Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 18, 2008|Volume 36, Number 26

Alison Richard

Former provost and Peabody director
wins the Verrill Medal

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History will present its distinguished Verrill Medal to Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, former Yale provost and a past director of the museum, at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 23.

The medal presentation, led by Michael J. Donoghue, the current director of the Peabody Museum, will take place at 4 p.m.

Immediately following the presentation, Michael Novacek, senior vice president and provost of science at the American Museum of Natural History, will deliver the Edward P. Bass Distinguished Lecture. This year’s lecture will focus on the global trauma to ecosystems and species caused by habitat destruction, over-harvesting, pollution, invasive species and climate change.

In his lecture, titled “Biodiversity Past, Present, and Future: From the Island of Madagascar to Island Earth,” Novacek will attempt to answer the question: “What organisms will get through this sieve of destruction and how will the resultant environments define our quality of life in the future?”

Both the award presentation and talk will take place in the Luce Hall auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The events are free and open to the public.

Born in Kent, England, Richard studied anthropology at Cambridge University and received her doctorate from London University. After joining the Yale faculty in 1972, she was named professor of anthropology in 1986, and in 1990 received a joint appointment as professor of environmental studies in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She served as chair of the Department of Anthropology from 1986 to 1991, and was appointed to the Franklin Muzzy Crosby Chair of the Human Environment in 1998.

From 1991 to 1994, she was the director of the Yale Peabody Museum, where she oversaw one of the most renowned university natural history collections in the nation. Her academic leadership at Yale culminated in her appointment as provost in 1994. During her tenure, Richard strengthened Yale’s financial position and oversaw the expansion and reorganization of the biological sciences. As provost, she championed several faculty-related causes, including the increase in women and under-represented minorities and the recruitment of renowned senior faculty.

As an anthropologist, Richard is most widely known for her work in the forests of southern Madagascar. Her research has focused on the population dynamics, ecology and social behavior of the sifaka, one of Madagascar’s endangered primates. Her work has shed new light on the unique pathways of evolution exhibited by the island’s animal community. In collaboration with her Malagasy colleagues, Richard has emphasized partnership with villagers in this remote region of Madagascar. Since 1977, she has helped lead an ongoing effort to conserve the area’s natural heritage and enhance socioeconomic opportunities for people trying to make a living in and around the forest.

Richard holds honorary degrees from Peking University, China (2004), the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar (2005), York University, Toronto (2006) and the University of Edinburgh (2006). In 2005 she was appointed Officier de l’Ordre National (Madagascar).

Awarded by the Curatorial Board of the Yale Peabody Museum, the Verrill Medal recognizes outstanding achievement in the natural sciences. It was established in 1959 to honor Addison Emery Verrill (1839-1926), Yale’s first professor of zoology and one of the 19th century’s most noted zoologists. Past recipients include Ernst Mayr, George Gaylord Simpson, G. Ledyard Stebbins, G. Evelyn Hutchinson, John H. Ostrom, Peter Raven and E.O. Wilson.

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