UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Alumni Association’s Huddle with the Faculty series will enlighten and inform alumni, friends and fans on home fall Saturdays this football season, the program’s 25th year.
Andrew Belser, the 2017-18 Penn State Laureate, will kick off the series Sept. 2, when he’ll host a discussion titled, “FaceAge: Empathy Rising Across Generations.” FaceAge is a multimedia installation and documentary film that explores aging questions in cross-generational interactions.
Belser oversees the FaceAge project as director and producer, additionally serving as a professor of movement, voice and acting in the School of Theatre.
The following week, Liberal Arts Professor George Perry will lead a talk focused, in part, on the history of Penn State's mascot. “Ancient DNA and the Nittany Lion Genome Project” will focus on how records from our past are helping us describe the long-term history of human effects on the evolution of nonhuman species sharing our ecosystems. Perry also will share an update on the student-led Nittany Lion Genome Project, which is using ancient DNA to study the history of our beloved, but now regionally extinct, mascot.
On. Sept. 16, “Embracing the Golden Years: The Science of Healthy Aging” will examine cognitive and brain health across the adult lifespan. Leading the discussion will be Martin Sliwinski, who is director of the Center for Healthy Aging along with his responsibilities as a professor in the College of Health and Human Development.
Sliwinski has spent the last 25 years trying to better understand, and ultimately improve, cognitive and brain health. His research examines how our everyday behaviors and experiences influence brain health, particularly with respect to aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
More information on the complete 2017 Huddle with the Faculty schedule is available on the Alumni Association's website (choose "Huddle with the Faculty" from the pull-down menu). Huddle with the Faculty will take place at The Nittany Lion Inn on the Saturday morning of each home football game during the 2017 season. Complimentary continental breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the presentation at 9 a.m.