Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars

The Delta of Minnesota regularly sponsors visits to the St. Olaf campus by Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars.

On September 25, 2008, St. Olaf will host Dr. Betty Smocovitis, Professor of Zoology and History at the University of Florida. Professor Smocovitis will lecture in Regents Hall 150 at 8:00 pm on "Singing his Praises: Darwin and his Theory in Song." This lecture is designed to reflect on Darwin, his theory and its expression in popular culture in America. It will explore a number of substantive issues pertaining to controversies over Darwin and the reception of his theory. A 200th birthday party celebration for Darwin will follow the talk.

List of Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars who have lectured at St. Olaf College:

Apr. 20-21, 1959: Ernest J. Simmons, Professor of Russian Literature, Columbia University

Mar. 27-30, 1960: Theodore M. Greene, Professor of Humanities (Philosophy), Scripps College

Dec. 7-8, 1961: John Turkevich, Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University

Oct. 15-16, 1962: H.D.F. Kitto, Professor of Classics, University of Bristol

Nov. 11-12, 1963: Lamar Dodd, Professor of Art History, University of Georgia

Apr. 20-22, 1966: Kirtley F. Mather, Professor of Geology, Harvard University

Mar. 12-15, 1967: Robert Wauchope, Professor of Anthropology, Tulane University

Feb. 26-27, 1968: Frederick Hard, Professor of English Literature, University of California-Santa Cruz

Mar. 6-7, 1969: Otto Luening, Co-director, Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center,
Columbia University

Oct. 8-9, 1970: Garrett Hardin, Professor of Human Ecology (Biology), University of California-Santa Barbara

Apr. 9-10, 1973: Jeremy Paul Kagan, American Film Institute, Los Angeles

Nov. 12-13, 1973: James L. Gibbs, Professor of Anthropology, Stanford University

Oct. 21-22, 1974: Hazel E. Barnes, Professor of Integrated Studies (Classics/Philosophy), University of Colorado

Apr. 27-29, 1977: Oscar Handlin, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor (American History), Harvard University

Apr. 27-28, 1978: Wayne C. Booth, Distinguished Service George M. Pullman Professor of English, University of Chicago

Mar. 19-20, 1979: Herbert F. York, Professor of Physics, University of California, San Diego--CANCELLED (because of appointment as chief U.S. negotiator for Test Ban Talks)

Nov. 14-16, 1979: Anna J. Harrison, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Chemistry, Mount Holyoke College

Mar. 12-13, 1981: Howard Hibbard, Professor of Art History, Columbia University--CANCELLED (for health reasons)

Apr. 26-27, 1982: Herbert Solomon, Professor of Statistics, Stanford University

Nov. 15-16, 1982: Robert B. Heilman, Professor of English, Emeritus, University of Washington

Apr. 2-3, 1984: Stephen G. Nichols, Jr., Professor of Romance Languages and Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College

Apr. 9-10, 1986: Roland Mushat Frye, Schelling Professor of English Literature, Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

Apr. 10-11, 1989: Jerome Kagan, Professor of Human Development, Harvard University--CANCELLED

Mar. 11-12, 1991: Anne Firor Scott, W. K. Boyd Professor of History, Duke University

Apr. 12-14, 1992: Hyman Bass, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia University

Sept. 17-18, 1992: Sidney W. Mintz, William L. Straus, Jr., Professor of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University

Nov. 29-30, 1994: Porter M. Kier, Research Associate, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Mar. 13-15, 1995: Linda Seidel, Professor of Art History, University of Chicago

May 5-6, 1997: Douglass C. North, Luce Professor of Law and Liberty (Economics), Washington University (combined with visit to Carleton)

Nov. 15-16, 1999: Cornell Hugh Fleischer, Kanuni Süleyman Professor of Ottoman & Modern Turkish Studies, University of Chicago

Nov. 9-10, 2000: Eliana Rivero, Professor of Spanish & Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies & Latin American Studies, University of Arizona

Nov. 12-13, 2001: Katherine A. Geffcken, Professor Emerita of Latin and Greek, Wellesley College

November 7-8, 2002, Yi-Fu Tuan, J. K. Wright & Vilas Prof. Emeritus of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

April 18, 2005 Wendy Doniger, The University of Chicago

March 15, 2006 Raymond J. DeMallie, Chancellor's Professor of Anthropology and Director of the American Indian Studies Research Institute at Indiana University