Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE
Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace
View the video of Jane's speech 
Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, shared the amazing journey of her life with Doane audiences March 14.
"Think how it is that a little girl born in England just before World War II - to a family who couldn't afford a bicycle, let alone a motor car - can be receiving this degree here today," she said during her afternoon lecture before a packed Furher Field House, where Doane presented Goodall with an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
In her lecture, "Reason for Hope," she credited the "feathers" of her life. They are the people who helped her fly on her journey, starting with her mother, a woman with the patience and wisdom to understand a young Jane's fascination with animals, a woman who accompanied an adult Jane on her first six months of chimpanzee research in Tanzania.
Goodall's name is still synonymous with the landmark study of chimpanzees, which began in 1960 at Tanzania's Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve. Her breakthrough moment came when she observed chimpanzees stripping leaves off twigs to make a tool to drag termites from a nest. Her findings challenged the rules of the day that said only humans made tools.
From there, her work continued to defy scientific convention. It yielded insights that redefined the relationships between humans and animals and vastly enriched the field of primatology. Goodall became one of the world's most admired women, an acclaimed scientist, conservationist and author.
Her research expanded into a more than 45-year global career of environmental awareness and action. The Jane Goodall Institute, founded in 1977, supports the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The institute also is widely recognized for establishing community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, as well as the Roots & Shoots education program. Roots & Shoots supports students from preschool through university-level in service-learning projects.
Goodall said she was still amazed how Roots & Shoots has grown from an idea that formed in a discussion on her veranda in 1991. Today it numbers 8,000 groups in 96 countries.
Midwest Roots & Shoots chapters shared the results of their work at a meeting and press conference prior to Goodall's presentation. Chapters from Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota and Nebraska shared their projects. They told her of foster care programs for puppies, organic gardens and school children who use a Jane Goodall word-of-the-day on their school television program. She heard about neighborhood park clean-ups, a school campus without trash, ambitious recycling programs, animal sanctuaries and programs that teach children to love the earth.
Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking of the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises and her "reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth."
People often ask Goodall a common question arising from the title of her book, "Reason for Hope."
"They ask me, do you really have hope? My answer is yes, but...The ‘but' depends on us, she said, not on political leaders."
"I have great faith in the human brain when linked to the human heart."
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Goodall bio:
- Goodall established the Gombe Stream Research Center in 1965. It continues today, one of the longest uninterrupted wildlife studies in existence.
- The Jane Goodall Institute worked collaboratively with zoos and universities to establish ChimpanZoo, an international research program dedicated to the study of captive chimpanzees and the improvement of their lives. About 20 zoos and sanctuaries around the world participate.
- Goodall has earned scores of honors, including the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, and the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. Additionally, Goodall was appointed a United Nations "Messenger of Peace," and a "Dame of the British Empire" (the female equivalent of knighthood.) In 2006, she received the French Legion of Honor.
- She is the author of numerous publications, including the best-selling autobiography Reason for Hope and several children's books. Her latest book is Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating. She also has written two overviews of her work at Gombe: In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window.
- Goodall has been the subject of numerous documentaries, including several "Discovery Channel" specials. In 2002, she was featured in the large-screen format film, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees.