Dr. Sylvia Olney, an anthropologist in the sociology department at Bemidji State University, will deliver an Honors Council Lecture on how anthropology relates to modern medicine and how this perspective is being explored in evolutionary medicine.

Olney’s presentation, “Anthropology and Modern Medicine,” will be held Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in Hagg Sauer 112 on the Bemidji State campus.

Honors Council Lectures are open to the public free of charge.

Olney was born in Germany and immigrated with her parents to Australia at a young age. After studying in England for a year, she moved to Germany and lived there for seven years. In 1981, Olney immigrated to the United States with her then-husband and two children, returning to college in 1988. In 1990, she moved to Minnesota from California, and studied at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, where she went to graduate school for anthropology. She also studied psychology at Alfred Adler Graduate School.

She earned two master’s degrees, including training and licensing as a marriage and family psychotherapist. In 2010, she earned her PhD in anthropology from UMTC. She began her teaching career in 1997 after settling in northern Minnesota. One of Olney’s main focuses is the philosophy of science and the nature of consciousness.

The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council. The council is the advisory group to the honors program comprised of 12 faculty members from each of the University’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms.

For more information about the Honors Council Lecture Series, please contact the honors program at (218) 755-3984.