BOONE—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.

A year-long lecture series will feature 13 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.

The series begins Tuesday, Sept. 16, with a presentation by Dr. Eugenie C. 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.” The National Center for Science Education Inc. is a not-for-profit membership organization of scientists, teachers and others who work 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 on by the media to explain science and evolution to the general public.

Scott is 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 explain scientific ideas to young students. His work has been featured on National Public Radio. His upcoming comic book is titled “Optical Allusions.”

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, 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. He 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 a 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 p.m. in the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center’s Powers Grand Hall. Costa is a noted Darwin scholar and evolutionary ecologist, as well as author of the 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 work.

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 Specie.” 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 and Conference Center’s Powers Grand Hall. His presentation is titled “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 p.m., in Plemmons Student Union’s Blue Ridge Ballroom. 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 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Blue Ridge Ballroom. 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 of Species,” 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.

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.

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