Elizabeth “Betsy” Bennett, Ed.D., longtime director of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, will receive this year’s Jupiter Award for her contributions to science education in the state.
Elizabeth “Betsy” Bennett, Ed.D., longtime director of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, will receive this year’s Jupiter Award for her contributions to science education in the state.
The award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center will be presented to Bennett on Nov. 9 at the 2012 Jupiter Ball, where she will be guest of honor.
Bennett, will be honored for her 20 years as head of the museum as well as for serving as president of the Association of Science Museum Directors and board member of the N.C. Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative, among other roles.
She has led the museum through several major expansions, including the Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife and Learning and the new Nature Research Center, which attracted more than 70,000 visitors in its opening weekend earlier this year.
A graduate of Hollins College and the University of Virginia, Dr. Bennett has also served as a high school science teacher, as an educator/scientist at Discovery Place and as a school board member in Charlotte. In 2011, she was named Tar Heel of the Year by The News & Observer.
Morehead Director Todd Boyette will present the award to Bennett during the Jupiter Ball, a gala fundraiser for science education at Morehead.
“Betsy has been called ‘a force of nature,’ and with good reason,” Boyette said. “She’s accomplished tremendous growth at the Museum of Natural Sciences during her 20-year tenure there, and she’s established a legacy in science education that will benefit North Carolinians for decades to come. In that way, she’s very similar to Morehead's founder, John Motley Morehead III.”
Tickets, which start at $250, are still available for the Jupiter Ball. Information about the black-tie gala, tickets and sponsorship opportunities are online at www.moreheadplanetarium.org/go/jupiter or through event coordinator Terry Gunnels at (919) 843-3474.
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center website: www.moreheadplanetarium.org
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center media contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952, kck@unc.edu