Past President JC Phi Beta Kappa PBK Northern California Association Honor Society

Past President's Letters - Jacqueline Celenza, President July 2000 - June 2002

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April 2002 Newsletter

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

I write to you today with a sense of nostalgia, since this will be my last letter to you as president. It has been a vigorous challenge to serve our association over the past two years. But more than that, it has been an inspiration.

What has inspired me? Many things. The dedication and the wisdom, the generosity of spirit that each of our previous presidents possesses. I especially want to thank those past-presidents who have been so willing to help the board and me over the past two years: Grace Albritton, Mary Magill, Bob Brandt, Mel Shattuck (who has also served for the past two years on our nominating committee), Ray Hendess (who continues to serve as our invaluable Webmaster), and of course, our immediate past-president, Bob Baronian.

In fact, all of our board members have inspired me with their dedication and their commitment to excellence. I am reluctant to name some without naming them all, to outline what makes one special without detailing what makes each of them crucial to our goals. I don't overstate when I say that they have all been heroes to me. Their diverse contributions are all vital to the students we serve.

Those students, our scholarship recipients - as well as the teachers we honor each year - are continual sources of inspiration. I find myself renewed and I find fresh hope for the future at each May's annual awards dinner, when our honorees tell us of their research and of their plans for further exploration within their respective fields of study.

Our programs, brought to us with such verve and dedication over the past two years by Mary Hanel, have offered more inspiration: There has been the encyclopedic knowledge (as well as the wit and charm) of those who have taken us on walking tours in San Francisco, Oakland, Petaluma, and elsewhere. I recall the passion for learning, and for teaching, that we've seen in our docents when we've visited such diverse locales as the Camron-Stanford House, the Stanford Linear Accelerator, and the art museums at both Stanford and U.C. Berkeley. I've been deeply affected by our members' presentations, at our annual Asilomar retreat, about new treatments for Parkinson's disease, about overpopulation, about Beowulf, about the millennium, about the crisis in science education in the public schools. This year and last year at Asilomar, Jean James has put together panels that have allowed us to hear our own members speak of their experiences during World War II, and I have been awed by the weight of their collective contributions to our nation's well-being even though many of them don't feel as though they did very much. They're wrong, and I, for one, am deeply grateful, not only for the work they did during the war, but also for their willingness to pass on to the rest of us their impressions, their amusing anecdotes, and their solemn memories of loved ones who died or who barely escaped death.

After all, those experiences that affect us the most, for better or worse, are those that affect our loved ones. And that brings me to what has inspired me most: the ways in which those in our membership have coped with the events that mark our lives so deeply, illness, or even death. I have learned from, and been humbled by, the grace and the grief, the fury and the peace that accompany some of our deepest losses. I am reminded of how much we can learn, not only at the feet of brilliant teachers or from the books with which we Phi Betes are wont to spend so much time, but from one another.

And so I will close with our society's motto, The love of wisdom is the guide of life, because there is no profound sentiment, no pithy quote from learned, forebears that says it better.

Thank you,
Jacqueline Dever Celenza
President

November 2001 Newsletter

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

Here's what members of our Northern California Association made possible in 2001: We awarded nine scholarships, in the amount of $3,600 each, to graduate students whose accomplishments amazed and humbled those of us who were privileged to evaluate their applications.

Among our awardees was Daniel Imara Bolnick, a student of population biology at UC Davis, who was also a Fulbright winner and author of an article published in Nature. Another awardee, Joseph Winston Chiong, exemplifies Phi Beta Kappa's passion for breadth of knowledge: While he's working now toward his M.D. at UCSF, he paused in his studies to get a Ph.D. in philosophy first, and he brings his nuanced understanding of centuries of human thought to his exploration of medical ethics and to his day-to-day confrontations with human suffering.

I could go on. Each of our nine awardees in 2001 was similarly accomplished. But I won't. I want to focus instead on what we can do this year, and why we should do it.

As gifted and energetic as our awardees are every year, many would be unable to continue their studies without financial help. As you know, help that is plentiful for talented undergraduates dries up as those young scholars work toward that advanced degree, just when many of them are facing the added expense of starting a family. Now, imagine these students trying to make ends meet in the Bay Area, and you can see why our support is so vital-and so appreciated.

