Jane Goodall to Give Lecture at Young Harris College

YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Young Harris College will welcome Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and UN Messenger of Peace, to campus on Thursday, Feb. 18.

2010 marks a monumental milestone for Dr. Goodall and JGI. Fifty years ago, Goodall, who is today a world-renowned primatologist, conservationist and humanitarian, first set foot on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in what is now Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. The chimpanzee behavioral research she pioneered there has produced a wealth of scientific discovery, and her vision has expanded into a global mission to empower people to make a difference for all living things.

Dr. Goodall’s evening lecture, titled “Gombe 50:  Celebrating Dr. Jane Goodall’s Extraordinary Legacy,” will include fascinating stories about her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees. In addition, she will discuss information about the JGI’s innovative community-centered conservation projects in Africa and its global environmental and humanitarian youth program, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Roots & Shoots engages young people from preschool through college as they take positive action in their communities and beyond. Young Harris College currently has its own student-led Roots & Shoots program on campus.

Dr. Goodall’s lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in Glenn Auditorium of the Clegg Fine Arts Building on the Young Harris College campus. A limited number of tickets will be available to the public. Tickets for the general public are $10 (reserved seating) and are on sale now at www.yhc.edu/tickets. Tickets will be available by phone at (706) 379-4307 or in person at the Young Harris College Box Office beginning Monday, Feb. 8. Box office hours are Monday-Friday, 3-5 p.m.

A book signing will follow the lecture in the auditorium lobby. Dr. Goodall’s books, as well as JGI merchandise and memberships, will be available for purchase at the book signing.

About Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute
In July 1960, Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzees in what is now Tanzania under the mentorship of famed anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals.

In 1977, Dr. Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. Today, the Institute is widely recognized for establishing innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, JGI’s global environmental and humanitarian youth network, which has almost 150,000 members in more than 120 countries.

Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on our planet. She continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility and ability to effect change. “Every individual counts,” she says. “Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”

Dr. Goodall’s scores of honors include the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal, Japan’s prestigious Kyoto Prize, Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, and the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. In April 2002, Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Dr. Goodall a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and she was reappointed in June 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In 2004, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Dr. Goodall was invested as a Dame of the British Empire, the female equivalent of knighthood. In 2006, Dr. Goodall received the French Legion of Honor, presented by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, as well as the UNESCO Gold Medal Award.

Her list of publications includes Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink, two overviews of her work at Gombe — In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window — as well as two autobiographies in letters, the best-selling autobiography Reason for Hope and many children’s books. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior is the definitive scientific work on chimpanzees and is the culmination of Dr. Goodall’s scientific career.

Dr. Goodall has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and is featured in the large-screen format film Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees (2002). She also has been featured in five Animal Planet specials—Jane Goodall’s Return to Gombe, Jane Goodall’s State of the Great Ape, Jane Goodall’s Heroes, When Animals Talk and most recently, Almost Human.

About Young Harris College
Founded in 1886, Young Harris College is a private, baccalaureate degree-granting college located in the beautiful mountains of north Georgia. Historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church, Young Harris College educates, inspires and empowers students through the highest quality liberal arts education. Long known for nurturing students during the first two years of college, Young Harris College received accreditation in 2008 to grant bachelor’s degrees. The College currently has approximately 700 students across four divisions—Fine Arts, Humanities, Mathematics and Science, and Social and Behavioral Science—and plans to increase enrollment to 1,200 over the next few years. The historic campus in Young Harris, Ga., is currently undergoing major campus improvements to accommodate the College’s growth. For more information, visit www.yhc.edu.

Photo caption: Dr. Jane Goodall with Gombe chimpanzee Freud. Photo credit: Michael Neugebauer

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