Lecturer of Music David Coleman and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Provost Vincent Manno yesterday afternoon delivered their "last lectures," sharing their advice on living life to the fullest with a roomful of students, most of whom were graduating seniors.
The Senior Class Council−sponsored event in the Cabot Intercultural Center was the third−annual "Last Lecture" at Tufts, following the model of the late Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Computer Science Randy Pausch.
Pausch, upon being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, delivered a final lecture about the fulfillment of his childhood dreams that was intended to be an enduring message for his students, colleagues and especially his children.
Tufts along with many other universities now offers professors a similar chance to share their most personal and esteemed reflections with students and colleagues as if the lecture would be their very last.
Coleman and Manno responded with autobiographical anecdotes offering advice on how to find success and happiness.
For Coleman, director of Tufts Third Day Gospel Choir, music was a means of communicating his insights to the audience. He began his lecture by confessing that he would speak from the side of his alter ego, "Funky Man," whom he described as someone who preaches, sings and talks about life.
In line with this, Coleman played his keyboard on several occasions to express what he called his "most profound thoughts."
Promoting the idea of carpe diem, Coleman sang a part of "No Day But Today," a song from the musical "Rent," and concluded his talk with an original composition titled "All We Are."
"We are all in control of choosing how we live," Coleman sang. "One day soon, it just may be too late."
Coleman emphasized that service to others contributes an undeniable value to our daily lives, adding that he often emulates his favorite superhero to inspire himself to act selflessly and find contentment by anonymously serving others.
"The importance of service was revealed to me through Superman," Coleman said while unbuttoning his dress shirt to expose a T−shirt bearing the Superman symbol.
"[My Superman shirt] is a reminder to ask myself, ‘David, what did I do today to help someone else?'" Coleman said. "Superman's real gift was not his powers, but how he used those powers."
Coleman believes he has already experienced the best that life has to offer by discovering and harnessing passion in his life, especially through his love for his family and music.
"The source of passion … must be magic," Coleman said. "The dictionary definition of magic is ‘a quality that makes something seem removed from everyday life and is meant to delight.' All successes have passion in common. If someone has passion for something, they may very well succeed in it."
Coleman emphasized that magic is the essential component not only to success but to satisfaction with life. He added that individuals who receive and reciprocate unconditional love and thoughtfulness experience fully the gifts of magic.
As he finished his lecture, Coleman performed on the keyboard as the entire auditorium snapped its fingers to the beat.
Manno took a different approach from Coleman's musical performance. Drawing from his classroom experience, he used a PowerPoint presentation, complete with photos from his childhood and adolescence, to humorously share his thoughts with the audience.
Manno, like Coleman, highlighted the importance of being assertive to discover the truly significant things in life in all of one's endeavors.
"I learned from Caesar, if you want to accomplish something, be the one to make the agenda," Manno said.
He shared how he took control of his life and took advantage of the freedom he was given as a kid in New York City by riding the subway anywhere he wanted for little cost.
While attending Columbia University and later Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Manno found that mentors, friends and luck best facilitate achievement in life. He said, however, that he learned his greatest lessons after arriving at Tufts.
"What I learned at Tufts: I learned how to learn," Manno said. "I realized that when you have to teach something, you really learn for the first time. I learned to be adaptable."
As an engineering professor, he has observed how to make the academic experience as meaningful as possible.
"Enjoy hard work, understand people and understand academic subjects," Manno said. "Understand how people and things interact with [other people and academic subjects], and then you may understand yourself."
Manno ended his last lecture with words from Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" (1990) to articulate that everyone can accomplish great things with initiative and a step in the right direction — like graduating college.
"This is a special class for me — Class of 2010," Manno said. "There are classes, and then there are classes, and you are one of those."
Manno and Coleman were chosen to deliver this year's last lecture after seniors were given the chance over the past few weeks to nominate two professors for the honor of delivering parting words to the graduating class.
