Willa Cather to be honored with Phi Beta Kappa induction
November 28, 2023
4:00 p.m.
Location: Peterson Room, Love Library
More information here
Initiation, December 2023
August and December 2023 initiates will be recognized at the spring 2024 College of Arts & Sciences Celebration of Excellence
Initiation, Fri., May 12, 2023
May 12, 2023
5:00 p.m. College of Arts & Sciences Celebration of Excellence
Initiation of new members-in-course
Location: Nebraska Union, City Campus
Initiation, December 2023
August and December 2023 initiates will be recognized at the spring 2024 College of Arts & Sciences Celebration of Excellence
Initiation, Fri., May 6, 2022
May 6, 2022
5:00 p.m. College of Arts & Sciences Celebration of Excellence
Initiation of new members-in-course
Location: Nebraska Union, City Campus
Initiation, December 2022
August and December 2022 initiates will be recognized at the May 12, 2023 College of Arts & Sciences Celebration of Excellence
Sat., May 8, 2021
May 8, 2021
Undergraduate Commencement
New members signed membership book and received certificates and cords prior to graduation exercises.
Initiation, December 2021
Not held
May 2020
May 2020
No ceremony due to COVID-19
New members received certificates by mail.
Initiation, December 2020
Not held
Initiation, April 2019
Friday, April 26, 2019
Room 105, Brace Laboratory, 510 Stadium Drive, City Campus
6:00 p.m.
Social time
6:30 p.m.
Initiation of new members-in-course
Initiation, December 2019
Planned for spring 2020
Initiation, Weds., May 2, 2018
Weds., May 2, 2018
5:30 p.m. Social Hour
6:00 p.m. Initiation of new members-in-course
Location: Lentz Room, S218 Love Library
7:00 p.m. Address by Leo J. McCarthy, M.D.
FRCP Edinburgh and Ireland
Honorary Member of Phi Beta Kappa
Initiation, December 2018
August and December 2018 initiates were recognized on
April 26, 2019
Initiation, May 2017
Monday, May 1, 2017
5:00 p.m. Social hour
5:30 p.m. Initiation of new members-in-course
Schorr Suite, Hewitt Pace, 1155 Q Street
Initiation, December 2017
Friday, December 8, 2017
Bailey Library, Andrews Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
5:00 p.m.
Visiting Scholar 2016
Dr. Marsha Lester is Edmund J. Kahn Distinguished Professor in the department of chemistry at University of Pennsylvania and editor-in chief of The Journal of Chemical Physics.
Co-sponsors:
- Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa
This address was supported by the Lienemann Fund of Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. - Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
October 20-21, 2016
Initiation, December 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Bailey Library, Andrews Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
4:00 p.m.
Initiation, April 2016
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Unity Room, Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center
1505 “S” Street, Lincoln
SOCIAL TIME 6:30 p.m.
INITIATION 7:00 p.m.
ADDRESS 7:30 p.m.: “How to Be Happy”
Dr. June Griffin
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education (College of Arts & Sciences)
Associate Professor of Practice, English
Initiation, April 2015
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Unity Room, Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center
1505 “S” Street, Lincoln
6:30-7:00 p.m. Social hour and check in
7:00 p.m. Initiation ceremony. New members will receive their certificates at this time.
7:30 p.m. Dr. Wendy Katz, will address the initiates and their guests on “Lost Writers of the Plains,” a fascinating account of the rediscovery of eight writers and the creation of the NET Radio series and ebook.
Dr. Wendy Katz
Associate Professor, Department of Art & Art History and Associate Director, Center for Great Plains Studies
Visiting Scholar 2014
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar -- Public Lecture
Wednesday, September 10, 2014, Nebraska Union Auditorium
4:30 p.m. “Globalization, 1864-2014: A China-Centered Perspective on a Shrinking World”
6:00 p.m. Book table and author signing his books
This talk looked at competing understandings of the term “globalization” and related ones such as “global city.”
Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor’s Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, and editor of the Journal of Asian Studies.
Co-Sponsors:
- Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa
This address was supported by the Lienemann Fund of Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. - Department of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Initiation 2014
Phi Beta Kappa Spring Initiation and ReceptionThursday, May 1, 2014
Location: Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center, Room 212, "Unity Room," University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 15th & S Streets, directly behind Nebraska State Historical Society building at 15th & R Streets. The Gaughan Center is attached to the east side of City Campus Union.
7:00 - 7:15 p.m. Check-in and social time. Desserts and fruit catered by Chez Hay.
