Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is taking a break from his day job this afternoon to revisit the academic life he led before coming to Washington a decade ago.

He’ll stand before a class of George Washington University undergraduates and give the first of four one-hour lectures on the Fed. Anyone can view the lecture live at 12:45 p.m. Eastern time. The Fed will maintain the lectures on its site for later viewing.

Today’s lecture focuses on central banking dating to the panics of the 19th century and early 20th century, which led to the Fed’s creation in 1913.

GW assembled the class of 30 from 80 applicants who wrote essays on what they hoped to learn from arguably the second-most-powerful U.S. official after President Barack Obama.   

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is seen through a glass as he addresses a financial markets conference meeting Monday, April 4, 2011, in Stone Mountain, Ga. Regulators are working closely to strengthen oversight of inner workings of the nation's financial system, part of a broader effort to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Question: Do you think our economy is recovering? Or do you fear that we still face a possible repeat of the 2008 financial crisis?