NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott is to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of New Mexico on May 17, 2008. In a letter to Scott, the university's president David J. Schmidly wrote, "This degree is a reflection of the high regard in which you are held and acknowledgement of the vast accomplishments you have made in your career."
According to a press release posted at The Panda's Thumb blog on March 13, 2008, "The nomination, spearheaded by Professor John Geissman, now Chair of Earth and Planetary Sciences, was enthusiastically endorsed by the faculty from Earth and Planetary Sciences, Biology, and Anthropology." The letter nominating Scott for the honor said of Scott, "She works tirelessly and travels endlessly, to eloquently and patiently inform the citizens of the United States about issues centering on how science should be taught in the classroom and how science, which tells us how the natural world works, can be distinguished from other ways of knowing."
The honorary degree will be Scott's sixth; she received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from McGill University in 2003, the Ohio State University in 2005, Mount Holyoke College and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in 2006, and Rutgers University in 2007.