Although biology lecturer Eric Mann is usually consumed with his subject matter, proteins and nucleotides were absent from his ideal last lecture.
Mann, the recipient of the seventh annual Golden Apple Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, mixed humor and seriousness last night to move a crowd of nearly 400 to their feet for a standing ovation.
In his lecture, titled "The Point," Mann reminded students to step back from their lives inside the classroom and keep in mind what really matters in life.
"Most of you are going to go on to MDs, Ph.D.s, MBAs," Mann said. "I think you're going to find that that's not going to be enough.
"Are you able to touch people?," Mann asked the audience as he held the hand of a student he had brought up on stage. "That is the point."
Mann opened the lecture joking about the string of bad luck he encountered when he first came to Ann Arbor from the University of California at Davis in 1991.
On a more serious note, he said that breaking his arm and seeing his mother develop Alzheimer's disease brought him to grand realizations.
"I no longer took my body or my mind for granted," Mann said. "These are very precious commodities that we often take for granted."
After talking about "four archetypical students," Mann's lecture became more serious when he read passages from the Bible to illustrate the point that the "confused student" has existed throughout all of history.
"I don't think you should expect your answer about whether you should go to medical school or grad school to be any more than that," Mann said after telling a Bible story in which a prophet sits through earthquakes and volcanoes only to receive a sign from God in the form of a whisper.
"The really important things happen quietly," Mann Said
LSA senior Anya Rose said the lecture left her "speechless."
"I think it's somewhat important for people here to remember his message because we tend to get lost in the academic stuff and forget the point," Rose said.
LSA junior Rob Cohen called the lecture "incredible."
"He showed not so much how he cared about the subject matter but how he cares about the people he teaches," Cohen said. "He teaches not just to fulfill himself but more to reach out to his students."
LSA senior Rachel Rabkin, co-chair of Students Honoring Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching, the group that sifted through student ballots to choose Mann for the award, said this lecture was "refreshingly different" from past lectures.
"This was more of a lecture on his personal experiences as opposed to his academic insight," Rabkin said.
Nursing Prof. Carol Boyd, last year's Golden Apple recipient, said she can see why students love Mann's lectures.
"He did a brilliant job tying together images of the visceral with ideas of the spirit," Boyd said.
Mann said the lecture felt remarkably like a normal lecture, in that he got nervous beforehand.
"I don't think winning the award has sunk in yet," Mann said. "I'm like a zebra that's been taken down by a lion. I'm still stunned."
ADDIE SMITH/Daily
Biology lecturer Eric Mann gives his speech, "The Point," in Rackham Auditorium last night. Mann received the Golden Apple Award for his teaching skills.