Al Gini, Chair of the Department of Management at Loyola University, will discuss the impact of work on the human spirit April 2 at Gettysburg College.

The 7 p.m. lecture, “Work, Identity, and Self,” will take place in the Lyceum of Pennsylvania Hall, located along North Washington Street. The talk is the 2012 Frederick and Martha Mahan Lecture, and is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow.

Whether we love it or hate it, work is something we have to do. But work is not simply about the trading of labor for dollars. Work is about meaning as well as money. Because work preoccupies our lives and is the central focus of our time and energies, it not only provides us with an income, it literally names and identifies us to ourselves and others. Work is the way we come to know the world and are known to the world. Work becomes our mark of identity, our signature on the world. To work is to be. But what happens when we can’t get a job? What happens when we lose our jobs? What happens when we can’t find another job? What happens, not just to our credit rating, but to our psyches and souls, when we don’t have work?

Gini is the co-founder and long-time associate editor of Business Ethics Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Business Ethics. For over 25 years he has been the Resident Philosopher on National Public Radio’s Chicago affiliate, WBEZ-FM, and he regularly lectures to community and professional organizations on issues of business and ethics.

The annual Mahan Lecture is made possible through a generous endowment by 1952 Gettysburg College grad Fred Mahan and Martha Mahan. Gini's lecture is presented by the Department of Philosophy.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and scienceswith a strong academic tradition that includes Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate and other distinguished scholars among its alumni. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Nikki Rhoads, assistant director of communications, 717.337.6803