The 2007 Final Lecture

 The "Final Lecture"

The Final Lecture was an annual event for the Honors Program at Mercy College of Detroit in the 1980's.  Honors students selected a speaker from the faculty every year, and the professor was asked to imagine that "This is your last chance to speak to your students. What is the most important thing you have to say to them?"  As the tradition grew, Final Lectures took many different forms. One year a professor focused on the wisdom she had found in Italian poetry, which she read to the students—in Italian; another spoke of the Holocaust of World War II and the special obligations of gifted students; yet another brought in all the cartoons he had collected over the years to cheer and encourage students.  The Final Lecture always demanded that the speaker be creative and contemplate the meaning of life--something professors ask students to do all the time, though oftentimes teachers forget how difficult it is to do this with depth and sincerity.  The Honors Program at the University of Detroit Mercy is proud to have  re-inaugurated the Final Lecture as a part of its annual induction ceremony.  Every year the speaker of the Final Lecture is selected by the general membership of the Program.

The "Final Lecture" of Gerald F. Cavanagh, S. J.,
Professor of Management

UDM Honors Program Induction Ceremony and Dinner
October 7, 2007

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