7:15 - 7:45 Initiation. Family and friends are invited. Remarks by Dr. Steve Goddard, Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences
7:45 - 8:15 p.m. Address by Dr. Stephen Lahey, Professor of Classics & Religious Studies, "Jan Žižka and Czech History"
8:15 - 8:30 p.m. Questions & answers.
Initiation, December 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Location: Love Library, Room S224, 13th & R Streets, City Campus
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Social time, catered by Daffodil
6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Initiation. Family and friends are invited.
Remarks by Dr. Steve Goddard, Interim Dean, University of Nebraska College of Arts & Sciences
Initiation, May 2013
Arbor Suite, East Campus Union
4:00 - 5:00 Social Time with light refreshments. Harp music.
5:00 - 6:00 Initiation. Family and friends invited.
Remarks by Dr. David Manderscheid, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Initiation, December 2012
December 6, 2012 (Thursday)
Initiation, Dinner, and Address for August 2012 and December 2012 Initiates
East Campus Union
6:00 - 6:30 Social Time
6:30 - 7:00 Initiation. Remarks by Dean David Manderscheid, College of Arts & Sciences
7:00 - 7:30 Dinner
7:30 - 8:30 Address by Malte Rehbein, Assistant Professor of History "Scientific Computing and the Study of History"
Initiation, April 2012
April 26, 2012 Thursday
Spring Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
Remarks by David Manderscheid,
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Address by Julia McQuillan,
Professor of and Co-Director, Bureau of Social Research, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“Unanticipated Interconnections: Men on Fatherhood and Women in STEM.”
[STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics]
Visiting Scholar 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
12:00 noon
Hamann Auditorium
University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law, East Campus
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Pamela Karlan spoke on"Keeping Faith with the Constitution."
Since 1789, other nations’ constitutions have come and gone. By one recent estimate, national constitutions last only an average of seventeen years. The United States Constitution, by contrast, not only endures—it thrives. Why?
This address was supported by The Lienemann Fund of Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and was the spring 2012 Lane Lecture at the College of Law. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Political Science was a co-sponsor.
Additional activities on March 14-15 included guest lectures in University of Nebraska-Lincoln classes and formal and informal events with students.
Pamela Karlan is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and co-director of Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.
Initiation Spring 2011
April 28, 2011 Thursday
Spring Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
Remarks by David Manderscheid,
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Address by Dr. Priscilla Hayden-Roy,
Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“A ‘Bleistift’ is not an ‘enpitsu’: On the Advantages of Multilingual Education.”
Initiation, December 2010
December 9, 2010
August and December inititation - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
Remarks by David Manderscheid,
Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, UNL
7:00 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Address by Dr. Kenneth Bloom,
Associate Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“Discovering the Quantum Universe at the Large Hadron Collider”
Initiation, April 2010
April 28, 2010 Wednesday
Spring Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00 - 7:30 p.m. Buffet Dinner
7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Address, "The Dead Sea Scrolls After Sixty Years: What Have We Learned?" Dr. Sidnie White Crawford, Willa Cather Professor and Chair of Classics & Religious Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Initiation, December 2009
December 10, 2009 Thursday
Fall Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social hour
6:30-7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00-7:30 p.m. Dinner
7:30-8:30 p.m. Address by Dr. Patrick Jones, Associate Professor of History and Ethnic Studies, on "Freedom North: The Struggle for Racial Justice in Milwaukee during the Civil Rights Era."
Initiation, April 2009
April 29, 2009 Wednesday
Spring Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 - 7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00 - 7:30 p.m. Buffet Dinner
7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Address, "The Education of Abraham Lincoln" by Dr. Kenneth Winkle, Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of History and Chair of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Initiation, December 2008
December 8, 2008
Fall Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social hour
6:30-7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00-7:30 p.m. Buffet dinner
7:30-8:30 p.m. "What I Have Learned from Studying China"
Address by Dr. Parks Coble, Professor of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Initiation, May 2008
May 1, 2008
Spring Initiation Dinner - East Campus Union.
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social hour
6:30-7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00-7:30 p.m. Buffet dinner
7:30-8:30 p.m. "Peacemaking on the Great Plains"
Address by Dr. Paul A. Olson, Professor Emeritus, English
During his distinguished career, Dr. Olson has directed around seventy doctoral dissertations, specialized in Medieval and Renaissance literature, Great Plains and Plains Indian literature, and Education, and won many honors and awards, including the University’s Outstanding Teaching and Creativity Award, the Annis Chaikin Sorensen Award: Distinguished Teaching Award in the Humanities, and the James Lake Academic Freedom Award. He has also been a Fulbright Scholar and a Guggenheim Scholar. He is actively involved in peace and justice work.
