Stephen Howell Jenkins ’68

Stephen Howell Jenkins ’68 died at home on October 3, 2024. Steve came to Dartmouth from Toledo, Ohio, where he was a National Merit scholar and valedictorian. At Dartmouth he majored in biology and was active for all four years in the Dartmouth Outing Club and the Dartmouth Religious Liberals, where he served as treasurer. Because of his opposition to the U.S. role in the war, he registered as a conscientious objector and would remain committed to the principle of nonviolence throughout his life. In 1969 he married Katherine Pleiss and began graduate studies at Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in behavioral ecology. In 1974 the couple moved to Reno, Nevada, where Steve took a post as a professor at University of Nevada Reno. In much of his teaching he worked to pass on his belief that critical thinking is not just a fundamental tenet of sound science but also a broader force for good. He shaped others beyond his own classroom with his book How Science Works, an effort to demystify the scientific process for non-specialists. Following his retirement in 2011, Steve wrote a second book, Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology, and devoted himself to birdwatching excursions and travel with Kathie throughout the Truckee Meadows, the Sierra, and the West. His grandfather Ralph, class of 1914, and father Ward ’42 preceded Steve at Dartmouth. He is survived by Kathie, brother Wally, son Matt, and grandsons Miles and Marcus.