Key Conversations with Phi Beta Kappa
67 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 17 ratingsKey Conversations with Phi Beta Kappa is a podcast from The Phi Beta Kappa Society's Visiting Scholars program, featuring leading scholars across multiple disciplines in conversation with Fred Lawrence, PBK's Secretary and CEO.
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Episodes
Why Professor Corey D.B. Walker Looks to the Past to Understand Today’s Complex World
March 04, 2024 05:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBProfessor Corey D. B. Walker is the Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, and Director of the Program in African American Studies. He pursued his education at two HBCUs and two of the oldest schools in America, and talks about how each of these formations gave him the ability to develop into the intellectual he is today. As an expert in the areas of African American philosophy, critical theory, ethics and religion, Professor Walker ...
Professor Emily Yeh Advocates for Environmental Protection for Tibetan’s Cultural Legacy
February 05, 2024 05:00 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBProfessor Emily Yeh is a Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she researches the nature-society relationship in political, cultural and developmental relations in the mostly Tibetan parts of China. Although she majored in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, while interning in China, she realized that her understanding of sustainable development needed to be further explored. Her first visit to Tibet proved to be life changing, and Yeh has comm...
2023 Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards
January 08, 2024 05:00 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBThe Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are presented annually to three outstanding scholarly books published in the United States. The 2023 winners are Dennis Tyler for his book Disabilities of the Color Line: Redressing Antiblackness from Slavery to the Present; Jennifer Raff for her book Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas; and Deborah Cohen for her book Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War. This year, the Book Awards Dinner was held in person in Washin...
Exploring the Muddled Middle with Cathleen Kaveny
December 04, 2023 05:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBScholar and author Cathleen Kaveny focuses on the relationship of law, religion, and morality. As the Darald and Juliet Libby Millennium Professor at Boston College, she has dual appointments in both the Theology Department and the Law School—the first to hold the joint appointment. Kaveny has devoted her career to exploring the connection between law and theology and explores the use of prophetic language and rhetoric in the past, and how we use it in today's society. In this important co...
Exploring Disability as an Identity with Professor Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
November 06, 2023 05:00 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBProfessor Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is a disability justice and cultural thought leader, bioethicist, educator, and humanities scholar. Garland-Thomson grew up with a congenital disability, an experience that highlighted the barriers that exist for people with disabilities. Inspired by the Civil Rights movement and hearing the narratives from Black authors for the first time, the disability pioneer explores the perspectives of disabled people in all aspects of society. In this insightful c...
How Natalia’s Experience as a First-Gen Allows her to Connect to the Humanities—and her Students
October 04, 2023 04:00 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBProfessor Natalia Molina was the first in her family, and her neighborhood, to go to college. Being a first-gen student, the 2020 MacArthur Fellow’s higher education was shaped by curiosity and a being open to new opportunities—even when they brought her across the country for her graduate degree. As an expert of the humanities, Professor Natalia Molina emphasizes the importance of literature in understanding the experiences of those around us, how the conversation around immigration has evo...
REPLAY: Professor Ed Ayers on Teaching a Morally Engaging History
August 21, 2023 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBThe Civil War historian talks about combining intellectual, cultural, social, and economic history to truly grasp the U.S.’s past, especially events that took place in the South. He shares with Fred how he helps make free, nonpartisan, educational resources for teaching lively history lessons.
REPLAY: Sociologist Marta Tienda on Why Demography is Not Destiny
July 24, 2023 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MBThe Princeton University professor shares how instrumental one teacher was in her own path to college, and why the U.S. should do more to invest in higher education. She speaks to Fred about how important public policy is in shaping our individual and collective destinies.
REPLAY: Biologist Victoria Sork on What Trees Teach Us
June 26, 2023 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBThe UCLA professor shares how the life-changing revelation that she could be a scientist, and work outdoors, led to her research on tree genomes and evolutionary biology. Plus, how she harnesses the teaching power of plants as the director of UCLA’s botanical garden.
