OCTOBER PROGRAMS
Thursday Roundtable Luncheon
October 1 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Speaker is Lynn Matluck Brooks, Arthur and Katherine Shadek Professor of Humanities Emerita at Franklin & Marshall College. Topic ‒ America’s Antebellum Dance Capital: When Philadelphia “Tripped the Light Fantastic Toe.”
Philadelphia’s lively dance scene today has deep, under-appreciated roots. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the city’s dance world flourished with forms that included “French” ballet, English-style country dancing, Viennese waltzes, Bohemian polkas, blackface jigging, and acrobatic pantomimes. Lynn discusses the bountiful history of dance in antebellum Philadelphia based on research for her book Theatres of the Body: Dance and Discourse in Antebellum Philadelphia (Temple, 2025).
The city birthed more homegrown professional stage dancers than any other in the country at that time, and it became a choice destination for touring dance stars. The nation’s first native-born professional stage dancer John Durang (1768–1822) was a proud Philadelphian, dancing here for much of his career. Social dancing too, was a popular form of entertainment as well as a thriving business venture. Dancing merged into political, social, and cultural whirlwinds, with the emergence of social hierarchies shaped by race, gender, and nationality. It also linked with sciences of the body ‒ anatomy, biology, ethnography, obstetrics ‒ as proclaimed in learned societies and in public displays.
Lynn Matluck Brooks researched dance in Golden Age Spain, eighteenth-century Netherlands, and the early United States, and presented her work in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Malta, Israel, and Japan. She served as performance reviewer for Dance Magazine, editor of Dance Research Journal and Dance Chronicle, and writer/editor for Philadelphia’s thINKingDance. Her extensive research on antebellum Philadelphia and the interconnections of dance, science, and culture inform her book Theatres of the Body, as well as many recent chapters and articles. She holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Temple and is a Certified Movement Analyst.
Friday Forum
October 2 from 4pm to 6pm
An Overview of Charitable Donation Strategies
As a service to members, and in support of the Club’s fundraising initiatives, this Friday Forum is scheduled to provide information on charitable donation strategies, with consultants from Charles Schwab covering areas such as tax considerations, estate planning, and wealth management. They will focus on strategies that are typically available through any of the major financial services companies (Vanguard, Fidelity, PNC, Schwab, etc.). There is absolutely no obligation or expectation for you to work with Schwab.
With light fare, wine, and nonalcoholic drinks.
Welcome Back Party
Friday, October 2 from 6pm to 8pm
A New Initiatives Committee Event
Join us as we welcome everyone back from summer break and kick off the new season with great company, good food and drink, and plenty of cheer. It’s the perfect opportunity to reconnect, share summer stories, and enjoy some time together.
Monday Quarterback Luncheon
October 5 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Alan Penziner is our Quarterback.
Thursday Roundtable Luncheon
October 8 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Speaker is Lia Howard, political scientist specializing in American politics. Topic ‒ Finding a Path to Civil Political Discourse.
In the summer of 2024 seven Penn undergraduates traveled with Lia Howard over ten weeks, covering 2,500 miles, to engage in political discourse with other Pennsylvanians; a pilot program of Penn’s Political Empathy Lab (PEL). Their goal was to develop strategies and practices for “democratic listening” and apply them to political conversations in this diverse swing state, creating space for meaningful dialogue even when differences threaten to derail it. Lia led a PEL group throughout the state in the summer of 2025, and another are traveling this fall’s midterm election season. Undergraduate Noah Kocher (class of 2027) joins her to describe their process, the ideas behind their work, and their next steps.
Lia Howard is the Fellows director for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Paideia Program at Penn teaching SNF Paideia designated courses, designing curriculum and programming, and overseeing advising and support for 75 undergraduate Fellows across three cohorts. With a team of Penn colleagues, she leads the Penn Commonwealth Engaged Scholars Program, is a nonresident senior affiliate in the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, and a senior fellow at the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program. She was executive director of the Philadelphia Commons Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the practice of civic dialogue, and taught at St. Joseph’s, Villanova, and Eastern Universities. Her research interests focus on the intersection of political culture, American political development, education policy, and citizenship. She holds a PhD in political science and a BA in English and French from Penn.
Monday Quarterback Luncheon
October 12 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Russell Cooke is our Quarterback.
Socrates Café
Wednesday, October 14 from 10am to 11am
Led by Gil Feinberg
Socrates Cafés are facilitator-led forums for inquiry into philosophy, language, and the fundamental as well as everyday questions that shape human experience. No prior preparation or specialized knowledge is expected or required. At the beginning of each session, the leader introduces a question that serves as the basis for collective discussion and reflection. Rather than relying on external sources or predetermined authorities, participants are encouraged to draw upon their own experiences, observations, reasoning, and perspectives. Through this process, the Café fosters an open and collaborative environment bringing together individuals to engage in philosophical inquiry and exchange perspectives grounded in their personal experiences.
