OESE Speakers Bureau

The speakers listed below are available for the presentations described in each biographical sketch. Arrangements can be made directly with each person at the e-mail address shown. OESE approves the speakers listed, but is not directly involved in making arrangements for any engagements.

Photo of Susan CoganSUSAN COGAN. Susan Cogan is a graphic designer with the University of Oklahoma Printing Services. She is the author of the Pocket Darwin, two published novels, Jubilee and Murder on the Waterfront and numerous short stories and essays. More to the point she has written thousands of e-mails explaining evolution to thousands of creationists around the world.
Topics include:
Only a Theory? Some Common Creationist Arguments
Current State of the Evolution/Creation Controversy
Finding Lucy: The Search for Human Origins
The True Story Behind "Evolutionist Frauds"
Arguments Creationists Should Not Use and Why
The Pocket Darwin in a Nutshell.
Contact Susan Cogan at: www.coganbooks.net or susan-brassfield@ou.edu.

Photo of Anthony EchelleDr. ANTHONY A. ECHELLE Regents Professor and evolutionary systematist in the Department of Zoology at Oklahoma State University. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma, and taught at Baylor University before coming to OSU. His research focuses on population genetics, molecular systematics, and conservation biology of fishes, primarily of the American Southwest. At OSU, he teaches evolution, human evolution, and biology of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles.
Topics include:
The scientific status of macroevolution
Humans, other apes, and intelligent design versus macroevolution
Contact Dr. Echelle at: anthony.echelle@okstate.edu

Photo of Ola Fincke Dr. OLA FINCKE. Professor and evolutionary ecologist in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma. She received an M.A. in science education from Tufts University, and taught high school science in the US and Europe before getting her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Iowa. She was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and a NATO Fellow at Oxford University. Her research focuses on the evolution of reproductive behavior, sexual conflict and speciation, and consequences of tropical forest fragmentation on insect populations. At OU, she teaches evolution, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary ecology.
Topics include:
Evolution as fact and theory
Frequent questions and misconceptions about evolution
Evidence for and against micro- and macroevolution
Implications of evolution for medicine and technology
Contact Dr. Fincke at: fincke@ou.edu

Dr. PEGGY HILL. Associate Professor of Biological Science at the University of Tulsa. She is a native Oklahoman, who is trained as a behavioral/physiological ecologist. She earned her B.S. in Education and M.S. in Natural Science from the University of Tulsa, where her master's work was in evolutionary ecology. She earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Oklahoma with a dissertation on reproductive ecology of the prairie mole cricket. She was a secondary teacher for 10 years for Tulsa Public Schools (nine of them at Booker T. Washington High School), and her college teaching has included courses in anatomy, physiology, evolution, environmental ethics and others, for both biologists and non-biologists. Her research on honeybee foraging behavior and on the mating system of the prairie mole cricket has been published in journals such as Animal Behaviour, Naturwissenschaften, Behavioral Ecology, Ethology, the Journal of Orthoptera Research and the Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. In addition, she has published on lichens and oaks. She is an active member of the Animal Behavior Society, Society of Behavioral Ecologists, Sigma Xi, Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, the Orthopterists' Society, the Central States Entomological Society and the Conservation Society of America. She is married with two grown daughters and four grandsons and is an active member of St. Pius X Parish in Tulsa.
Topics include:
Oklahoma: The Field Biologist's Wonderland
How Science is Done, and Why
Using Analogy as a Tool in Science: Harmonics Across Disciplines
Confronting Anomalies in Science: Honeybee Constancy to Color
Contact Dr. Hill at: peggy-hill@utulsa.edu

Photo of Jim Huff JIM HUFF. Jim is a Deacon and Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.  After graduating from Capital Hill High School in Oklahoma City, Jim served two years in the Army.  After his discharge, he earned a Bachelor's degree in secondary education from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Oklahoma City University. Now retired, he taught High School Social Studies courses in Oklahoma City Public Schools for twenty-nine years (12 years at Capitol Hill High and 17 years and Douglass High).  He taught courses on the Bible as History, Religions of the World, U.S. History, World History, Economics, Government, Geography, Sociology, Psychology, and Human Relations. Jim is a member of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, past member the Oklahoma Council for the Social Studies, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Phi Delta Kappa Education Fraternity.  He served as the Coordinator of the Professional Development Program -- the Mike Allen Teacher Training Institute (M.A.T.T.I.) for the Oklahoma City Federation of Teachers, as President of the Oklahoma Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, as Chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, as a member of the Coordinating Council and past Moderator of the Cooperating Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma, as Treasurer for Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, as a past member of the Steering Committee of the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma, and as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Oklahoma City Public Schools "Goals 2000 Project."
Topics include:
Separation of church and state issues
Religions of the World.
Contact Jim Huff at  jhuff@auok.org

Photo of Victor H. HutchisonDr. VICTOR H. HUTCHISON. George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus, in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University, was a faculty member at the University of Rhode Island for 11 years, and served as Chair of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma from 1970-1980. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship for study in Colombia, has published approximately 150 scientific papers and book chapters and served as major professor of 29 Ph.D. and 18 M.S. students. He has served as President of The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a co-founder of Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education and a recipient of the Constitutional Heritage Award from the Oklahoma Chapter of Americans United. He served during the Korean War and in the U.S. Army Reserve, Medical Service Corps, retiring as a Colonel in 1982.
Topics include:
Why Science and Religion Do Not Conflict
Evolution versus Creationism: Political, Legal and Religious Aspects
Why Evolution is Science and Intelligent Design is Not
The Overwhelming Evidences for Biological Evolution.
Contact Dr. Hutchison at: vhutchison@ou.edu