Why Harvard History Professor Maya Jasanoff Studies the Past to Understand the Present
May 29, 2023 04:00 - 23 minutes - 22 MBGrowing up, Professor Maya Jasanoff was surrounded by academics and scholars—an environment she believes gave her the confidence to explore academia herself. Initially, her fellowship at Cambridge sparked her interest in studying the British Empire, and as she dove deeper into the subject matter, she began recognizing the many ways that British imperialism has infiltrated our world. Today, the author and professor writes about history and is interested in how people—and power— have historic...
Understanding the Intricacies of Life Expectancy with Professor Mark Hayward
May 01, 2023 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBAn assumption about life expectancy is that the richer the society, the longer and healthier the individuals in that society will live—but in the case of life expectancy, money can’t collectively buy us more time. Sociologist and demographer Mark Hayward has spent the majority of his career studying all-things life expectancy, and in this episode he talks about the devastating societal impacts of inequality and unpacks some of the largest factors to living a long and healthy life: education,...
2022 Lebowitz Prize: What Is Wrong With Democracy and What We Should Do According to These Two Philosophers
April 03, 2023 04:00 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MBThis special episode of Key Conversations is joined by Dr. Cristina Lafont, Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University, and Dr. Alex Guerrero, Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. Each year, the Lebowitz Prize is presented to a pair of philosophers who hold contrasting views of an important philosophical question that is of current interest both to the field and to an educated public audience. The professors discuss the topic for the 2022 Leb...
Why Professor Kay E. Holekamp’s Research into Animal Behavior is Beneficial to Humans
February 27, 2023 05:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MBThe Michigan State University Professor of Integrative Biology shares how her early fascination for animals led to an extensive career in researching mammalian behavioral development, and the importance of studying the social, ecological, and endocrine variables of a species. As a leading behavioral ecologist, Professor Holekamp’s initial field studies as a Ph.D. candidate transpired into decades of research on the spotted hyena including their reproductive success, their survival, and the ...
Kathryn Lofton Thinks About Religion Through Unique Systems of Worship
January 30, 2023 05:00 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MBThe Yale University Professor of Religious and American Studies thinks outside the box when it comes to religion, and shares why she looks at everything from pop culture and video game communities to celebrities – like Oprah Winfrey and the Kardashians – for ways to talk about what guides moral decision-making in the U.S. Plus, how her background as a “red diaper baby” influenced her approach to American religious and social movements.
Ricardo Padrón is Mapping Spanish Exploration of the Pacific
December 12, 2022 05:00 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBThe UVA Spanish Professor dives into the literature and cartography of European expansion, including the colonial history of early modern Spain and the transpacific, and reflects on the Renaissance and themes that remain relevant today. Plus he discusses how he views maps as context-rich stories of subjective interpretations made by cartographers.
Why Geographer Bill Moseley Grounds His Work in Real Life
November 14, 2022 05:00 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBThe Macalester College Professor of Geography shares how his time in the Peace Corps in Mali led to his lifelong love of indigenous agricultural practices, and a lasting interest in what people experience in their home countries. He continued to ground his years of development work and extensive studies in geography and agricultural policy on people’s real, lived experiences producing food.
Laurence Smith Knows the Many Stories Rivers Tell Us
October 17, 2022 04:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBThe Brown University professor of Environmental Studies shares his lifelong admiration of rivers and how he came to study many kinds of flowing water, including the melting glaciers of the Arctic. He encourages listeners to look for the nearest body of water to them and appreciate how we’re taking better care of the planet, in addition to how much more is left to do.
Buddhist Scholar Donald Lopez on the Staying Power of Ancient Questions
September 19, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MBThe Buddhist and Tibetan Studies professor at the University of Michigan recalls how a tumultuous period in U.S. politics led him to his area of expertise. Plus, what he’s learned from his many meetings with a leading Buddhist philosopher, the Dalai Lama. And what attracted him to out-of-the-box thinkers like poet Gendun Chopel.
Howard Bloch Sees Human Choices in Medieval History
August 22, 2022 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24 MBThe Yale professor of French and Humanities shares how cathedral fires “of suspicious origin” played a role in the transition from Romanesque to Gothic-style architecture in Europe. Plus, how his scholarship challenges existing narratives on everything from historical relics to literary movements.