According to Christopher Phillips, PhD, founder and executive director of the Socrates Café movement and a leading practitioner of the Socratic Method, such meetings constitute a form of “grass-roots democracy,” providing participants an opportunity to examine and deliberate upon questions concerning not only how people ought to conduct themselves, but also how society as a whole should function. Today, Socrates Cafés are held in communities throughout the world.
Gil Feinberg, a retired Philadelphia-based attorney, has facilitated Socrates Café discussions for over two decades. Through his longstanding involvement, Gil continues to lead these forums as spaces for philosophical inquiry, civic dialogue, and intellectual exchange.
Friday Club Dinner
October 16 with Member Mixer at 5:30pm, presentation at 6:15pm, followed by dinner.
Speaker is Kevin Mahoney, chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Topic ‒ Another Franklin Legacy: 275 Years of Innovation at Penn Medicine.
In 1751, the ingenious Ben Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond founded the nation’s first hospital. Kevin Mahoney joins us to celebrate the 275th anniversary of Pennsylvania Hospital and a founding legacy that continues with Penn Medicine, one of the nation’s preeminent academic medical centers. Penn Medicine is restructuring how and where healthcare is delivered, extending beyond its hospitals and multispecialty centers into neighborhoods and homes to lower barriers standing between patients and the treatment and support they need. Globally, groundbreaking discoveries such as mRNA technology, gene therapy, and CAR T-cell therapy opened new paths to treatment for patients everywhere.
Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO of Penn Health since 2019, manages health system operations spanning seven hospitals, thirteen multispecialty centers, and hundreds of outpatient facilities in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. He led transformational initiatives in patient care and research, including the Clifton Center for Medical Breakthroughs, a 1.5M square-foot, 17-story patient care facility and directed a years-long project to unify patient health records electronically for Penn Medicine’s hospitals, clinics, and home care programs. Beyond the health care system, Kevin continues to integrate Penn Medicine discoveries into the landscape of “Cellicon” Valley, the emerging biopharma hub centered on gene and cell therapy in Philadelphia.
Monday Quarterback Luncheon
October 19 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Skip Schwarzman is our Quarterback.
Thursday Roundtable Luncheon
October 22 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Speaker is Patrick Harker, recent president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Topic ‒ All About the Fed: The History, Structure, and Mission of America’s Central Bank.
The American argument over central banking is as old as the Republic itself. It churns from Alexander Hamilton’s First Bank of the United States through Andrew Jackson’s “Bank War,” the Panic of 1907, and to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Drawing on ten years leading the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Patrick traces how the Fed came to be, how it is structured and governed, and how monetary policy actually works. Just as important, he explains what the Fed cannot do, and why the hardest economic challenges facing the country call for fiscal, not monetary, solutions.
Patrick T. Harker is Professor of Operations, Information, and Decisions at Penn’s Wharton School, Director of Academic Engagement for Penn Washington, and Co-Academic Director of the Wharton Future of Finance Initiative. He served as the 11th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia from 2015 to 2025, helping to shape U.S. monetary policy as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee. He was president of the University of Delaware and dean of the Wharton School. His early career includes White House Fellow and special assistant to the director of the FBI. Kevin holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in engineering and an MA in economics from Penn.
Monday Quarterback Luncheon
October 26 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Palmer Hartl is our Quarterback.
Tuesday Movie Night
October 27 at 6pm; feature at 6:30pm
With snacks and drinks including light fare, popcorn, chips, nuts, soda, beer and wine.
Feature TBA.
Thursday Roundtable Luncheon
October 29 from 12:30pm to 2pm
Speaker is William Kinsolving, author of Black and White and Read All Over. Topic ‒ The Rhinelander Trial: A Jazz Age Scandal Steeped in Racism.
While doing research for a novel based on the 1925 Rhinelander trial, a Jazz Age annulment case, William Kinsolving immersed himself in the trial transcripts, news coverage, and editorials surrounding the infamous courtroom drama. What he discovered was not only a scandal that flamed up from an annulment petition by the wealthy socialite Leonard Rhinelander against his biracial wife Alice (nee Jones), but also a searing portrait of how lawyers and the media shaped public understanding of race, class, and identity in the case. Drawing from original sources that inspired his novel, Kinsolving explores the legal maneuvers and press coverage that captivated the nation.
William Kinsolving is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and former actor whose career spans Broadway, regional theater, and film. He is the author of eight novels, including a New York Times bestseller Born with the Century (Putnam, 1979). His latest novel, Black and White and Read All Over (Pragmatic Press, 2026), was inspired by the Rhinelander trial.