Two Women Scholars Receive Notable Honors

Sheila Conant, professor emerita of zoology at the University of Hawaii, received the Ralph W. Schreiber Award from the American Ornithologists’ Union. The award honors an individual for “extraordinary scientific contributions to the conservation, restoration and preservation of birds and their habitats.”

Professor Conant joined the faculty at the University of Hawaii in 1975. She is a graduate of the University of Hawaii and earned a master’s degree in botany and a Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Oklahoma.

Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, professor of religion at the Shaw University Divinity School in Raleigh, North Carolina, received that 2013 Mentor Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Dr. Kirk-Duggan is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana. She holds a master’s degree in music from the University of Texas at Austin and a master of divinity degree from the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Professor Kirk-Duggan earned a Ph.D. in religion at Baylor University. She is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books including Violence and Theology (Abingdon Press, 2006).