Tales of a star Hollywood stuntman pg. 44 PROFILE
RESEARCH On the scent of the kudzu bug pg. 18
Burying the Iron Bowl hatchet pg. 26 ATHLETICS
WINTER 2013
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Hidden away, just outside of Auburn University and the world-class golf courses at RTJ Grand National, the community of National Village offers everything you’ll need for everyday living. Reside in award-winning craftsman-style cottages, explore miles of picturesque nature trails and enjoy multiple fishing and boating options on our lakes. Dive into the new resort pools and serve up some fun at the new tennis and pickle ball complex. Golfers will love the three courses at Grand National on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
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aotourism.com | info@aotourism.com 334.887.8747 7/2/2012 9:37:01 AM
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Autumn lights Is there anything more magical on an autumn Saturday afternoon than relaxing with 90,000 of your closest friends at Jordan-Hare Stadium? Photographer Jeff Etheridge caught this orange-bright play of sunshine and twilight shadow during a recent game.
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W I N T E R
2 0 1 3
From the Editor
Out of many, one SUZANNE JOHNSON Editor, Auburn Magazine
“But it isn’t my story,” you might say. “It’s Harold Franklin’s story.” It is, and yet it’s more. Auburn’s integration isn’t simply the story of Franklin, a 31-year-old veteran with a wife and a baby on the way, or how he walked across campus escorted by security to register for classes as Auburn’s first African-American student, or how he lived alone, isolated. Franklin, who went on to enjoy a successful career in higher education, has become for Auburn an important icon of a social and cultural change that was many years in the making, and that would not be complete for many to come—if it is yet complete. His story is important, and so is yours. So write down your thoughts and mail or email them to the magazine. I won’t even make you look up the address. Email aubmag@auburn.edu or snail-mail Auburn Magazine, 317 South College Street, Auburn University, AL 36849. Don’t want to write? Turn on a tape recorder or the recorder on your smartphone and send us an oral history. We’ll compile your many voices into one account of what life was like for you in 1964 and whether, 50 years later, you see things differently with the gift of hindsight. Oh, and War Eagle!
AUBURN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1077–8640) is published quarterly; 4X per year; spring, summer, fall, winter, for dues-paying members of the Auburn Alumni Association. Periodicals-class postage paid in Auburn and additional mailing offices. Editorial offices are located in the Auburn Alumni Center, 317 South College St., Auburn University, AL 368495149. Phone 334-844–1164. Fax 334-844–1477. Email: aubmag@auburn.edu. Contents ©2013 by the Auburn Alumni Association, all rights reserved.
LETTERS Auburn Magazine welcomes readers’ comments, but reserves the right to edit letters or to refuse publication of letters judged libelous or distasteful. Space availability may prevent publication of all letters in the magazine, in which case, letters not printed will be available on the alumni association website at the address listed below. No writer is eligible for publication more often than once every two issues. No anonymous letters will be printed. Auburn Magazine is available in alternative formats for persons with disabilities. For information, call 334-844–1164. Auburn Magazine is a benefit of membership in the Auburn Alumni Association and is not available by individual subscription. Back issues may be found online at www.aualum.org/magazine. To join the association, call 334844–2586 or visit our website at www.aualum.org.
POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149.
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Shannon Bryant-Hankes ’84
In 1786, the first coin with the Latin phrase e pluribus unum was struck in New Jersey, echoing the words and sentiment placed on the official seal of the new United States of America. “Out of many, one” has come to mean many things to Americans over the centuries, from its initial intention reflecting multiple states and ideologies joined within a single nation, to the more modern interpretation embodying the U.S. “melting pot” society. Usually, this column of Auburn Magazine is devoted to looking at a specific event in the recent past or near future, or examining a common theme to be found within these pages. I could talk about the growing excitement swirling around Auburn Tigers football this season as Gus Malzahn’s Tigers perform a turnaround for the ages, or about the distinguished group of Auburn alumni who are joining the hallowed ranks of Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Instead, though, I’d like to ask those of you who were around Auburn in 1964 (we won’t remind you how long ago that’s been) to share your stories with us, whether you were here as a student, faculty or staff member, or local resident. Because in the spirit of e pluribus unum, we believe it takes many voices to tell the story of the integration of Auburn University 50 years ago this spring; I’d like to fill our Spring 2014 issue with your voices, joined to tell one story. Tell us where you were. What you thought. How you felt. What you saw, and when, and with whom.
ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Jessica King at 334-844– 2586 or see our media guide at www.aualum.org/magazine.
EDITOR
Suzanne Johnson
suzannejohnson@auburn.edu
ART DIRECTOR
Audrey Matthews ’12 UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff Etheridge EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS
Anna Claire Conrad ’14 Kerry Coppinger ’15 DESIGN ASSISTANT
Regina Roberson ’13 PRESIDENT, AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Jay Gogue ’69 VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Deborah L. Shaw ’84 PRESIDENT, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Bill Stone ’85 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR
Neal Reynolds ’77 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Maria Baugh ’87 John Carvalho ’78 Jon Cole ’88 Christian Flathman ’97 Tom Ford ’67 Kay Fuston ’84 Julie Keith ’90 Mary Lou Foy ’66 Eric Ludgood ’78 Cindy McDaniel ’80 Napo Monasterio ’02 Carol Pappas ’77
Joyce Reynolds Ringer ’59 Allen Vaughan ’75
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Shop with your Auburn Alumni Association this holiday season, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit alumni programs and services. We only recommend the finest Auburn products, from stationery and jewelry to mahogany diploma frames. We have the perfect Auburn gift for you!