I'd like to share with you part of a thank-you letter that Muriel Bell, our scholarships vice president, received from one of our 2001 awardees, a UC Berkeley student of environmental science, policy, and management:

Dear Ms. Bell,

I just finished my busy six-month field season, and I would like to now thank you and the PBK Northern California Association for the scholarship that will help me finish my degree. I am grateful to be able to look forward to the coming year of analysis and writing, knowing that I'll have the funds I need to complete my degree.
The PBK scholarship is special to me, because it comprises the support and generosity of all your members whose dues, donations, and hard work make it possible. I was very glad to meet many members at the dinner in May and to make that personal connection.
I will work hard to justify your support!
Sincerely,
Letitia Grenier

It was our honor to meet Ms. Grenier and the other awardees that night in May, and to hear them speak with such fire about their work. This year, please share in that honor. Please join the Northern California Association, and please give as generously as you can. Because our board members are all volunteers, donating countless hours to run the association, your gifts will go directly to support the studies of those brilliant young minds who will mean so much to our future but who need our help now.

Thank you,
Jacqueline Dever Celenza
President

September 2001 Newsletter

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

It's that time of year again-back to school! Okay, so many of us haven't been in school for years (decades?), but I'll bet that you, too, sometimes get that wistful back-to-school feeling. What can you do about it? Well, you could buy a plaid skirt and a pair of Mary Janes (or the male equivalent thereof), or you could seek out an acquaintance who's in high school or college and talk with him or her about Phi Beta Kappa. Many of those who qualify to join and are invited to do so decline the honor or don't respond at all to the invitation. Why? Well, many aren't sure just what Phi Beta Kappa is. A fraternity or sorority? Many are unaware of just what an honor it is to be nominated.

In fact, count yours truly among those who were in the dark about the society. When I was nominated, the only thing that stood between me and eternal cluelessness was a serendipitous chat with my grandfather on the afternoon the invitation arrived. Duly chagrined, I joined and accepted my grandfather's offer to buy my pin.

While I thought it understandable that some nominees, especially those from working-class backgrounds, might not have heard of Phi Beta Kappa, I always thought that my own ignorance was probably anomalous. However, at last year's Triennial meeting in Philadelphia, I met a thirtyish Phi Bete, now a professor, who was raised in Fairfield, Ct., by extremely well-educated parents. You guessed it-he, too, had been unaware of PBK and had to have the honor explained to him.

So this fall, take the time to chat with young people about PBK . Tell them that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne were members, but mention a few modern Phi Betes, too: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michael Crichton, and Jeff Bezos, to name just a few. They'll thank you, and you'll be keeping the flame alive-"Love of wisdom, the guide of life."

For additional information about Phi Beta Kappa, see the National web site at pbk.org

Cordially,
Jacqueline Dever Celenza
President

April 2001 Newsletter

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

I've just had the pleasure of attending our annual retreat at Asilomar over President's Day weekend. I'd like to thank Jean James for her Herculean-and successful-efforts to make the weekend edifying and relaxing for all who attended. For those of you who have not attended our retreats, the weekend revolves around a series of speakers, but gives members ample time to socialize with one another, as well. In fact, while it's often eye-opening to hear the experts who are speaking to us answer members' questions, some of the most inspiring and illuminating exchanges are those between members, so it was with great relish that I looked forward to the panel presentation that Jean conceived a year ago and pulled together for us this year: members of PBK NCA's own Greatest Generation.

Madeleine Babin spoke of her work with the OSS during and just after World War II. One of her tasks was to catalogue photos taken at the Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. Since Madeleine's mother lost four sisters in the camps, the job was a particularly grueling one for Madeleine. What kept her going was the knowledge that the misery captured by the photographs would serve as evidence that would help convict the perpetrators of war crimes.

Marcel Vinokur spoke of taking a train across Germany, as his family was fleeing Eastern Europe. He was only 10 at the time, so he wasn't fully aware of how worried his parents were. He and his parents escaped harm and made it to New York; many of his relatives were not so lucky.

Leon Fisher, our Teaching Excellence Chairman, spoke of the excitement that he and other scientists at Los Alamos felt when they were first working on what would end up being the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Early in the project, the scientists thought that they were trying to race Hitler's scientists, who they had been told were quite close to developing an atomic bomb. Leon spoke of the growing dread he and his colleagues felt as VE day came and went, yet they were told to continue with their work. He spoke of the horror they all felt when they learned that the weapons that they'd thought would only be wielded as deterrents were dropped in highly populated areas: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, at the New Mexico test site for the bomb, Oppenheimer told the other scientists who were with him that a passage from the Bhagavad Gita came to mind:

If the radiance of a thousand suns

Were to burst at once into the sky,

That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One-

I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.

