April 21, 2024 | Dr. Kim Perez will explore the role and impact of pioneering women in birdwatching in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on figures like Mabel Osgood Wright and Florence Merian Bailey and their relationship to the burgeoning field of ornithology, their activism, and their role as authors.

Dr. Kim Perez fell in love with nature as a child and continued her relationship into adulthood. She received a BS in Wildlife Biology at Kansas State University, where she worked on Konza Prairie as a research assistant to several graduate students and faculty. She even pursued her own undergraduate research projects and considered pursuing a career in biology. However, her trajectory changed when she took a History of Science course at the University of Oklahoma and decided it was fascinating to study scientists themselves. After completing an MA and PhD in the History of Science at OU, she accepted a position in the Department of History at Fort Hays State University, where she has been for 23 years. Her research interests include women in the field of science, the nature study movement, and the boundaries between amateur scientific participation and professionalization.

This Sunday-Evening-at-the-Museum program, as well as Dr. Perez’s Convocation program the following morning at Bethel College, are underwritten by the Bethel College Women’s Association and the Carolyn Schultz Lectureship fund.