Lynn Margulis, internationally recognized for her research on the evolution of eukaryotic cells (those with a nucleus), will deliver the main address at the Founders Day convocation on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 11:30 a.m. in Memorial Chapel.
She is to receive an honorary doctor of science degree.
Margulis, the distinguished university professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is the leading proponent of the idea that symbiogenesis (the merger of previously independent organisms) is of great importance to evolutionary change. She originated the Gaia theory, or the idea that the Earth's temperature and chemical composition are actively regulated as a consequence of metabolism, growth, death, and evolution of interacting organisms.
Union's Founders Day convocation, celebrating the 206th anniversary of the College's founding, will include an academic procession and the presentation of the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award by a student to her former high school teacher.