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RELEASED: Jan. 16, 2003
DANVILLE, KY—Dr. John Churchill, secretary and chief executive officer for The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation's oldest academic honor society, will serve as the keynote speaker for Centre College's Founders Day on Thursday, Jan. 23. Centre is the only private institution in Kentucky to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Founders Day is held each year to celebrate the anniversary of the College's founding. Centre College received its charter from the Kentucky Legislature on Jan. 21, 1819.
Churchill's talk is titled "A Peculiar Hospitality: The Liberal Arts College and Democratic Society." The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Newlin Hall at Centre's Norton Center for the Arts. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.
Before assuming his position with Phi Beta Kappa, Churchill served at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., beginning in 1977 as an assistant professor of philosophy. He has also held the positions of chair of the department of philosophy, dean of student affairs, and interim president on two occasions. He was vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college for 17 years.
Churchill was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), where he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
While attending college, the Hector, Ark., native was captain of the varsity football team and was conference champion in the discus. As a result of his achievements, Churchill was inducted into the Rhodes College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.
He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and took a second bachelor's degree in the Final Honour School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Oxford.
Upon returning to the United States, he earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Yale, writing a dissertation on 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion.
Aside from his academic achievement and numerous publications and articles, Churchill is also an authority on pickled okra, for which he won a blue ribbon at his county fair in 1980.
Churchill and his wife, Jean Hill Churchill, are the parents of three children, ranging in age from 18 to 24.
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