Profiles of Participants
Frank H.T. Rhodes, opening speaker and Cornell president emeritus
When Frank H.T. Rhodes retired as president of Cornell University on June 30, 1995, he was the longest-serving Ivy League president and a national leader as an advocate for education and research. He played a significant role in the development of national science policy under several presidents and oversaw a massive increase in research funding during his years at Cornell. Rhodes is a Darwin scholar and an accomplished author who has written multiple books and published widely in the fields of geology, paleontology, evolution, the history of science and education.
Sheila Ann Dean, author, visiting scholar and curator
As an editor of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Sheila Dean has spent almost 14 years (seven of them in Cambridge, England) reading piles of letters to and from Darwin. She has contributed to more than six volumes of the multi-volume work. Before earning her doctorate in history of science from The Johns Hopkins University, Dean worked as a forest hydrologist in the Rocky Mountain West, later also studying acid mine drainage in Arizona. Her foray into the biological sciences included research of native and exotic desert fish.
Eileen Heeran, exhibition coordinator
Eileen M. Heeran is assistant curator of rare books in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. She received a B.A. in history from the University of Dayton, and an MLIS from Simmons College. Joining the Cornell community in November 2006, Heeran previously served as a rare and non-book cataloguer at the University of Michigan for four years, and prior to that as librarian and associate archivist of the Biltmore Estate for five years. She is active in the rare book profession, serving on numerous committees of the rare and manuscript section of the American Library Association.
David Corson, curator
Coming soon.