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www.aualum.org/shop
Find out more ... To find out more about your membership discounts, contact: 334-844-2960 aualumni@auburn.edu
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This is where spAce explorATion And prAcTicAl reseArch meeT. From developing high-power output storage to launching student-built satellites to evaluating materials under extreme gravitational forces, Auburn researchers are playing a prominent role in NASA’s future endeavors. With a tradition of six graduates serving as astronauts, Auburn’s connection with space exploration continues to evolve.
www.auburn.edu/nAsA
This is Auburn.
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On the cover What says “game day” more than our favorite Tiger? Aubie took time away from his fall schedule to do a popcorn pose for photographer Jeff Etheridge.
Winter 2013 F R O N T 4 From the Editor
Share your stories from 1964 with us. 10 College Street
The university plans a lineup of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of integration at Auburn. Also: Who we are now—statistics from the 2013 freshman class, and the biggest little AU program you don’t know about.
The AU volleyball team, 13-8.
26 Tiger Walk
It’s all about the headsets: an Auburn company keeps the NCAA talking. Also: The alum who helped save the Iron Bowl. B A C K 49 Alumni Center
The benefits of membership, and our winning young alumni.
Queen of the Ag Fair: Essie Crumpton, Ms. Auburn 1947.
16 Research
A box of rain in a campus garden, a blow in the battle against the stench of kudzu bugs, and Vapor Wake helps create a safer world. 20 Roundup
What’s happening in your school or college? Check it out. 22 Concourse
Live from the newsroom, it’s...Auburn communication students, getting hands-on studio experience in a new partnership.
Working for a mission. Community-service groups from the local area are able to man the concession stands during home games at Jordan-Hare Stadium to help raise money for their projects.
F E A T U R E S
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Good Business
Preparing students for the constantly fluctuating business environment they’ll face after graduation is a challenge, but alumnus Raymond Harbert, business dean Bill Hardgrave and a group of AU business grads and faculty are armed and ready. by david mckay wilson photography by jeff etheridge
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Game Day!
Sure, we’re all focused on the 11 guys wearing pads and helmets, but it takes a whole lot more to make a successful Auburn game day. Join us on a tour behind the scenes for a look at a fraction of what’s needed to make it happen, from tickets to turf to tents. by anna claire conrad, kerry coppinger and suzanne johnson photograhy by jeff etheridge
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52 Class Notes 56 In Memoriam 64 The Last Word
After a diplomatic career, James Patterson ’78 (pictured below in the Lillian Gish Theater) recalls actress Lillian Gish, and his work to preserve her memory.
Off the High Dive
More than 20 years after he left the Auburn diving team’s high board, Mike Smith is still jumping headfirst in deep water as one of Hollywood’s most successful stuntmen. by summer austin photography courtesy of dreamworks studios
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www.auburn.edu/samfordcollection
Countless generations of the Auburn Family have come to the oaks at Toomer’s Corner to revel in victory and to sing, “It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger.” Now you can keep a constant reminder of those special moments with the official 2013 Auburn University ornament. The latest addition to the Samford Hall Collection commemorates the Auburn Oaks at Toomer’s Corner in handblown glass. The orb depicts a single tree with orange and blue leaves and was designed and crafted exclusively for Auburn University by Orbix Hot Glass, a family-run studio in Fort Payne, Alabama. THE ALMA MATER On the rolling plains of Dixie ’Neath the sun-kissed sky.
Proudly stands our Alma Mater Banners high.
To thy name we’ll sing thy praise, From hearts that love so true, And pledge to thee our
Loyalty the ages through.
We hail thee, Auburn, and we vow To work for thy just fame,
And hold in memory as we do now Thy cherished name. Hear thy student voices swelling, Echoes strong and clear, Adding laurels to thy fame
Samford Hall Enshrined so dear.
From thy hallowed halls we’ll part, And bid thee sad adieu,
Thy sacred trust we’ll bear with us The ages through.
C O L L E C T I O N We hail thee, Auburn, and we vow, To work for thy just fame,
And hold in memory as we do now
B Y
A U B U R N
Thy cherished name.
U N I V E R S I T Y
— Composed by Bill Wood ’24 Word revision by Emma’ O’Rear Foy, 1960
Samford Hall C O L L E C T I O N
B Y
A U B U R N
U N I V E R S I T Y
Samford Hall C O L L E C T I O N B Y
A U B U R N
U N I V E R S I T Y
Front cover: Samford Hall at dusk Back cover: Auburn’s historic Main Gate featuring the Toomer’s Oaks at the corner of College Street and Magnolia Avenue.
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AuburnMa
Give the Gift of Auburn Iconic images of Auburn make the perfect gift for any member of the Auburn Family. Choose from a variety of campus photos from past to present. Your order can be produced on photographic paper or canvas.
Visit the online store www.auburn.edu/photo/onlinestore to place your order. Echoes Strong and Clear ships within two days. Please allow two to three weeks for delivery of custom images.
Echoes Strong and Clear
Imagine engaging in a mock battle
Comer Hall, attending mandatory Sunda
the University Chapel, typing term paper
typewriter, searching for information in a
or hanging out with friends at your univer
tugboat residence. No? Perhaps you’re
Auburn University then and now, portrayed in photographs
read about global peacekeeping effort
listen to a podcast of that Sunday service
you have to miss it, search for information
while lounging in a hammock in Samford
out with friends on Facebook via your ce
Many of Auburn University’s 270,000
Auburn University then and now, portrayed in photographs
Echoes Strong and Clear
1859 have done some variation of one o
Echoes Strong and Clear is a photo
compilation that shows Auburn University
transformation its earliest days to today. Y
an image that is startlingly similar to anoth hundred years or more before it.
