Press Release - July 11, 2008

'Anti-evolution' debate addressed at Austin group meeting.

The science vs. creationism debate will be the topic of discussion July 16 at UT's Burdine Hall. Steven Schafersman, president of the Texas Citizens for Science, will address “various Creationist anti-evolution efforts in our state and what TCS is doing about them” a joint meeting of the Center for Inquiry-Austin and Texas Citizens for Science Meeting. Afterward, Josh Rosenau, public information project director of the National Center for Science Education, and Ed Brayton, president of Michigan Citizens for Science, will address the issue at a national level.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Clare Wuellner
cwuellner@centerforinquiry.net

AUSTIN – The Center for Inquiry Austin will present a program entitled “Science Education in Texas: Keeping It Religion-free” on July 16, 2008 from 6:30–9:00 PM at Burdine Hall, Room 108 (University of Texas Campus, Dean Keaton and Univesity, Austin, TX 78712). The program will include speakers on topics related to biology and evolution; a dramatic production of an excerpt from “Inherit the Wind”; and a variety of science-based children’s activities. The program is free and open to the public.

Presenters will include:

• Chris Kirk, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Texas Department of Anthropology, on early primate evolution in West Texas
• Lauri McInnis Thompson, Ph.D., Lecturer and Researcher, University of Texas Department of Anthropology
• Daniel Bolnick, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Texas Section of Integrative Biology, on forces leading to new species
• Andrew Ellington, Ph.D., Professor, University of Texas Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, on medical applications
• A group of theater students from Bowie High School will present selected scenes from the play Inherit the Wind

Chris Comer will be available for questions.

The Center for Inquiry Community Austin is affiliated with The Center for Inquiry Transnational (CFI), a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank that promotes and defends reason, science and inquiry in all areas of human endeavor. The Center’s website is at www.centerforinquiry.net.