Biologist Victoria Sork on What Trees Teach Us
July 11, 2022 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBThe UCLA professor shares how the life-changing revelation that she could be a scientist, and work outdoors, led to her research on tree genomes and evolutionary biology. Plus, how she harnesses the teaching power of plants as the director of UCLA’s botanical garden.
Sociologist Marta Tienda on Why Demography is Not Destiny
June 13, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBThe Princeton University professor shares how instrumental one teacher was in her own path to college, and why the U.S. should do more to invest in higher education. She speaks to Fred about how important public policy is in shaping our individual and collective destinies.
Professor Ed Ayers on Teaching a Morally Engaging History
May 16, 2022 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MBThe Civil War historian talks about combining intellectual, cultural, social, and economic history to truly grasp the U.S.’s past, especially events that took place in the South. He shares with Fred how he helps make free, nonpartisan, educational resources for teaching lively history lessons.
Editor Bob Wilson Celebrates A Career of Literary Journalism
April 18, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBThe retiring editor of The American Scholar magazine reflects on decades producing literary journalism, why he always supported women writers, and the role of journalists in turbulent times.
2021 Lebowitz Award Winners on How We Perceive Our Selves
March 22, 2022 04:00 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBThe Lebowitz Award is presented each year to a pair of outstanding philosophers who hold contrasting views on a topic of current interest in the field. The 2021 winners, New York University's Ned Block and Johns Hopkins University's Ian Phillips, speak with Fred about how they approach philosophy of mind – specifically, our powers of perception and how that affects our consciousness.
Professor Joan Waugh Debunks the “Easy Stereotypes of History”
February 24, 2022 05:00 - 23 minutes - 22 MBThe UCLA scholar tries to understand the past on its own terms, while interrogating how we memorialize it. She speaks with Fred about the memory wars that have outlived the Civil War, the politics of Reconstruction that gave us Confederate monuments, and what we can learn from Gettysburg by visiting the place.
Princeton’s Doug Massey Unpacks U.S. Migration and Housing Segregation
January 27, 2022 05:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MBThe multidisciplinary scholar’s wide-ranging interests led him to demography and population research early on. He speaks with Fred about what people generally misunderstand about immigration into the U.S., how border enforcement has backfired, and why racial segregation and housing discrimination persist around the country.
2021 Book Awards Keynote Roundtable
December 22, 2021 05:00 - 43 minutes - 39.8 MBThe Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are presented annually to three outstanding scholarly books published in the United States. The 2021 winners are Jenn Shapland for My Autobiography of Carson McCullers; Sarah Stewart Johnson for The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World; and Alice Baumgartner for South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War. During the ceremony, the authors shared their thought process that sparked their ideas, found commonality in cou...
How Biophysicist Karen Fleming Explores the Rules of Life, Evolution, and Disease
November 25, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBThe biophysicist has been running a discovery research lab for two decades at Johns Hopkins. She speaks with Fred about the randomness underlying all molecular processes, computer models that enable the integration of multiple scientific disciplines, and what she sees as compelling strategies for a more inclusive STEM pipeline. This interview was recorded remotely.
Bro Adams Knows What the Humanities Can Do Beyond Campuses
October 29, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MBWilliam "Bro" Adams, the former head of the National Endowment of the Humanities, and President of Colby College and Bucknell University brought the humanities with him through his professional journey. While doing so he challenged colleges to rethink the impact liberal arts and sciences had on students, and the role they could play in the broader general public. In this episode, he shares how the meaningful life and the productive life can coexist and how they can both be served in higher e...
Yale’s Tracey Meares Deconstructs Our Relationship with the Police
September 24, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MBShe’s a nationally recognized expert on policing. She speaks with Fred about the need to reimagine public safety and reform, the distinct American policing experience in a global context, and what it’s like trying to convince her law school students that criminal procedure is actually about constitutional law. This interview was recorded remotely.
