Noted Zoologist to Give Two Public Lectures

Frans B.M. de Waal, a Dutch psychologist, primatologist, and animal behavior expert, will present public lectures April 3 and April 8 as part of a residency through the Rydell Professorship at Gustavus Adolphus College funded by Drs. Robert E. and Susan T. Rydell.

De Waal will present “On the Possibility of Animal Empathy” at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in Alumni Hall in the O.J. Johnson Student Union. He will also present “Our Inner Ape: Human Nature as Seen by a Primatologist” at 7 p.m. April 8, at the Great Clips IMAX Theater at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minn. Both lectures are open to the public and free of charge. To reserve tickets for the IMAX Theatre lecture, visit mnzoo.org.

De Waal, who returns to Gustavus after speaking at the College’s Nobel Conference in 1996, is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Ga. He is the author of numerous books and research papers including Our Inner Ape (2005) and Chimpanzee Politics (1982), which was the result of a six-year project on the world’s largest captive colony of chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands. His research centers on primate social behavior, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequity aversion, and food-sharing. In 2007, de Waal was named to the “TIME 100” — a list of the 100 men and women whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming the world according to Time magazine.

As part of his residency at Gustavus, de Waal is also co-teaching the course “Neuroscience Capstone” with Gustavus Professor of Psychology Janine Wotton. This course provides the opportunity for students to discuss primary research literature and conduct an outreach program teaching about the brain at a local St. Peter elementary school.

The Rydell Professorship at Gustavus is a scholar-in-residence program designed to bring Nobel laureates and similarly distinguished scholars to the campus as catalysts for enhancing learning and teaching. It was established in 1995 by Drs. Robert E. and Susan T. Rydell of Minnetonka, Minn., to give students the opportunity to learn from and interact with leading scholars.