[PCA] EVENT: Dr. Peter Raven to Receive the 2009 Scott Medal & Award (Swarthmore, PA)

[Olivia Kwong]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Dr. Peter H. Raven Receives the 2009 Scott Medal and Award

Date & Time: Sunday, March 15, 4 pm
Cost: Free & open to the public
Location: Lang Performing Arts Center, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
Special Notes: Reservations are required, call 610-328-8025

Join us Sunday, March 15 at 4 pm at the Lang Performing Arts Center to
hear one of the world's leading botanists and advocates of conservation
and biodiversity, Dr. Peter H. Raven, the 2009 recipient of the Scott
Medal and Award,  speak about issues he is passionate about and how these
passions have shaped his life. Described by Time magazine as a "Hero for
the Planet," Dr. Peter H. Raven was selected to receive the 2009 Scott
Medal and Award because of his outstanding national contributions to the
science and art of horticulture.

For four decades he has headed the Missouri Botanical Garden, an
institution he nurtured into a world-class center for botanical research,
education, and horticultural display. Dr. Peter H. Raven champions
research around the world to preserve endangered plants and is a leading
advocate for conservation and a sustainable environment.

Kathryn L. Kennedy, President and Executive Director of Center for Plant
Conservation stated that Dr. Peter H. Raven's "...global vision caused
him to worry about our consumptive society, and moved him to lecture
widely about the need for stewardship of our resources years before
`sustainable' became a buzzword for environmental responsibility. In
fact, he's a principal driving force of the public awakening about this
concept of restraint and careful management."

In addition to being President of the Missouri Botanical Garden, he
currently serves as George Engelmann Professor of Botany for Washington
University of St. Louis, and adjunct professor of biology for St. Louis
University. He received an AB with highest honors from the University of
California, Berkeley in 1957 and a PhD from University of California, Los
Angeles in 1960.

He has received numerous prizes and awards, including the prestigious
International Prize for Biology from the government of Japan; and the
U.S. National Medal of Science, the country's highest award for
scientific accomplishment. He has held Guggenheim and John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowships.

Dr. Peter H. Raven was a member of President Bill Clinton's Committee of
Advisors on Science and Technology. He also served for 12 years as home
secretary of the National Academy of Sciences and is a member of the
academies of science in Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, India, Italy,
Mexico, Russia, Sweden, and the U.K., among other countries.

The author of numerous books and reports, both popular and scientific,
Dr. Peter H. Raven co-wrote Biology of Plants, an international
best-selling textbook, now in its sixth edition. He also co-authored
Environment, a leading textbook on the environment.

Dr. Peter H. Raven embodies the meaning of the Scott Medal and Award with
his outstanding national and international contributions to the science
and art of gardening and developing a wider interest in gardening.



The Scott Arboretum is an educational garden of ideas and suggestions.
Covering more than 300 acres of the Swarthmore College Campus and
exhibiting over 4,000 different kinds of plants, the Arboretum displays
some of the best trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals for use in the
Delaware Valley. Established in 1929 as a living memorial to Arthur Hoyt
Scott, the Arboretum is open to the public year-round free of charge,
from dawn to dusk. Adam Levine in the November/December 2002 issue of
Garden Design magazine described the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore
College as "the most beautiful campus in America." Office hours are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For
more information, please call the Arboretum Offices at 610-328-8025.
Visit us on our website on www.scottarboretum.org.

  -- 
Rebecca (Wehry) Robert
Member and Visitor Programs Coordinator
The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College