Richard Dawkins

=== Teaching ===

From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing [[Vietnam War]], and Dawkins became involved in the [[Opposition to the Vietnam War|anti-war]] demonstrations and activities.<ref name="belief interview">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/people/dawkins.shtml |title="Belief" interview |access-date=8 April 2008 |date=5 April 2004 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=29 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329090942/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/people/dawkins.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a [[reader (academic rank)|reader]] in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed [[Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science|Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science]] at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by [[Charles Simonyi]] with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims/charles-simonyis-manifesto.html |title=Manifesto for the Simonyi Professorship |access-date=13 March 2008 |last=Simonyi |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Simonyi |date=15 May 1995 |publisher=The University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205051240/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims/charles-simonyis-manifesto.html |archive-date=5 February 2016}}</ref> and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims.html |title=Aims of the Simonyi Professorship |date=23 April 2008 |access-date=28 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206202718/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims.html |archive-date=6 February 2016}}</ref> He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship.html |title=Previous holders of The Simonyi Professorship |access-date=23 September 2010 |publisher=The University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131193825/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship.html |archive-date=31 January 2016}}</ref>

Since 1970, he has been a [[Oxford fellow|fellow]] of [[New College, Oxford]], and he is now an [[emeritus]] fellow.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/emeritus-honorary-and-wykeham-fellows |title=Emeritus, Honorary and Wykeham Fellows |date=2 May 2008 |access-date=20 January 2016 |publisher=[[New College, Oxford]] |archive-date=10 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510045539/http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/Teaching_and_Research/Staff_Profile_Page.php?staffId=15 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship/professor-richard-dawkins.html |title=The Current Simonyi Professor: Richard Dawkins |access-date=13 March 2008 |publisher=The University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311205030/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship/professor-richard-dawkins.html |archive-date=11 March 2016}}</ref> He has delivered many lectures, including the [[Henry Sidgwick]] Memorial Lecture (1989), the first [[Erasmus Darwin]] Memorial Lecture (1990), the [[Michael Faraday]] Lecture (1991), the [[Thomas Henry Huxley|T. H. Huxley]] Memorial Lecture (1992), the [[James Irvine (chemist)|Irvine]] Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the [[Tanner Lectures]] (2003).<ref name=cv/> In 1991, he gave the [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures|Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children]] on ''[[Growing Up in the Universe]]''. He also has edited several journals and has acted as an editorial advisor to the ''Encarta Encyclopedia'' and the ''[[Encyclopedia of Evolution]]''. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the [[Council for Secular Humanism]]'s ''Free Inquiry'' magazine and has been a member of the editorial board of ''[[Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]]'' magazine since its foundation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/editorial_board.html |title=Editorial Board |access-date=22 April 2008 |publisher=The Skeptics' Society |archive-date=10 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410145522/http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/editorial_board.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the [[Royal Society]]'s [[Faraday Award]] and the [[British Academy Television Awards]],<ref name="cv" /> and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]]. In 2004, [[Balliol College, Oxford]], instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/official/miscellany/dawkins/index.asp |title=The Dawkins Prize for Animal Conservation and Welfare |access-date=30 March 2008 |date=9 November 2007 |publisher=Balliol College, Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912192317/http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/official/miscellany/dawkins/index.asp |archive-date=12 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."<ref name="telegraph2008">{{cite news |title=Harry Potter fails to cast spell over Professor Richard Dawkins |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3255972/Harry-Potter-fails-to-cast-spell-over-Professor-Richard-Dawkins.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 November 2008 |author1=Beckford, Martin |author2=Khan, Urmee |name-list-style=amp |location=London |date=24 October 2008 |archive-date=4 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104032214/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3255972/Harry-Potter-fails-to-cast-spell-over-Professor-Richard-Dawkins.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the [[New College of the Humanities]], a [[private university]] in London established by [[A. C. Grayling]], which opened in September 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8557555/New-university-to-rival-Oxbridge-will-charge-18000-a-year.html |title=New university to rival Oxbridge will charge £18,000 a year |date=5 June 2011 |access-date=20 January 2016 |work=[[Sunday Telegraph]] |archive-date=29 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429113425/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8557555/New-university-to-rival-Oxbridge-will-charge-18000-a-year.html |url-status=live }}</ref>