The character arc of Randy Pausch
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 23 October 1960 in Baltimore, raised in Columbia, Maryland. Between then and his death sit a Brown degree, a Carnegie Mellon doctorate, nine years teaching at Virginia, sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts, a professorship at Carnegie Mellon, the Entertainment Technology Center he co-founded, the Alice software project he started, a pancreatic cancer diagnosis in September 2006, a prognosis of three to six months of good health in August 2007, one lecture on 18 September 2007, a bestselling book, testimony before the Senate, and ten months of using the attention. The line below draws the whole story.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Randy Pausch?
Three to six months left. So he booked a lecture theatre.
He grew up in Columbia, Maryland, took his computer science degree at Brown in May 1982 and his doctorate at Carnegie Mellon in August 1988, working briefly at Xerox PARC and Adobe while he finished it. He taught at the University of Virginia from 1988 to 1997, and in 1995 took sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and at Electronic Arts, which mattered: he wanted to build the thing children think computers are for.
In 1997 he went back to Carnegie Mellon as a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design. In 1998 he co-founded the Entertainment Technology Center with Donald Marinelli and started the Building Virtual Worlds course, which he taught for ten years. He founded the Alice software project, which teaches programming by letting people make animations. He wrote or co-wrote five books and over seventy articles, and in 2007 took two awards from the ACM for computing education.
In September 2006 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In August 2007 he was told to expect three to six months of good health. He moved his family to Chesapeake, Virginia, to be near his wife Jai family.
There is a lecture series at Carnegie Mellon where a senior academic is asked to give a hypothetical final talk: what wisdom would you try to impart if you knew it was your last chance? For him it was not hypothetical. He gave it on 18 September 2007, titled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, to over 400 colleagues and students who stood and applauded before he had said anything. He waved them down and said make me earn it, and somebody shouted back that he already had. Then he did push-ups on stage and talked, cheerfully, about football, Imagineering, tenure, brick walls and his children. He noted that the series had just been renamed Journeys and said he had finally nailed the venue and they renamed it.
The video went everywhere. He gave a shortened version on Oprah in October, repeated the lecture at Virginia in November to 850 people, and co-wrote a book of the same name that became a New York Times bestseller. In March 2008 he testified before a Senate subcommittee for more federal funding for pancreatic cancer research. A devoted Star Trek fan, he was invited by J. J. Abrams to film a scene, delivered one line and gave the paycheque to charity. In May 2008 he made a surprise return to Carnegie Mellon to speak at commencement, and Time listed him among the hundred most influential people in the world. He died at home on 25 July 2008, survived by Jai and their three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.
The moments
Randy Pausch's timeline.
The 1960s
Born in Baltimore
Everyday. Baltimore, then Columbia.
The 1980s
Brown, computer science
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The first degree.
A doctorate at Carnegie Mellon
Milestone, and it changed his direction. PARC and Adobe while he was still a student.
Teaching at Virginia
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Nine years, and he was good at it.
The 1990s
A sabbatical at Disney
Milestone, and it changed everything. A childhood dream, filed as academic leave.
Back to Carnegie Mellon
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Three disciplines in one job title, which was the point.
Building Virtual Worlds
Milestone, and it changed everything. A centre, a course and a piece of software that taught children to program.
The 2000s
Pancreatic cancer
Setback, and it changed everything. September 2006, and everything changed.
Three to six months
Setback, and it changed everything. A number, and then a decision about what to do with it.
Go quietly, or give the lecture
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: stand up and teach, taken, or give the time to the children. The lecture became a bestselling book, Senate testimony on research funding, and a message his children could keep.
The last lecture
Milestone, and it changed everything. Push-ups on stage, from a man given six months.
It goes everywhere
Milestone, and it changed everything. A university lecture, watched by the whole world.
Again, at Virginia
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Back where he had taught for nine years.
Testimony to the Senate
Milestone, and it changed everything. He spent the attention on the disease rather than on himself.
The Last Lecture, the book
Milestone, and it changed everything. The talk, written down, and it sold everywhere.
A line in Star Trek
Milestone. One line, and he gave the money away.
A surprise at commencement
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Nine months past the prognosis, and back on the stage.
He dies at home
Setback, and it changed everything. At home, with his family, at forty seven.
The footbridge at Carnegie Mellon carries his name and joins the computer science building to the arts centre, which is what he spent his career doing. What he set moving is a lecture that people still send to each other seventeen years later, usually to someone who has just been told something terrible, because it turns out he was not talking about dying at all.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His last ten months were the ones everybody remembers, and he chose exactly what to do with them. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Randy Pausch: frequently asked questions
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What is named after Randy Pausch?
Where does this timeline of Randy Pausch's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Randy Pausch, English Wikipedia biography, a Good Article.
- Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, his lecture of 18 September 2007 at Carnegie Mellon.
- The Last Lecture, his book, a New York Times bestseller.
- His testimony to the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, 13 March 2008.
- Dream New Dreams: Reimagining My Life After Loss, by Jai Pausch, 2012.