'My Last Words' Series Continues March 21
Published 03.14.2006
By Juli Reppert, student writer/photographer
The second of three presentations in the "My Last Words" series at Pennsylvania College of Technology will be offered March 21, when David L. Evans, professor of biology, discusses "The Most Dangerous Places."
Each presentation in the series features a Penn College faculty member who was asked to discuss what he or she would share if this were the last chance to speak in front of a group of students. This challenge is to share what is most important and to answer the question, "What would my last words be?"
Evans' program, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Penn's Inn at the Bush Campus Center. The "My Last Words" series is being sponsored by the Student Activities Office at Penn College.
Evans will share his real-life teaching experiences in Beirut, Lebanon (1981-86), and Sierra Leone, Africa (1970-73), where he faced challenges such as the lack of electricity and potable water, a cholera epidemic and war.
Evans taught ecology to graduate and postdoctoral students at American University of Beirut and conducted a great deal of his own research.
"I enjoyed the travel and the opportunity to help those in need at first," Evans said, "but the reason I stayed when things in Lebanon got really bad was that I felt I could not abandon my outstanding students and great friends. I met so many talented and intelligent people there and still miss it terribly some days."
He also taught high school biology and agriculture in the tropical forest of Sierra Leone.
"The forest was magnificent, and the people were very nice, but it was a horrible situation," he said. "There were many challenges in Africa, and almost every day brought another problem. But the worst, generally even more than the civil unrest, diseases and everyday violence was the lack of help from their own government."
For more information on the "My Last Words" series at Penn College, call (570) 327-4763, send e-mail or visit online.