The task of progressing from a small,
church college to become a nationally p
grant institution was not without obstacle
of research and new ways of teaching w
only to be replaced by still newer opport faculty and staff attempted to preserve
college’s original liberal arts program wh
academic environment suitable for prep
the emerging scientific professions. Three
occurred in the 1800s before what was a
known as Auburn actually became Aub
its land-grant designation, in 1960. All the
of the institution steadily grew it from an o of 80 to today’s more than 25,000,
From an inspired idea in 1856 throug
championship celebration in 2011, the st Echoes Strong and Clear will give you a
was like for those who went before, durin time here.
Yes, the images will show that Aubu
changed dramatically, yet they also striv
what has remained constant – the tradit
belief in Auburn that connects all genera Auburn Family.
www.auburn.edu Produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing at Auburn University
Echoes Strong and Clear, the 160-page photographic compilation of Auburn University is available in limited supply at a special discount of $19.95 (Regularly priced $39.95).
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C A M P U S
N E W S
COLLEGE STREET
James Owens, Harold Franklin and Thom Gossom Jr. kick off the university’s extended commemoration of 50 years of integration at Auburn University.
Looking back Throughout the latter half of 2013 and early 2014, Auburn University is commemorating the 50th anniversary of its integration with a series of programs, lectures and performances designed to educate and inspire the Auburn Family. Events will recognize Auburn’s first African-American student, Harold Franklin, as well as the impact of other pioneering faculty, staff, students and alumni. “Integration is an important milestone in the university’s history,” said Paulette Dilworth, assistant vice president for access and community initiatives in the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. “It allowed a quality college education to
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be accessible to more people, and in doing so, made the Auburn Family experience richer for everyone.” On Jan. 4, 1964, at 2:20 p.m., Franklin, an aspiring history professor from Charleston, S.C., arrived at the library at Auburn University to register for classes in the graduate school. Despite the tension surrounding the event, Franklin’s enrollment did not create the controversy and discord on campus or in the community that occurred previously with earlier desegregation attempts at other Southern institutions. Franklin later completed his graduate studies at the University of Denver. In 2001, he was awarded an honorary doctorate
from Auburn University. “Commemorating 50 Years of Integration at Auburn University: Honoring the Past, Charting the Future” officially began this fall in conjunction with the annual Women’s Philanthropy Board luncheon on Oct. 4. A colloquium led by Marybeth Gasman, professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, was held before the luncheon, which featured Thom Gossom Jr. ’75 and his wife, joyce gillie gossom (sic). Gossom was Auburn’s first African-American walk-on football player and the first African-American athlete to graduate from Auburn. [He’s pictured at left with Franklin and Auburn’s first African-American football player James Owens.] “Faculty, staff, students and alumni will organize events aimed not only at celebrating 50 years of diversity and inclusiveness on campus, but also focused on the future,” Dilworth said. “The commemoration is an opportunity for us to reflect on the past and plan for the future. We want everyone to be involved to ensure that Auburn continues to be a place where people of diverse backgrounds can engage in a community of mutual respect to tackle the great challenges of an increasingly diverse world.” A list of planned events for January follows. For more information and to learn about events as they are planned, visit the website at wp.auburn.edu/diversity. Beginning on Monday, Jan. 20, and running through Friday, Jan. 24, a number of events and activities are being planned around the observance of the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Events will include: a community-wide day of service; a Jan. 21 luncheon cosponsored by the Auburn Alumni Association, featuring Harold Franklin and other special guests (see the ad on page 25 of this issue for ticket information); a Jan. 22 lecture by university archivist Dwayne Cox, “Segregation, Desegregation and the Vestiges of Segregation at Auburn”; a “Voices of Freedom” interfaith service on Jan. 23; and the opening of a new exhibition, Claiming Citizenship: African Americans and New Deal Photography, at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary year.
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S T R E E T
AUBURN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
C O L L E G E
Flashback 100 years ago
75 years ago
50 years ago
25 years ago
10 years ago
Winter 1913
Winter 1938
Winter 1963
Winter 1988
Winter 2003
The Alabama Polytechnic Institute went undefeated in the 1913 football season, with eight wins under head coach “Iron Mike” Donahue. The team was dubbed with the unofficial (not to mention nonexistent) title of Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion, outscoring the opposition by the astronomical margin of 224-13.
Fans congregated at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute main gates—not technically at Toomer’s Corner itself—to celebrate the football team’s victory in the Orange Bowl over the Michigan State Spartans. The game, which ended with a final score of 6-0, remains the lowest-scoring game in Orange Bowl history.
After a November 1963 hearing in Montgomery, a judge ruled that the state had underfunded Alabama A&M University, and that Auburn University should admit applicant Harold Franklin into its graduate program in education without delay. A few months later, Franklin became the university’s first enrolled AfricanAmerican student.
Harold Melton ’88, the first African-American student elected to serve as president of the Student Government Association, completed his first year in office. Melton also was the first “independent,” or non-fraternity member, to hold the SGA presidency. He currently is a Supreme Court justice for the State of Georgia.
Auburn’s pregame eagle flights had to be canceled for the 2003 football season. Tiger IV and Spirit were grounded due to an infectious respiratory disease outbreak at the Southeastern Raptor Center over the summer, which resulted in the death of 12 birds. Both eagles picked up their pregame routine without a hitch the next season.
