Erle Kauffman—Response for the 2014 Paleontological Society Medal


geology of Huerfano Park in south-central Colorado, that truly cemented what was to become a passionate, career-long, love affair with the Cretaceous System and its biotas, particularly as developed in the continental Western Interior. Huerfano Park proved to be an area priceless beyond compare in which to developmy interests. Its faunas constituted an ecotone—amixing zone of endemic, cool- to warm-temperate taxa, and subtropical faunas of southern origins. I became hooked on usingmollusks— mostly ammonites and inoceramid bivalves—to solve a variety of paleontologic and stratigraphic problems. I record my deep indebtedness to the University ofMichigan for all I learned there in my early years. From Ann Arbor, I migrated to the U.S. National Museum,


Smithsonian Institution, where I was entrenched for twenty years building what might be called the early mature segment of my research career. I was intently focused on the Western Interior Cretaceous System, but extended my field studies to include the Caribbean region, both for its proximity and the special opportu- nities it presented. This was a time of world travel, when I was invited to Europe and Asia and had the pleasure of looking at many classical Cretaceous sections and developing new collaborations and friendships that I will always cherish. The second stint of my so-called mature career took me to


the University of Colorado in Boulder, and thus to live where I mostly worked—in a state and a mountain system that I have loved since my youth. Like my time at the National Museum, it was deeply enriching to teach the science that I am so devoted to, and thus help prepare future generations to expand its boundaries. It was my privilege to advise many talented students who nowoccupy senior positions in academia, public service, or private enterprise, and are recognized as standard-bearers in the


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field. Too numerous to name, I simply thank them collectively for what they gave to me, both when we worked together as co-investigators, and subsequently as the close friends so many of them have become. Lastly, I gratefully acknowledge the warmth and generosity with which Indiana University has embraced me, as professor and now professor emeritus. Now let me return to where I began and say a word or two


about the place of paleontology today. As the story of life’s history on Earth, from its primitive origins to the present day, and as a critical source of evidence for the fact of evolution, a course in paleontology should, tomyway of thinking, be a requirement for all biology and geology students.The importance of this reaches farther and assumes a greater urgency today than it did even a decade or two ago. In recent years we have come to appreciate as never before the effects that global environmental changemay wreak on the planet’s biosphere. As with other branches of history, sowith life history,we need to learn and understand from relevant events of the past. It is this critical context that paleontology provides. The Paleontological Society is one of the premier world


organizations charged with promoting paleontology as a key aspect of interdisciplinary science, and it must continue to do so if we are to learn more of the invaluable lessons that the history of life has to teach us. I salute the Society’s efforts on our behalf. To be recognized individually by such an organization as the Paleontological Society, as I have been today, requires me to say again how deeply honored I am to be the recipient of the 2014 Paleontological Society Medal. Thank you.


Department of Geological Sciences Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, IN 47405


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