Professor Steve Rissing, head of Ohio State University's Introductory Biology Program, was an invited speaker yesterday in Washington when the Fordham Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science passed out report cards on how well the states were including evolution in their science curriculums.

Ohio got an "F" for evolution but received a "B" for its overall curriculum. No other state had as large a gap between the two scores. Foundation officials have suggested that politics usually play a key role in dropping evolution from the curriculum.

Rissing was a key player in a similar controversy in Arizona when he was a university faculty member there. He will be available on Wednesday (9/27) from 10-11 a.m.to discuss the report, the state's "grade" and what can be done to improve it. Reporters are invited to the Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Road.