Evolution expert to give Assembly Series talk

March 13, 2006 -- Eugenie Scott will present the Ferguson Science Lecture titled "Creationism and Evolution: It's Not Over Yet!," at 11 a.m., March 22, in Graham Chapel as part of the Assembly Series.

Eugenie Scott

Scott is the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit organization that defends the teaching of evolution in the public schools. She has been both a researcher and an activist in the creationism/evolution controversy, including intelligent design, for more than twenty years. She gave up a career as a scientist to pursue activism because she says she sees science as fundamental to a proper education. But she says that over the years, she has found her fight to be much less about science and more about politics.

She earned a Ph.D. in physical anthropology from the University of Missouri at Columbia and taught physical anthropology at the University of Kentucky. She served as president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists from 2000 to 2002 and was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Her book, Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction, was published by Greenwood Press in 2004 and released in paperback last year. For years, Scott has served as a spokesperson in support of evolution and has engaged in numerous debates on television, radio and in print. In addition, she has been involved with some of the high-profile legal trials about the teaching of evolution in the classroom.

The event is free and open to the public. Graham Chapel is located north of Mallinckrodt Center on the Washington University Hilltop campus.

For more information, call (314) 935-4620 or visit the Assembly Series Web page (http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu).