AHA Conference Countdown Begins!
Our bags are packed and we are ready for Denver! We also can’t wait to hear from all of our amazing award recipients.
This year we are excited to present the Humanist Pioneer Award to a fresh new face in the humanist movement, Isaiah Smith. This nineteen-year-old Texas student has challenged various church-state issues in his home state. His activism has been recognized by the Huffington Post, Dallas Voice, and TIME magazine. He is the founder of the Universal Human and Civil Rights Union (UHCRU) with plans to gain NGO status with the United Nations and work with foreign governments to fight against discrimination and genocide. Smith’s goal is to become a lawyer and advocate for civil liberties, human rights, and the separation of church and state. Isaiah will accept his award during the Saturday lunch banquet on May 9 at the American Humanist Assocation’s 74th Annual Conference.
This year’s Humanist Heroine Award goes to Jean Kilbourne, who is being recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. She is the author of the award-winning book Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel (2000) and of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids (2008). The prize-winning films based on her lectures include Killing Us Softly, Spin the Bottle, and Slim Hopes. She holds an honorary position as senior scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women. The AHA’s Feminist Caucus will present Kilbourne with her award during the May 9 lunch banquet (noon to 3 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom).
We are thrilled to present the 2015 Isaac Asimov Science award to Dr. Lynn J. Rothschild during the Friday night banquet (May 8 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom). Rothschild is a senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center and an adjunct professor at both Brown University and the University of California Santa Cruz. In addition to publishing numerous academic papers, she co-edited Evolution on Planet Earth: The Impact of the Physical Environment (2003) and is the founding co-editor of the International Journal of Astrobiology. Rothschild travels the world lecturing and makes frequent radio and television appearances, including on National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, and on Morgan Freeman’s “Through the Wormhole” on the Science Channel. She is also a fellow of the Linnean Society of London and a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and the Explorers Club. She has also been honored with the Horace Mann Medal from the graduate school of Brown University.
Marci A. Hamilton is the recipient of the 2015 Religious Liberty Award. Hamilton is a leading church/state scholar and holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. She is also a national advocate for the protection of children from physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, pornography, and trafficking. She specializes in religious organizations and individuals who violate the law; the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses; the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and its state counterparts; and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). An esteemed author, Hamilton’s numerous books including God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty (2014), Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (2008), and God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (2005). Her work has been widely recognized with awards like the Freethought Heroine Award, 2014; the E. Nathaniel Gates Award for outstanding public advocacy and scholarship, 2008; and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Pro Bono Legal Service to veterans groups, 2001. She also was honored as one of the 2012 Pennsylvania Women of the Year. Hamilton will accept her award during the Saturday night banquet (May 9 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom).
Don’t miss these great awardees at the 74th AHA Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. There is still time to register. Online registration ends TODAY (April 27)!