Eugenie Scott, the founding CEO of the National Center for Science Education, will be leaving that post at the end of the year, ScienceInsider reports. NCSE defends the teaching of evolution and climate change in science classrooms in the US.
Scott founded NCSE in 1987 to combat efforts to introduce creationism into local schools near the University of Kentucky, where she was a faculty member. With 15 people now part of NCSE, ScienceInsider notes that the organization has become a more than $1 million a year operation that supplies resources and advice to teachers and keeps an eye on legislation.
"We've learned from Day 1 that you don't blunt those attacks by simply shoveling science onto the debate," Scott says. "You need to recognize the political and economic and cultural issues in play. In the end, it comes down to your powers of persuasion."
The search for Scott's successor is underway, NCSE adds.