Staff Report | Web Features

Zaslow speaks on professor’s last lecture

What would you say if you knew it was the last time you’d get to say it?

Jeffrey Zaslow talked about that topic during a lecture Monday night in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium,

Zaslow, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, told many stories about Randy and about his optimism and the way he took nothing for granted even in his last few days. Zaslow said Pausch spent long days in the hospital near the end and that he didn’t have much contact with him during that time.

“I felt like I was on shore and he was floating out to sea,” Zaslow said.

Zaslow is a co-author of “The Last Lecture,” a book about former Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch, who died of pancreatic cancer about giving his famous “last lecture.”

On Sept. 17, 2007, Pausch gave his last lecture as a professor at Carnegie Mellon to a packed auditorium titled “How to Achieve your childhood Dreams.” Zaslow attended the event to write an article about it in the Wall Street Journal and then went on to write a book with Pausch.

“(Randy) was the most alive person in the room,” Zaslow said.

The speech was sponsored by the Mortar Board Society and the Honors Program.

“We got in touch with Jeffrey Zaslow in the fall of 2008,” said Mike Martinchek, a member of the Mortar Board Society and a Petoskey senior.

Sara Yoder, the president of the Mortar Board Society, said she is hoping Zaslow’s speech will get faculty here to mimic it.

“We wanted to generate a spark for getting a last lecture series going for faculty at CMU,” the Clio senior said.

Pausch told Zaslow his stories by talking to him through an ear piece as he went on his hour long bike rides he took for exercise, Zaslow said. Zaslow would sit on the other end with his laptop typing up ideas and stories to use for the book.

“Writing the last chapter was the hardest thing we had to do,” Zaslow said.

As the story of Randy’s life unfolded audience members couldn’t help but shed some tears.

“I thought the lecture was really impressive,” said Clinton Township sophomore Stephanie Jaczkowski. “I’ve had friends with cancer and I don’t even know how my life would have been without them.”

university@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Jessica Kloeckner

Leave a Reply

Central Michigan Life encourages those who wish to leave comments, questions or feedback to do so here. Any posts with profanity, excessive defamation or other questionable language are subject to removal at the discretion of CM Life. Direct all questions regarding this policy to the Editor in Chief.

Follow Us

Advertise Here
Advertise Here

Facebook

What We're Reading

Philadelphia Inquirer

College students arrested for not paying tip

Brian Manzullo: Headline says it all. "You can't give us terrible, terrible service and expect a tip."  
TechCrunch

Paul Carr Debates Jeff Jarvis About So-Called Citizen Journalists

Brian Manzullo: A debate on citizen journalism after the coverage from Fort Hood. Real good listen.  
The New York Times

Prosecutors Turn Tables on Student Journalists - NYTimes.com

David Veselenak: A class that has real-world implications is facing real-world problems. Lawyers for a man convicted from the work of the Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University are asking for the syllabus, grades and e-mail messages between the students.  

See more recommended links!

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Comments
  • Tags
  • Subscribe

Text Alerts

Phone number

Carrier

*Standard text messaging rates may apply from your carrier*