NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott is to receive an honorary degree from Rutgers University, on May 16, 2007, in recognition of her dedication to promoting the sound teaching of science in schools across the country. She was described in a Rutgers publication as:
a physical anthropologist and internationally recognized advocate of scientific literacy. Scott is the founding director of the National Center for Science Education, established in [1981] to defend the teaching of evolution in public school science classes. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a former president of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. She is a leading expert on creationism –- including intelligent design -– and one of its strongest critics. Deeply committed to the separation of church and state, she believes that while instructors must respect their students' religious views, science and evolution are not de facto antireligious, and schools should only allow science to be taught in science classes. One of her most visible recent efforts has been the six-year fight against the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to remove evolution from that state's testing standards.The honorary degree will be Scott's fifth; she received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from McGill University in 2003, the Ohio State University in 2005, and Mount Holyoke College and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in 2006.