To Dr. Hank Frissora, the greatest opportunities to learn always happened outside the classroom.

When Frissora was an undergraduate studying biomedical engineering at Purdue in the late 70s, he spent his free time sitting in on Exponent editorial board meetings to flesh out his daily comic strip, Red Bricks, even if that meant continuing conversations into Harrys Chocolate Shop.

That passion to expand beyond the classroom never left him.

Having accepted his Outstanding Alumni Award from the College of Engineering on Wednesday for his work as a surgeon on the East Coast, Frissora recalled his comic strip work as defining to his undergrad experience.

Even with the pages of his comics now bound into the Red Brick Manifesto in the Purdue Libraries, Frissora spoke with the Exponent about the impact comic drawing had on the rest of his career.

Tell me about your time at Purdue and how that led you to medical school.

I had intended to go to medical school from the start. I knew engineering would be a great discipline to learn because if I wanted to divert from medical school, it would be another whole career. It also was good preparation for studying medicine. There is an incredible influx of technology in medicine. It was a good choice.

How did you begin your comic strip career?

I got a little bit diverted while I was here and the cartoon became an all-encompassing daily thing. I would sit in on the editorial board at The Exponent and hear what was going on and then join them over at Harrys so that we could continue there. Most of it was done the night before, just barely making the 11 p.m. deadline so it could be made on a plate to run on the press.

What were comics like in the 70s?

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Outstanding Alumni Award recipient talks about his time as a cartoonist while at Purdue