"Last" Lecture Series '09

This year, the Barbara Cook Chapter of Mortar Board at Purdue is hoping to create a lecture series that will create a bond among Purdue students, faculty, administration, and staff. If you are not already aware, Mortar Board is a National College Senior Honor Society founded upon the three pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service. We are hoping to implement this lecture to engage our campus on the ideal of scholarship.

The "Last" Lecture Series is to be a number of lectures given by distinguished Purdue faculty, administrators, and staff. The premise of the lecture is simple: an accomplished individual is asked "if you were to have one last chance to speak to a group, what would your message be?" The intention is that a hypothetical "Last" Lecture will evoke inspirational, engaging, and entertaining messages from the most respected members of our Purdue community. Really, there are no bounds to the message one could conveyÑit is up to the lecturer to choose a theme they hold in high priority or one that is dear to their heart.

As mentioned earlier, our underlying goal of coordinating this series is to foster a stronger relationship between Purdue faculty, administrators, staff, and Purdue students. We have noticed that many students come to Purdue, earn their degree, and leave; completely disregarding the once-in-a-lifetime caliber of opportunities they have at Purdue. We find this to be a shame. At Purdue, we are surrounded by the most thoughtful, talented, and successful individuals we will ever have the opportunity to learn from, yet many students do not realize this or take advantage of this opportunity. Hopefully through the development of "Last"" Lecture Series, students and members of the community will be able to connect to some of these individuals and, at the same time, connect to our university.

The details of each event will be discussed with the speaker. We are hoping that each individual will be able to put his/her own "spin" on this program, and in order to do so we are leaving as much of the decision making in the individual's hands as possible. Length, location, date, and invited guests are all specifics we plan on discussing with the lecturer. We feel it will be easiest to allow all interested individuals to have the opportunity to speak, allowing us to work around their schedules and preferences to present an event that works for them.

Any questions, suggestions, comments, or concerns can be sent to Sam Killermann, Mortar Board president, at killer@purdue.edu. Feedback is greatly appreciated as we develop a successful, long-lasting program.

Past Speakers

We asked Purdue University Provost Dr. Randy Woodson what message he would deliver to a group if he knew it would be his last opportunity to do so. Then, we told him we'd give him a group.

Dr. Woodson used inspirational, entertaining, and engaging words when he spoke about what meant the most to him. Dr. Woodson spoke as a person, and not as the Provost.

"Dr. Woodson is one of the funniest, engagingest speakers I have ever seen. Missing this would be like missing your own birthday (the first one)." --Sam Killermann

We want to thank all those who made this lecture such a success!