Moving On: A Beloved Professor Delivers the Lecture of a Lifetime
Hyfler/Rosner
MOVING ON
By JEFF ZASLOW
WSJ
A Beloved Professor Delivers
The Lecture of a Lifetime
September 20, 2007
Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science
professor, was
about to give a lecture Tuesday afternoon, but before he
said a word, he
received a standing ovation from 400 students and
colleagues.
He motioned to them to sit down. "Make me earn it," he said.
What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was
our last
chance? For Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, the
question isn't
rhetorical -- he's dying of cancer. Jeff Zaslow narrates a
video on Prof.
Pausch's final lecture.
They had come to see him give what was billed as his "last
lecture." This
is a common title for talks on college campuses today.
Schools such as
Stanford and the University of Alabama have mounted "Last
Lecture Series,"
in which top professors are asked to think deeply about what
matters to
them and to give hypothetical final talks. For the audience,
the question
to be mulled is this: What wisdom would we impart to the
world if we knew
it was our last chance?
It can be an intriguing hour, watching healthy professors
consider their
demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them. At the
University of
Northern Iowa, instructor Penny O'Connor recently titled her
lecture "Get
Over Yourself." At Cornell, Ellis Hanson, who teaches a
course titled
"Desire," spoke about sex and technology.
At Carnegie Mellon, however, Dr. Pausch's speech was more
than just an
academic exercise. The 46-year-old father of three has
pancreatic cancer
and expects to live for just a few months. His lecture,
using images on a
giant screen, turned out to be a rollicking and riveting
journey through
the lessons of his life.
He began by showing his CT scans, revealing 10 tumors on his
liver. But
after that, he talked about living. If anyone expected him
to be morose,
he said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you." He then dropped to
the floor and
did one-handed pushups.
Randy Pausch and his three children, ages 5, 2 and 1.
Clicking through photos of himself as a boy, he talked about
his childhood
dreams: to win giant stuffed animals at carnivals, to walk
in zero
gravity, to design Disney rides, to write a World Book
entry. By
adulthood, he had achieved each goal. As proof, he had
students carry out
all the huge stuffed animals he'd won in his life, which he
gave to
audience members. After all, he doesn't need them anymore.
He paid tribute to his techie background. "I've experienced
a deathbed
conversion," he said, smiling. "I just bought a Macintosh."
Flashing his
rejection letters on the screen, he talked about setbacks in
his career,
repeating: "Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us
prove how
badly we want things." He encouraged us to be patient with
others. "Wait
long enough, and people will surprise and impress you."
After showing
photos of his childhood bedroom, decorated with mathematical
notations
he'd drawn on the walls, he said: "If your kids want to
paint their
bedrooms, as a favor to me, let 'em do it."
While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the
years, he said
that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more fun
than achieving
your own. He talked of requiring his students to create
videogames without
sex and violence. "You'd be surprised how many 19-year-old
boys run out of
ideas when you take those possibilities away," he said, but
they all rose
to the challenge.
He also saluted his parents, who let him make his childhood
bedroom his
domain, even if his wall etchings hurt the home's resale
value. He knew
his mom was proud of him when he got his Ph.D, he said,
despite how she'd
introduce him: "This is my son. He's a doctor, but not the
kind who helps
people."
He then spoke about his legacy. Considered one of the
nation's foremost
teachers of videogame and virtual-reality technology, he
helped develop
"Alice," a Carnegie Mellon software project that allows
people to easily
create 3-D animations. It had one million downloads in the
past year, and
usage is expected to soar.
"Like Moses, I get to see the Promised Land, but I don't get
to step foot
in it," Dr. Pausch said. "That's OK. I will live on in
Alice."
Many people have given last speeches without realizing it.
The day before
he was killed, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke prophetically:
"Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place."
He talked of
how he had seen the Promised Land, even though "I may not
get there with
you."
Dr. Pausch's lecture, in the same way, became a call to his
colleagues and
students to go on without him and do great things. But he
was also
addressing those closer to his heart.
Near the end of his talk, he had a cake brought out for his
wife, whose
birthday was the day before. As she cried and they embraced
on stage, the
audience sang "Happy Birthday," many wiping away their own
tears.
Dr. Pausch's speech was taped so his children, ages 5, 2 and
1, can watch
it when they're older. His last words in his last lecture
were simple:
"This was for my kids." Then those of us in the audience
rose for one last
standing ovation.
Write to Jeffrey Zaslow at jeffrey...@wsj.com3
Matthew Kruk
news:F6ydnRf8SdD4sW_b...@rcn.net...
