Randy Pausch
Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", at CMU on September 18, 2007. He gave an abridged version of his speech on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in October 2007. The talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", with a topic such as "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, "Make me earn it", someone in the audience shouted back, "You did!"
Cornel West
In 2011, West participated in a "Poverty Tour" with Tavis Smiley, his co-host on the Public Radio International program "Smiley & West". The tour became a two-part special on their radio program as well as a five-night special on the PBS television program "Tavis Smiley". They recounted their experience on the tour in their 2012 bestselling book "The Rich and the Rest of Us". The stated aim of the tour was to highlight the plight of the impoverished population of the United States prior to the 2012 presidential election, whose candidates West and Smiley stated had ignored the plight of the poor.In 2013, West referred to Obama's speech at the 50th anniversary celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech as contradictory and as "pretty words that hide ugly deeds." West then goes on to state, "Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Barack Obama's got drones. Martin Luther King Jr. had prophetic missions. Barack Obama's got deadly missiles that he’s ready to use."