13^th Annual Darwin Day Celebrated at Indiana University Northwest

The Indiana University Northwest Anthropology Club will celebrate the 202nd birthday of famed evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, and the 152nd anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, “On the Origin of Species,” during its 13th Annual Darwin Day program on Wednesday, Feb. 16, beginning at 12 p.m.

This event will be held in the Library Conference Center and is free and open to the IU Northwest campus and Northwest Indiana community.

This year’s celebration of Darwin and his work will feature presentations from several speakers, including Namita Sugandhi, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, who will speak on archaeological site preservation in rural South Asia.

IU Northwest professor of Fine Arts David Klamen will also be a featured speaker with his address entitled, “Is the belief in God compatible with human evolution?” Other speakers include Harold Olivey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, and visiting lecturer and dentist Kevin Boyd, D.D.S., of Children’s Memorial Hospital.

The speakers each will have 20 to 25 minutes, with a few minutes reserved for questions between talks. The day’s lineup is as follows:

12 p.m. – Introduction, followed by “Archaeological site preservation in rural South Asia: should Darwin rule?” (Namita Sugandhi, Ph.D.)

12:30 p.m. – “Is the belief in God compatible with human evolution?” (David Klamen)

1 p.m. – Darwin’s Birthday Cake Cutting

1:15 p.m. – “Listening for the Whispering Heart” (Harold Olivey, Ph.D.)

1:45 p.m. – “Darwinian Dentistry” (Kevin Boyd, D.D.S.)

Darwin Day at IU Northwest is part of the International Celebration of Science and Humanities in honor of Darwin’s 202nd birthday.

Student and faculty organizers have used the subject of Darwin and his groundbreaking theories as a lens through which the event’s guest speakers are able to explore a wide variety of subjects in the sciences and humanities.

For more information, contact Associate Professor and Coordinator of Anthropology Robert Mucci, Ph.D., at (219) 980-6607, or email him at rmucci@iun.edu.