GLS: Scientist delve into creation/evolution debate

The final speaker of the 2007-08 Geology Lecture Series at Southwestern Oregon Community College has been set, with Dr. Patricia Kelley of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington discussing “Evolution and Creation: Conflicting or Compatible?” at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, in the Hales Center for the Performing Arts on the Coos Bay campus.

Admission to the event, which is open to all students and community members, is free.

Kelley obtained her baccalaureate degree from the College of Wooster and Ph.D. from Harvard University, and is a past president of the Paleontological Society and the Paleontological Research Institution’s Board of Trustees. She is senior author of more than 30 refereed papers, has taught at three universities and was a student of the late Stephen Jay Gould. Kelley has been recognized as an outstanding educator by the Association of Women Geoscientists, has been elected a Fellow of Geological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Paleontological Society.

As a specialist in mollusk evolution and wife of a Presbyterian minister, Kelley is keenly interested in teaching evolution and the evolution/creation controversy. The Geology Lecture Series is sponsored by Methane Energy Corporation, Oregon Resources Corporation, and the Southwestern Foundation, and Kelley’s lecture in Coos Bay also is supported by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers as part of its distinguished speaker series.

For more information, those interested can contact Southwestern Professor of Geology Ron Metzger by phone at 888-7216 or by e-mail at rmetzger@socc.edu.

Press Release Date: April 07, 2008