{"id":10826,"date":"2018-06-21T04:28:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T04:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/?p=10826"},"modified":"2018-08-19T07:47:42","modified_gmt":"2018-08-19T07:47:42","slug":"2018-07-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/2018-07-08\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Robert Stephens Award, and 2018 AHA Annual Conference Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Oh (from NCSE), and several HCSV Members<\/strong><\/h3>\n

July 8, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Robert Stephens will be awarded a National Center for Science Education (NCSE, ncse.com<\/a>) “Friend of Darwin” award for 2018. “The continued vitality of Darwin Day celebrations across the country \u2014 and around the world \u2014 is in large part due to Bob Stephens’s success in establishing the Darwin Day program,” said NCSE’s Ann Reid in the announcement of the award. See below for more information about the award.<\/p>\n

The award presentation will be followed by a description and discussion of the American Humanist Association (americanhumanist.org<\/a>) Annual Conference (which was held in Las Vegas, May 17-21, 2018) by HCSV attendees of the Conference.<\/p>\n

More information about Dr. Robert Stephens’ award<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Paul Oh, Director of Communications of NCSE, will present the award.<\/p>\n

Here is the press release from NCSE about the award:<\/p>\n

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is proud to bestow its Friend of Darwin award upon Robert Stephens, a cell and molecular biologist who dreamed up Darwin Day (darwinday.org<\/a>), a now international annual celebration.<\/p>\n

In 1995, Stephens helped organize the first Darwin Day event at Stanford University, with a keynote address from the discoverer of \u201cLucy,\u201d Donald C. Johanson.<\/p>\n

Along with Amanda Chesworth and Massimo Pigliucci, Stephens then formed a non-profit organization to ensure the continuance of Darwin Day celebrations and to promote and coordinate the events. It was eventually absorbed by the American Humanist Association, which now promotes and coordinates International Darwin Day.<\/p>\n

Darwin Day is now celebrated by colleges and universities, schools, libraries, museums, churches, civic groups, and just plain folk across the country\u2014and around the world\u2014seeking to honor Charles Darwin\u2019s legacy and to engage in public outreach about science, evolution, and the importance of evolution education. All thanks to the work of Robert Stephens.<\/i><\/p>\n