She was gone in 60 seconds.
Women's Studies Professor Demie Kurz was the second speaker to take the stage in a 60-second lecture series, organized by the School of Arts and Sciences.
At noon, over 40 stragglers in between classes, homeless people, hospital patients trailing their IVs, students, faculty and staff members who were gathered on Wynn Commons caught Kurz's lecture on how women's studies can save their lives.
They were there either by default -- because they were eating their lunch outside -- or because they were intentionally drawn by the idea of free Ben & Jerry's ice cream and the opportunity to witness the near impossible feat of brevity.
"I'd like to see how someone can talk about any topic for just one minute," said Heather Calvert, an employee of Penn's Huebner Foundation.
Kurz, with a microphone and a podium, drove her short and central point home, taking time to mention that this year marked the 30th anniversary of the Women's Studies program at Penn.
"Gender is the basic organizing principle of every society. Gender applies to every aspect of life: psychology, economics and world affairs to name a few," she said.
Kurz offered two primary reasons as to why everyone should take women's studies courses.
"One thing we all want in life is a good relationship," she said. "We need to understand gender in order to achieve one.... It is not that men and women are inherently different, it is that they are socialized differently.
"The second thing we all want is a happy work life with a good, interesting job," she said. "Gender effects the type of jobs men and women do and how they are compensated for that work."
It was over in a blink. Afterwards, while the Nooney Tunes band played the banjo and the fiddle, people lined up for cookie dough ice cream.
"I think it's great -- the whole program," College freshman Brian Cohen said. "They should do it every day with a different professor. No intro. Start at 12 and end at 12:01. Because I don't get to hear this stuff all the time. It's a cute idea and it's fun."
Although some were compelled to attend because of the novelty of the entire concept, others were attracted by the subject matter.
"Professor Kurz did an excellent job. Gender is crucial to all of our existence and she's making us more aware of that," College junior Eren Hock said.
Of the experience as a whole, Kurz found it an enjoyable exercise, even employing the same word as the students --fun.
"It was also a challenge for faculty who tend to talk a lot to have to be concise," she said.
