From the President

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

Our 2025 Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon was a resounding success! Sixty-one members, scholarship recipients, Teaching Excellence Awardees, and their guests joined us in the Key Room on May 4 in Novato. Since then, we’ve received a number of emails from attendees who found the event fun and inspiring.

Luncheon Chair Jean James did a wonderful job – here is a summary of her report: Members appreciated the accessible venue, delicious buffet, and kind wait staff - but above all, the celebration of excellence. We honored five extraordinary professors with Teaching Excellence Awards, each receiving a certificate and a $1,000 honorarium; they also shared thoughtful reflections on what teaching means to them. We awarded ten remarkable students scholarships of $10,000 each and heard about their groundbreaking dissertation research. Their achievements and stories reminded us all why this work matters. We thank the Teaching Excellence and Scholarship committees (noted under the pictures) for their hard work. And we thank you for making these awards possible by your dues, generous donations, and enthusiastic participation in our events.

I’m also happy to report that the members present unanimously elected the proposed slate of officers. We welcomed newly elected Third Vice-President for Membership Lawrence Davenport, Corresponding Secretary Kristine Angeles, Recording Secretary Sheldon Greene, Treasurer William J. Clancey, and Nominating Committee Chair Nicholas Chiara. At the same time, we extended heartfelt thanks and certificates of appreciation to our beloved outgoing board members Duncan Missimer, Susan Jenkins, and Pat Kenber. We are truly grateful for all they have done for PBKNCA.

It was a joyful and memorable day, and I’m deeply thankful to everyone who helped make it possible. You can learn more about our scholarship and Teaching Excellence Awardees on our website at www.pbknca.com.

Warmly, Melissa Xanthe Stevens, President

All memberships (except Auto Renewals) expired on December 31.

If you haven’t yet joined, or renewed your membership, it is time to contribute now.

Don’t know if you are current? Check the directory at https://pbknca.com/Directory

or Contact Pat Kenber: kenber@sbcglobal.net

Go to pbknca.com/Join/Renew  or send your payment to:

Ms. Patricia Kenber, VP Membership PBKNCA, 1073 River Rock Lane, Danville CA 94526-4001

Scholarship Awards presented at the Key Room, Novato, May 4, 2025

In fulfillment of its mission to encourage scholarship and research, the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association is honoring the following outstanding Phi Beta Kappa graduate students with $10,000 scholarship awards to assist them in completing their educational objectives.

Rear row: Robert (Robbie) Shepherd, Katarina (Katie) Michel, Susanna Faas-Bush

Front row: Keya Jonnalagadda, Brittany Peterson, Charlotte Wang

Not Present: Susanna Faas-Bush, UC Berkeley, Classical Archaeology (Hardardt award) ,  Margaret (Maggie) Kenney, UC Berkeley, Political Science,  Cody Mowery, UC San Francisco, MD/Ph.D. Immunology (Norall award),  Sophia Simon, UC Davis, Ecology,  Victor Wu, Stanford, JD/Ph.D. Political Science

The Scholarship Committee: Joanne Sandstrom (Chair) , Jeff Fenton, Lynne Fovinci, Rona Giffard, Jean James

Teaching Excellence Awards presented at the Key Room, Novato, May 4, 2025

The Teaching Excellence Award, which is given to teachers nominated by their students, consists of a Certificate and a $1000 honorarium.

Jonathan Gienapp, Nicol Hammond, Timothy McNeil, Joseph Nation, Nathan Atkinson

Teaching Excellence Committee: Melisa Lasell (Chair), Andrea Braga, Leilani Miller, Melissa Stevens

Upcoming Events

Currently, the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association suggests masking for indoor activities.

Note: The price stated for events is for current PBKNCA members and their guests; elapsed or non-members will pay a surcharge. Full event information, and means of credit card payment, are available on our website https://pbknca.com/Events/.

If you won’t be able to make an event, contact O’Neil Dillon at oneilsdillon@gmail.com ASAP, or if it is the day of the event call him at 510-207-8761, as there may be others on the waiting list who will then be able to take your place.

No-shows do NOT receive a ref­­­und! Cancellations probably do.

Sign up for events at https://pbknca.com/Events/ To register for an event if you don’t have Internet access,

please contact O’Neil Dillon, cell 510-207-8761.

Semifreddi's Industrial Bakery, June 21, 2025 10:30 AM, Alameda

We will be given a tour of the Semifreddi's industrial bakery in Alameda which runs 24/7, as well as a take home gift of various loaves of freshly baked bread worth $25. 

