UA Journalism Professor Selected for 2016 Last Lecture Award

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — At age 50 and in fairly good health, Dr. Chris Roberts, a University of Alabama associate professor of journalism, isn’t planning on putting his final affairs in order anytime soon.

But if his demise – or retirement – was impending, he knows the last lecture he would give to his students.

And as the recently announced 2016 recipient of the Last Lecture Award, Roberts will get a chance to deliver that lecture,  titled “MAMA CALLED: Lessons Learned by Leaving Alabama and Coming Home Again,” April 20 at 7 p.m. in room 159 Russell Hall. A reception will follow.

“About 30 years ago, I was a student here,” Roberts said. “There are some lessons back then that I wished I had known. … My last lecture is about giving back to students, who are a whole lot like I was. It’s about lessons learned.”

The Last Lecture Series was founded in 2007 and is hosted by UA’s Graduate School. It gives current students, faculty, staff and the public an opportunity to hear faculty speak on what their parting words would be if it were their last day at the Capstone. A cash reward is also given to the award recipient.

Roberts was one of more than 100 professors nominated for the award by UA students. After the pool was narrowed to 15 faculty members, a committee of graduate and undergraduate students interviewed the finalists, their students and researched them on sites like RateMyProfessors.com. They then narrowed the pool to five semifinalists who were even more thoroughly scrutinized.

The program’s director, Dr. Andrew Goodliffe, assistant dean of UA’s Graduate School and associate professor of geophysics, said students had a difficult time choosing a winner from the semifinalists, but Roberts stood out.

“This is tough because these are all really amazing people, and every one of them would give an amazing last lecture,” Goodliffe said. “When it came down to it, they really liked what Chris Roberts was about and selected him.

“I think he is going to do an absolute wonderful job. One of the things that really appeals to me is – based on his conversation with students – he’s going to take the Last Lecture Series back to its roots. Years ago, a faculty member who was dying of cancer gave a lecture, his last lecture. He told students, ‘this is what’s important.’ Chris is taking it back to that.”

Roberts said he’s honored to be the recipient of any award, but this one even more so because students nominated and selected who would win.

Roberts earned his bachelor’s and master’s at UA in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He received his doctorate at the University of South Carolina in 2007.

Prior to his career in higher education, he worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers in Alabama and South Carolina.

He helped revise the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics in 2014.

The College of Communication & Information Sciences is among the largest and most prestigious communication colleges in the nation. Graduating more than 17,000 students, C&IS is consistently ranked among the top 10 communication and information programs in size, in number of doctoral degrees awarded and in many of its research programs. C&IS has five Pulitzer Prize-winning faculty members. The College’s doctoral program is ranked 7th in the nation among programs of its kind. C&IS’s forensics council has garnered 20 national championships.