AMHERST, Mass. — Hampshire College itself will be evolving when students participate in a campus-wide experiment this spring as part of a yearlong celebration of the ideas of Charles Darwin.

The college will conduct an experiment designed by evolutionary biology professor Charles Ross that will attempt to model the principles of descent with modification (evolution) and natural selection. Throughout the spring the campus community will watch an idea evolve as it moves from classroom to classroom.

With the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth on February 12 and the 150th anniversary of publication of "On the Origin of Species" in November, colleges and universities across the world will celebrate Darwin during 2009. What sets Hampshire apart is the attempt to model Darwin's ideas in a living community as well as through lectures and conferences.

February 12 will include a birthday party. Cake will be served and faculty across academic disciplines will participate in "Darwin and Me," a series of five-minute presentations explaining how Darwin's ideas have influenced their fields and their own work.

The Evolving Hampshire project launches February 12 and continues throughout spring semester. Participating classes in a variety of disciplines will answer the question: "What is Hampshire?"

The question will start in one class, then move through other classes over time, with selected answers moving forward with modification.

Each student will select the best answer from those produced by an earlier group (or generation). Then individuals will modify the answer from the perspective of their course's focus or discipline?be it history, film, dance, or geology. Answers can be presented in any medium.

Four students will act as facilitators for the project, visiting participating classes to give presentations on the basic principles of evolution by natural selection, as well as handling logistical details.

The process of selection and the evolving results will be tracked and presented to the campus community at the close of the semester (results unveiled April 28).

Darwin Across the Disciplines planners Professors Laura Sizer, Salman Hameed, and Ross think the experiment may teach the college not only about Darwin's ideas, but also more about ways the college is perceived and understood by its current students. Sizer is a philosophy professor and Hameed is a professor of integrated science and humanities.

"We hope that students and faculty will appreciate Darwin's ideas and place in history, and also come away with an understanding of how these ideas have been preserved and modified, and continue to influence our thinking on a wide range of topics," said Dr. Sizer.

Darwin Across the Disciplines events will also include several public lectures, by a theologian, an evolutionary biologist, and a philosopher of biology.

In October Hampshire College will host a conference on Darwin and evolution in the Muslim world. That two-day conference is being supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and organized by Professor Hameed.