University Communications and Marketing
MSUB Honors Club presents 'Last Lecture' by poet Haaland
March 12, 2012
Contacts:
MSUB Honors Club, MSUB.Honors@gmail.com
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269
Free presentation set for Thursday, March 15
MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — The Montana State University Billings Honors Club will sponsor a “Last Lecture” by noted poet and English faculty member Tami Haaland on Thursday, March 15. The free presentation, “Past into Future: A Few Notes for the Journey,” will be at 7 p.m. in Room 148 of the Library building. The public is invited to attend.
The “Last Lecture” concept has been in existence for generations at college campuses across America and is intended to showcase faculty who are asked to present a topic they would give if asked to provide their final lecture to their students. It is in this spirit that the Honors Club sponsors the first of what is hoped to be an annual fixture, the MSU Billings Last Lecture.
The “Last Lecture” idea became famous at Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 18, 2007, by Randy Pausch, and focused on “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Pausch, a professor at that university, had received news that his cancer was terminal a month prior to the presentation. His lecture, reprised on the Oprah Winfrey Show, went viral on YouTube and has been used as an inspirational talk thousands of times.
The MSU Billings Honors Student Advisory Council, comprised of the seven students who plan programming for the Honors Club, selected Haaland to give the university’s “Last Lecture” this year. Not only is she a well-known and appreciated instructor, but also an accomplished poet. Haaland is a recipient of an Artists’ Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council and her second book of poetry, “When We Wake in the Night,” will be available in June from Wordtech Editions. Haaland will share poetry and images as she discusses how memory feeds imagination and examines life-lessons she learned from her family.
For more information, contact Patricia Hampton, Honors Club President, at MSUB.Honors@gmail.com.
PHOTO ABOVE: Tami Haaland