Above: Majorettes in formation, found in the 1964 Glomerata. From left: Alice Gilreath Duckett ’64, Cindy Kitchens Turner ’66, Suzanne Kelley Rutledge ’66, Mickey Wilkes ’65, Starla Owens Haynes ’64 and Alice Johnson Mallory ’66.
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C O L L E G E
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Winners again For the third consecutive year, the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture student team has won the National Organization of Minority Architects’ Student Design Competition. It took place in Indianapolis, Ind., in early October. Auburn’s entry, “Catalytic,” took first place among 10 schools competing to design a carbon-neutral, mixed-use, transit-oriented development in an Indianapolis neighborhood.
Auburn by the numbers STATE OF RESIDENCE FOR
AL GA FL
FIRST-TIME FRESHMEN
TN TX VA
2,334 501 191
ENROLLMENT TRENDS 3RD FLOOR RBD LIBRARY
116 96
53
2012 2013 2 5 ,1 3 4
TOTAL ENROLLMENT
2.1% ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
BUSINESS
10.6%
ENGINEERING
3.3%0.3% FORESTRY & WILDLIFE
4.1%
NURSING
INTERDEPARTMENTAL MAJORS
19.8%
FEMALE
51.1% MALE
ACT SCORES
DOWN
SCIENCES & MATH
LIBERAL ARTS
-8.1% -5.2% -10.2% E D U C AT I O N
HUMAN SCIENCES
AGRICULTURE
-3.4%
48.9%
24,864
UP -2.8%
UNDERGRADS
19.2% 2012
21.3%
AUBURN AVERAGE
26.9
ALABAMA AVERAGE
20.4
NATIONAL AVERAGE
20.9
2013
12
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Heads of the class JAY GOGUE ’69
President, Auburn University
0.8% 0.9% 1.3% 2.1% 2.5% 7.1%
85.3%
UNDERGRADUATES BY RACE 85.3% CAUCASIAN 7.1% AFRICAN AMERICAN 2.5% HISPANIC 2.1% ASIAN 1.3% UNREPORTED 0.9% NON-RESIDENT ALIEN 0.8% NATIVE AMERICAN
It continues to be a point of pride for the university that students come here with boundless energy, determination, focus, and optimism. And, when you add that to Auburn’s outstanding academic programs and the work of our Honors College, it only stands to reason that we enjoy a growing reputation as an institution producing students who earn top postgraduate scholarships, such as the Rhodes, Fulbright, Gates-Cambridge, and Goldwater. In October, Auburn announced its student nominees for three of the nation’s top postgraduate honors: the Rhodes, Marshall, and Mitchell scholarships. Patrick Donnan of Auburn, Ala., a double major in physics and music with a minor in mathematics, is a finalist for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which gives 32 of the most outstanding young scholars in the country an opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Auburn’s other nominees for the award included Hunter Hayes of Jacksonville, Fla., a triple major in music, finance, and accounting; Spencer Kerns of Mobile, Ala., a double major in chemistry and Spanish and a 2012 U.S. Swimming Olympics Trials finalist; Ashton Richardson of New Orleans, La., a 2012 Auburn graduate in animal sciences and a former football linebacker; Jennifer Waxman of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a political science major with a minor in Spanish and a First Team Academic AllAmerican member of the equestrian team; and Alyssa White of Auburn, Ala., a double major in anthropology and Spanish with a minor in East Asian Studies. Donnan is also a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship, an equally respected honor. In addition, Auburn nominated White and Mary-Catherine Anderson of Huntsville, Ala., a cellular, molecular, and microbial biology major.
The university has endorsed Lauren Little of Decatur, Ala., for the Mitchell Scholarship. She is a 2013 graduate in human development and family studies and is pursuing an MBA in Auburn’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Here are a few Auburn student accomplishments since 2009: • Rhodes Scholar and five finalists; • Four Fulbright Scholars for research in Germany, Spain and Belgium; • Three Fulbright-French Ministry of Education English teaching assistantships in France; • Two Gates-Cambridge Scholars; • Three Barry M. Goldwater Scholars and three honorable mentions; • George Mitchell Scholar; • Harry S. Truman Scholar; • Udall Scholar; • Marshall Scholarship finalist; • Eight National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellows; • Marcus L Urann Fellowship winner, Phi Kappa Phi’s top honor; • Phi Kappa Phi Fellow; • Six NCAA Postgraduate Scholars; • Three finalists for the NCAA Walter Byers Award, the NCAA’s highest academic award; • Three winners of the Southeastern Conference’s H. Boyd McWhorter ScholarAthlete Award; • Four Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholars; and • Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ Bobby Bowden Award winner. Congratulations to these students on their accomplishments as well as our many other outstanding students who serve as Auburn’s best ambassadors. War Eagle!
jgogue@auburn.edu
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In high gear A PAVER FOR PETRIE Lisa Page of Madison loves all things Auburn. When she saw that the Auburn Alumni Association was establishing an Alumni Walk in support of student scholarships, she thought immediately of George Petrie, Alabama’s first Ph.D. and a man whose history has been so closely intertwined with Auburn’s. Now, joining the pavers purchased by alumni to memorialize their relatives, friends or college years, Page made sure there is also a paver for Petrie; his influence on Auburn is inestimable, from the Auburn Creed to the school colors. “He is very interesting to me as a person,” Page says of her decision to purchase a paver for Petrie. “It is an honor to remember him.” For more on Alumni Walk, visit www.aualum.org/scholarships.
