About the Lecture Series

The James P. Holland Memorial Lecture Series was initiated in fall 2000 by the Office of the Vice President for Student Development and Diversity, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Department of Biology. It honors one of the most beloved faculty members on the Bloomington campus, James P. Holland, who died of cancer in 1998. This lecture is now organized by the Hudson and Holland Scholars Programs and the Department of Biology. Professor Holland was a highly regarded teacher of undergraduate and graduate students and received many awards in recognition of his devotion to students at Indiana University. He also worked tirelessly to address the needs of minority students on this campus. Holland and the late Herman C. Hudson joined forces to found the Minority Achievers Program (MAP) and the Mathematics and Science Scholarship Program (MASS). The programs were renamed in 2003 to honor the efforts of these two men: MAP became the Herman C. Hudson Scholars Program, and MASS is now the James P. Holland Scholars Program. Holland worked with other biology staff members to create the Summer Enrichment Program, which was designed to interest Indiana minority high school students in science by bringing them to campus for classes and hands-on laboratory experience. He led the program, which was renamed in his honor in 2000, from its inception.

The lecture series honors Holland’s legacy as a gifted teacher and a skilled scientist at IU. It is intended to bring awareness and support of diversity in the life sciences.

To Support the Lecture Series or Suggest a Speaker

Past Holland Lectures

October 15, 2007
Dr. Paul Turner, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University. “Virus Evolution.”

October 9, 2006
Dr. Erich D. Jarvis, Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Duke University. "The Evolution of Brain Pathways for Vocal Learning."

October 10, 2005
Dr. Ivette Perfecto, Associate Professor of Natural Resources at the University of Michigan. "Brewing Biodiversity: Birds, Ants, & Beetles in Coffee Farms."

October 11, 2004
Dr. Maydianne Andrade, Assistant Professor in the Divison of Life Sciences at the University of Toronto at Scarborough and Research Associate at the Royal Ontario Museum's Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Evolution of Self-Sacrificial Male Mating Strategies."
Read the IU Home Pages article on Dr. Andrade.

See all the past Holland Lecturers . . .

The Holland Graduate Fellowship

Holland always sought funding opportunities for Biology’s students, and it seemed fitting that the Department of Biology created the James P. Holland Graduate Fellowship in Biology. This fellowship exists to support the training of a first-year Ph.D. student from groups under-represented in the life sciences.
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