Eugenie Scott

Academic

Scott's research work focused on medical anthropology, and skeletal biology. In 1970, Scott became an associate professor of anthropology at Sonoma State College. She then left the college and worked as a teaching assistant in anthropology at the University of Missouri from 1971 to 1974.^[6]

In 1974, Scott joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky as an assistant professor of anthropology.^[6] That same year, she attended a debate between her doctoral advisor, James Gavan, and biochemist creationist Duane Gish which piqued her interest in the creation–evolution controversy. She recalled that, after the debate, "we were greatly dismayed [...] The scientist talked science, and the creationist connected to the audience and told good jokes and was really personable. And presented a lot of really bad science".^[9] The event made her realize that creationism was "a movement that could have really serious consequences for science and science education".^[9]

NCSE

In 1980, Scott worked to prevent creationism from being taught in the public schools of Lexington, Kentucky. Scott was appointed the executive director of the National Center for Science Education in 1987, the year in which requiring the teaching of creation science in American public schools was deemed illegal by the Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard. Scott announced that she would be retiring from this position by the end of 2013,^[10][11] doing so on 6 January 2014. Her place was taken by Ann Reid.^[12]

Worldview

Scott is a secular humanist and describes herself as a nontheist. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that, "Scott describes herself as atheist but does not discount the importance of spirituality."^[13] In 2003, she was one of the signatories to the third humanist manifesto, Humanism and Its Aspirations.^[14]

Authorship

Scott is an expert on creationism and intelligent design. Her book Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction was published by Greenwood Press in 2004 and then in paperback by the University of California Press in 2005. Niles Eldredge wrote the foreword in the first edition. A second edition of the book was published in 2008 and in paperback in 2009. The foreword to this edition was written by John E. Jones III, who was the presiding judge in the Kitzmiller v. Dover court case.^[15][16]

She co-edited with Glenn Branch the 2006 anthology Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools.

In 2006 Jon D. Miller, Scott and Shinji Okamoto had a brief article published in Science entitled "Public Acceptance of Evolution", an analysis of polling on the acceptance of evolution from the last 20 years in the United States and compared to other countries.^[17][18] Turkey had the lowest acceptance of evolution in the survey, with the United States having the next-lowest, though the authors saw a positive in the higher percentage of Americans who are unsure about evolution, and therefore "reachable" for evolution.^[19]

Media appearances

Scott described herself as "Darwin's golden retriever".^[21]

Scott has been profiled in The New York Times,^[9] Scientific American,^[22] The Scientist,^[23] the San Francisco Chronicle,^[24] and the Stanford Medical Magazine.^[25] She has been interviewed for Science & Theology News,^[26] CSICOP,^[27] Church & State,^[28] and Point of Inquiry.^[29][30][31] Her commentary has been published by Science & Theology News,^[32] and Metanexus Institute.^[33]

Scott has taken part in numerous debates on MSNBC and Fox News.^[34][35][36]

In 2004, Scott represented the National Center for Science Education on the Showtime television show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, on the episode titled "Creationism", where she offered philosophical views about the creationist and intelligent design movements.^[37]

Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District

In 2005, Scott and other NCSE staff served as scientific and educational consultants for the plaintiffs in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case regarding the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. Judge John Jones ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Scott said that "we won decisively" and "in triplicate", and "we had the better case."^[30] About the merits of the case, she said, "Within evolutionary biology, we argue about the details... and the mechanisms," but "we don't argue about whether living things descended with modification from common ancestors, which is what biological evolution is all about.... The Dover School Board wanted students to doubt whether evolution had taken place."^[30]

Awards

As of 2023 Scott has been the recipient of 10 honorary degrees.