Two 'Huddle' lectures on football Saturdays remain

University Park, Pa. -- Football fans can expand their knowledge about the use of technology in surgery and World War I at the two remaining "Huddle with the Faculty" lectures held at The Nittany Lion Inn before football games.

The Nov. 15 "Huddle with the Faculty" will feature Peter W. Dillon, the John A. and Marian T. Waldhausen professor of surgery and chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Penn State College of Medicine, who will lecture on the timely topic of "Technology in Surgery Today: Bits and Bytes, then Clamps and Sutures." Dillon will discuss how the art and science of surgery has become a technology-driven profession during the last decade. New technologies in energy sources, mechanical devices, image processing and robotics have led to a radical change in surgical practice. These technological advances have changed the way surgeons diagnose and treat diseases and have all but eliminated the traditional exploratory laparotomy, and patient care has been improved dramatically. The lecture begins at 9 a.m., and a free continental breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m.

The last "Huddle with the Faculty" on Nov. 22 will feature Sophie De Schaepdrijver, associate professor of history, who will lecture on "Memories of Mass Death: the Great War in Europe." Schaepdrijver will discuss how World War I took an enormous toll on a generation of Europeans. France alone lost one out of six men of military age between 1914 and 1918, and other countries suffered comparable losses. Historians still are seeking answers to the question of what forces enabled societies to countenance such colossal amounts of suffering, four years running. Was it coercion, consent or a mixture of both? The lecture begins at 10 a.m., and a free continental breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m.

Each "Huddle with the Faculty" has free parking at the Nittany Parking Deck, adjacent to The Nittany Lion Inn. "Huddle with the Faculty" is sponsored and organized by the Penn State Alumni Association and co-sponsored by The Nittany Lion Inn, Penn State Bookstore and Penn State Press. For more detailed descriptions of each "Huddle with the Faculty," go to http://www.alumni.psu.edu/events/ or call the Alumni Association at (800) 548-LION (5466).