lthough outstanding talks by Monmouth College faculty never went away during the pandemic, the school's Great Lecture Series did, but it will return this fall, starting Sept. 3.

The series features Monmouth faculty giving free public talks prior to home football games. The talks will typically be held Saturday mornings, but the Sept. 3 lecture will be presented at 4 p.m. because the Fighting Scots will host the first home night football game in program history at 7 p.m.

All of this fall's lectures will be held in Room 278 of the College's Center for Science Business. Cookies, cheese and coffee will be served.

Physics and engineering professor Michael Solontoi will present the first talk, which he will tie to the Artemis I lunar mission, which is scheduled to launch earlier that day.

"Since we're going back to the moon, let's take this opportunity to learn about the surface features of our closest celestial neighbor," said Solontoi. "What are the features we see on the surface of the moon, what is their origin, and how can we use them to learn things about the moon, and the solar system itself?"

The rest of the talks in the series:

Sept. 17 at 11 a.m. - Regina Johnson (Champion Miller Center for Student Equity, Inclusion & Community)
Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. - Tom Prince (Business and Economics)
Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. - Sean Schumm (Kinesiology)
Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. - Michelle Holschuh Simmons (Educational Studies)

Political science professor Andre Audette founded the series in 2018, and he is looking forward to its return.

"The Great Lecture Series is designed to celebrate the great teaching and learning environment we have at Monmouth College, both inside and outside of the classroom," he said. "With a number of students involved in athletics, this series also recognizes the important interaction between academics and athletics. The series is open to the public and it's one of few opportunities to go to class with no homework."