The Elizabeth Babbott Conant Symposium was established in 2002 by a gift from Linda J. Lear '62, to provide biennial conferences through the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies. The Fund is additionally supported by alumni friends of Elizabeth Babbott Conant. The symposium honors the legacy of Elizabeth "Babs" Conant '51, an evolutionary zoologist, who served the College as Assistant Professor of Zoology, Dean of Sophomores, and Trustee from 1982-1992. Conant was awarded the College Medal in 1995.