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Appalachian State University will celebrate the 200th
anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary
of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species during
the 2008-09 academic year with a series of lectures and events
focusing on Darwin’s ideas and their impact on society, and
his theory of evolution.
Dr. Eugenie C. Scott |
A year-long lecture series will feature thirteen speakers, including
prominent scientists, philosophers, historians, and theologians.
Among the speakers are Pulitzer Prize winners Edward Larson and
Jonathan Weiner. Other speakers include Niles Eldredge, curator
at the American Museum of Natural History and recent curator of
a traveling exhibit on Darwin. Lectures, which are scheduled
for 8 p.m. in various venues across the Appalachian campus, are
all free and open to the public.
The presentations are sponsored by the University Forum Committee,
the Division of Academic Affairs, University College, the Darwin
Bicentennial Celebration Committee, and the College of Arts and
Sciences. Additional support for the series has been provided
by the Joan Askew Vail Endowment, and the Morgan Lecture Series
in the Sciences.
The series begins Tuesday, Sept. 16 with a presentation by Eugenie
Scott at 8 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium. Scott is executive director
of the National Center for Science Education. Her talk is titled
“Why Darwin Matters.” Dr. Eugenie C. Scott is executive
director of the National Center for Science Education Inc., a
not for profit membership organization of scientists, teachers
and others that works to improve the teaching of evolution, and
of science as a way of knowing. It opposes the teaching of “scientific”
creationism and other religiously-based views in science classes.
A former college professor, Scott lectures widely, and is called
upon by the press to explain science and evolution to the general
public. The author of Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction
and co-editor with Glenn Branch of Not in Our Classrooms: Why
Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools, she is the recipient
of numerous awards from scientists and educators, and has been
awarded six honorary degrees.
Jay Hosler from Juniata College’s Department of Biology will
present “Comic Books, Darwin and the ‘E’ Word”
Monday, Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. in I.G. Greer Auditorium. Hosler is
noted for his use of comics to get scientific ideas (and in particular,
evolution) across to young students. His work has been featured
on National Public Radio. His upcoming comic book is titled Optical
Allusions and will be out soon.
John Haught from Georgetown University will lecture on “Evolution
and Faith: What is at Stake?” on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m.
in Farthing Auditorium. Haught is a professor in Georgetown’s
Department of Theology and is a senior fellow at the Woodstock
Theological Center and one of the leading scholars on the relationship
between science and religion. Haught will discuss how evolution
and faith can co-exist in today’s society. He is also the
author of the recently published God and the New Atheism: A Critical
Response to Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens, which is a rebuttal
to the recent spate of books that have been published on atheism.
Brown University biology professor Ken Miller will present “Is
Evolution Only a Theory? Charles Darwin and the Design of Life”
Thursday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. in the Broyhill Inn and Conference
Center’s Powers Grand Hall. Miller is a cell biologist and
noted biology textbook author, and played a major role testifying
at the Pennsylvania Dover Trial where intelligent design proponents
were defeated in their attempts to insert this ideology into the
science classroom. He was featured in the PBS Documentary on the
trial that will be shown as part of the Darwin Series Film Festival
(see below).
On Tuesday, Nov. 13, Janet Browne from Harvard University’s
Department of the History of Science will present “Commemorating
Darwin: 1809-2009: A History of Prior Darwin Celebrations”
Her talk begins at 8 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Blue
Ridge Ballroom. Browne is a noted Darwin scholar, and her two
volume biography of Darwin is considered the best ever written.
Edward Larson presents “The Scopes Trial in History and the
Theatre” Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009 at 8 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium.
Larson is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Summer of the Gods,
an historical retrospective of the Scopes Trial, as well as several
other books on the history of evolution and the Galapagos Islands.
He is professor of law at Pepperdine University.
Michael Ruse will present “Darwin at Two Hundred Years Old:
Does He Still Speak to Us?” Monday, Feb. 2, 2009, at 8 p.m.
in Farthing Auditorium. Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor
of History and Philosophy of Science at Florida State University
and the foremost philosophical scholar on the relationship between
evolution and science. He is the author of Can a Darwinian Be
a Christian?
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009, Jim Costa, director of the Highlands
Biological Station at Western Carolina University, will discuss
“Charles Darwin and the Origin of the Origin.” The talk
is scheduled for 8 pm in the Broyhill Inn’s Powers Grand
Hall. Costa is a noted Darwin scholar and evolutionary ecologist,
as well as author of a soon-to-be-released Darwin Line by Line:
The Living Origin, an annotated version of On the Origin of Species.
He will discuss how Darwin came to write the Origin.
Sean Carroll presents “Into the Jungle: The Epic Search for
the Origins of Species and the Discoveries that Forged a Revolution”
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009, at 8 p.m. in Farthing Auditorium. Carroll
is a professor of molecular biology, genetics, and medical genetics
at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and also a Howard
Hughes Medical Institute Researcher. He is the author of several
popular books on evolution, including the upcoming Remarkable
Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species.
Carroll will be host of a PBS “NOVA” special about Darwin
and evolution, which will be shown nationally next spring. His
talk is co-sponsored by the Darwin Bicentennial Celebration Committee
and by the university’s Morgan Distinguished Lecture Series
in the Sciences.
Paul Ewald from the University of Louisville’s Department
of Biology will present a lecture Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 8
p.m. in the Broyhill Inn’s Powers Grand Hall. His presentation
is entitled “Darwinian Insights into the Causes and Prevention
of Cancer.” Ewald is noted for his theories regarding the
co-evolution of humans and disease organisms. He argues in his
book Plague Time that many diseases attributed to environmental
stresses may actually be caused by bacteria or viruses instead.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner will speak on “The
Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time” Thursday,
March 26, 2009 at 8 pm, in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of Plemmons
Student Union. Weiner is a professor in Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Journalism. His Pulitzer Prize-winning book
The Beak of the Finch, profiled the research of the husband/wife
team Peter and Rosemary Grant as they carried out extensive studies
of evolution on Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands.
Elisabeth Lloyd from Indiana University’s Department of History
and Philosophy of Science will present the lecture “Darwinian
Evolution and the Female Orgasm: Explanations and Puzzles”
Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 8 pm, in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of
Plemmons Student Union. Lloyd is a leading historian and philosopher
of science and author of several books on these subjects.
Niles Eldredge, curator of the American Museum of Natural History,
will speak on “Darwin, the Beagle and the Origin of Modern
Evolutionary Biology” Monday, April 6, 2009, at 8 p.m. in
Farthing Auditorium. Eldredge, along with his colleague, the late
Stephen J. Gould, co-authored the seminal paper on punctuated
equilibrium which emphasized that evolutionary change was not
constant through time. He is also author of more than a dozen
scientific books for the public, including Darwin: Discovering
the Tree of Life, a new analysis of how Darwin came to write On
the Origin, based largely on Darwin’s original notes and
writings.
In addition to the lectures, a series of affiliated events has
been planned, including an Evolution Film Festival which will
feature a variety of movies based on or about the subject of evolution;
a play by the L.A. Theater Works based on the Scopes Trial (Wednesday,
Feb. 11, 2009); a performance by the Department of Theatre and
Dance of the courtroom scene from “Inherit the Wind”
(Feb. 12-14 and 19-21); art and music events; plus special outreach
activities for students and teachers.
Additional details may be obtained at www.universityforum.appstate.edu
or by calling the Office of Academic Affairs at (828) 262-7660.
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