Leon's wife, Phyllis, spoke of the tension of being a young wife and mother at Los Alamos, knowing that her husband was working on a project of great moment, and yet, because Leon was bound by an oath of secrecy, being unable to talk with him about the work. (What Phyllis didn't get to talk about was how she, as an undergraduate, single-handedly persuaded UC's President Sproul to let black students live in the campus dormitories-but that's a different story!)

Masako Miura spoke in a matter-of-fact way about the time she spent in two different internment camps. Because she was a doctor, she had more clout than most of the residents of the camps. When she saw that young girls were traumatized by having to take care of their menstrual needs at an open-air latrine in the middle of camp, she used her influence to get privacy curtains for them. As Masako told her story, her voice betrayed no bitterness, but what must it be like for a young, respected MD to be assigned to an internment camp?

Hugo Pressnall talked about the 100 combat missions he flew as a pilot, including the mission during which he was shot down over France during the Battle of the Bulge. In typically self-deprecating fashion, Hugo let us know that the only reason he landed the plane-in a field of snow-was that he'd been too leery of ejecting to get out of the plane before it reached the ground. He was rescued by US troops. One of the most memorable portions of Hugo's story was his tale of meeting his wife, Patricia, at a skating rink in New York. Two weeks later, they were married (and over 50 years later, sitting together on a panel at Pacific Grove, Calif., they were still holding hands). During WWII, Patricia was the first woman to work in 3M's "tape lab"; because rubber was desperately needed for the war effort, her group searched for substitutes for the rubber coating used on Scotch Tape.

Douglas Campbell talked about being part of a volunteer Rangers Battalion that conducted particularly dangerous ground missions in France and elsewhere. When he told us of being shot and of lying on the battlefield for a day before our troops were able to get to him, I wondered how long that day must have seemed. I wondered how I would have coped. I wondered how many of us, especially those of us who were born after WWII, really understand what this generation did for us.

Our members have such a wealth of wisdom and experience. It's an honor to learn from each and every one of you. Next year Jean promises to put together another panel that will feature more of our members from the Greatest Generation, so plan ahead to join us at Asilomar next February.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Dever Celenza, President

February 2001 Newsletter

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

As we head into a new year, it's natural to take stock of where we've been and where we're headed. I'm grateful for the hard work of all our board members and of the contributions that our members make. I'm proud that, because of all of you, the Northern California Association is one of the strongest in the nation, and we're deeply committed to promoting lifelong learning by honoring excellent teaching and offering scholarships to highly accomplished graduate students at the campuses we serve. It's an honor to be part of such a worthy endeavor, especially at a time when the state of education is front and center on the political agenda-locally, statewide, and nationally.

It's also an honor and a pleasure to spend time with fellow Phi Betes at TheActivities our First Vice President, Mary Hanel, works so hard to put together. If you were unable to visit the Ruth Bancroft Garden, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, the Moffett Field Historical Museum, or the Mission Santa Clara/Triton Museum this fall, try to make it to some of the upcoming event she has planned for us. Click here for the list.

I'd like to put out a call for an energetic, enthusiastic Phi Bete who'd like to revitalize our Young Phi Betes group (members who are approximately 25-40 years old). Our previous leader, Todd Flynn - who first suggested the group and put together our first series of gatherings - has had to call it quits due to professional commitments. The group got together several times for some pleasant, weeknight happy-hour networking, and we had a few weekend parties, as well. Drop me an for more details - putting together the gatherings is as simple as sending out a group e-mail.

A note to those of you who received our most recent newsletter twice: I'd like to apologize for any confusion the duplication may have engendered, and reassure you that we are keenly aware of our charge to be good stewards of your donations. We are working with the company that mistakenly sent some of you two copies; we are hopeful that they will take financial responsibility for their error.

I hope to see many of you at the Asilomar retreat this month - Jean James has done a marvelous job putting the weekend together, and it's always a joy to see old and new faces at the lectures and events that make the time such a memorable one each year.

Cordially,

Jacqueline Dever Celenza, President

November 2000 Newsletter

Dear fellow Phi Betes,

The national Phi Beta Kappa Society comprises 262 chapters at colleges or universities and more than 60 associations, such as our Northern California Association, which is the second-largest in the country (the Southern California Association is largest). Each year the chapters, all housed at academic institutions, elect new PBK initiates from among the nation's brightest undergraduate students; and each year the community-based associations promote Phi Beta Kappa and its ideals in a variety of ways, some awarding scholarships or granting book awards, others sponsoring programs in high schools that raise young people's awareness of the Society.

