Susan Epperson, the key figure in the landmark Arkansas evolution education case Epperson vs. Arkansas, tomorrow will speak at 3 p.m. in Doyne Health Science Center, Room 141. Her lecture, entitled “Reflections on Epperson vs. Arkansas and Science Education,” is presented by the UCA Honors College.
In 1965, Epperson was a tenth grade biology teacher at Little Rock Central High School when the Arkansas Education Association asked her to be the plaintiff in a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of Arkansas’s 1928 anti-evolution law.
In addition to recounting her experiences with the lawsuit, Epperson will discuss the range of opinions about evolution and how it relates to faith. She maintains, “I am a Christian and my beliefs are not in conflict with science.” She will also talk briefly about other lawsuits in the ongoing battle for good science teaching.
Epperson graduated from The University of the Ozarks in Clarksville in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She received her Masters of Science in Zoology from the University of Illinois in Urbana in 1964.