Nurturing business New businesses, like
new babies, need a lot of TLC, which is the job of the Auburn Business Incubator, a full-service mixed-use incubator managed by the Auburn Research and Technol-
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ogy Foundation. The incubator is a technology-based program charged with the mission of assisting start-up and early-stage companies in being successful by linking them to a network of services from the university and community. Now, it’s expanding its programs to begin a virtual incubator. Since opening in May of 2011, the incubator has grown
to fill its physical space. “We have an increasing number of qualified companies expressing interest in the incubator that we cannot accommodate with physical space when we are at capacity, so we developed the virtual program to service their needs,” said John Weete, executive director of the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation. Currently, there are 11 clients in the incubator representing a variety of business sectors such as energy efficiency, civil and mechanical engineering, software development, marketing and advertising, investment, fossil energy, website development, IT
consulting and biomedical. Three of the clients are, or began as, studentowned companies. Participants of the Virtual Client Program will have access to shared cubicle space and conference rooms outfitted with high quality audio/visual and telecommunication equipment. Virtual clients, like facility-based clients, will be able to attend programs and meetings designed to assist with business development. For more information about the incubator and its virtual program, go to the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation website at www. auburnrtf.com
When Auburn announced the addition of a new minor this fall in tribology—the only undergraduate program of its kind in North America—you might be forgiven for thinking it an obscure branch of anthropology or sociology. But tribology refers to the field of friction and lubrication science, impacting virtually every facet of our daily lives, from joint replacements that keep us mobile to more fuel-efficient engines in our automobiles. Tribology literally translates to the “study of friction,” as the Greek word tribos means “rubbing.” “It can be a very complicated field because it’s difficult to see what’s happening with surfaces. You can’t see it, so it’s hard to do research on it,” explained Robert Jackson, a mechanical engineering professor and coordinator behind the undergraduate tribology program. “It is a growing field and we’re learning more all the time.” The Auburn program got a huge boost this fall with the announcement of a major gift from RSC Chemical Solutions, a major supplier of products that serve the automotive aftermarket, plumbing, hardware and appliance industries. Among their more than 3,000 products are GUNK degreaser, Liquid Wrench, and Titeseal undercoating. Up to a third of all energy we produce is lost due to friction, Jackson said. He introduces students to the new field with this statistic: tribology, or the study of friction and reducing wear, could be responsible for saving $700 billion worldwide in the future, according to a study out of the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland.
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Sustain-a-Bowl streak For six consecutive years, the residence halls on Auburn’s campus have participated in Sustain-A-Bowl, a competition that engages more than 4,000 campus residents in reducing energy and water use, increasing recycling and participating in events. The six Sustain-A-Bowl competitions have saved the university a cumulative total of $47,139 in avoided water and electricity costs. For the fall 2013 competition, Dowell Hall came in first, Broun Hall second and Little Hall third.
S T R E E T
PAVE the way Auburn University is one of five schools chosen to participate in the Peer Advisors for Veteran Education program, or PAVE, a peer support program that will help ease the transition from military life to college life. Incoming student veterans will be paired with a current, experienced student veteran who can help guide them through this potentially stressful time. PAVE originated through the collaboration of efforts by the Student Veterans of America and the University of Michigan Depression Center and Department of Psychiatry. PAVE officials then decided to reach out to other interested universities. The program began on the campus after Auburn’s faculty advisor for the Auburn University Student Veterans Association attended a nationwide student veteran conference and met with the PAVE representatives. Through funding from the University of Michigan Depression Center, Student Veterans of America and the Auburn University Resource Center, Auburn has trained the peer advisors to share their firsthand experience with incoming student veterans and to help them connect with the campus and community. Any student
veteran who has attended Auburn for one year is encouraged to volunteer as a peer advisor. According to the University of Michigan Depression Center, “Universities are seeing a large influx of veterans due to the implementation of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. However, most recent data suggest that only 50 percent of these veterans are successful in achieving their educational goals. The average veteran faces at least four to five years between high school and college, compared to the average freshman’s two to three months. Their deployment experiences and older age may also make it more difficult for them to connect with other incoming freshmen.” Many veterans remember their difficult transition from combat to classes and are eager to support their fellow veterans. “I know from experience that the journey we begin as veterans is often filled with anticipation, coupled with anxiety and many unknowns,” said Robyn Westbrook, Auburn University Veteran Administration certifying official. “I am proud to be in a position in which I can assist other veterans in their quests for starting new lives outside the military.”
A community where nature and nurture meet. TheDakotaAuburn.com 2406 Richland Road Auburn, Alabama 36830 Uniquely positioned within some of the most private and beautiful landscapes that the Auburn area offers, our vision for The Dakota emphasizes an ongoing dedication to deliver the best opportunity for peaceful, yet inspired living. Minutes from the Auburn University campus and nestled along the Saugahatchee Creek, The Dakota's focus remains bold, but simple: to provide a higher quality of life through a delicate balance of nature and architecture.
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Diagnosing autism Researchers from Auburn University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and MRI Research Center are collaborating with colleagues from the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to investigate brain scans that may show signs of autism. The findings could ultimately support behavior-based diagnosis of autism and effective early intervention therapies.
