Three student-nominated professors will give their “last lectures” this week and next as part of the 14th annual Last Lecture Series sponsored by ASU Student Engagement.

The contributing faculty members will choose a topic and give a lecture as if it were their last, said Ben Braksick, activities advisor for Tempe campus Student Engagement.

“The faculty has the opportunity to give a lecture as if it were the last time to address an audience,” Braksick said. “Sometimes it’s a combination of all their research, or it could be a topic that they are just interested in.”

Students were encouraged to nominate professors who have made an impact on or inspired them, Braksick said.

“The common theme from the nominations was that [nominated faculty] are professors that go out of their way to help students,” he said. “[They] have been available and students frequently wrote about how [the professors] inspired them.”

The first lecture, scheduled for Thursday, will feature John Lynch, a professor at Barrett, The Honors College. His lecture, “Wolves and Creationists and Nietzche, Oh My!” will feature his personal journey and discuss the importance of taking advantage of opportunities, Braksick said.

Making the most of opportunities is something Lynch speaks highly of, said Malvika Sinha, a global studies sophomore and student of Lynch’s.

Sinha, who nominated Lynch, said he made her Human Event class interesting and meaningful, despite the high level of difficulty.

“He’s really committed, and he makes class really enjoyable and asks really thoughtful questions,” Sinha said. “He’s always willing to help students out, and that always encouraged me.”

The second lecturer, Jane Maienschein, a life sciences professor, is also someone whose willingness to aid students and form lasting relationships with them contributed to her nomination, said biology and society senior Cera Lawrence, who nominated Maienschein.

“[Maienschein] has been inspirational to me in the course of my education,” Lawrence said. “She really likes talking to undergraduates and helping them work out undergraduate research projects and undergraduate theses, and that was really motivating for me.”

Maienschein’s lecture, “Will Stem Cells Make us Smarter, or Live Longer, or What?” on April 27, will focus on the different sides of stem-cell research and what is currently happening in the field, Maienschein said.

“There are so many rumors, and there’s so much hype about [stem-cell research],” she said. “It has gotten polarized with so many extremes that we lose track of the reality.”

Choosing stem-cell research as her last lecture topic was simple, Maienschein said, because it is something she’s interested in and because it applies to everyone.

“Almost everybody has some kind of view about stem-cell research, and most of those people don’t have a very clear reason why,” she said. “It’s important that we talk together about why we think what we think.”

The final address in the Last Lecture Series will be by Stephanie deLuse, an interdisciplinary studies professor, titled “Problems, Paradoxes and Pleasures: Life Lessons Learned from Teaching,” on April 30.

The lecture will be from the heart, deLuse said, and not as academically focused as the other lectures may be. Her speech will encompass what she has learned in a school setting as a student and a professional, she said.

“I wanted to look across my time in the educational arena and figure out ‘What did I really get from it?’” deLuse said. “So I’m looking back across my time in school as a student and as a teacher and thinking about ‘What are the life lessons I’ve learned?’”

The Last Lecture Series is free and open to the public. Each lecture will be preceded by a reception at 7 p.m. and begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Pima room at the Memorial Union in Tempe.

Reach the reporter at abigail.gilmore@asu.edu.