GRANVILLE -- Sandra Steingraber an ecologist, author, and cancer survivor who is an internationally recognized expert on the environmental links to cancer and reproductive health, will give a lecture at Denison University at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 28) in Burton Morgan Lecture Hall (150 Ridge Road on the Denison campus). This convocation is titled "Why Scientists Wear White and Poets Wear Black: Biology and Poetry in Service of the Environment," and is free and open to the public. The Denison University Lilly Endowment Fund, Ronnenberg Lecture Fund, Beck Lecture Fund, and the environmental studies department are co-sponsors.

Recognized for her ability to serve as a two-way translator between scientists and activists, she has written many books including, "Post-Diagnosis," a volume of poetry, the highly acclaimed "Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment," and co-authored "The Spoils of Famine," a book on ecology and human rights in Africa. Steingraber's latest work, "Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood," is a memoir of her own pregnancy and an investigation of fetal toxicology.

In 1997, Steingraber was named Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year and in 1998 won the Will Solimene Award from the American Medical Writers Association for excellence in medical communication. Chatham College awarded her its biennial Rachel Carson Leadership Award in 2001 and the Sierra Club heralded her as the "new Rachel Carson" in 1999.

Steingraber has keynoted conferences on human health and the environment throughout the United States and Canada. She served in President Clinton's National Action Plan on Breast Cancer. Interviews with her have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, on National Public Radio, "The Today Show," and "Now" with Bill Moyers.

Steingraber earned her bachelor's degree in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University, a master's degree in English from Illinois State University, and her doctorate in biology from the University of Michigan. She is a former faculty member at Cornell University and she currently is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y.

The Lilly Endowment Fund has funded a series of programs at Denison that focus on questions relating to vocation. The Lilly grant understands vocation to be a call to wholeness in one's lie, a life in which spirituality, values and ethical principles are substantially integrated into an individual's decisions and life choices. The Endowment recognizes that all people need to make meaningful life choices, and that the liberal arts education is an excellent venue in which to encourage such reflection.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575