2008 Rydell ProfessorshipFeaturing Frans B.M. de Waal

Franciscus (Frans) B.M. de Waal

De Waal, who returned to Gustavus after speaking at the College’s Nobel Conference in 1996, is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior at Emory University and Director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Ga. He is the author of numerous books and research papers including Our Inner Ape (2005) and Chimpanzee Politics (1982), which was the result of a six-year project on the world’s largest captive colony of chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands. His research centers on primate social behavior, including conflict resolution, cooperation, inequity aversion, and food-sharing. In 2007, de Waal was named to the “TIME 100” — a list of the 100 men and women whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming the world according to Time magazine.

Frans B.M. de Waal, a Dutch psychologist, primatologist, and animal behavior expert, presented public lectures as part of a residency through the Rydell Professorship.

He was a speaker at the Nobel Conference in 1996.

Dr. de Waal presented “On the Possibility of Animal Empathy” on campus and “Our Inner Ape: Human Nature as Seen by a Primatologist” at the Great Clips IMAX Theater at the Minnesota Zoo. 

As part of his residency at Gustavus, de Waal co-taught the course “Neuroscience Capstone” with Gustavus Professor of Psychology Janine Wotton. This course provided the opportunity for students to discuss primary research literature and conducted an outreach program which taught about the brain at a local St. Peter elementary school.