The Darwin Project
Schedule of Events
Major Lectures Art Exhibit Concert/Play Liberal Arts Friday Forums Other Events
Monday, Sept. 15
LECTURE Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives
Sept. 23–Oct. 24
ART EXHIBIT Paths of Desire, Galvin Fine Arts Center Catich Gallery
Friday, Sept. 26
LAFF LECTURE Are Humans Really Special? The Evolution of Empathy and Language
Friday–Sunday, October 3–5
PLAY “Inherit the Wind,” Galvin Fine Arts Center
Wednesday, Oct. 8
LECTURE The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Did God Do It?
Friday, Oct. 24
LAFF LECTURE Science & Religion
Sunday, Nov. 9
CONCERT "The Creation," First Presbyterian Church, Davenport
Wednesday, Nov. 12
LECTURE Darwinism and Christianity: Can the Two be Reconciled?
Friday, Nov. 14
LAFF LECTURE Part I – The De-evolution of American Politics
Part II – Origins and Ends: Darwin and Natural Right
Wednesday, Nov. 19
BOOK DISCUSSION "Evolution for Everyone"
During the month of February
ART EXHIBIT Darwin Caricatures
Friday, Feb. 6
CONCERT Bioenergetics: Sonic & Visual Textures
Thursday, February 12
Darwin's 200th Birthday
Location: TBA
The Biology Department will host a celebration featuring a performance of "Happy Birthday" by the Darwinian Eclectic Orchestra, an ensemble of talented St. Ambrose professors. Birthday cake and refreshments will be served.
Tuesday, Feb. 17
FILM SCREENING "Inherit the Wind"
Friday, Feb. 27
LAFF LECTURE Part I – Darwin and Imperialism
Part II – Caricatures
Friday, March 27
LAFF LECTURE Wordsworth, Darwin, and the End of Nature
Wednesday, April 15
LECTURE But Is It Science? Victorian Reactions to Darwin’s Theory
Major Lectures
Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives
Hauber Chair of Biology Lecture
Monday, Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Rogalski Center Ballroom
Noted evolution scholar and author David Sloan Wilson contends that when evolutionary theory is taught as unthreatening, explanatory and useful for solving life's problems, it becomes not just acceptable but alluring, even irresistible. Wilson will discuss how evolution can be applied to understanding and improving the modern human condition.
The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Did God Do It?
Rev. George Coyne, SJ, delivers the Catholic Studies Chair Lecture
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m.
Location: Rogalski Center Ballroom
Did we come about by chance or by necessity? Is there an "Intelligent Design: to the universe? To what extent can the natural sciences address these questions? Director emeritus of the Vatican Observatory, Fr. George Coyne is both a Jesuit priest and astronomer. He will talk about a universe fertile for both chance and necessary processes in our search for our origins.
Darwinism and Christianity: Can the Two be Reconciled?
Michael Ruse delivers the Richard E. Geiger Chair Lecture
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.
Location: Rogalski Center Ballroom
Is it possible to be a Darwinian and a Christian, and still maintain one's intellectual integrity? Guggenheim Fellow Michael Ruse is an authority on the philosophy of biology who contends that it's not so simple to ask, or answer, the question of whether evolutionary theory and Christianity can be reconciled.
But Is It Science? Victorian Reactions to Darwin’s Theory
Jim Cook delivers the College of Arts & Sciences Lecture
Wednesday, April 15, 7 p.m. (Reception - 6 p.m.)
Location: Rogalski Center Ballroom, Section 1
Even Darwin expressed doubts about his theories, referring to his seminal work as "A mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaws and holes as sound parts." Is the theory of evolution scientifically sound? Philosopher Jim Cook discusses what Darwin's contemporaries thought about his work.
Art Exhibit
Paths of Desire
Sept. 23–Oct. 24
Galvin Fine Arts Center Catich Gallery
Natural selection is expressed daily through our decisions of where to walk. The university is a prime setting for ever-evolving un-planned “paths of desire” created by humans searching for the best and most efficient route. With this is mind, invited artist David Dunlap and members of The Obscenity Institute will be displaying their documentation of paths of desire at the University of Iowa as well as highlighting beautiful paths at St. Ambrose University.
Darwin Caricatures and Film Series
During the Month of February
St. Ambrose University Library
The exhibition, Darwin Caricatures, will explore the intersection of science and popular culture in late 19th-century satirical images of Charles Darwin from various print media. Student-curators will investigate the ways in which these images disseminated information to the general public on Darwin's theories, and how caricatures in European and American newspapers and magazines contributed to and even reflected the popular image of the British naturalist.
» Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m., Library Media Program Room
A screening and discussion of the original Inherit the Wind movie, starring Spencer Tracy, Dick York, and Gene Kelly. This film depicts the 1925 arrest and trial of a biology teacher for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. After the screening, a discussion about the film will be held. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public.
Concert/Play
Inherit the Wind
October 3–5
Galvin Performing Arts Series
This powerful drama, considered by many to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, is a fictionalized retelling of the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, in which science teacher John Scopes was tried and convicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. Order tickets
The Creation
Sunday, Nov. 9, 6 p.m.
