Faculty and Staff

Emeritus Academy announces spring lecture series

Series to showcase the ongoing intellectual contributions of Penn State’s emeritus faculty

"Explorations: The Penn State Emeritus Academy Lecture Series" is open to the public at no cost. Credit: Penn State University Libraries / Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The community is invited to a series of lectures featuring Penn State emeritus faculty who are lifelong scholars and experts in their fields. 

Explorations: The Penn State Emeritus Academy Lecture Series” will feature four talks throughout the spring semester, showcasing the ongoing intellectual contributions of Penn State’s emeritus faculty. All lectures will be available by Zoom, with the final three being held in person at Pattee Library and Paterno Library at the University Park campus. 

“The lecture series gives our amazing emeritus faculty the opportunity to continue to inspire, educate and foster dialogue,” said Ann Clements, associate vice provost for Faculty Affairs. “They are a testament to the University’s mission of lifelong learning and scholarship, and I hope audiences come away inspired by their commitment to bridging the gap between academia and the community. 

Kenji Uchino, “NEW SCIENCE — Scientific Approach to the Unknown World” 

9-10:30 a.m. Jan. 28. Zoom only. 

Kenji Uchino, professor emeritus of electrical engineering, College of Engineering, is a Zen practitioner interested in learning the “Next World” after our death. In his lecture, Uchino will try to approach this “New Science” area in lay words as an engineering professor. He will first discuss how the Nobel Prize winners developed their theories, including Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Dirac, coupled with Oriental religion. After the concept evolution from quantum physics, through quark, then super-string models, he will then touch upon the “Holographic Universe,” including the “brain science” and cosmic world, “Black Hole.” In the latter part of the lecture, Uchino will introduce the key aspects in Zen Buddhism, to reach the Satori (Enlightenment) status. 

A Zoom link to Uchino’s lecture can be found here

Ellen Knodt, “Discoveries in the Archives” 

2:30-4 p.m. Feb. 19, Foster Auditorium, Pattee Library and Paterno Library, University Park or via Zoom 

Reading an author's early manuscripts and letters can lead to discoveries of changes in the meaning of a particular work or in a change in an author's perspective over time. Knodt’s work in the Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston and rare books archives at Princeton and Yale has resulted in discoveries of a change of one word, or in another instance, a change in one letter, creating a different perception of a narrator. Hemingway's letters, being collected and published by the Hemingway Letters Project housed at Penn State, have similarly yielded specific insights into one of the author's more ambiguous stories and even his political ideas. Knodt is professor emerita of English, Penn State Abington. 

A Zoom link to Knodt’s lecture can be found here

Glen Mazis, “The Animal as Source of Human Excellence” 

2:30-4 p.m. March 20, Foster Auditorium, Pattee Library and Paterno Library, University Park or via Zoom 

This lecture will present ideas from Mazis’ research that our distinctive human excellences are not the result of transcending our “animal nature,” but rather are founded upon the capacities of being an animal and part of the natural world. These excellences stem from our embodiment (versus “a nonmaterial spirit”), whether it is our capacities for thought, language, art, ethics or care that are shared by many other animals in differing forms. Of interest to colleagues in philosophy, cultural studies, history, religion, the arts, poetics, biology, animal studies, ecology and anthropology … Our obligation to respect both animals and the natural world as kin will be asserted. Mazis is professor emeritus of philosophy and humanities, Penn State Harrisburg. 

 A Zoom link to Mazis’ lecture can be found here.  

Michael Green, “From Engineering to Physiology to Nutritional Biochemistry:  Applying Mathematics and Computer Modeling to Vitamin A Metabolism and the Assessment of Vitamin A Status in Community Settings” 

2:30-4 p.m. April 15, Foster Auditorium, Pattee Library and Paterno Library, University Park or via Zoom 

Green, professor emeritus of nutrition science and physiology, College of Health and Human Development, will describe how, after beginning studies in engineering at Berkeley, he moved into the life sciences. He earned a bachelor of arts in physiology and then a doctorate in nutritional biochemistry — retaining a conviction that applied mathematics was an untapped resource for advancing knowledge about biological systems, including nutrient metabolism. During Green’s postdoctoral research at Cornell, followed by training at the Laboratory for Mathematical Biology at the National Institutes of Health and then years of self-study and collaboration, he developed an expertise in model-based compartmental analysis, using these tools to describe, simulate and quantify the metabolism of nutrients and other biologically interesting entities. Green will focus his lecture on research done in his lab and with collaborators on whole-body vitamin A metabolism, ending with a discussion of how these complex mathematical approaches have led to improvements in the use of predictive equations to assess vitamin A status in community settings worldwide.  

A Zoom link to Green’s lecture can be found here

Learn more about the Penn State Emeritus Academy. Information on the current lecture series and recordings of past lectures can be found on the Explorations lecture series webpage. The Penn State Emeritus Academy is supported by the Penn State Office of Faculty Affairs.  

Last Updated January 28, 2025