John R. Graham is Director of Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute. He is the author of the U.S. Index of Health Ownership, the only project to rank all 50 states’ health laws and regulations according to free-market principles; and the editor of a book addressing What States Can Do to Reform Health Care: A Free Market Primer, to which he contributed a chapter on pharmaceutical cost containment. He is also the primary author of the monthly Health Policy Prescriptions series, and the Healthy California series of briefing papers. He has written numerous articles on intellectual property law, financing of hospitals, health savings accounts, and other aspects of health policy for a number of periodicals, including the Wall Street Journal. Graham received his M.B.A. from the London Business School in England and his B.A. with honors in economics and commerce from the Royal Military College of Canada.

Performers:
Michelle Brown as Lucille
Ken Kerr as Mr. John
Larry Polk as Cullum
Laura Taggett as Mae

Laura Taggett is a professor of English at LoneStar College-Cy-Fair where she also founded the Cy-Fair Reader’s Theatre. Prior to teaching at LSC-Cy-Fair, she taught at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, where she got involved with Phi Theta Kappa and brought the chapter out of hibernation. She is very pleased to see it thrive today. She received her masters of Arts in English from Iowa State, her bachelor’s from Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, and her Associates’s Degree from Delta College in Michigan, where she was also a member of Phi Theta Kappa. Taggett has performed such works as W;t, The Laramie Project, and The Foreigner for the Cy-Fair Reader’s Theatre.

In Continental Divide, Lucille and Cullum have arranged for Mr. John and Mae to come to New York City from Arkansas before the wedding of their children. It becomes clear early on that the two couples couldn’t have less in common and that what separates them, the continental divide, more than anything else is money, having it and not. The paradox of affluence is best shown in how each of the couples approaches their everyday lives and how they leave. While their views don’t change - the poor want or resent what the rich have, the rich feel guilty for having it - it becomes clear to the audience that having money has very little to do with being happy. Misery has no dollar amount attached to it.

Continental Divide is also an excellent example of both the relative simplicity of Reader’s Theatre and its complexities, working with a lack of set and props and blocking while still maintaining the integrity of the text in performance.

$109 + charges/taxes = $120.95 per one night stay
Price includes ground transportation from the hotel to the airport.

Reservations may be booked, changed, modified during May 13-June 23 by visiting Westin’s Phi Theta Kappa 2008 Honors Institute website.

Westin San Francisco Airport
1 Old Bayshore Highway
Millbrae, CA  94030
650.692.3500

Driving Directions from San Francisco State University, 800 Font Blvd.:
15 miles about 20 minutes drive time

• Leaving the campus, take a left (head northwest) on Font Blvd.
• Turn left at Lake Merced Blvd. (0.7 mi)
• Turn left at Brotherhood Way. (0.7 mi)
• Merge onto CA-1 S/Junipero Serra Blvd. via the ramp to San Jose. Continue to follow CA-1 S. (2.2 mi)
• Continue on I-280 S. (4.2 mi)
• Take the exit onto I-380 E toward SF Intl Airport/US-101. (1.5 mi)
• Take exit 6A to merge onto US-101 S toward San Jose. (2.8 mi)
• Take exit 420 for Millbrae Ave. (0.3 mi)
• Turn left at E Millbrae Ave. (0.4 mi)
• Turn right at Bayshore Highway. (417 ft)

Transportation Downtown from Westin:

For easy and convenient transportation downtown from the hotel, use the hotel’s complimentary airport shuttle to the International Terminal where the BART station is located. The BART fare is only $10.70 one way. Learn more about the BART tranportation system at the SFO airport.

Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes is Professor of Urban Studies at San Francisco State University. Her teaching, research and community activism focus on improving quality of life for people living and working in cities. Her landmark study, Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green Business to Provide High Quality Jobs for Men and Women with Barriers to Employment, is considered the definitive work on the subject, and has been used as a model for various programs. In addition to her work in the United States, she has conducted research and guest lectured in Havana, Cuba, Curitiba, Brazil, and Rajasthan, India. Dr. Pinderhughes is president of the Board of Directors of the Ecology Center, which runs the city of Berkeley’s recycling and farmers market programs, and Rising Sun Energy Services, operators of programs to reduce residential energy and water consumption in the Bay Area. She serves on the Board of Directors of Clean City, a non-profit organization focused on cleaning, greening and beautifying the city of San Francisco while providing job training and placement services for people with barriers to employment.