Photo of Cecil LewisDr. CECIL M. LEWIS, JR.. Dr. Lewis is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. He received is PhD in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico which was followed by a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral training fellowship sponsored by University of Michigan's Medical School and Center for Statistical Genetics. Dr. Lewis is the director of OU's Molecular Anthropology Laboratories. He studies and teaches human population history and human evolution, including research that involves extracting and analyzing DNA from ancient remains.
Topics include:
Race and Genetics in Health
The Practical Importance of Human Evolution Research
Evolution and the Nature of Science
Human Microbiomes: Human-Microbe Co-evolution
Genetics and the Peopling of the Americas
Contact Dr. Lewis at: cmlewis@ou.edu

Photo of Cecil LewisDr. JOSEPH D. MANESS. Dr. Maness is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford (although he plans to retire in May 2014). He is currently president of Oklahomans for Science Education and is a member of the Board of Directors. His education includes a BA in Biology from Austin College in Sherman, TX, an MS in Biology from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Maness is a herpetologist and physiological ecologist with supporting areas of study in ecology and behavior. He currently is the Coordinator for Biological Concepts, the non-majors biology course at SWOSU. He has over 35 years of experience teaching biological sciences from an evolutionary perspective. Dr. Maness is an active member of The Federated Church (Christian Church (DOC), United Church of Christ, and Presbyterian Church) in Weatherford, teaches the Seekers Adult Sunday School Class, and sings in the Chancel Choir.
Topics include:
Intelligent Discussion about Intelligent Design (This topic uses the AAAS publication, The Evolution Dialogues: Science, Christianity, and the Quest for Understanding and is appropriate for religious organizations.)
Why Scientists Say Evolution is True (This includes an overview of the varieties of evidence supporting evolution within the context of how science develops knowledge)
Other topics as requested.
Contact Dr. Maness at: joseph.maness@swosu.edu or j.maness@sbcglobal.net or Department of Biological Sciences, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 100 Campus Drive, Weatherford, OK 73096

Photo of Bruce Prescott Dr. BRUCE PRESCOTT. Dr.Prescott is Executive Director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists and Radio Talk Show Host ("Religious Talk" on KREF 1400am in Norman, Moore, OK City on Sunday mornings from 8:00-9:00).  He served as president of the Houston Chapter of Americans United from 1997-1999, served on the National Advisory Board of Americans United from 1997-2002, and has served as an Executive Board Member of the National organization of Americans United since 2002. Before coming to Oklahoma, Dr. Prescott served for twelve years as pastor at Easthaven Baptist Church in Houston, TX.  Prior to that he taught philosophy and religion courses at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and at Tarrant County Junior College in Fort Worth. Recently, Dr. Prescott delivered the keynote address for the 20th Annual Day at the Legislature for the Oklahoma Conference of Churches.
Topics include:
Creationism
Other issues on separation of church and state.
Contact Dr. Prescott at bprescott@auok.org

Photo of Doren Recker DR. DOREN A. RECKER. Dr. Recker is Associate Professor and Department Head in the Philosophy Department at Oklahoma State University. He received his P.D. in Philosophy and his M.A. in History of Science at OU, followed by an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History and Philosophy of Science at Johns Hopkins University. His main areas of research include the 17th Century Scientific Revolution, the Darwinian Revolution of the 19th Century, and current Philosophy of Biology and Philosophy of Mind.  He was also the co-director of The Summer Paleontology Academy for high school students and Ancient Life in Oklahoma for high school science teachers from 1992-2000.  He debated Hugh Ross on creation/evolution at OSU in the early 90s, participated in the debates in Tulsa sponsored by the Tulsa Interfaith Alliance in 2000, and teaches a course on Creation vs. Evolution twice each year.  He has presented talks and headed discussions on evolution for the Tulsa Geological Society, the Kansas Geological Society, the Payne County Humanist Society, the Oklahoma Academy of Science, and for several local church and civic groups.
Topics include:
History of the Relationship between Religion and Science
The distinction between Methodological and Metaphysical Naturalism
The nature of Darwinian Evolution as a Unifying Theory
Current Intelligent Design claims (Dembski, Johnson, Behe)
Particular claims within Behe's Darwin's Black Box.
Contact Dr. Recker at: drecker@okstate.edu

Photo of Stan Rice as Darwin DR. STANLEY A. RICE. Dr. Rice is a professor in the department of Biological Sciences at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, where he teaches evolution, botany, biology, and research methods. He is the author of Encyclopedia of Evolution (Facts on File, 2006/2007), Green Planet: How Plants Keep the Earth Alive (Rutgers, 2009), and Life of Earth: Portrait of a Beautiful, Middle-Aged, Stressed-Out World (Prometheus, 2011), as well as articles in educational journals such as American Biology Teacher and scientific journals such as American Journal of Botany. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1987. He has spoken on several occasions in the guise of Charles Darwin (as in the photo; he does not customarily dress like that). More information is available at his website. Contact Dr. Rice at: SRice@se.edu