The Phi Beta Kappa Society
KENTUCKIANA ASSOCIATION
PAST EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Speed Art Museum
November 15, 2024
Eighteen members and guests were treated to a private docent-led tour of the Speed Art Museum on the University of Louisville campus. Highlights included a Winslow Homer exhibition as well as deep discussions of works by contemporary artists Ebony G. Patterson and Isabelle de Borchgrave.
New Albanian Brewing Company
October 23, 2024
Honoring the "-iana" part of our name, a group of members and guests gathered for beer and pizza at a brewpub/pizzeria on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. Possibilities for future Indiana events were discussed.
Louisville Water Tower
September 20, 2024
Twenty-seven members and guests toured the Louisville Water Tower, a National Historic Landmark and the oldest ornamental water tower in the world. Among the things we learned: during the era when steam powered the pumps, the tower was actually a pipe for the release of pressure. Following the tour, several members headed to Apocalypse Brew Works for a round of beers.
Scholastic Awards Event
May 6, 2024
University of Louisville Professor Karen Chandler was our guest speaker at our annual event where we recognize the winners of our Scholastic Awards. Our 2024 winners were Esha Khan (Bellarmine University), Fiona Vonderheide (Indiana University Southeast), Taylor Griffith (University of Louisville), and Brittany Smith (Jefferson Community and Technical College).
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
April 14, 2024
The Association toured historic Pleasant Hill, once one of the largest Shaker settlements in the United States.
Gurgle: Pulling Water
February 18, 2023
In an event open to the public, we screened the documentary Gurgle: Pulling Water. Billed as "a film about rowing and life lessons," Gurgle was directed by Richard Van Kleeck and features several rowers connected to Louisville, among them Tori Murden McClure, the first woman and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Jeptha Creed Distillery
October 7, 2023
Reaching out to our members who live nearer Frankfort and Lexington, we invited Phi Betes to the Jeptha Creed distillery in Shelbyville. Jeptha Creed was hosting its first Fall Harvest Festival, featuring live music, craft vendors, food, and of course drinks! We met recent inductees as well as long-time members. All seemed to enjoy the event.
Geologist Kate Bulinski
May 9, 2023
At our annual Scholastic Awards event, Dr. Kate Bulinkski presented a lecture on climate change, explaining how geologists are able to compare our present era to periods of global warming in the past. Dr. Bulinski is an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Bellarmine University. In her teaching, she involves students in hands-on explorations of the paleoecology of the Falls of the Ohio area. She has guest-blogged for the Vatican Observatory on the subject of science and faith in the classroom.
Mayor Craig Greenberg
February 18, 2023
At an event jointly sponsored by PBK of Kentuckiana and the local University of Michigan Alumni Association, Mayor Craig Greenberg (Phi Beta Kappa, University of Michigan 1995) answered questions about his plans for Louisville and shared how his background in the liberal arts got him to where he is today. The event was held at Patrick O'Shea's in downtown Louisville.
Artist Tiffany Carbonneau
May 6, 2021
At the event where we honored our 2021 Scholastic Award winners, we were treated to a presentation from Tiffany Carbonneau, Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Indiana University Southeast. Carbonneau creates what she calls “layered visual narratives”: videos projected on to large surfaces, often outdoors, that reflect the material histories of the places where her work is exhibited. These places include sites in our region (Churchill Downs and the Muhammad Ali International Airport among them) and throughout the United States. They also include international exhibitions in Lodz, Poland; Hamburg, Germany; Cape Town, South Africa; and Toronto, Canada. Carbonneau founded the Digital Art area at IUS.
Congressman John Yarmuth
April 22, 2021
John Yarmuth--at the time a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky’s Third District--delivered the annual University of Louisville annual Phi Beta Kappa Lecture. Titled "From A+ To F: How The Liberal Arts Led Me to Congress (and Also Changed the World)," Congressman Yarmuth's lecture addressed how a liberal arts education prepared him for his career in Congress. Then in his eighth term, Yarmuth had served as Chairman of the House Budget Committee since 2019. He was recognized during his career for his work to improve education, expand access to affordable health care, and revitalize manufacturing in Louisville.
Banking Executive Nikki Lanier
February 25, 2021
Drawing on her experiences as Senior Vice President and Regional Executive of the Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Nikki Lanier answered questions about the general operations of her organization. She also discussed the specific initiatives she has led to address systemic racism and the underdevelopment of parts of Louisville.
PBK BOOK DISCUSSION
My Beloved World by
Justice Sonya Sotomayor
April 22, 2021
The January meeting featured a book discussion of My Beloved World, the memoir of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Growing up in the Bronx the daughter of parents who had immigrated from Puerto Rico, Justice Sotomayor earned a full scholarship to Princeton University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1976. One reviewer says “Sotomayor turns out to be a writer of depth and literary flair, a surprise to readers of her judicial prose.” Justice Sotomayor’s biography serves as our Book Award this year.
Harpsichordist Jack Ashworth
December 3, 2020
Our December program featured harpsichord music performed and discussed by Dr. Jack Ashworth, Professor Emeritus of Music History at the University of Louisville, where he directed the Early Music Ensemble from 1977 until his retirement in 2013. A two-term President of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, Dr. Ashworth is also an award-winning teacher and co-author of the continuo manual Running the Numbers, now in its second edition. He holds degrees from Stanford University and Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA (Washington Beta of PBK). He plays old-time fiddle in the Buzzard Rock String Band.
We began with a toast in honor of the 244th anniversary of the founding of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 by students at the College of William and Mary.
Cassie Chambers Armstrong
October 15, 2020
Cassie Chambers Armstrong–author of Hill Women and Councilperson for Louisville’s Metro Council District 8–told the story of growing up in Owlsey County, Kentucky, being raised by her grandmother and aunt with “hill women values,” then graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and Harvard Law School. She helped, to pass Jeanette’s Law in 2018, which eliminated the requirement that domestic violence survivors pay an incarcerated spouse’s legal fees in order to get a divorce. Armstrong’s book may be purchased at Carmichaels.
PBK PANEL DISCUSSION
“Can the Constitution Survive the Pandemics of 2020?”
September 15, 2020
Phi Beta Kappa of Kentuckiana was pleased to host a panel discussion addressing a key question of our time: can the U.S. Constitution survive the pandemics (note the plural) that faced us in 2020? The panel featured three speakers, all of them professors who teach Constitutional Law at the University of Louisville. They are Dr. Jasmine Farrier, Professor of Political Science and Vice-President for University Advancement; Samuel A. Marcosson, Professor of Law, Brandeis School of Law; and Cedric Merlin Powell, Wyatt Tarrant and Combs Professor of Law, Brandeis School of Law. Our moderator was the Honorable Fred Cowan, former Kentucky Attorney General and current Kentucky Circuit Judge of the 30th judicial district in Louisville.