Anthropologist Elizabeth Cullen Dunn on Why Geography Is a Way of Thinking
August 27, 2021 04:00 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBShe has spent years studying displaced people living in refugee camps around the world. And has sometimes even been claimed by residents thanks to her ability to acclimate with her research subjects. Here, Cullen Dunn explains why geography is a way of thinking, how we can reconsider the role of charity in resettlement efforts, and what the digital revolution has to do with forced migration.
Biophysicist Martin Gruebele on the Future of Scientific Discovery
July 30, 2021 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.3 MBHe studies a broad range of fundamental problems in chemical and biological physics, and thinks deeply about the course of scientific inquiry. And finds fascinating ways to explain things to Fred in this episode, like what Zebrafish and chemical reactions in the Ozone layer can teach us about collaboration, and why more policymakers and scientists should be talking to one another.
Philosopher Susan Wolf on Meaningfulness as a Dimension of a Good Life
June 25, 2021 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBThe moral philosopher ponders why being happy and acting morally may not be enough to satisfy us. She believes we need a vocabulary of meaning in public discourse, and suggests we strive for vitality––not joy––in the face of uncertainty and suffering. This interview was recorded remotely.
Paul Robbins on How to Save Biodiversity in the Planet
May 28, 2021 04:00 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBHis research focuses on human interactions with nature and the politics of natural resource management. The professor and dean at the University of Wisconsin speaks with Fred about how the natural environment affects everything from racial and social justice to the population bust. And he reveals what coffee, frogs and workers can teach us about the survival of wildlife and humans. This interview was recorded remotely.
Lebowitz Award Winners on How We Reason in Moments of Transformation
April 30, 2021 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBThe Lebowitz Award is presented each year to a pair of outstanding philosophers who hold contrasting views on a topic of current interest in the field. The 2020 winners, University of Chicago’s Agnes Callard and Yale’s Laurie Paul, speak with Fred about their differing approaches to understanding and explaining what principles and mechanisms guide decision making when people face significant decisions.
Roger Guenveur Smith Makes the Sublime and the Profane Artful
March 26, 2021 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MBThe writer, actor and director creates characters that resonate in the moment and speak compellingly to the day's dilemmas. From his collaboration with Spike Lee, to his portrayal of Frederick Douglas, Otto Frank and Rodney King, he unfolds fascinating stories that span his prolific career, like his unlikely decision to audition for the Yale School of Drama.
Genetics Researcher Janet Westpheling on Inspiring the Next Generation of Scientists
February 26, 2021 05:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MBShe knew early on she wanted to be a scientist. Today, her research at the intersection of academic and industrial microbiology addresses some of the most pressing energy issues of our time. The University of Georgia professor speaks with Fred about her upbringing, her work at The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, and her role as an educator and champion of scientific inquiry inside and outside of the lab.
Poet Evie Shockley on Why Poems Are an Analysis Genre
January 29, 2021 05:00 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBThe Rutgers professor, who left a career in law to pursue literature, speaks with Fred about the role of poetry in social justice, documenting and analyzing our lived experiences through poems, and why, contrary to popular belief, poems are one of the most accessible mediums of expression. And she reads two of her own.
2020 Book Awards Keynote Roundtable
January 01, 2021 05:00 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBThe Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are presented annually to three outstanding scholarly books published in the United States. The 2020 winners are Leah Price for What We Talk about When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading; Sarah Parcak for Archaeology From Space: How the Future Shapes the Past; and Sarah Seo for Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom. During the ceremony, the authors shared their thought process that sparked their ideas, marveled at how...
Former Obama Advisor Joseph Aldy on How Climate Change Policies Can Bolster the Economy Post COVID-19
November 27, 2020 05:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBFormer Special Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Environment, Professor Joseph Aldy is an expert in thinking creatively about how climate change-friendly policies can bolster the economy in times of crisis. He reflects on lessons from 2009, and looks ahead at how we can build an American economy that is more resilient to risk in a post COVID-19 era.
Political Scientist Corey Brettschneider on Why We Should Distrust Our Presidents
October 30, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBBrown University’s Corey Brettschneider has spent years studying constitutional law and the purpose and limits of the presidency. As the 2020 election draws near, he speaks with Fred about the likelihood of bringing back constraints to the most powerful office in the land, why the words in the oath of office matter, and what our current political climate reveals about civil liberties, civil rights and the constitutional powers of the three branches of government.
