After he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2007, Carnegie Mellon University’s Professor Randy Pausch presented his last lecture to his students and fellow faculty on Sept. 18 of that year.
It did not cover computer science, his usual curriculum, but instead his experiences in the form of life lessons.
His energy and strength in the face of his illness earned him a standing ovation and over ten million views of the speech on YouTube.
Max Belasco, second-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, heard Pausch’s speech online and was inspired to bring a similar “Last Lecture” event to UCLA.
Today, it has become a challenge extended to the students of UCLA: Nominate a dynamic and inspirational professor to answer this question ““ “What would you tell your audience if you had but one lecture to give ““ your last lecture on this earth?”
Belasco presented the idea to the vice-presidential committee of the Alumni Scholars Club he was on last year.
“We started from there. And then, we heard through the grapevines that UCLA had this fifty years ago ““ an event called My Last Lecture,” said Belasco, now the vice-president of the club and the spearhead of the plans to bring My Last Lecture back to UCLA.
Belasco discovered that in 1955, UCLA had a My Last Lecture Series of six professors speaking on a similar idea of a professor’s “last lecture”, including celebrated basketball coach John Wooden. The speeches featured ideas ranging from the importance of sportsmanship to the nature of philosophy to the way chemistry affects the world today.
“We took the name from the event 50 years ago and formulated it into an election … students know the best about a professor’s oratorical prowess,” Belasco continued.
The professor chosen by popular vote from students to answer that question will be honored with the My Last Lecture award on April 15 and given UCLA’s premier and most well-known lecture hall, Moore 100, to present his or her “last lecture.”
One of the reasons that the Alumni Scholars Club wishes to bring the My Last Lecture event back and establish it as a tradition is because of its rich ties to UCLA history, said Michelle Sproat, associate director of alumni scholarships and the Alumni Scholars Club adviser.
“It’s a throwback to UCLA legacy,” said James Caress, the member of the Alumni Scholars Club in charge of the election process and first-year English student, “This is an opportunity to see some resonant perspectives on life … (underclassmen) who don’t have experience at UCLA have an opportunity to see one of the campus’s premier lecturers.”
The Alumni Scholars Club is presenting My Last Lecture to give students the opportunity to hear their professors step out of their usual curriculum and bestow their experiences as life lessons for their students.
Sproat emphasized the importance for students to nominate the professor that they would like to get to know better in a social and non-academic climate.
“This is the only student-based award on campus. I’d like to see students feel a sense of pride in their professors. … They have the power to acknowledge their professors for doing a good job,” she said.
The voting process is open now and can be accessed at www.uclalumni.net