Visiting Scholars

Upcoming Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar:

Prof. Suzanne Marchand, Boyd Professor of European Intellectual History at Louisiana State University

March 14 at 5pm, Viking Theater

“Archeology, the Bible, and Classical Antiquity in the 19th Century”

“How do new discoveries change research patterns? How long does it take for the public to catch up? Why do certain cultures care about their ancient roots (and which ancient roots do they care about)? Do events in ancient Greece (or Persia) matter to modern Americans today? Why? Can archaeology ‘prove’ the truth of the Bible (or of a classical text)? Marchand’s lecture asks, “How and when did decipherments and archaeological excavations change our picture of the ancient world? The answers are surprising – as it happens, it took a very long time for material finds to displace textual accounts, whether classical or biblical. Although the general public was enthralled by new excavations, for example at Nineveh, Luxor, Olympia, and Troy, for a long time it was very hard to correlate material and textual evidence, and indeed, many of these problems still persist. Do archaeologists simply find what they are looking for, as the pathbreaking excavator Flinders Petrie himself once charged? Or have artifacts and field research actually changed our views of the past?” (from the lecture summary pamphlet)

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

Mar. 30, 2021: Susan Wolf, Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Apr. 4-6, 2018: Thomas Laqueur, Helen Fawcett Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Berkeley

Mar. 3-4, 2014:  Christine Thomas,  Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Feb. 23, 2012:  Charles M. Falco, Professor of Optical Science and Physics at the University of Arizona

Mar. 18-19, 2010:  Andrew Odlyzko, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota

Sept. 25, 2008:  Betty Smocovitis, Professor of Zoology and History at the University of Florida

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

Apr. 18, 2005:  Wendy Doniger, The Divinity School of the University of Chicago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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