Slippery Rock University has several special events scheduled next week honoring the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Faculty, staff and student organizations are leading events on campus, where a variety of aspects will be discussed, including a keynote speech by Ret. Lt. Col. Robert?Darling, a former active-duty Marine who was an airlift operations liaison officer with the White House Military Office and was in former President George W. Bush's bunker on 9/11.

Darling's presentation will detail the 24 hours he spent advising White House officials as part of an event that is open to the public from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Miller Theater at the Performing Arts Center, according to a news release from the university.

The events have been organized by homeland and corporate security studies instructor Jordan Titera, who said Darling's presentation will be one of the highlights of the week.

“He will take the audience through the moment the attacks were realized to courageous decisions made to respond to them,” Titera said in the news release, “as well as the policies our country now has in place to prevent similar attacks from happening again.”

Other subjects of the week include talks on that day's effects on people, including post-traumatic stress disorder, the engineering of the World Trade Centers and societal changes in government foreign policy, popular culture and volunteerism.

Also taking place Tuesday is a presentation by psychology professors Jennifer Sanftner McGraw and Catherine Massey regarding PTSD and trauma caused by the 9/11 attacks, from 5 to 6 p.m. in Vincent Science Center, Room 105.

History professor Lia Paradis will discuss 9/11 in popular culture from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the Smith Student Center Theater.

Other events include:

n A presentation on the World Trade Centers' physics and engineering from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the VSC, Room 105

n A presentation on nonprofit and volunteer response from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in Spotts World Culture Building, Room 111

A musical performance memorializing the victims of the attacks from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday in Swope Music Hall

A discussion panel about how 9/11 changed foreign policy with professors of different departments from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, via Zoom; email nicholas.spina@sru.edu to request the link or SRU students, faculty and staff can register on CORE

A 9/11 Memorial Ceremony from 10 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park

A 110 Flight Stair Challenge from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park. The SRU community is invited to join first responders as teams or individuals to climb 2,071 steps to represent the 110 floors of the World Trade Centers to honor those who protect people from foreign and domestic threats.

There are also two week-long exhibits, including a display of books relating to 9/11 in Bailey Library and a campus-wide “Where Were You” project, which showcases where faculty and staff were on 9/11, coordinated by the philanthropy and nonprofit management program.

Titera said these events are meant to educate students on the significance of 9/11 because many were not born at the time and others are too young to remember the day's events.

“We want students to learn about it because many college students either weren't alive or they were too young to remember it,” Titera said.

For more information on SRU's scheduled events, visit the university's website.