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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
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| Brian Alters | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Alters | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T18:07:24.893414+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== McGill University === After becoming contributing editor of the Journal of the National Center for Science Education, in 1997, Alters moved to Montreal to accept an appointment as the head of the science department at McGill University. There he taught a course called "Evolution, Religion and Education," which won an international award from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences funded by the John Templeton Foundation for "outstanding courses in science and religion" in 1998. Alters founded the Evolution Education Research Center (EERC) in 1999 as a joint initiative between McGill and Harvard to conduct research on the teaching and learning of evolution, including public understanding, classroom practice, and the social controversies surrounding evolution education. He received a grant of CA$650,000 in 1999 from the Lucent Technologies Foundation to improve science teaching quality, expand science education research, and support the EERC. While at McGill, Alters also served as the Chair of science education and was a Sir William Dawson Scholar. He was appointed to the board of directors of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) in 2005. The following year, Alters applied for grant funding of CA$40,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to study the effects of the popularization of intelligent design. His application was rejected on the grounds that it lacked "justification for the assumption in the proposal that the theory of evolution, and not intelligent-design theory, was correct," leading Alters to assert that the committee doubted the theory of evolution. Janet Halliwell, the SSHRC's executive vice-president, said that Alters misunderstood the rejection and that the rejection was not due to any "doubts about the theory of evolution."
=== Chapman University === When the EERC expanded in 2010 to include Chapman University, Alters joined the university to serve as the branch's Director and as a professor with dual appointments in the College of Educational Studies and the Schmid College of Science. He said that his decision to leave Canada was due to homesickness. Upon joining Chapman, Alters created the undergraduate course "Darwin and Disney." He developing it around the parallel study of Charles Darwin and Walt Disney and grounding the class in both scientific and cultural analysis. Although new courses at Chapman typically enroll few students, demand for Alters' course quickly exceeded capacity, leading to a cap of 95 students per section and eventual enrollment of more than 3,000 students. Alters uses Disney examples to illustrate scientific concepts such as correlation versus causation while alternating discussions of evolutionary theory with material drawn from Disney history. The course also incorporates guest speakers such as Kevin Rafferty and Jack Lindquist, who discuss aspects of design, storytelling, and the cultural influence of Disney's work. Alters uses the course to explore whether humans are evolved to pursue happiness, drawing on scientific discussions of dopamine, escapism and the brain's response to fantasy. In 2012, he was appointed President of the Board of NCSE, which he served as until 2016 when his term expired. Alters developed a free lecture series with Disney historian and Presidential Fellow at Chapman Jeff Kurtti in 2025. Alters also launched the Walt Disney Studies Think Tank to bring scholars and industry figures together to support research, public events, and curriculum development focused on Disney’s legacy. He said his goal is to "to academicize Walt Disney to a similar acceptance level of William Shakespeare." He believes that there are public misconceptions about Disney that he hopes to correct by sharing details about Disney's life like that he was a high school dropout from a farm. He compares the founding of Disneyland to the founding of the United States, arguing they share the same premise of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
== Science communication and consultation == Alters is the author of six books on biology and intelligent design, a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of a deity. In 2001, Defending Evolution in the Classroom: A Guide to the Creation/Evolution Controversy was published by Jones & Bartlett Learning, which Alters co-authored with his wife, Sandra (née Gottfried), a biologist and former tenured professor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Of his 2005 book Teaching biological evolution in higher education: methodological, religious, and nonreligious issues, Glenn Branch characterized the book as a valuable, practice-oriented guide for teaching evolution and addressing student misconceptions, while noting shortcomings in its treatment of creationist typologies. Alters was an expert witness for the plaintiffs in the 2005 case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. He was also brought in for the retrial of Selman v. Cobb County before that was settled out of court in favor of the plaintiffs. In 2008, Alters became a co-host of CBC Television's Project X, a science television series that examines a wide range of scientific concepts and natural phenomena through themed episodes featuring exploratory segments and explanatory demonstrations. Alters compared it to PBS educational programming.
== Awards and honors == Outstanding courses in science and religion award, Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, 1998 Distinguished Teaching Award, McGill University, 2003 Principal's Prize for Excellence in Teaching, McGill University, 2005 Friend of Darwin Award, National Center for Science Education, 2005 The McNeil Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 2009 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2012 Outstanding Teaching Senior Professorship Award, Chapman University, 2015
== Bibliography == Alters, Sandra; Alters, Brian J. (2006). Biology: Understanding Life. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-43365-9. OCLC 58793066. Alters, Brian J.; Alters, Sandra (2005). Teaching Biology in Higher Education. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. p. 107. ISBN 0-471-70169-6. OCLC 86082160. Alters, Brian J. (2005). Teaching Biological Evolution in Higher Education: Methodological, Religious, and Non-Religious Issues. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett. p. 136. ISBN 0-7637-2889-6. OCLC 56103806. Alters, Brian J.; Alters, Sandra (2001). Defending Evolution in the Classroom. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett. p. 261. ISBN 0-7637-1118-7. OCLC 46343269.
== Personal life == Alters visits Disneyland 40 to 50 times per year, and calls himself a "Walt Disney aficionado." In 2015, Alters skippered a Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. He and his wife Kimberly live in Newport Beach, where he bought a home that was designed by a French architect that he says his neighbors say resembles a castle. He has incorporated extensive Disney-inspired elements, including remote-controlled bookshelves that reveal Disney displays, a Jungle Cruise-themed guest room with original ride artwork, a rotunda equipped with a ceiling and portrait mechanism modeled on The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, and an “endless hallway” mirror effect. He also collects Disney artifacts.
== References ==