Tour of the Philadelphia Museum of Art "Mary Cassatt" Special Exhibition
On July 20, 2024, PBK's, family, and friends had a very detailed private tour with an excellent guide of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's special exhibition, "Mary Cassatt at Work". The exhibition included over 130 diverse works that covered Cassatt's evolving practice, demonstrating her interest in the "serious work" of artmaking. New findings were noted about the materials she used and her advanced-for-her-era processes, coinciding with a detailed study by the PMOA of its significant Cassatt holdings. The first major showing of Cassatt's oeuvre in the US in 25 years, the exhibition considered her professionalism, her biography, and the wider Parisian art world which she inhabited to give a richer and more complex picture of her work. Following the tour, many of the participants ate lunch together and enjoyed good conversation in the museum cafe.
PBK's Toured Outdoor Murals in Philadelphia's Center City West
On June 29, 2024, PBK's enjoyed seeing the bold outdoor murals of Philadelphia's Center City West, on a 2-hour private guided tour. Even 2 hours could only include a subset of of Philadelphia's reputed 4,000 outdoor murals, which are championed by Mural Arts Philadelphia, the nation's largest public art program. The Mural Arts guide chose an interesting route to highlight a variety of new and old murals, and shared stories behind the murals, the artists, and their transformative impact on the City over the years. Tour revenues benefit the acclaimed social responsibility missions of the Mural Arts organization, which include post-incarceration work training, youth art education, and community engagement, to name a few. PBK's had more good conversation at the post-tour group lunch at the Continental Midtown restaurant.
