Catherine (Kay) Fowler, University of Nevada, Reno foundation professor of anthropology emerita, is nationally recognized for the work she did during her 40 years of teaching and research at the University’s College of Liberal Arts. Her work helped to preserve the indigenous languages, culture, land and heritage of the Great Basin’s Native people. Fowler will be honored and reflect on her work at a free presentation open to the public at the Wells Fargo Auditorium on the First Floor of the University’s Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center at 4 p.m., Sept. 21.

Fowler will be joined by special guests Dr. Thomas Schwenk, vice president of the University of Nevada, Reno Division of Health Sciences and dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine; and Maurice Fuerstenau, University of Nevada, Reno professor emeritus of metallurgy. The three – Fowler, Schwenk and Fuerstenau – share a special bond. Each of them has been selected for membership into one of the three National Academies, one of the highest honors a scientist, researcher or scholar can receive.

Fuerstenau was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1991, and Schwenk was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2002. Fowler completed the trifecta for Nevada when she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year, joining an elite group of about 2,100 scholars, almost 200 of them also Nobel Prize winners. Since the National Academy’s founding in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s leaders have turned to the National Academy of Sciences and its two sister organizations for advice on the most important scientific and technological issues of the day.

Fowler was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year, an organization founded by John Adams, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, whose membership has included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Albert Einstein. Fowler was in good company when she was selected this year, along with other high-achieving artists and scientists including Nobel Prize winner David Politzer, singer-songwriter Paul Simon and actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

Those interested in attending the presentation on Sept. 21 are asked to RSVP to (775) 327-2363 or astar@unr.edu by Sept. 16. After the 4 p.m. presentation, there will be a reception with light refreshments.