Geologist to Speak on the Fossil Evidence for Evolution at UA’s First ALLELE Lecture for 2009

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Donald Prothero, professor of geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, will speak on “Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters” at the first Alabama Lecture on Life’s Evolution, or ALLELE series, for 2009.

The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 9, in the Biology Auditorium at The University of Alabama.

The event is free and open to the public and is designed for a non-technical audience. For more information, visit www.bama.ua.edu/~evolution/alleleindex.html.

Prothero also will be available to sign copies of his new book, which has the same title as the lecture, at the auditorium after the talk. Prothero is a lecturer in geobiology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif.

He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 25 books and more than 200 scientific papers, including five leading geology textbooks and three trade books as well as edited symposium volumes and other technical works. He is on the editorial board of Skeptic magazine, and in the past has served as an associate or technical editor for Geology, Paleobiology and Journal of Paleontology.

The fourth year of the ALLELE series is made possible, in large part, by private gifts from Lou Perry of La Jolla, Calif., Eric Hopkins of Austin, Texas, and The Barbara and Frank Peters Foundation of Corona del Mar, Calif. In addition to private support, The ALLELE series is supported by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of anthropology, biological sciences, geological sciences, philosophy and psychology.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All-American Teams.