The final speaker of the 2007-08 Geology Lecture Series at Southwestern Oregon Community College  will be Dr. Patricia Kelley of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She will discuss “Evolution and Creation: Conflicting or Compatible?” at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, in the Hales Center for the Performing Arts on the Coos Bay campus, 1988 Newmark Ave.

Admission is free.

Kelley obtained her baccalaureate degree from the College of Wooster and doctoral degree from Harvard University. She is a past president of the Paleontological Society and the Paleontological Research Institution’s Board of Trustees. She is senior author of more than 30 refereed papers, has taught at three universities and was a student of the late Stephen Jay Gould. Kelley has been recognized as an outstanding educator by the Association of Women Geoscientists, has been elected a Fellow of Geological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Paleontological Society.

 As a specialist in mollusk evolution and wife of a Presbyterian minister, Kelley is keenly interested in teaching evolution and the evolution/creation controversy, a press release said.

The Geology Lecture Series is sponsored by Methane Energy Corporation and the Southwestern Foundation. The lecture also is supported by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers as part of its distinguished speaker series.

For more information, those interested can call Southwestern Professor of Geology Ron Metzger by phone at 888-7216 or by e-mail at rmetzger@socc.edu.