Prof. Rev. Michael Himes (Theology) — shown at last month's Multi-Faith Thanksgiving Celebration — was a popular choice to kick off the "Last Lecture Series."
The first "Last Lecture"
BC debuts a "Last Lecture Series" in the spirit of Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch
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The idea of a "last lecture" — in which a professor imagines he or she is dying and has one final opportunity to give a talk in public — is not exactly new. But the concept attracted considerable attention last year when terminally ill Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch gave his last lecture, which was captured on video and provided the basis for a best-selling book. [Pausch died earlier this year.]Last month Boston College saw the debut of a "Last Lecture Series" organizers hope will spur the kind of discussion about life and legacy that Pausch championed. Sponsored by the Boston College chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) — a nonpartisan national group that encourages students and young people to address social issues — the series' first speaker was Prof. Rev. Michael Himes (Theology), one of the most popular lecturers on campus.
AID BC chapter president Michael Madorno,'09, couldn't have been more pleased with the result: An audience of about 1,000 packed into the Yawkey Center's Murray Function Room Nov. 18 to hear Fr. Himes. "It was unbelievable. We had to turn people away at the door," said Madorno, an International Studies major from Wyckoff, NJ.
Madorno says there is a good reason why "Last Lectures" have become a staple at colleges. "The 'Last Lecture' has to be personal, emotional and truthful, because it's supposed to be the speaker's last expression of who they are and what they believe. He or she has to put himself or herself out there in a way they wouldn't if it was a 'normal' lecture. And people in the audience think about what it would be like to confront mortality, and what their own life lessons are.
"So we felt it would be a very appropriate event for a place like BC, which teaches us to reflect on the big questions. Fr. Himes is one of the best lecturers around, and people, especially students, can't get enough of him. We were thrilled that he agreed to speak."
Nor did Fr. Himes disappoint, according to Madorno. "The primary message he had was that to live, you have to give of yourself to others. He talked about why he teaches, and especially why he came to teach theology. He presented so many ideas; my friends and I were talking about them for a long time afterwards."
Madorno — who notes that a video of Fr. Himes' Nov. 18 talk is available on the "Front Row" Web site http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/himes2/ — said AID plans to sponsor one "Last Lecture" a semester. "They'll feature a popular, well-known faculty member, but we're trying to present a variety of backgrounds, viewpoints and disciplines, such as political science, history and philosophy."