Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Philip Gingerich, the Case Collegiate Professor of
Paleontology at the University of Michigan, will present "Origin of Early Evolution
of Whales: A Profound Transition from Land to Sea" Thursday, Oct. 30, at 5 p.m. in
the Lundgren Room (Room 106) of the Life Sciences Complex. The lecture is
presented by the Syracuse Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Renee Crown University
Honors Program and the Department of Earth Sciences in SU's College of Arts and
Sciences.
While on campus, Gingerich will also present "Global Greenhouse Warming 55
Million Years Ago: Causes and Consequences" as part of the Department of Earth
Sciences K. Douglas Nelson Colloquium Series Thursday, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. in Room
210 of the Heroy Geology Laboratory. Refreshments will be served.
Both lectures are open to all members of the University's academic community.
Nationally recognized for his work, Gingerich is involved in research on the origin of
modern orders of mammals and quantitative approaches to paleobiology and
evolution. His fieldwork has been conducted primarily in the deserts of Pakistan and
Egypt, where he and his research team discovered skeletons linking whales to land
mammals. In 2001, he was a scientific adviser to the television series "Walking with
Prehistoric Beasts."
Gingerich is recipient of the Paleontological Society's Schuchert Award, the Belgian
Geological Society's Dumont Medal, and the Alexander von Humboldt research
award for senior scientists. He was named a fellow of the Geological Society of
America, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Paleontological
Society. He is currently a member of the National Geographic Society Committee for
Research and Exploration and associate editor of the American Journal of Science.
The Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program makes available each year 12 or more
distinguished scholars who visit 100 colleges and universities with chapters of Phi
Beta Kappa. They spend two days on each campus, meeting informally with students
and faculty members, taking part in classroom discussions and giving a public
lecture open to the entire academic community. The purpose of the program is to
contribute to the intellectual life of the institution by making possible an exchange of
ideas between the visiting scholars and the resident faculty and students. Now
entering its 53rd year, the Visiting Scholar Program has sent 555 Scholars on 4,651
two-day visits since it was established in 1956.
Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest academic honor society. It
has chapters at 276 colleges and universities, and more than 600,000 members.
