Students and faculty gathered Thursday to listen to the lecture “On Arms and Eggs: GI Egg Mania on the Battlefields of World War II,” presented by history professor Phillip Rutherford, Ph.D., in Drinko Library.

The lecture took place following Rutherford being awarded the 2015/16 Hedrick Outstanding Faculty Award, named for Charles E. Hedrick, chairman of the history department and chairman of the graduate council in 1938. He discussed the obsession with eggs by soldiers in World War II, followed by refreshments, including deviled eggs.

“I wrote my dissertation on the German occupation of Poland, and I wanted to switch it and do some other project that was humorous or more lighthearted, and for some reason it just stuck,” Rutherford said. “My observation was the G.I.’s seemed to really love eggs more than anything else, and my question was why. Were they highly perishable and fragile and therefore they didn’t often receive them in their rations, is it because they hated powdered eggs and this was simply a reaction against them, or was this a clean protein? I think it reminded them of home and it’s something they grasped.”

The lecture was open to the public. Karen McComas, Ed.D., executive director for the Center of Teaching and Learning, said was an alternative to a presentation at the annual fall teaching conference where award winners typically present.

“We’re a community here and the faculty is also a community,” McComas said. “We encourage one another, support one another and share with one another.”

Rutherford said it is important for professors to teach those in the community about their research.

“Professors are expected to do research and I think it’s valuable to let people know, your colleagues know, your students know, the general public, what kind of research you’re doing,” Rutherford said.

Olivia Zarilla can be contacted at [email protected].