The 39th Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society was held this year in Philadelphia from October 19 to 22. Our First Vice President, Mary Hanel, and I joined a record number of delegates, approximately 500, who attended. Every three years the Council convenes to conduct business that includes electing new Senators at large, who serve six-year terms at the national level, and establishing new chapters at institutions of higher learning. Consonant with Phi Beta Kappa's ideals, these new chapters must uphold high academic standards and display a commitment to promoting learning across academic disciplines.

This year the delegates of the associations came together with one another and with many chapter delegates to work toward greater representation in the governance of the Society. We nominated Arline Bronzaft, Ph.D., from the floor for Senator at large. She was president of the New York Association for twelve years. We were gratified at the support that we and Ms. Bronzaft received from both chapter and association delegates. She was elected to serve as a Senator even though delegates had to write in her name in order to vote for her!

PBK NCA was honored when, at one of the break-out sessions, Mary Hanel was chosen to serve as a panelist with representatives of other healthy associations to discuss ways in which associations, both new and established, can boost membership and involvement.

My highlight may have been the break-out session in which Anne Fadiman, editor of The American Scholar, shared tales of working with such authors as Frederick Busch, Steven Jay Gould, Mary Gordon, Wendy Lesser, and Sherwin Nuland. She and senior editor John Bethell also gave us an insider's view of such dilemmas as whether to use a colon or an em dash in a given sentence and whether to use three ellipsis points or four for elided material (a discussion that might make some audience members' eyes glaze over, but which brightened mine). One of Ms. Fadiman's greatest gifts may be her ability to persuade world-class authors to write, say, 13,000-word essays for $500 (which comes to a grand total of less than $.04 per word).

One of the delegates' greatest concerns was that college students who are elected by their chapters are increasingly unaware of what Phi Beta Kappa is. Often they fail to respond to the letters of election they receive, thereby declining an honor that they eminently deserve but the significance of which they don't realize. In coming newsletters I will expand on some of the concerns, and I ask you to phone or e-mail me with suggestions on how we, as individuals and as an association, can help. Fostering awareness of the Society will be one of our greatest challenges in coming years.

Cordially,

Jacqueline Dever Celenza

President

September 2000 Newsletter

Dear Fellow Phi Betes,

Year after year, the Northern California Association serves as an example to other Associations across the country. Few offer scholarship programs as extensive as ours. Over 1600 PBK NCA members last year made it possible for us to award scholarships in the amount of $3600 to nine area Phi Beta Kappa students pursuing graduate degrees in a variety of disciplines. Those worthy awardees were Julie Anderson, Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley; Yee-Min Chan, Biochemistry, UCSF; Jessica Green, Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley; Jeffrey Karlsen, Slavic Languages, UC Berkeley; Natasha Schüll, Anthropology, UC Berkeley; Dylan Schwilk, Biological Sciences, Stanford University; Rachel Sturman, History, UC Davis; Anna Wertz, History, UC Berkeley; and Veronica Yank, Medicine, UCSF.

We are also committed to honoring extraordinary teaching. We awarded stipends in the amount of $500 to the following four teachers, all of whom were nominated by their own students: Marco Conti, Professor, School of Medicine, Stanford University; Anne Middleton, Professor, English, UC Berkeley; Jonathan Marks, Visiting Associate Professor, Anthropology, UC Berkeley; and Manfred Wolf, Professor, English, SFSU. Is there a teacher who inspired you? See pages 4 and 5 of your newsletter for information about this year's awards, and nominate him or her using the form on page 2!

The Northern California Association is also unusually active - last year, for example, our then First Vice President, Christine Olson, arranged tours for us at the Cantor Arts Center, the Filoli Mansion, and the War Memorial Opera House, among other fascinating destinations. This year, our incoming First Vice President, Mary Hanel, is putting together a slew of fascinating outings for us. Read also about the plans that this year's Asilomar Chair, Jean James, is making for our annual retreat in February.

Our 2000-2001 Board includes some dedicated new members: Jill Schodde is our Treasurer; Muriel Bell brings years of experience on the Scholarship Committee to her new role as Second Vice President, Scholarships; Rebecca Orozco is our Third Vice President, Membership; and Maria Norall joins us as our Recording Secretary. The dedication of our Board members is unflagging, and I'm grateful to be part of such a committed and lively group of people, as we head into another exciting and challenging year.

Jacqueline Dever Celenza

President