Natural History Museum will host Stand Up for Science fundraiser


LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Natural History Museum invites the public to advocate for science outreach and education at Stand Up for Science, a fundraising event for the museum at 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, at Abe and Jake’s Landing, 8 E. Sixth St.

The freewheeling science carnival includes demonstrations and hands-on activities, local food and drink, live music and opportunities to support the museum through silent and live auctions.

Tickets are $50 for general admission and include samples of Free State beer, wine and foods from Port Fonda, Merchants Pub & Plate, Hy-Vee, Maceli’s Banquet Hall & Catering and Lawrence Beer Co. Tickets are available at biodiversity.ku.edu.

Activities include opportunities to be a “T. rex technician” for a day in the vertebrate paleontology laboratory. Attendees can play a life-sized version of the game Operation, called Anatomy Alex. There will be specimens from museum collections and scientists on hand to talk about them, adaptation games, a chance to donate microbes for a museum exhibit and a photo booth that recreates the Panorama.

The event will support the museum’s outreach, education, exhibits and research, said Jen Humphrey, director of external affairs at the museum.

“Virtually all of the museum’s public programming is funded through private contributions,” she said. “From our mobile museum and community events, to the creation of exhibits, to scholarships for education programs, contributions keep the museum accessible to all and bring our science programs to the public.”

The name of the event sprang from several conversations among staff members and the museum’s advisory board about the role of science in everyday life and about efforts to discredit or undermine scientific knowledge, Humphrey said. All participants receive a tote bag, bumper sticker and keepsake beer glass that advocate standing up for science education, research and knowledge.

The event’s auctions include offerings such as mounted and framed historic prints of Lewis Lindsay Dyche and the Panorama that were once exhibited at the museum, a hand-carved teak wood sculpture of an elephant family, safari images printed on canvas, live and rare plant cuttings from the museum’s paleogarden exhibit, a basket of honey harvested from the museum's bees and experiences such as botany and ornithology walks with curators.

More than 20 area businesses and restaurants are sponsors for the event. For more information about Stand Up for Science, visit biodiversity.ku.edu.

Photos: Stand Up for Science will raise support for the Natural History Museum, including its mobile museum. Auction items for the fundraiser, set for April 13, include natural history tours with curators, such as botany walk with Craig Freeman, curator of botany at the Biodiversity Institute. Credit: Natural History Museum.

Fri, 04/06/2018

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Jen Humphrey

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Jen Humphrey

Life Span Institute

785-864-6621