Scientific literacy advocate will give commencement address

COLUMBUS – Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education Inc., (NCSE) will deliver the winter quarter commencement address March 20 at St. John Arena. Scott also will receive the honorary Doctor of Science degree during the ceremony.

Approximately 1,600 degrees will be awarded during the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m.

Graduates and guests can find complete information on the ceremony at http://www.osu.edu/commence/

Scott is considered one of the most active and articulate proponents for scientific literacy in the country. In 1987, she became executive director of NCSE, a pro-evolution, nonprofit organization comprised of scientists and teachers dedicated to improving scientific literacy.

Scott earned a Ph.D. in biological anthropology from the University of Missouri. She taught at the University of Kentucky and the University of Colorado before founding the NCSE. A human biologist, her research has been in medical anthropology and skeletal biology.

The author of Creationism vs. Evolution: An Introduction, Scott has many published papers and monographs. She has served as chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association, as president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and has chaired the Anthropology Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Scott is nationally recognized as a proponent of the separation of church and state, and serves on the National Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, on the National Advisory Council of Americans for Religious Liberty, and on the National Advisory Council of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion committee. Scott has also served on the Board of Directors of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study.

An internationally recognized expert on the creation/evolution controversy, she has consulted with the National Academy of Sciences, several state Departments of Education, and legal staffs in both the United States and Australia.

Scott has worked to communicate the scientific method to the general public and to improve how science is taught in schools. She is frequently called upon by the print, radio, and television media as a spokesperson for “the scientific view” when conflicts arise between scientific and pseudoscientific explanations of different phenomena.

Scott is a Fellow of the AAAS, and a member of Sigma Xi, a scientific honor society. She has been honored by scientific societies, educators, and community organizations, including the National Science board’s Public Service Award, the American Society of Cell Biology’s Bruce Alberts Award, and the Geological Society of America’s Public Service Award. The California Science Teacher Association awarded her its Distinguished Service Award, and she has also been honored by the American Humanist Association, the Skeptics Society, and the Center for Inquiry and received the Hugh H. Hefner First Amendment Award. The University of Missouri Arts and Sciences College awarded her its Distinguished Alumna award.