Professor Shan Sundar Balasubramaniam, senior faculty of the Computer Science department, who is better known as Shan B, gave his last lecture on September 9, to a packed audience of students and faculty. The last lecture is a hypothetical talk given by academicians on what wisdom would they like to impart to their students if it were their last lecture. This concept was initiated by Randy Pausch, a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University who delivered his final lecture in September 2007, after he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. In BITS, these lectures have been delivered from a hypothetical standpoint by many professors, including Prof. Ashoke K Sarkar and Prof. Surekha Bhanot, in the past. However, none had been as highly anticipated and attended as this one, as Professor Shan B had announced that he was going to leave BITS, and this would genuinely be his last lecture on campus.

He began his lecture with a segment titled “Meander”, in which he discussed his dilemma in deciding what to speak about. He zeroed in on two major themes, the first about his teaching philosophies and the second discussing comments of ex-students gathered through social media. While discussing the first, he narrated his experiences of teaching at BITS, accompanied by a set of slides akin to the ones he has used in CS lectures, with Notes, Examples and Exercises. He explained his views on pedagogy by making analogies to various computer science topics, like Soundness and Completeness. The latter part of his talk saw him discuss various messages sent to him by ex-students. Through those comments, he mapped out his experiences at BITS, especially with respect to his teaching philosophy.

For an institute with a no attendance policy, it was ironic that the lecture hall was well beyond its capacity, ten minutes before the lecture was slated to begin. Students across branches and disciplines came to listen to the professor’s last lecture, a testimony to the reputation of his skills and his contribution to the university. The audience was thoroughly engaged throughout as he blended his experiences in teaching with various concepts that he has taught over the years. He ended his presentation with an anecdote regarding Michael Jordan, and his “love for the game” and urged the audience to always let their “love for the game” drive their actions. The session concluded with a brief question and answer session. The entire lecture can be found on YouTube.