Movers and Shakers

Let the celebrity sightings begin!

Phi Kappa Phi brushed up against John Mellencamp at the 2010 Convention in Kansas City, Mo. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, whose No. 1 singles include “Jack & Diane,” “Hurts So Good,” and “Lonely Ol Night,” and who was in town to root for his teenage son in a boxing tournament, happened to be staying at the same hotel as the honor society. He posed for photos and chatted with various Phi Kappa Phi folks.

Maybe a lucky few Society employees and officials will meet Matt Holliday at the 2012 gathering. Or, even better, catch a foul ball hit by the St. Louis Cardinals All-Star left fielder. For a contingent of about two dozen Phi Kappa Phi people, on hand early to set up the Convention and related events, will attend a Major League Baseball game on Wednesday night, Aug., 8, pitting the 2011 World Series champions against the San Francisco Giants at Busch Stadium, which is walking distance from the Convention hotel. All seats have been taken for this outing, underwritten by the Society as a way to thank the crew.

Two hundred or so Phi Kappa Phi faithful (most arriving to St. Louis the day before the Convention begins to participate in Partnering for Success workshops with chapter officers, board members, and headquarters staff) get to encounter Becky Thatcher on Thursday, Aug. 9. No, not the childhood sweetheart of Tom Sawyer from the classic fiction by Mark Twain. But the riverboat Becky Thatcher, named in honor of the Missouri writer. Phi Kappa Phi has reserved a private dinner charter on the 19th-century replica paddle wheeler, which will cruise up and down the famed Mississippi and pass the iconic Gateway Arch, to the tunes of the local band Dixieland Duo, comprised of a banjo player and pianist. A few $25 tickets remain available; the deadline for purchase is 3 p.m. of the day of the cruise at the Society registration desk at the hotel.

Of course, Phi Kappa Phi boasts many leading lights of its own across the disciplines in academia and beyond. And all those attending the Convention dinner on Friday, Aug. 10, roughly 310 people, will have a close encounter with one. She’s a real star: former NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, the keynote speaker.