Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars


The Delaware Valley Association is fortunate to have 11 college and university Phi Beta Kappa Chapters in our region.  The Phi Beta Kappa national Visiting Scholars program supports bringing eminent annually designated academic scholars as speakers to Chapters across the country.  

The Rho of Pennsylvania Chapter at Temple University hosted Professor Mark D. Hayward, a health demographer and population health scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, in February 2023 for two days of talks and interactions, as one of the 2022-2023 PBK Visiting Scholars.  Professor Hayward's public lecture during his visit at Temple was entitled, "Improving Our Nation's Health", in which he addressed why, although life expectancy in high-income countries has improved dramatically, the US has fallen significantly behind, with this divergence continuing unabated for over 40 years.  His lecture reviewed the ways in which growing social inequality in health, federal policies and the rise of New Federalism may have contributed to this adverse trend in US life expectancy, and highlighted the fast-growing geographic inequality of mortality among US states. Professor Hayward also hypothesized that politics has become a growing force in increasing an array of health risks for many Americans.

The Phi of Pennsylvania Chapter at St. Joseph's University hosted one of PBK's 2023-2024 Visiting Scholars, Professor Trevon Logan, for two days on October 23-24, 2023.  Professor Logan is the Hazel C. Youngberg Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics and Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, The Ohio State University. On Monday, October 23rd, from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m., Professor Logan delivered a public lecture entitled, “All We Have Is The Truth: Burdened Individuality, Abstract Equality, and Economic Interference” in the Teletorium in Mandeville Hall, to which PBK DV members were welcome to attend. The lecture asked if we are interpreting racial economic and social disparities appropriately.