There are two lectures scheduled for today at SHSU. One will be “The Aurora Kinases: The ABCs of mitosis and cancer” and is to be presented by a Sam graduate; the other is by a traveling reverend on “Gospel of Evolution Roadshow,” and is a discussion on how the theories of God and evolution really go hand-in-hand.
Bill Brinkley, Ph.D., graduated from Iowa State University with a Doctorate in cell biology in 1964, but before grad school he attended SHSU for both his bachelors and his master’s degrees in biology, as well as a distinguished alumnus award from SHSU in 1985.
His interest in science started at an early age in East Texas. He was interested in wildlife, and had dreams of becoming a field biologist with the Texas Game and Fish Commission.
At Iowa State he learned about a new program offered in cell biology. Though he never stopped loving the wildlife and outdoors, he devoted his life to the study of human cells- how they grow, divide, and finally mutate into cancer.
“He will be talking about the things that go wrong in a cell that cause it to divide too often and become cancerous,” said Anne Gaillard, assistant professor of biological sciences.
The talk will be held in the Lee Drain Building Room 214 at 4 p.m., and a social will precede it at 3 p.m. in LBD Room 144.
Not only has he studied the genetics and mitosis of cancerous cells, but his wife of 53 years is a cancer survivor. Anyone is welcome to attend and listen to this inspirational study.
SHSU students will have the opportunity to listen to another lecture given by Rev. Michael Dowd based on his book “Thank God for Evolution”.
Two hundred years from the day that Charles Darwin was born, and around 150 years after the publishing of “The Origin of Species,” Dowd will be presenting evolution in the context of religion.
Dowd was raised in a Roman Catholic home but as he grew older he moved on to a more fundamentalist Christian outlook. He went to an evangelical college, and afterward got his bachelor’s at a Northern Baptist school. His ideas on God were changing as he learned more about Him. He became an evangelical preacher, and married Connie Barlow.
Barlow, a noted science author and athiest, has traveled with her husband to 45 out of the 50 states since 2002 preaching an understanding of evolution that they call “beyond biology or belief.”
They believe in spreading this word so faithfully, that they even sold their house and live in a motor home to travel and teach. Before SHSU, they were in Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. So, his book and travelling ministry aim to “give a voice” to a growing movement that doesn’t see a conflict between religion and science.
“The words ‘God’ and ‘evolution’ are pointing to the same divine creative process,” he said. “Both help us answer the question, How did we get here? One uses the night language of religion- the other the day language of science.”
The lecture is sponsored by the SHSU chapter of Circle K International and the Huntsville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. It will be held at 7 p.m. in the Katy and E. Don Walker, Sr., Education Center located at 1402 19th St.
The admission is free, and the event is open to the public.