5:15 p.m., pre-concert chat
Location: 1st Presbyterian Church, 1702 Iowa St., Davenport
The SAU Chorale and SAU Community Symphony Orchestra perform one of Franz Joseph Haydn’s greatest works, inspired by the book of Genesis, replete with Romantic harmonies
and a thunderous choral ending. During the pre-concert chat with with SAU music professor, Joan Trapp, there will be a discussion on classical works
of music related to the creation and the natural world, as well as give some background on the Haydn piece.
Bioenergetics: Sonic & Visual Textures
Bill Campbell, professor of Music
Friday, Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Galvin Fine Arts Center, Allaert Auditorium
A collaborative performance event of contemporary music, poetry, art, biology and digital images inspired by Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The concert includes original music composed by William Campbell and poetry by A.R. Ammons performed by an amplified contemporary chamber ensemble under Campbell’s direction. Featured performers include Campbell as conductor and pianist, Pat Connelly on electric guitar, Matthew Halfhill (Biology) on saxophone, and other area musicians performing on a myriad of instruments.
Liberal Arts Friday Forums
Are Humans Really Special? The Evolution of Empathy and Language
Robin Anderson, Psychology professor, and
Carol DeVolder, Psychology professor
Friday, Sept. 26, 4–5:30 p.m.
Location: Faculty Dining Room, Cosgrove Hall
Humans have long held court as the only beings to possess both empathy and language. How did we gain that status, and is it really ours alone? Some questions to be examined include whether the human brain is uniquely wired for either or both of these traits and what the evidence suggests.
Science & Religion
Ed Dunn, Theology professor, and
Micah Kiel, Theology professor
Friday, Oct. 24, 4–5:30 p.m.
Location: Faculty Dining Room, Cosgrove Hall
What does the Bible really have to say about creation? What are the prospects and pitfalls of conversations between science and religion? Religious propositions cannot, in any way, be proven scientifically, nor should religion determine the questions science asks nor the answers it gives. Scientists, however, help describe the world as it is, and if theologians find in that some fodder for theological reflection, then that can be positive.
Part I – The De-evolution of American Politics, by Bill Parsons, Political Science professor
Part II – Origins and Ends: Darwin and Natural Right, by Joseph Hebert, Political Science professor
Friday, Nov. 14, 4–5:30 p.m.
Location: Faculty Dining Room, Cosgrove Hall
Part I – Modern advances in science and technology push American political leaders to embrace science for answers to human problems. At the same time, faith based groups lobby government to protect and promote religious views many see threatened by science. This presentation looks at this dynamic and asks is there room for both views in politics, policy, and our society. Do we have to sacrifice one for the other?
Part II – From classical antiquity to the founding era of the United States, political thought was dominated by the idea of natural right. Nature, and especially human nature, was thought to reveal the proper ends of government and to provide standards of living: the basic principles of law, justice, and civil rights. Though Darwin was not the first to question the received view of human nature, his "Origin of Species" and "Descent of Man" occasioned both a popular and scientific reappraisal of natural right, resulting for many in its drastic modification or abandonment as a guiding principle.
Part I – Darwin and Imperialism, by Ryan Dye, History professor
Part II – Caricatures, by Keri Manning, History professor
Friday, Feb. 27, 4–5:30 p.m.
Location: Faculty Dining Room, Cosgrove Hall
Part I – During the Age of Imperialism Europeans used Darwin’s theories to inspire and to justify their expansionist aims. Namely, imperialists crafted a philosophy of “social Darwinism” that equated the struggles between species in nature—the survival of the fittest—to those between nations. The strongest nations would survive and flourish by seizing land and resources from weaker countries. This linkage of biology with foreign policy led to bold and often brutal conquests by European powers, particularly in Africa and Asia.
Part II – Political cartoons provide insights into public opinion and cultural assumptions. They also cut right to the heart of the values at stake in a political debate. Thus, the political cartoons addressing the Scopes Trial reveal the not only the religious and scientific disputes embodied in the most famous of American legal battles, but also tensions about the United States' history and future direction at a pivotal historical moment, when the nation had effectively shifted away from a rural populace reliant upon a traditional agrarian economy to a primarily urban population immersed in a dynamic industrial, global economy.
Wordsworth, Darwin, and the End of Nature
Owen Rogal, English professor
Friday, March 27, 4–5:30 p.m.
Location: Faculty Dining Room, Cosgrove Hall
At the end of the eighteenth century William Wordsworth experiences transcendental ecstasy. But at the end of the nineteenth century, the promises of nature are very different. In Hardy's The Return of the Native, Mrs. Yeobright, for example, ends up under assault on—or by—the heath. In the first years of the nineteenth century Samuel Taylor Coleridge recognizes the beneficent “secret ministry” of frost, but in the middle of the century Tennyson is famously horrified that “Nature, red in tooth and claw / With ravine, shrieked against his creed.” It's a significant shift in attitude and values, and Darwin's influence on writers and poets is responsible.
Other Events
Contemporary Books Discussion Group
"Evolution for Everyone," led by St. Ambrose biology professor Rich Legg
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 7 p.m.
Location: Bettendorf Public Library, Elizabeth R. Malmros Room
A discussion of David Sloan Wilson's "Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives." Books are available on loan on a first-come, first-serve basis from the Bettendorf Library's information desk.
Bettendorf Public Library Event Calendar