Latin American Scholar Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel Connects Latin American Identities Across Geography and Literature
September 25, 2020 04:00 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBAs a critical reader and writer, Professor Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel at the University of Miami contextualizes colonial literature and contemporary Caribbean and Latino narratives, exploring issues of gender, sexuality, and migration. She speaks with Fred about feminism in colonial times, the literary thread between islands ruled by different empires, and what art and activism reveal about colonial legacies.
Classics Scholar Peter Meineck on How Greek Theater Trains Better Citizens
August 28, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 25.6 MBThe NYU's professor elaborates on how to better understand and live through today's social and moral turmoil by learning from the great theater works of antiquity. Meineck illustrates what Greek drama can teach us about understanding trauma, being informed voters, embracing difference, and what we should, and shouldn't, expect from leaders and heroes.
REPLAY: Celebrated Author Edwidge Danticat Retraces the Arc of Her Literary Genius
July 24, 2020 04:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBWhile promoting her new book, an accomplished short story collection called Everything Inside, the PBK member and noted writer talks about her formative experiences, like imagining herself not as Madeline but the classic’s author, and writing for a high school paper in New York City a mere year after immigrating to the US from Haiti. She opens up about “borrowed memories” in her life and her work, about the role of death and ritual in healing, and the continuity of purpose in her writing.
College Admissions Field Welcomes a New Leader, Dr. Angel B. Pérez, Who Sees Its Strengths and Faults
June 26, 2020 04:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBAs a high school student, a college counselor created what Dr. Angel B. Pérez calls his “pivotal moment”—one that would set him on a path to college, a career in higher education, and now the chance to lead NACAC, the nation’s largest organization of college admissions counselors. His path from the South Bronx to the academy is extraordinary as are the times in which he steps into this leadership role.
Math Professor Ken Ono Is Connecting Swimming, Ramanujan, and Hollywood
May 28, 2020 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22 MBHe got a call to consult on the Hollywood film The Man Who Knew Infinity, starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel. The director was so impressed with his knowledge of the life and work of Indian math prodigy Ramanujan that he invited him on set. By the time the credits rolled, he was an associate producer on the movie. But Ono’s own life would make a fascinating big-screen story: a high school dropout pushes away from an intellectually gifted family and his father’s academic legacy, only to be g...
Dan Simon on the Intersection of Law and Psychology
April 24, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23 MBWhile writing his dissertation, Dan Simon began to wonder how judges make decisions not from a legal, sociological, or economic perspective but rather from a psychological one. Today, the USC law professor has built a career investigating how factors of the mind—such as memory, false confessions, and the framing of interviews—influence rulings in the criminal justice system.
Middle East Scholar Jamsheed Choksy Retraces the Roots of the Western Belief in Good and Evil
March 27, 2020 04:00 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBMuch of Western culture and religious beliefs are grounded in a bifurcated notion of an epic power struggle between dueling forces, often defined as “good” and “evil.” This underlying premise influences how we parent, how we practice faith, how we choose vocations, and how we vote. In this episode Jamsheed Choksy, chair of the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, provides surprising historical context for how the West’s construction of these binary elemen...
Laura Brown Traces Our Love of Animals Through Literature
February 28, 2020 05:00 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBProfessor Laura Brown’s endeavors as a literature reader and critical writer have provided a window into humans’ relationships with various species throughout history. She reveals to host Fred Lawrence what alterity, monkeys, feminist portrayal, and imperialism have to do with each other and what she considers to be the status of the humanities in academia.
Alfred Spector: Envisioning the Synergies between the Liberal Arts and Computer Science
January 31, 2020 05:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBIn this episode, Dr. Alfred Spector offers an optimistic take on the evolving relationship between the liberal arts and computer science. Reflecting on his career experiences in creating a company, working for Google and IBM, and now diving into economic modeling, Spector provides a fascinating account of the evolution of computer science both inside and beyond the academy.