Paleontological Society's Distinguished Speakers program

The Paleontological Society's Distinguished Speakers program brings excellent paleontologists right to your university! The PS and SVP will subsidize expenses up to $400 per visit. Hosts simply contact the speaker directly to arrange a date and title, with expenses to be reimbursed by the appropriate Society after submitting receipts.

This year there are two new names on the list – Ta-Shana Taylor (Univ. Miami, FL) and Yurena Yanes (U Cincinnati). They will overlap with the continuing speakers: Caroline Stromberg (Univ. Washington), Michal Kowalewski (Florida Museum of Natural History), and Tricia Kelley (UNC Wilmington). Each speaker has offered 3-4 talk titles (see details on the website and below).

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is also joining the program this year with three speakers for 2018-2020 – Larisa DeSantis (Vanderbilt Univ.), who will cover North American venues, Nadia Fröbisch (Museum für Naturkunde), who will cover European venues, and Karen Moreno (Universidad Austral de Chile), who will cover South American venues. SVP’s program will operate the same as ours and so our flier includes their roster to better to advertise the opportunities. 

In addition to nearby colleges, consider avocational fossil, lapidary, and environmental-interest groups (“Save the XX Watershed”). Our speakers for 2018-19 cover many topics, including conservation paleobiology, which has become a major draw, along with important issues in diversity and the teaching of evolution. Most have experience talking with youth groups and the general public, and are willing to run workshops.