Now that Eugenie Scott is retiring Director of the NCSE, I nominate Elizabeth Liddle as Eugenie’s replacement. But in the meantime the NCSE might have to count on their Deputy Director Glenn Branch to fill in until they find Eugenie’s replacement.
In paging through the NCSE website, I found something that made me chuckle. Glenn is a student of pseudo-science!
Glenn Branch is Deputy Director of NCSE. Formerly a graduate student in philosophy at UCLA, where he won prizes both for scholarship and teaching, he is conversant with the philosophical debates surrounding creationism and “intelligent design”; he is also a long-time student of pseudo-science
So what does this student of pseudo science do? He tries to thwart the advancement of students of real science.
From way back, War in the Making on Pro-ID Students:
Branch’s final topic was how to handle a situation where a biology department winds up with a creationist as a graduate student. This was both of general interest, as creationists tend to use their degrees as rhetorical weapons, and of personal interest, as I was part of the Berkeley class that produced the noted Discovery Institute fellow Jon Wells. Unfortunately, his conclusion was that there are no easy answers. He did, however, note that graduate departments exist to serve the scientific community by providing qualified individuals to perform research and teaching services. There is no ethical requirement for graduate faculty to be complicit in the training of someone who is ultimately going to actively harm the field.
Branch is also famous for writing letters to Baylor trying to stir trouble up for scientists like Walter Bradley. Unfortunately there is only a fragment left on line documenting his witch hunt Baylor Professors Take a Stand for Academic Freedom & Integrity
In any case, nice to know the Deputy Director of the NCSE is philosopher and long-time student of pseudo-science. By way of contrast, at least some at UD, like physicist Rob Sheldon, physicist Andy Jones, and bio-physicist Cornelius Hunter can say they have been students of real science.