Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 as a debating society. Our motto, Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης, means literally (in modern Greek) “The love of wisdom is the governor of life” (note for fans of Star Trek and the Odyssey: the word Κυβερνήτης originally meant “helmsman”). In his 1837 address to Phi Beta Kappa, Ralph Waldo Emerson urged the members of Phi Beta Kappa to use their wisdom to benefit their country: “the scholar is the delegated intellect… Him the past instructs. Him the future invites… A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.”
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Public Lecture by William Wulf, March 5, 2009
Public Lecture by William Wulf, former President of the National Academy of Engineering. Responsible Citizenship in a Technological Democracy. Thursday March 5, 2009, 4:00-5:00PM, in 151 Everitt Lab.
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Public Lecture by Michael J.B. Allen, November 12, 2007
Public Lecture by Michael J.B. Allen, President of the Renaissance Society of America and Professor of English at UCLA. At Variance: Renaissance Platonism and Heresy. Monday November 12, 2007, 7:00-8:00PM.
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Public Lecture by Raymond DeMallie, April 9, 2007
Black Elk, Holy Man of the Lakotas: An Anthropologist’s Perspective Raymond J. DeMallie, Director of the American Indian Studies Research Institute at Indiana University. Phi Beta Kappa public lecture, April 9, 2007, 4:00-5:00PM.
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Centennial Anniversary Reception
Centennial Anniversary Reception, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Illinois. April 10, 2007, 5:00-7:00PM.