College of Charleston Darwin Week goes virtual for 2021

Faculty in the School of Sciences and Mathematics (SSM) at the College of Charleston will celebrate the life and scientific contributions of renowned naturalist and explorer Charles Darwin with a series of virtual events during Darwin Week, Feb. 8-12, 2021.

According to biology professor Jason Vance, who coordinates Darwin Week, it’s important not only to recognize Darwin’s work on his birthday (Feb. 12, 1809), but also to acknowledge the multidisciplinary efforts that have advanced his theory of evolution.

“The series of talks that we assemble for this week purposely span across several of the academic disciplines within the School of Sciences and Mathematics,” Vance says. “We do this so that our SSM students and colleagues may appreciate the integrative nature of evolutionary research, and learn how their specific field contributes to our understanding of evolution.”

Darwin Week 2021 will feature five different talks by academics from distinguished universities, including one by a CofC alumna Claire Terhune ’02, who is now an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas.

The week-long series will culminate with a presentation on Friday, Feb. 12, titled “Coloring the Conservation Conversation” given by Drew Lanham, a birder, naturalist, hunter-conservationist and a professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University. A native of Edgefield, South Carolina, Lanham is the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. His talk will examine how conservation must be a rigorous science and evocative art, inviting diversity and race to play active roles in celebrating our natural world.

All of the presentations of Darwin Week will be offered virtually via Zoom. Visit the Darwin Week website for direct links to each presentation.