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Eugenie Scott, a national expert on the teaching of evolution, will speak at the University of Central Florida on Monday, Nov. 3.

Scott, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, will discuss “Florida’s Academic Freedom Bills: Creationism du jour?” at 7:30 pm in room 101 of the College of Sciences building. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

Scott and the NCSE are among the biggest opponents of intelligent design being taught in science classrooms. She has written several books, including “Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools.”  She also has appeared on MSNBC, the Fox News Channel and CNN.

Scott is part of the UCF Department of Biology special speaker series under way this year in honor of the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s work on evolution. The series tackles how the theory of evolution has influenced all aspects of human society.

The UCF Department of Biology has invited a series of speakers to campus beginning this month and stretching into next year to highlight the importance evolution plays in man’s understanding of life science.

Biology faculty at UCF say a basic knowledge of evolution is vital to understand and advance scientific study from conservation biology to developing new medical treatments of disease.

Chris Parkinson and Eric Hoffman, who teach the capstone undergraduate evolution course at UCF, often find undergraduates are unprepared in evolutionary theory when they arrive at UCF.  Their goal with this seminar series is to educate the public on the importance of teaching and understanding evolution. 

The series goes hand-in-hand with Florida’s new K-12 science standards and curricula, and the faculty members hope many K-12 science teachers will take advantage of this free public lecture series.

The educators recruited some of the nation’s leading experts on the topic of evolution and its role in science for the series. Universities around the world, including the University of Cambridge in England and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are conducting similar programs to celebrate Darwin’s work .

In the spring, other well-known speakers will discuss the role of evolution in medicine as well as the impact of the debate on scientific advances.