The Academic Affairs Board strives to improve the quality of education at UCSB by working with students and faculty.

This year the board hosted the inaugural edition of the Last Lecture Series, which it hopes will become an annual event. The series was inspired by a lecture delivered by Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pauch when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer entitled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”

Dr. Alan Fridlund

For this year’s event a UCSB professor was invited to give a pseudo-last lecture. Students chose popular Introduction to Psychology professor Alan Fridlund to deliver the lecture. Fridlund was quoted in the Daily Nexus where he talked about the intent of his lecture, “I wrote the talk for my son as well as the students at UCSB,” Fridlund said. “The talk made me contemplate my life in the context of my upcoming death, and it made me think about what I might share to guide the students, to ease their pains and to help them make a better world than our generation has given them.” The lecture can be seen in its entirety by clicking here.