Rob Carey is in his eleventh year as an advisor for the Alpha Beta Chi chapter at Pima Community College where he also teaches biology. He is broadly trained in the biological sciences, having earned his bachelor’s degree in general biology at the University of Arizona and his master’s degree in physiology from the same institution. After earning a master’s degree, he began doctoral studies and research in the areas of molecular evolution and phylogeography to answer questions related to migration route changes of Rufus Hummingbirds.

Rob is a certified Leadership Development Studies instructor and recipient of the Paragon Award for New Advisors, the Giles Award, and the Distinguished Advisor Award. In 2006, he was selected to serve a four-year term as the Science/Technology Representative to the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Program Committee. Rob currently serves as Chairman of the Association of Chapter Advisors serving as a liaison between the Society’s advisors and headquarters staff.

The Town Hall Meeting is an opportunity for Honors Institute participants to speak out about issues related to our 2008-2010 Honors Study Topic, The Paradox of Affluence: Choices, Challenges, and Consequences. Moderator Rob Carey will introduce a series of film clips from a variety of news sources on ten issues related to the paradox of affluence. Once participants have viewed a clip, Carey will invite people to comment on it. Each clip will be followed by five to seven minutes of discussion. The film clips shown during the 2008 Town Hall Meeting will be taken from the ten Honors Study Topic Issues.

Monika Byrd has been with Phi Theta Kappa as the Director of Leadership Development Programs since 1999. She earned her degree from Beloit College in Wisconsin, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and completed her master’s degree at the University of Louisiana - Lafayette. Prior to joining the Headquarters staff, Monika taught American history and leadership development, and served as a Phi Theta Kappa advisor at Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Texas, and Tomball College in Tomball, Texas. She served as an International Honors Institute Seminar Leader in 1991. In addition to her work with Phi Theta Kappa, Monika has taught as an adjunct faculty member of Mississippi State’s Community College Leadership Ph.D. program and served on several state and educational boards, including the Mississippi Community Leadership Association, The Glacier Society, and The International Public Safety Leadership and Ethics Institute.

Susan Edwards, Director of Phi Theta Kappa’s Honors Programs, began her journey with Phi Theta Kappa as an advisor for the Omega Sigma chapter at Houston Community College in 1991. She served as the founding advisor in 2002 for the Beta Lambda Mu chapter at Cy-Fair College in Texas. She has taught history and humanities for 20 years. Susan coordinates the work of the Honors Programs Department, which includes the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Program Committee, The Satellite Seminar Series, the International Honors Institute, the Faculty Scholar Conference, and the Mosal Scholar Award program. She also conducts research relating to the Honors Study Topic. Susan is a former Fulbright Fellow and National Endowment for the Humanities grantee and was named 2005 Texas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation. She served as chair of the Association of Chapter Advisors and as Advisor Representative to the Phi Theta Kappa Board of Directors. In 2002, she received the Mosal Scholar Award to study at the University of Havana. She joined Phi Theta Kappa’s Headquarters staff in January 2007.

Jennifer Stanford, a Headquarters staff member since 1992, serves as Director of Programs, overseeing the Chapter and Regional Programs Departments, and working closely with the International Officer Campaign and with the International Service Program for which she has been instrumental in building the successful partnerships Phi Theta Kappa has had with America’s Promise, the American Cancer Society, and Keep America Beautiful. She became a Phi Theta Kappa member at Holmes Community College in Ridgeland, Mississippi, and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in history from the University of Mississippi.

Dr. Douglas Brinkley is a professor of history and fellow at the James A. Baker, III Institute at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and American Heritage, and author of The New York Times bestsellers Tour of Duty, The Boys of Pointe du Hoc, and Parish Priest. He is also the author of books on subjects ranging from Rosa Parks to Jimmy Carter and The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey.

Gregg Easterbrook has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado College and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. He is the author of numerous books including, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While We Feel Worse. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has called The Progress Paradox “a book you must read, because it tells the truth about America today.” He also serves as the contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and the Washington Monthly, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a columnist for ESPN.com.