MONMOUTH, Ill. — Two popular Monmouth College programs are on the schedule for Sept. 17.

Monmouth College president Mauri Ditzler will address the initial Monmouth Associates luncheon of the academic year at noon in the Whiteman-McMillan Highlander Room of the college’s Stockdale Center. At 7 p.m. in the Morgan Room of Poling Hall, the Darwinpalooza series will continue with a talk by University of Illinois professor Xavier Llora.

Ditzler’s talk will include an update on recent progress at the college, such as this fall’s record enrollment and the dedication of April Zorn Memorial Stadium. The president will also look ahead to what could be a very opportune time for the college as it looks to make its mark in the second half of its second century. The program is free; a buffet lunch costs $9. Reservations can be made by calling 309-457-2316 by Sept. 14, by e-mail at mcarwile@monm.edu, or online.

Monmouth Associates offers a $64 season pass that can be purchased at the door or reserved by phone at 309-457-2316. The pass is transferrable to others if the holder cannot attend a future meeting.

A free shuttle van transports passengers from two locations to every Associates luncheon. The van will stop at the Faith United Presbyterian Church parking lot at 11:45 a.m. and at the northeast quadrant of the Public Square at approximately 11:50 a.m. It will return to both locations immediately following the program. Shuttle reservations should be made by calling the above number.

This year’s master of ceremonies for Monmouth Associates is Margie Myers, director of Christian education at Faith United Presbyterian Church and a 1985 Monmouth graduate.

Titled “From Galapagos to Twitter: Reaching Across Centuries Thanks to Darwin’s Artificial Evolutionary Modeling,” Llora’s talk will explore how Charles Darwin’s ideas can help the world understand the disruptive change generated by the Internet and the resulting exponential growth of information and computational resources.

“I will review the origin of artificial evolution ideas and techniques,” said Llora. “I will also show how these techniques are helping to solve a wide range of applications, from life science problems to Twitter puzzles, and how high-performance computing can make Darwin’s ideas a routinary tool to help us model and understand complex systems.”