SECURED Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess Jr. ’74, Auburn University’s senior counsel for national security programs, cyber programs and military affairs, has been named to the board of advisors for the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, or INSA. He will serve a one-year term, which began in October and will conclude in September of 2014. INSA is the premier intelligence and national security organization providing a unique venue for collaboration, networking and examination of policy issues and solutions. Representing an unprecedented alliance among senior leaders from the public, private and academic sectors, INSA members form an unparalleled community of experts that collaborate to develop creative, innovative and timely solutions to the intelligence and national security issues facing the United States. The board of advisors is a selective body from the INSA community charged with enhancing the functions of the Alliance. The breadth of experience among current board members includes service
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with the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of State, National Security Council, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency, as well as with leading private firms in intelligence and national securityrelated areas. “Auburn University joined INSA as an academic partner in February of 2013,” Burgess said. “I am pleased to now have the opportunity to join INSA’s board of advisors. Service on this board will help connect Auburn to the people who really make a difference and who have links to areas where Auburn would like to operate. They represent leading-edge technologies and serve as an invaluable thought engine for the nation.” Engagement of college and university academic leadership with public and private members is key to INSA’s mission to provide the intelligence and national security communities with a nonpartisan catalyst for publicprivate partnerships which identify, develop and promote creative solutions.
NEW PLACES, NEW SPACES A motor-behavior lab conducting research on physical activity in children; a more efficient and up-to-date facility for the TigerFit program, which provides health screening and fitness assessments for members of the Auburn University community; and a training center for USA Team Handball are just some of the distinctive features of the new 58,000-square-foot kinesiology research facility officially opened by Auburn University this fall. Located at 301 Wire Road, the College of Education’s School of Kinesiology building houses laboratories where a broad range of research is conducted relating to human movement, health and performance. “Everything in this building will help us to improve our mission,” said Mary Rudisill, director of the School of Kinesiology. “Our goal is to be the best program in the country. We have unbelievable faculty and this new facility where we are able to perform our research, outreach and instruction more effectively in a building designed for what we do.” The first floor of the three-level facility houses the school’s pediatric movement and physical activity laboratory and four biomechanics labs, while the second floor houses epidemiology, physical education teacher education and exercise behavior labs, as well as the TigerFit program. The third floor features
controlled-access space for muscle physiology, cardioprotection, neurovascular, muscle metabolism, neuromechanics and thermal labs. Along with labs that extend research capability, the facility offers additional opportunities for outreach. Faculty in the school are establishing new collaborations with Auburn Athletics and expanding the Warrior Athletic Training program, which provides identification, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of injuries in military personnel. With an outdoor play area accessible from a ground-level porch space, the school has been able to expand programs for children, like the Tiger Cubs Fit Club, which offers activities to promote motor skill competence, physical activity and fitness. Ranked 22nd in the nation, the School of Kinesiology was recently featured in the American Kinesiology Association’s journal Kinesiology Today, which said of the school, “Few would question that Auburn is moving into the upper tier of kinesiology programs in the country.” “As we move forward, our new facility is going to continue to open many doors for the School of Kinesiology,” Rudisill said. “We have already experienced the benefits of recruiting and maintaining exceptional students and faculty. We will continue to make substantial contributions.”
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In the finals Auburn University senior Patrick Donnan and 2012 graduate Ashton Richardson have been named finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship for an opportunity to study at the University of Oxford. If selected, they would be among only 32 U.S. students to receive the honor. Donnan will interview in Birmingham while Richardson, now a veterinary student at Texas A&M University, will interview in Houston. The interviews take place in late November.
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A middle-grade story about two “tween” sleuths and a mystery in their small hometown, with plenty of humor and adventure along the way. (Simon & Schuster)
Seven folk legends bring Amish culture to life (just how did John the Blacksmith foil the devil?). Also images of items by traditional Amish artisans. (Schiffer Books)
Auburn football during the era of head coach Tommy Tuberville, both the success on the field, the experience of fandom, and the controversy. (Seven States)
Octavia Spencer ’94
C. Eugene Moore ’52
Josh Dowdy ’99
A 1994 graduate, Spencer is an author and Oscar-winning actress. This is her first novel.
Moore retired as PR director for Armstrong World Industries and lives in Lancaster, Pa.
An Auburn business graduate, Dowdy lives in the Birmingham area. This is his first book.
The luminous spirit of the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner and the Auburn fans who love them, with a second volume in the works for fall 2014. (Mascot)
Chaplain of the Auburn football team, Williams explores the journey of faith that led to the 2010 BCS National Championship but began years earlier. (Looking Glass)
An in-depth view of Tigers football and tons of stats from the arrival of Pat Dye on the Plains in 1981 through the 2010 championship season. (White Rocket)
Erin Lough/Mave Duke ’03
Chette Williams ’86
Van Allen Plexico/John Ringer
Duke is an art director in Birmingham; twin sister Erin, an AUM grad, lives in Florence.
Known to the players as “Brother Chette,” Williams also wrote Hard Fighting Soldier (2007).
Plexico ’90 and Ringer ’91 are the “Wishbone” columnists for The War Eagle Reader.
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Research
All washed up Food safety specialist Jean Weese, a professor of poultry science, said salmonella is insidious in terms of how readily it can infect food, accounting for recent widely publicized outbreaks. It’s not just a matter of chicken and eggs. “We have seen salmonella outbreaks related to all types of foods and animals, in everything from peanut butter to pet-shop turtles. Water can also be contaminated.” For Weese’s tips on how to avoid contamination, visit http://wireeagle.auburn.edu/news/5532.
