Eugenie C. Scott
NCSE's Eugenie C. Scott received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Inquiry and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in October 2013. In his presentation of the award at a conference of the two organizations in Tacoma, Washington (published in the March/April 2014 issue of Skeptical Inquirer), Ronald A. Lindsay said:
Where would we be without Eugenie Scott? ... Despite the fact that creationism is an outdated myth, evolution's opponents have been tenacious, determined, and even at times, clever. ... In other words, no one political or legal win for science spells the end of the creationist assault on education. At least not so far. But we would be in a much worse position if not for Eugenie Scott. ... In every new case, in every bad bill in a state legislature, or backward curriculum from a creationist school board, the NCSE has not only brought to bear intellectual and scientific firepower, but in the person of Dr. Scott, science education has perhaps its greatest ambassador.
Scott was executive director of NCSE from 1987 to 2014, when she was succeeded by Ann Reid; she now serves as chair of NCSE's Advisory Council. She is a long-time fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry; she previously received the Public Education Award from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in 1991 and the Defense of Science Award from the Center for Inquiry in 2003.