"I've decided I'm going to die in the classroom. It might be a little unsettling to the class right there, but if I can time it right, do it early enough in the class, they'll be glad to be let out."
This is how Professor Thomas Hughes responded to questions about his retirement in his "Last Lecture." Much to the satisfaction of his students, Hughes plans to continue his streak of 30 consecutive one-year teaching contracts for USC. He was participating in the "Last Lecture" program here at USC, which requests that certain professors nominated by students give a formal lecture as though it was the last one they would ever give. The program aims to connect faculty with students in a unique and more personal way by giving professors the opportunity to speak on any topic of their choice.
Hughes' popularity could be seen by the crowd of students which rushed into the historic Gressette Room of Harper College in the minutes before his lecture began. Many greeted him with enthusiasm while others chatted in anticipation. Morgan Burman, a third-year finance and global supply chain and operations management student, explained that her experience in Hughes' business law course is what drew her to the lecture series.
"He would always engage us in these really cool arguments, and he would take a poll of the room and see what we all thought about the situation so that was really fun," she said.
The School of Accounting lecturer has won seven Mortar Board awards, been recognized by the Princeton Review and named an Elliot Davis Fellow. He was first nominated for this series in 2006 but decided that it was worth it to participate again.
"I think that part of being in a community is participation," Hughes said.
He said that in this lecture he wanted to look back on his past in the hope that he can understand where he is now. His talk focused on what has shaped him as a person, including his childhood as a devoted baseball fan and his young adult appreciation for the literary songwriting of Bob Dylan. He noted that experiences like these and others were just as important to him as his many awards.
Hughes expressed his passion for life and for teaching.
"I mentioned during the talk is that I'm certainly eligible to retire and at some point, financially you're foolish not to retire and I don't care because I like what I do," he said.