Run run runaway
VAPOR WAKE Imagine a terrorist walking through a crowded subway station or through the concourse of a sporting event, carrying an explosive in the sole of an innocuous-looking boot, or sewn into the lining of a jacket. Now, imagine that everywhere the terrorist moves, he leaves behind him an invisible trail of scent in his wake— and that the nearby security officer is accompanied by a dog with a very specialized sense of smell. He can filter through the wakes left by other humans within the crowd, and pick out the one trailing a vapor of explosives. Disaster averted, or that’s how the trainers and researchers at Auburn’s Canine Detection Research Center see the potential for
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its VAPOR WAKE technology. Working through the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, the university recently entered a license agreement for VAPOR WAKE with iK9 Holding Co. iK9 will train and sell VAPOR WAKE dogs and train their new handlers at the university’s Anniston facility. Auburn has one of the largest and most successful canine detection research programs in the United States and is internationally known for its patent-pending and trademarked VAPOR WAKE technology. Dogs with VAPOR WAKE capabilities are specially trained for interdiction strategies being deployed by multiple homeland security agencies.
Ask anyone who’s ever lost a car to a flood, or found themselves stranded on a roadway, wondering how deep the water standing in an underpass might be. Stormwater runoff in urban areas is a problem. The environment suffers more than the motorist. Buildings and pavement prevent rainwater from filtering into the ground the way it does in a forest or natural field. Instead, the water runs into storm drains, collecting pollutants on its way downstream. On the Auburn University campus, the water flows into Parkerson Mill Creek, then on to Mobile Bay and, ultimately, into the Gulf of Mexico. Pulling together funding from Auburn’s facilities management division and a Parkerson Mill Creek grant, a team of Auburn experts has developed a way to mimic that natural infiltration process. On a shop building adjacent to Dudley Hall, rainwater is collected through a draining system and flows to a 1,000-gallon cistern. The overflow water is diverted to a neighboring rain garden, where it collects and seeps slowly into the ground. “The rain garden is an interesting pilot project that introduces students to best practices in water conservation and stormwater management,” said Dan King, assistant vice president for facilities management. “Achieving a sustainable campus environment will likely require many small-scale projects like this.” Charlene LeBleu, associate professor of landscape architecture in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, led a team of students in designing the
project and selecting the plants that thrive in a rain garden environment. Building science students built the conveyance system that carries the water from the cistern to the garden. Over the next three years, the team will monitor the chemical analysis of the roof water, particularly the level of nitrates, and measure the infiltration of the water through the rain garden. They also will see which plants grow the best and how effective rain gardens are in clay-type soil. “We don’t have to use expensive city water to irrigate plants, so if we’ve got cisterns, that water can be used to water the landscape,” said Mike Kensler, director of the Office of Sustainability and co-developer of the Dudley Hall project. “It’s free water, basically.”
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The big stink
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Nothing commonly known as a “globular stink bug” can be a good thing. Soybean farmers would agree, as the odoriferous insect native to India and China is growing in vast numbers in the Southeast, particularly in Georgia, where it was first discovered in 2009. Auburn University and Alabama Cooperative Extension System researcher Xing Ping Hu hit a research double-header this fall as she identified both a native parasitic fly and an egg-parasitic wasp that could lead to ways of reducing the species, whose scientific name is Megacopta cribraria. The finding of the wasp is particularly promising, Hu said. Along with the earlier finding of a fly that preys on kudzu bug adults, Hu said the parasitic egg wasp doubles the frontline of defense using natural enemies. “This local parasitoid wasp has demonstrated a high capacity to reduce significantly the populations of kudzu bugs in soybean fields,” she said. The discovery was made by Hu’s research assistant, Auburn University graduate student Julian Golec, during a routine field investigation of kudzu bug damage in a soybean field. What does the kudzu bug have to do with another Southern invasive species, kudzu? Ironically, the bug that wreaks havoc on soybeans and other legume crops does have one benefit: it reduces kudzu growth.
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Hey, Golden Eagles! Mark your calendars for April 23–25, when we induct the class of 1964 and honor the classes of 1959, 1954, 1949 and 1944. Enjoy fascinating presentations, tour campus to see what’s changed (or what hasn’t), and show off your smooth moves on the dance floor. Registration and hotel info: www.aualum.org/goldeneagles
Tell me more To find out more about this program, contact:
334-844-1150 or goldeneagles@auburn.edu
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Roundup COLLEGE OF
Agriculture An online master’s degree program in soil, water and environmental science at Auburn University will officially launch this spring semester, giving working professionals in fields related to natural resource management the opportunity to further their education and build their expertise via distance education. The fully online program, which the Alabama Commission on Higher Education approved Sept. 13, is a multi-institutional and multidisciplinary program offered through the Agriculture Interactive Distance Education Alliance, or AG*IDEA, a consortium of universities offering distance education programs and courses in agricultural disciplines. In addition to Auburn, participating AG*IDEA institutions include the University of Georgia, North Carolina State University and Texas Tech University. Through the consortium, students interested in the soil, water and environmental science master’s degree choose a home university where they apply and register for courses and from which they are awarded their degrees, but the required and elective courses they take are taught online by top faculty from all of the institutions. For more about the new program, including
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the application process, go to http://www.ag. auburn.edu or contact Megan Ross by emailing her at mhr0001@ auburn.edu. COLLEGE OF
Architecture, Design and Construction The College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s construction management school has joined two other universities and the Roofing Industry Alliance for Progress in a new educational partnership. Auburn, Colorado State University and the University of Florida will work with the Roofing Industry Alliance to incorporate more roofing-specific coursework into their undergraduate construction management degree programs. The partnership also will provide scholarships to students and faculty, and will develop internship programs with roofing contracting companies, manufacturers and distributors. Scholarships and internships will be available by the 2014-15 academic year, with at least one student from each school receiving a $5,000 scholarship. In addition, scholarships will be offered to faculty members for work related to the partnership, and up to eight internships are planned for the summer of 2014.
