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Singing His Praises at Swarthmore with Susan Lindee (University of Pennsyvlania) and host Scott Gilbert (photo courtesy Colin Purrington).
First Person: Darwin, in a Different Voice
As part of Phi Beta Kappa’s visiting scholar program, Betty Smocovitis has spent the past academic year speaking about Darwin throughout the U.S
Each year, Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), America’s oldest academic honor society, sponsors a visiting scholar program, sending some 12 to 13 scholars to approximately 100 American colleges and universities. For two days, the visiting scholars are invited to work with students, faculty and administrators, to teach classes, guide discussions, give department seminars and deliver at least one large public lecture. Since the program was introduced in 1956, 555 scholars have made a total of 4,651 visits. Historians of science who have participated include Marshall Clagett, William B. Provine, Lynn White, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Richard S. Westfall, Barbara Rosenkrantz, and Steven Shapin, as well as Stephen Toulmin, Harriet Zuckerman, Judith Reppy, Sandra Harding and others in related areas.
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Table of Contents
Notes from the Inside
From the President
Engines of Ingenuity
Playing with Dolphins
The Perils of Publicity
Profile: Leeds University
Patenting Jefferson
Michigan State University
SPACEWORK:HSS/NASA Fellowship
2009 Preliminary Program
Koyré Medal, Telescopes,
Southern Host,
Latest News,
Member News
In Memoriam, Jobs, Conferences, Grants
This is a stellar list of scholars, yet when I received an invitation to join them for 2008-2009, I was reluctant to accept. It wasn’t just the brutal travel schedule of up to eight on-campus visits (mine went up to nine, then ten; see the list of places visited below), it was evolution, my subject of study. As anyone following American news knows, this is an unsettling topic for many audiences; the mere mention of the word can turn off a large segment of the population. In recent years, it has become difficult even for historians to engage the subject in public; virtually anything said that locates evolution in a critical historical context can arm its many opponents (see, for example, the egregious misuse of history in Ben Stein’s Expelled; see also historians’ response to their misrepresentation in a new documentary on Darwin in this issue).
The usual set of challenges facing historians of evolution was made more complicated by the fact the invitation came on the eve of 2009, the so-called “year of Darwin.” As someone who examined the 1959 centennial celebrations, I was aware of how such anniversaries can serve a number of interests, many of which are questionable in nature. I didn’t want to join any attempt at re-inventing the “founding father” as happened in 1959, and I most certainly did not want to fall into the trap of endorsing “The Great Man of Science,” no matter how benign it might appear on the surface. I did, however, want to stress the importance of evolution and to convey something of its rich history. If I refused the invitation, no historian of science would serve as visiting lecturer for the year 2008-2009. That would have been a missed opportunity to convey the excitement of our field to audiences who don’t normally get much exposure to it.
I accepted, but only after I figured out what I’d do – something festive, lighthearted, with broad appeal to diverse audiences, yet with enough historical substance to leave audiences thinking a bit differently about evolution and what it has meant to different audiences. A project I had long been contemplating seemed ideal; a study of Darwin and his theory in song and musical production, beginning with a piece of provocative sheet music dated to 1874 I had found over 20 years ago in my thesis advisor’s library. The result was a one-hour multimedia presentation titled “Singing His Praises” that demonstrated the creative ways audiences have engaged both Darwin and the implications of his theory since they entered the public sphere 150 years ago. I relied not only on sheet music, but also original historic recordings on “tin-foil” and wax cylinders, working my way through old scratchy gramophone recordings, vinyl albums to CD’s and then finally to video productions available on You Tube. I learned to edit some of this musical material, translate it into various programs, and then embed it in PowerPoint (all that proved very challenging). Assuming audience behavior as a good indication, the “lecture” was a success; how often do historians of science stand in front of an audience of toe-tapping, head-bobbing people that included both seniors and children along with garden-variety academics singing along to music? To be honest, the lectures turned out better than I expected, especially since some of the material that explored race, class, and gender in Darwinism was truly disturbing.
At Truman State University (photo courtesy Tim Barcus)
So much for the public lecture; what about the remaining three to four other lectures expected of Phi Beta Kappa scholars? For department seminars ranging from history to various departments of biology, I used my usual research talks, but for classes I had to be more creative: my invitations ranged from European intellectual history, to gender studies, anthropology, philosophy, a huge range of biology classes (genetics, biodiversity studies, plant biology, molecular biology, and general biology) along with one or two classes in history of science (far too few of those). In these, I pulled out individual lectures from years of teaching and re-crafted them for an audience of diverse students, not assuming that people knew much in advance. That worked fine, I think, but in teaching such a broad range of courses in just two semesters I learned that history of science has far more potential to reach undergraduates than I had ever imagined.
This insight was confirmed multiple times when I met with college and university administrators to discuss undergraduate programs, and interdisciplinary initiatives that draw on the resources of the history of science. For example, at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, a school with traditional strengths in the fine arts and humanities, there is a new initiative underway to increase scientific literacy. I was invited to a special workshop with faculty from the sciences, the humanities, and the fine arts to discuss the uses of historical and philosophical approaches to teaching science in a way that would reach students in a wide range of non-science programs. At St. Olaf in Northfield Minnesota, a new undergraduate freshman program titled “The Great Conversation” formally includes the history and philosophy of science in the sequence of courses that introduces them to critical perspectives in the Western intellectual tradition. This program is required of all students and appears to be very successful. In yet another place, Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I was able to contribute to an on-going conversation in interdisciplinarity organized to bring faculty and students together. Some of the places I visited had just hired or were planning to hire junior faculty in history of science in these new programs. Others just wanted to know about the history of science and what it could do to enhance more traditional liberal arts and science educations. In yet another instance, I learned what history of science could offer to institutions with active Honors Colleges. Visiting the University of Vermont as the Michael Zeltzerman Visiting Scholar, I worked closely with students, faculty, and staff in suggesting ideas for courses and programs for the Honor’s College.
In short, in this year of travel I learned that history of science is a far more valuable resource for undergraduate instruction in liberal arts and science programs than many of us appreciate, and that the field has far greater potential to reach public audiences, even with the most contentious subjects. As we continue to face severe cutbacks to our programs in graduate education and as we adapt to hiring freezes, we might work at more creative ways of interacting with our administrations and with national agencies like Phi Beta Kappa that are dedicated to fostering breadth in undergraduate education.
Betty Smocovitis teaches the history of science in the new department of Biology and in the department of History at the University of Florida. She will continue her outreach activities as the 16th Distinguished Alumni Professor during 2009-2011 for the largest student alumni organization in the US.
Schools Visited 2008-2009 for the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota
Sweet Briar College, Virginia
Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri
Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado
University of Wyoming, Laramie Wyoming
University of the Pacific, Stockton, California
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
University of Vermont, Michael Zeltzerman Visiting Lecturer Program for the Honors College, Burlington, Vermont
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