USF Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Lecture Series
As part of the ongoing development of the University of South Florida into one of the world’s leading public research universities, we are pleased to announce the inaugural Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Lecture Series. Co-sponsored by the USF Phi Beta Kappa Faculty Alumni, the USF Office of the Provost, and the Mayor of Tampa, the aim of the series is to bring leading public intellectuals to USF and to Tampa to interact with students, faculty, staff, and members of our community.
Over the past two decades the mission and purpose of the research university has shifted dramatically, from an isolated ivory tower to an engaged institution that partners with its communities to promote civic culture, drive economic development, and improve the quality of human life. For this reason, every great city in the world has a great research university, and the boundaries between academics and practitioners, students and citizens have become increasingly thin and permeable. We created this series as a joint project of USF faculty and the City of Tampa aimed at raising the level of intellectual discourse in our community. We will do so by inviting nationally and internationally known thought leaders to visit us and creating opportunities for interaction between these visionary individuals and our best and brightest citizens.
Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society, formed to celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. The ideal Phi Beta Kappan has demonstrated intellectual integrity, tolerance for diverse views, and a wide range of academic interests. The University of South Florida boasts over 100 PBK faculty alumni and is currently in the process of making application to shelter a chapter of its own.
Each lecture is open to the public and free of charge. Please join us!
Thursday February 25, 2010
Museum of Science and Industry
IMAX Theater 6:30pm-7:30pm |
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson  |
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a notable Astrophysicist, the recipient of nine honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. His research interests include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies and the structure of our Milky way. Tyson is the first occupant as the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and Visiting Research Scientist and Lecturer at Princeton University. |
Wednesday March 17, 2010
Tampa Bay History Center TECO Room
6:30pm-7:30pm |
Mr. Tom Gjelten  |
Tom Gjelten covers intelligence and other national security issues for NPR News. He brings to that assignment many years covering international news from posts in Washington and around the world. Gjelten has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years, visiting the island more than a dozen times. His new book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: A Biography of a Cause (Viking), is a unique history of modern Cuba, told through the life and times of the Bacardi rum family. |
Thursday April 15, 2010
USF Tampa Campus
Alumni Center-Traditions Hall
6:30pm-7:30pm |
Dr. George Ritzer  |
George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. Prof. Ritzer is one of the leading social theorists and cultural commentators of modern times. His books on the consumption behavior of the present western society have raised many debates all around the world in critique of the so-called globalization. His books have been translated into over twenty languages, with over a dozen translations of The McDonaldization of Society alone |
Tuesday September 14, 2010
David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts
Jaeb Theater
7:00pm-8:00pm |
Mr. Taylor Branch  |
Taylor Branch is the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 (which won the Pulitzer Prize), Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65, and At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968. Branches book on former president Bill Clinton, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President, was written from the many tape-recorded interviews and conversations between the two, most of which occurred in the White House during Clinton’s two terms in office and which were not disclosed publicly until 2009. |
Thursday September 23, 2010
USF Tampa Campus
Marshall Center
Oval Theater
6:30pm-7:30pm |
Dr. Eric Foner  |
Eric Foner is an American historian. He has been a faculty member in the Department of History at Columbia University since 1982 and writes extensively on political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, Reconstruction, and historiography. Foner is the leading contemporary historian of the post- Civil War Reconstruction period. In 2000 he was elected president of the American Historical Association; the highest honor accorded an American historian. |
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Wednesday October 13, 2010
Tampa Museum of Art Atrium
7:00pm-8:00pm |
Dr. Julianne Malveaux  |
Julianne Malveaux is the 15th President of Bennett College for Women and a respected economist and writer and an authority on politics, economics, gender, race, national affairs, and the workplace. As a scholar, Malveaux has researched and taught economics, public policy, and African-American studies at several premier universities in the United States, including University of California at Berkeley. She has appeared frequently on television, hosted her own radio show, and her syndicated column has appeared in some 20 newspapers across the United States since 1990. |
Tuesday November 30, 2010
USF Tampa Campus
Alumni Center-Traditions Hall
6:30pm-7:30pm |
Dr. Martha Nussbaum  |
Martha Nussbaum is an American philosopher with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy and ethics. Nussbaum is currently Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, a chair that includes appointments in the Philosophy Department, the Law School, and the Divinity School. She also holds Associate appointments in Classics and Political Science, is a member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, and a Board Member of the Human Rights Program. She previously taught at Harvard and Brown where she held the rank of university professor. |