FIC FEBRUARY PROGRAMS
February 3, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Dick Ullman is our Quarterback
February 6, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Speaker is Patrick Spero. His topic ‒ Scientist Turned Spy: A Conspiracy Hidden in APS Archives
Patrick Spero, the new CEO of the American Philosophical Society, traces the origin of his newest book to an untapped treasure at the Society ‒ a 1793 list of supporters for an expedition to find a route to the Pacific Ocean. It includes the signatures of our first four presidents, pledging to back the ambitions of accomplished French botanist and explorer André Michaux. Ambition turns to espionage when the French revolutionary government enlists Michaux as an agent to organize American frontiersmen in a campaign to attack Spanish territory, take control of New Orleans and Louisiana, and establish a French republic in the American West. Intriguingly, documentary evidence implicates Thomas Jefferson as a participant in this plot.
Patrick returns to the Club to discuss The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793 (University of Virginia Press, 2024). He presented his previous book, Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765-1776 (W. W. Norton, 2018), winner of the Philadelphia Athenaeum’s Literary Award. Patrick’s new appointment at APS is also a return, following his service as executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. Before that, he was librarian and director of the APS Library and Museum. Patrick is an elected member of the APS, the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Lyon, France, and the American Antiquarian Society. Patrick holds a BA from James Madison University and a PhD from Penn.
February 10, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Alina Macneal is our Quarterback.
February 13, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Speaker is Gus Faucher. His topic ‒ An Update on the Economy in This New “Golden Age”
We expect Gus to share his usual clear perspective on the economy at a time when a new presidential administration is generating confusion for many of us. Known to the wider world as chief economist and senior vice president at PNC Financial Services Group, he comes to the Club as a familiar venue with Innmate, and father, Denny Faucher.
Before joining PNC in 2011, Gus Faucher spent ten years at Moody’s Analytics, where he managed the computer model of the U.S. economy, edited a monthly publication on the U.S. economic outlook, covered fiscal and monetary policy, and analyzed various regional economies. Before that, he worked at the Treasury Department and taught at the University of Illinois. Gus is PNC’s chief spokesperson on financial matters, frequently cited in international, national, and regional media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, and appearing on major broadcast and cable TV networks. You’ll hear him featured on CBS radio, NPR, and public media outlet Marketplace. His academic credentials include PhD in economics from Penn and BA in economics from Cornell.
February 17, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Richard Pasquier is our Quarterback.
February 21, Club Dinner, cocktails at 5:30pm followed by dinner at 7:00pm
Speaker is Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron. Her topic ‒ Print City: How Newspaper Buildings Shaped Philadelphia’s Downtown
Philadelphia, like other American cities, was once home to dozens of newspapers. In setting up shop close to one another, often on the same block, they formed distinct “newspaper rows.” Other industries ‒ from piano makers to jewelers ‒ clustered together as well, but they tended to stay put in Center City, while the newspaper rows shifted as the papers followed the pathway of money and power westward. With each move, Philadelphia’s highly competitive papers built ever grander works of architecture, aiming to distinguish themselves from their peers. Now, newspapers and their buildings are vanishing from our daily experience, but the history of our shifting newspaper rows offers insights into the spatial organization of Center City.
Inga Saffron has been the architecture critic at the Inquirer since 1999. A seasoned reporter, she also digs into territory beyond architectural criticism, as she did in covering the interplay of money and politics with urban development and design throughout the Sixers arena saga. She advocates meaningful design, accessible public spaces and transit, affordable housing, historic preservation, and policies that make cities more livable and climate resilient. Her work has been recognized with awards that include a 2012 Loeb Fellowship from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and the 2018 Vincent Scully Prize from the National Building Museum. In addition to writing about architecture and urbanism, she has published a cultural history of caviar and the sturgeon, Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World’s Most Coveted Delicacy (Broadway Books, 2002). She is working on a history of the American newspaper building.
February 24, Monday Quarterback Luncheon – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Franklyn Rodgers is our Quarterback
February 25 , Tuesday Movie Night at the Inn – doors at 6:00pm; feature at 6:30pm
Free admission with snacks and drinks including popcorn, chips, nuts, soda, beer, and wine.
The Graduate
Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me! Aren’t you?
Nominated for seven Academy Awards with one win for director Mike Nichols, The Graduate made Dustin Hoffman a star, featured a hit soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” in 1996.
21-year-old Benjamin Braddock, a disaffected recent college graduate with no well-defined aim in life is seduced Mrs. Robinson, an older married woman and friend of the family. When he falls for her daughter Elaine, Mrs. Robinson tries everything to sabotage the relationship. Featuring one of the most visually iconic closing images, The Graduate is a groundbreaking portrayal of postgraduate malaise the alienation of the generation then coming of age in the turbulent late 60s. 1967, US, 1hr 46 mins, color.
February 27, Thursday Luncheon Roundtable – 12:30pm-1:45pm
Speaker is Philadelphia architect James Timberlake. His topic – The Fullness of Architectural Practice
James describes the innovative, holistic, collaborative process that his firm KieranTimberlake, has brought to its practice over the past four decades. He will highlight work including the new United States Embassy in London and notable projects of relevance to Philadelphians.
James Timberlake is a founding principal, with Stephen Kieran, of Philadelphia-based, internationally renowned architecture firm KieranTimberlake. Their projects include the programming, planning, and design of new structures as well as the conservation, renovation, and transformation of existing buildings. The firm – with its expertise in education, government, arts and culture, civic, and residential projects – has received over 200 design awards and citations, including the Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects in 2008 and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture from the Smithsonian Institution in 2010. The partners have co-authored seven books on architecture, including refabricating Architecture (McGraw Hill, 2003) and KieranTimberlake: Fullness (Monacelli Press, 2019). James sees his work as a reflection of his belief in beautifully crafted, thoughtfully made buildings holistically integrated to site, program, and people.