Higher Education

OU professor to promote ‘accurate’ science education on evolution, climate change

December 15, 2025

Ray Carter

A University of Oklahoma professor who opposed easy citizen access to and review of public-school teaching materials has now been named to a position charged with ensuring “accurate” science education on topics such as global warming.

According to a release issued by OU, Kelly Feille, an associate professor of science education at the University of Oklahoma, has been named a 2025 Sound Science Fellow by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE).

The fellowship is “aimed at advancing the teaching of evolution, climate change, and accurate scientific education,” according to the release. Feille is one of six individuals named to the fellowship, which is “designed to address the ongoing challenges teachers face as they navigate scientific misinformation, evolving educational standards, and societal resistance to critical scientific topics.”

“Dr. Feille’s selection as a Sound Science Fellow reflects her deep commitment to advancing evidence-based science education,” said Stacy Reeder, dean of OU’s Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education. “This fellowship not only honors her expertise but also strengthens our college’s mission to prepare educators who can develop scientifically literate students and inspire future generations.”

Feille will serve a two-year term, working on individual and collaborative projects and attending seminars.

The NCSE website states that the group’s purpose is to “ensure that topics including evolution and climate change are taught accurately, honestly, and confidently.”

In its 2024 annual report, NCSE officials bragged that the group “helped shine a light on efforts by the Illinois fossil fuels industry to misinform school children about climate change.”

The NCES criticized the industry-funded Illinois Petroleum Resource Board for providing teacher training and classroom resources to schools, free of charge, focused on how oil is created and extracted from the earth. The program is similar to one offered in Oklahoma by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board.

The NCES conceded that the Illinois Petroleum Resource Board materials “are mostly silent about climate change,” but quoted a critic who complained that the Illinois industry group suggested that the oil and gas industry “will be a good source of jobs for decades to come, despite mounting evidence to the contrary."

Feille’s X account consists largely of retweeted material, often from left-wing politicians and groups.

Feille’s account retweets messages from the Oklahoma Education Association, a teachers’ union, and 2022 Democratic gubernatorial campaign messages from Joy Hofmeister.

Perhaps most notably, Feille’s account also includes a reposted tweet hailing the defeat of state legislation, House Bill 2077, which would have increased transparency in public schools by allowing parents to view curriculum materials easily.

House Bill 2077, by state Rep. Chad Caldwell, would have created a state transparency portal where citizens can review public-school textbooks, library books, co-curricular content and materials (including any social and emotional learning or character-based curricula), and content from third-party learning applications.

The bill was defeated after opponents argued unfettered access to school curricula could cause Oklahoma parents to “get riled up.”

Climate-Change Doomsday?

Feille’s work with the National Center for Science Education on climate-change education comes as recent polling has shown the general public is less concerned about the issue, and even some advocates who believe climate change is a threat have warned against non-stop alarmism.

In April, Gallup polling showed that 41 percent of Americans believe the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated in the news.

In July, a national survey conducted on behalf of the Environmental Voter Project found Americans were more likely to cite individualistic, apolitical actions as the best way to address climate-change concerns rather than imposing new government policies.

The Environmental Voter Project poll found that 22 percent of respondents voiced support for reduce/reuse/recycle measures, while 17 percent cited work on general awareness/education/lifestyle changes as the best way to address climate change. Only 8 percent cited government policy and regulations as the best response.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a longtime supporter of enacting government policies to reduce alleged climate change, recently softened his stance, declaring that the “doomsday view” of climate change “is wrong.”

“People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future,” Gates wrote.

Gates conceded that from the “standpoint of improving lives, using more energy is a good thing, because it’s so closely correlated with economic growth.” He noted that deaths from excessive heat have been declining due to increased global access to air conditioning, and that excessive cold “is far deadlier, killing nearly ten times more people every year than heat does.”

At the same time, a high-profile 2024 study published in the journal Nature was recently retracted. The study predicted a 62-percent decline in global economic output by 2100 if carbon emissions were not sufficiently reduced. But the authors eventually conceded that flawed data skewed the result.

Writing for National Review, Andrew Follett recently noted, “It appears likely that falling public support for global warming is based on a combination of increasingly and obviously unhinged environmentalist tactics, as well as the continued failure to come to pass of the endless predictions of climate apocalypse made by activists and promoted in the media.”

Josh Hammer, writing in the Los Angeles Times, similarly noted, “The moral panic is slowly evaporating. Millions of Americans may still believe warming exists, but far fewer view it as an imminent existential threat—let alone embrace sweeping upheavals in energy policy and personal lifestyle.”

[For more stories about higher education in Oklahoma, visit AimHigherOK.com.]