Visiting Scholar 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Nebraska Union, City Campus
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar
Dr. Pamela S. Soltis,
Curator, Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics,
Florida Museum of Natural History
"Conservation Genetics and the Preservation of Plant Biodiversity"
11:00 a.m. Coffee Reception
11:30 a.m. Seminar Presentation
12:30 p.m. Seminar ends
Co-sponsored by University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Biological Sciences.
This address was supported by The Lienemann Fund of Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Initiation, December 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
East Campus Union
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social Time
6:30-7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00-7:30 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. "A Billion Dollars a Day: Western Farm Subsidies and Developing Countries"
Address by Dr. Wes Peterson, Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dr. Peterson served in the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa and has a long-standing interest in the economics and ethics of international trade, agricultural development and public policy. He was inducted into Alpha (Berkeley) chapter of PBK in California in 1967.
Initiation, May 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Spring Initiation - East Campus Union
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social Time
6:30-7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00-7:30 p.m. Buffet dinner
7:30 p.m. "Accepting the Challenge of a Liberal Education"
Address by Dr. Barbara Couture, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Initiation, December 2006
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Fall Initiation - East Campus Union
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social Time
6:30-7:00 p.m. Initiation
7:00-7:30 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Address “Policing the Great Plains: Texas Rangers, Canadian Mounties, and the North American Frontier, 1875-1910.”
Dr. Andrew Graybill, Assistant Professor of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Initiation, April 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Spring Initiation - East Campus Union
Address by Dr. Kenneth M. Price, Hillegass Professor of Nineteenth Century American Literature, UNL "The Poet of Democracy and the Promise of the Web: Or, What's the Point of Putting Walt Whitman Online?"
6:00-6:30 p.m. Social Time
6:30-7:00 Initiation
7:00-7:30 Dinner
7:30 Address
Lienemann Lecture
Thursday, March 23, 2006
5:00 p.m., Nebraska Union, City Campus
"Marriage à la mode 1559: Elizabeth Tudor, Elisabeth Valois, and the Changing Practice of Dynastic Marriage."
John Watkins, University of Minnesota.
Keynote address for "Queens & Power Conference at UNL.
This keynote was supported by The Lienemann Fund of Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Initiation, December 2005
December 6, 2005
Initiation of August and December 2005 UNL graduates - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
6:45 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Speaker: Dr. Harriet S. Turner, Professor of Modern Languages & Literatures and Director, International Affairs, "Science and Literature: Close Up and Personal"
Initiation, April 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Spring Initiation - East Campus Union
Dr. Simon Wood, Assistant Professor, Classics & Religious Studies, "The Origins of Islamic Fundamentalism.”
Visiting Scholar 2005
Wojciech Zurek
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar
3:30 p.m.
211 Brace
Lecture - "Quantum Origins of the Classical"
Dr. Wojciech Zurek
Los Alamos National Lab
This address was supported by The Lienemann Fund of Alpha of Nebraska Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Zurek's visit to University of Nebraska-Lincoln was co-sponsored by the Physics Department.
Initiation, December 2004
December 9, 2004
Initiation of August and December 2004 UNL graduates - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
6:45 p.m. Dinner
7:15 p.m. Speaker: Kay Logan-Peters,
Chair of Access and Branch Services Department, Architecture Librarian, and Professor of Libraries presented a talk with slides on “The First Fifty Years: Buildings of the University of Nebraska, 1869-1919.”
Initiation, April 2004
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Initiation of May 2004 and August and December 2003 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates
East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
6:45 p.m. Dinner
7:15 p.m. Address
Dr. Peter A. Bleed, Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences and Professor, Department of Anthropology and Geography,
"Living in the Human Niche: An Undomesticated Account of Agriculture"
Initiation, April 2003
Monday, April 28, 2003
Initiation of May 2003 UNL graduates - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
6:45 p.m. Dinner
7:15 p.m. Address
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, Professor Carolyn J. Dewald, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Southern California. "Herodotus, Thucydides, and the Beginning of History."
Initiation, December 2002
December 11, 2002
Initiation of August and December 2002 UNL graduates - East Campus Union
6:00 p.m. Social Hour
6:30 p.m. Initiation
6:45 p.m. Dinner
7:15 p.m. Speaker: Dr. Robert Hitchcock,
Professor of Anthropology and Geography; Coordinator of African Studies and of Conflict Studies
"The Contemporary Student and the Global Market"
Initiation, December 2003
December, 2003
Initiation of August and December 2003 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates
East Campus Union
Cancelled due to University closing for snow storm.
May 1, 2002
Initiation of May 2002 UNL graduates
December 12, 2001
Initiation of August and December 2001 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates
East Campus Union