> (original includes photos and video)
> it was our last chance?
Buy low, sell high.
danny burstein
>Buy low, sell high.
Never play pool with a guy named after a city.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dan...@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Kathi
<dan...@panix.com> wrote:
>In <P3qIi.3626$nO3.539@edtnps90> "Matthew Kruk" <Matthe...@Telus.net> writes:
>
>>"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
>>news:F6ydnRf8SdD4sW_b...@rcn.net...
>>> (original includes photos and video)
>>> ... What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew
>>> it was our last chance?
>>> ...
>
>>Buy low, sell high.
>
>Never play pool with a guy named after a city.
Looks fade, but a sense of humor is a beautiful thing.
Laurie Mann
>>On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:55:27 +0000 (UTC), danny burstein
>>>In <P3qIi.3626$nO3.539@edtnps90> "Matthew Kruk" <Matthew.K...@Telus.net> writes:
>>>>"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
>>>>it was our last chance?
>>Never play pool with a guy named after a city.
> Looks fade, but a sense of humor is a beautiful thing.
Be honest but try not to do too much harm, and throw some good room
parties on the way because when it's over, it's over.
I was very moved by Randy's story, and blogged about it today:
http://www.dpsinfo.com/blog/2007/09/randy-pausch-hero-to-remember.html
Laurie D. T. Mann
Dead People Server
http://www.deadpeople.info
Paul Sauberer
lecture.
http://digg.com/videos/educational/Dying_professor_gives_one_last_lecture?OTC-widget
Paul Sauberer
Bob Feigel
<b...@surfwriter.net.not> magnanimously proffered:
>On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:58:24 -0400, Paul Sauberer
><spamgr...@aol.com> magnanimously proffered:
That was quite a powerful experience. I listened through my computer
headphones and must have laughed quite loudly a few times, because my
wife, who was downstairs, commented on it.
Thanks for the link. I've downloaded the file so I can watch it again.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
La N
"Bob Feigel" <b...@surfwriter.net.not> wrote in message
news:1lrnh3l0fb9r2m3ev...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:19:45 +1300, Bob Feigel
> <b...@surfwriter.net.not> magnanimously proffered:
>
>>On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:58:24 -0400, Paul Sauberer
>><spamgr...@aol.com> magnanimously proffered:
>>
>>>I just found a video story on this with a link to the complete
>>>lecture.
>>>
>>>http://digg.com/videos/educational/Dying_professor_gives_one_last_lecture?OTC-widget
>>>
>>>Paul Sauberer
>
> That was quite a powerful experience. I listened through my computer
> headphones and must have laughed quite loudly a few times, because my
> wife, who was downstairs, commented on it.
>
> Thanks for the link. I've downloaded the file so I can watch it again.
>
>
Nilita grabs kleenex ... sniff ... this is one of the most beautiful shows
I've seen in a long time .... I'm so afraid he's going to be on the subject
line of this group before long.
Anyway, he has a website:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
This is his cancer update site:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html
As of two days ago:
Oct 19 , 2007: Palliative Chemo is WORKING!!!!
On Oct 1st, I had a CT-scan, and a follow-up PET-CT scan on Oct 13th.
Both confirmed that we are willing: The tumors in my spleen are now gone,
and the dozen or so tumors in my liver are all either stable or slightly
smaller.
This happens in something like 15% of the cases of people who get
gemcitabine+tarceva. It's a lottery, and I'm a winner. Statistically, this
means I probably just bought an extra 2-4 months of good health. Said
another way, I may have just doubled my life expectancy - you try to do
that!
Most importantly, that buys me time to pursue "plan B" - the
gemcitabine+tarceva will not last forever, and we want to have the next
thing cued up and ready to go.
I am currently looking into other chemotherapies, some vaccination
approaches (including a custom vaccine that would be made from my own cancer
cells), and some super-secret stuff I'm not at liberty to talk about. But it
is safe to say that I am thrilled with the quality of medical care I'm
receiving and that I feel like I'm getting the cutting edge stuff that my
species can provide for me.
Having said that, "winning" means buying time; I will always hold out
hope that a miracle cure is developed that would give me a normal life span,
but right now we're fighting to stay alive a few more months at a time.,
My quality of life is very good: I ride my bike an hour a day, play as
much as I want with my kids, and enjoy being married to the most wonderful
woman in the world. I have interimittant gut pain, some fatigue, and some
mild "flu like symptoms" each week, approximately 24-72 hours after the
chemo, but it's manageable. Small price to pay for walking around.