Editor's note: This event was postponed because of weather conditions on Oct. 27. It has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, November 16.

Jeff Blacklock, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Learning, will deliver the next “Last Lecture,” part of a series begun at MSU Texas in 2017. The lecture, titled “Your Most Excellent Endeavor,” will be at 7 p.m. Monday, November 16, in the Legacy Multipurpose Room. Participants will be required to wear a face covering (over nose and mouth) and will complete a COVID prescreening via the MSU Safety App at check-in for the event.

Blacklock received his Ed.D. in Educational Administration from the University of North Texas in Denton, and M.Ed. in Elementary Education and B.S. in Biology from Midwestern State University. He began his teaching career in 1986 at Alamo Elementary School in the Wichita Falls Independent School District. After other teaching positions in the WFISD, he came to MSU Texas in 2006. His research interests include professional learning communities, teacher and college education, and educational leadership. Blacklock has presented at local, state, national, and international meetings, and he has taught and has been an administrator in the P-12 and university settings for 35 years.

Outside the classroom, this will be one of Blacklock’s last public lectures at MSU Texas. He has announced his retirement in May 2021. For his last lecture, he will remind the audience that all are on a voyage through life as teachers and learners, making memories through senses and knitting those memories with hopes, dreams, and desires into a shield that will protect through the “excellent endeavor.”

In 2007, Carnegie Mellon University Professor Randy Pausch delivered a lecture that was truly his last – he died less than a year later of pancreatic cancer. In his talk, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” he discussed how to find good in others, overcome obstacles, and live generously. His lecture inspired the 2008 New York Times bestselling book, The Last Lecture. Pausch’s story inspired institutions across the country to have “last lectures,” where professors speak about what matters to them as if it were truly their last lecture.

Speakers are selected by student and faculty ballots. Associate Professor of Political Science Jeremy Duff presented the inaugural Last Lecture. Associate Professor of English Peter Fields, Professor of Exercise Physiology Frank Wyatt, Professor of Computer Science Richard Simpson, Assistant Professor of Nursing Stephanie Baker, and Theatre Chair Eric Koger have also delivered last lectures.

Admission is free. For more information contact housing@msutexas.edu or 940-397-4217. Or tune in virtually on Instagram Live @MSUTexasHousing if you so choose to enjoy the program from home.