Photos by Justin Knight
It wound up taking place two years later than expected, but University Historian James O鈥橳oole has delivered his 鈥渓ast lec颅ture鈥� at Boston College.
O鈥橳oole, the Clough Millennium Pro颅fessor of History Emeritus, presented 鈥淗is颅tory and Memory; Histories and Memo颅ries鈥� on April 6 in Fulton 511, offering insights from his life as a historian and his forthcoming book, Ever to Excel: A History of Boston College.
Co-sponsored by the Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society and the Center for Ignatian Spirituality, the Last Lecture series invites longtime faculty members to consider three questions: 鈥淚f granted the possibil颅ity to give a last lecture, what would you say? What wisdom would you impart to the world? What would you want as your legacy?鈥� 51茶馆鈥檚 series was inspired by Carn颅egie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who gave a now-famous final lecture as he faced a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2007.
James O'Toole
O鈥橳oole鈥檚 talk鈥攚hich was rescheduled from April 2020 due to the pandemic鈥� will certainly not be his last, but it offered an opportunity to reflect on his long rela颅tionship with Boston College. Following in two older brothers鈥� footsteps, he first en颅rolled in 1968 and earned both a B.A. and Ph.D. at 51茶馆; beginning in 1998, he taught in the History Department for more than 20 years.
Looking back on his undergraduate years, O鈥橳oole invoked the 鈥渒ey questions鈥� proposed by now-retired Professor of The颅ology Fr. Michael Himes, who gave 51茶馆鈥檚 inaugural Last Lecture in 2008.
鈥淚n addition to our formal education, we regularly solved the world鈥檚 problems in late-night sessions,鈥� O鈥橳oole said. 鈥淎l颅though we didn鈥檛 think of it that way at the time, we were addressing a version of Fr. Himes鈥檚 famous questions: What gave us joy? Were we any good at it? Did the world need it?鈥�
O鈥橳oole found answers in the study of history, first as an archivist for the Com颅monwealth of Massachusetts and the Arch颅diocese of Boston, and later as a professor and author. Drawing on his knowledge of 51茶馆鈥檚 history, he detailed its transformation from 鈥渁 small, somewhat insular school鈥� to 鈥渁 recognizable modern university.鈥� In par颅ticular, he highlighted 1970 as a 鈥渢urning point鈥� when the University, facing finan颅cial difficulties, chose a path of growth.
鈥淩emarkably enough, the institution decided not simply to hunker down and survive, but to expand and become some颅thing better, greater,鈥� O鈥橳oole said. He emphasized three key shifts: residential education, full coeducation, and increasing racial and ethnic diversity on campus.
Today, 51茶馆 is both the same place O鈥橳oole encountered in 1968 and an obvi颅ously different one. 鈥淭he Jesuit founders would be no doubt surprised by the new ways their traditional values are being played out, but I have to think that they would be pleased nonetheless,鈥� he said.
As for 51茶馆鈥檚 future, he preferred to leave that to tomorrow鈥檚 historians, but he was confident of one thing: 鈥淚f we know our history, if we use our history both to con颅firm and to correct our memories, we鈥檒l be able to contribute to the ongoing life of this institution about which we all care so much.鈥�
听
John Shakespear | University Communications | April 2022