It all started on Oct 15, 1984 in a tiny 450 square-foot shop in Kensington/Berkeley CA, and on that day and every day since it’s been about family.  Tom Franier, his sister Barbara Rose and her husband Mike took a chance on a dream and brought Semifreddi’s to the world.

Long story short, it worked.   

Obsessed with quality, obsessed with giving back to the community and obsessed with taking care of their employees like family, Semifreddi’s grew over the next 40 years by sweating the small stuff and making it happen every single day 363 days a year.

June 21, 2025 10:30 AM

1980 North Loop Rd., Alameda, CA, 94502

Cost: $25 (all for scholarships)

PBKNCA rep:  O'Neil Dillon

Limit 18 – only a few spaces still available

Signup at pbknca.com/event-6179887     Website Semifreddis.com

Aftel Archive of Curious Scents - 11 AM and Noon Sessions

The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents is not just the first museum in the U.S. dedicated to perfume, but more beguilingly, the first one dedicated to the experience of fragrance. This tiny museum manages to contain the olfactory history of the world: hundreds of natural essences, raw ingredients and antique tinctures (some of which are hundreds of years old) gathered from every corner of the globe.  
           
Tour the museum (masks required), then go to the garden to sample many different fragrances.  You can choose four fragrances,  samples of which you can take home.

Please be aware - there are two separate sessions,

one at 11 AM, the other at 12 noon.

August 09, 2025

Signup for 11:00 AM https://pbknca.com/event-6179907

Signup for 12 Noon https://pbknca.com/event-6182025

1518-1/2 Walnut St. (Cottage at end of brick driveway), Berkeley, CA, 94709

Cost:

A/ 18 or older. ($7 goes for scholarships) – $35.00

B/ 17 or under. ($2 goes for scholarships) – $20.00

39th Annual Asilomar Conference Feb. 13–16, 2026. Save the weekend!

Register now for 2026 at pbknca.com/event-6076572, 

A preview of 2026 speakers, who span arts and humanities, natural and social sciences, will be

posted as we progress. For more information, contact Deirdre Frontczak, (707) 494-6173, deirdre@thesheengroup.com

We are delighted to invite you to share in a weekend of learning, dialogue, and fellowship at the Asilomar Conference Center on the spectacular Monterey Coast.

Throughout the conference, attendees retreat to a historic and celebrated compound (now a state park) whose Craftsman architecture dates to the early 20th century. Between lectures, participants relax in the rustic lodgings, enjoy local wines, explore spectacular coastal trails, visit the Butterfly Grove Inn to see the beautiful Monarch Butterflies, and chat by fireplaces both indoors and out, taking pleasure in the company of people whose love of learning matches their own. While attendees immerse themselves in the natural beauty, a key draw is the opportunity to engage informally throughout the weekend with noted speakers in arts, humanities and natural and social sciences, whose reputations often precede them.

Price: Registration is $150 for members and their guests, $180 Non-PBKNCA. Room and all meals will be about $680. Register online at https://pbknca.com/event-6076572, or use the coupon on the last page.

Registering now will help us pay the deposit for next year and make more funds available for scholarships. If you change your mind, you can get a full refund up to December 10.

 Events in the planning stage. Watch your email or PBKNCA.com

 In July we are planning to visit Weston Havens House for an architectural tour. 

This is an historic Modernist and International Style house considered on par with Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.

The Weston Havens House, built in 1940, is located in the Panoramic Hill neighborhood of Berkeley, California. John Weston Havens Jr. (1903–2001) commissioned the architect Harwell Hamilton Harris (1903–1990) to design a custom house suited to Havens' interests and preferences.

The Weston Havens House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 11, 2008. It is recognized as an example of regional California Modernist style, with its radical design that looks outward from the hill to a view of the Pacific, and for its use of materials such as Douglas fir and redwood.

In January 2026 we are planning an afternoon orchestral performance at the Mondavi Center

We are attempting to arrange moderately-priced group tickets for a weekend matinee performance late this year, or early next year, at the Mondavi Center for Performing Arts at the University of California, Davis. This is a world-class performing arts center with extraordinary acoustics. You can check out the performances for the coming season here:

https://www.mondaviarts.org/.  If any interest you, please contact Jim Richardson revjimr@yahoo.com.

The Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts is located on the UC Davis campus in unincorporated Yolo County, California.

In March 2026 we will visit the California Maritime Academy

Cal Maritime is a public university in Vallejo, CA, offering seven undergraduate majors in engineering, letters and sciences, and maritime transportation. It trains students for positions in our merchant marine and port operations.  This visit includes touring the training ship The Golden Bear.