USD Phi Beta Kappa to host 2010 initiation ceremony April 15
A celebratory banquet honoring new members of Phi Beta Kappa is at 5 p.m. in the Freedom Forum, located at the Al Neuharth Media Center, followed by the initiation at USD Law School Courtroom at 6:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the conferral of the James M. Doyle Humanities Teaching Award by Dean Matthew C. Moen, College of Arts and Sciences, at 7:30 p.m. Following the presentation of this award, Dr. John Churchill, secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, will present the Phi Beta Kappa Lifto Amundson Lecture, “The Liberal Arts and the Irrational: What Really Matters about Education in the Liberal Arts and Sciences.” The initiation and Lifto Amundson Lecture will be the culminating event of the yearlong college program “Celebrating the Liberal Arts.”
Before becoming the Secretary of the Society, Churchill was formerly vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Hendrix College, where he also served as professor of philosophy and twice as interim president. In the 1970s, he served as assistant American secretary to the Rhodes Scholarship Trust, and he has been active since that time in the selection of Rhodes Scholars.
The Lifto Amundson Lecture was established by Marjorie Lifto Amundson and her son, Dr. Loren Amundson of Sioux Falls. Marjorie Lifto Amundson was a member of USD’s Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and Loren Amundson was also elected to membership in the chapter. For more information on this event, please contact the USD Department of History at (605) 677-5218.