Physics Professor Robert Garvey to Give ‘Last Lecture’

WORCESTER, Mass. – Robert H. Garvey, associate professor of physics and director of the First-Year Program for the past three years, will give a talk as part of the "Last Lecture" series on Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Funded by the Lilly Endowment Vocation Initiative, the pretext of the lecture is that the speaker is about to retire and has been asked to sum up in a final lecture to students what they believe has made the work they’ve dedicated themselves to meaningful and worthwhile. Given a "last" chance, what’s worth saying? What wisdom would be most important to pass on? What challenges have to go unfulfilled?

A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1977, Garvey has developed courses for non-science majors as well as a range of courses for physics majors. He has conducted research in theoretical atomic physics, including energy levels of rare-earth ions in crystals; yield spectra of atmospheric gases; and philosophical implications of technology.

In addition to his classroom and course development endeavors on behalf of Holy Cross students, Garvey has been a dedicated participant in the College’s science programs developed in conjunction with the Worcester Public Schools. He has taught in the Youth Exploring Science program and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Science Workshop for WPS science and math teachers. Garvey has co-developed a weather program for 400 sixth-grade students that he team-teaches each May. Garvey received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.

The First-Year Program helps first-year students explore the connections between living and learning - between what happens inside the classroom and the world outside the classroom. It brings together first-year students, who live in the same residence hall, and a group of distinguished teachers from a variety of different disciplines.

In 2000, Garvey was one of only four U.S. Professors of the Year to be named by the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement and Support of Education. He was recognized for his extraordinary dedication to teaching, commitment to students and innovative instructional methods.

The lecture is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.