Trial run The “1072 Society Exhibition,” a collection of artworks being considered for the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art’s permanent collection, opened to the public Saturday, Nov. 2, and will be on display through mid-January. Each year, a selection of art is considered for purchase with funds provided by the 1072 Society, a donor society that supports efforts to build the permanent collection. This year’s selections, in honor of the museum’s 10th anniversary, are all sculptures.
RAYMOND J. HARBERT COLLEGE OF
Business Drake Pooley hopes to “be more aware of what the latest trends in the business world are so I can be the most relevant
and conscientious student possible.” James Pinkleton wants to “learn how to do extensive and longterm research and to better educate myself in current MIS issues.” They will get that chance through the Research Scholars Program. Pooley, a freshman from Houston, Texas, in prebusiness administration, and Pinkleton, a freshman from Huntsville double-majoring in international business and information systems management, were chosen as inaugural Honors College Undergraduate Research Scholars for the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. The two-year commitment in the program awards the students $2,000 per academic year, offers collaborative mentorship with faculty members, and requires
the students to complete specific research projects with hopes of their work resulting in publication. Pooley will be mentored by Daniel Padgett, associate professor in marketing, and Pinkleton by Casey Cegielski,
Freeze, associate director of the Office of Professional and Continuing Education. Auburn received the Special Populations Award, which recognizes a program that identifies and targets specific groups
associate professor of supply chain management. The students are expected to conduct research for eight to 10 hours per week.
with unique needs. The Office of Professional and Continuing Education in University Outreach and the Truman Pierce Institute of the College of Education host the annual summit.
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Education Auburn University’s Anti-Bullying Summit, which brings together educators, mental health practitioners and community groups to address bullying and cyberbullying, has been recognized as an extraordinary program by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association. “The summit, over the last three years, has provided a forum for more than 500 educators and community leaders to learn about the far-reaching impacts of bullying in schools and communities,” said John
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Engineering David Bevly, the Albert Smith Jr. Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is leading a team of Auburn researchers to build a prototype Extended Mobility System that will help the visually impaired navigate. The team is investigating the use of cameras, inertial sensors and communications devices to track the movements of the visually impaired wearers. GPS data, as well as wireless information available from
future Department of Transportation wireless communication devices, will be integrated into the device to guide users to their destinations. The system will include technology developed for soldiers and unmanned vehicles by Draper Laboratory, a not-for-profit engineering research and development organization dedicated to solving national challenges. Members of the Auburn research team include industrial and systems engineering faculty members John Evans and Richard Sesek and graduate student Tenchi Gao, mechanical engineering graduate students Robert Cofield and Christopher Rose, and consultant Richard Bishop. The system will be designed with the help of individuals from the National Federation of the Blind, who will ensure that it is accessible and useful. According to Rose, utilizing Draper Laboratory’s robotics expertise in vision navigation and Auburn’s GPS and pedestrian dead-reckoning capabilities allows the system to provide blind people with more precise positioning. A prototype device is expected to be available in 2015. SCHOOL OF
Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Yaoqi Zhang, professor in the School of Forestry
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and Wildlife Sciences, and Henry Kinnucan, professor in the College of Agriculture, have been awarded $482,000 to model the interactions of natural and human systems on the Mongolian Plateau as part of a five-year, $1.4 million interdisciplinary grant from the National Science Foundation. The project team hypothesizes that while climate change has created significant pressure on ecosystems and societies in the plateau, the human elements such as population growth, urbanization, and technology have also had a significant effect on the interaction between human and natural systems. COLLEGE OF
Human Sciences Rick Steves, a well-known authority on European travel, held a free, public lecture at Auburn in October to discuss “Travel as a Political Act,” the title of one of his latest books in which he reflects on how a life of travel has broadened his own perspectives and how travel can be a significant force for people and understanding in the world. Steves’ visit was sponsored by the College of Human Sciences and the Office of International Programs, with support from the Auburn University Special Lectures Fund and Auburn Connects!
Common Book Program. COLLEGE OF
Liberal Arts The College of Liberal Arts celebrated best-selling novelist Anne Rivers Siddons ’58 in a public tribute Oct. 18 at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. Siddons was named the inaugural Women’s Leadership Institute Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. “A Tribute to Anne Rivers Siddons” featured a student art exhibition depicting themes from her debut novel Heartbreak Hotel, a performance by the Auburn University Singers, a theatrical adaptation of Siddons’ letter to The Auburn Plainsman and discussions of Siddons’ work by members of the Auburn University faculty. The event is part of CLA Reads, the College of Liberal Arts’ semester-long, collegewide reading program.
Rick Steves
The Women’s Leadership Institute Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an Auburn University alumna who has achieved national acclaim over a lifetime of successful and sustained contribution to culture through arts, humanities, business or politics. AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Libraries Auburn University Libraries recently completed an expansion of the seating in the quiet study areas on the fourth floor. Surveys showed students wanted study areas designed for collaborative study and areas designated for individual study. Over the past three years, two large study areas, the Learning Commons and Study Commons, opened to give students the group study areas they previously did not have. This year, the libraries moved to give students the additional individual, quiet study areas they requested, increasing the quiet
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study floor seating from 500 seats to 628. SCHOOL OF
Nursing The Auburn and AUM schools of nursing held the 13th Annual Blue Jean Ball with the theme “Urban Cowboy” on Oct. 4 in Montgomery. The schools’ annual fundraiser treated guests to music by Jay Hughes and Blue Denim, food from Conecuh Sausage and Dreamland Barbecue, and a live auction. Funds earned from the Blue Jean Ball benefit the nursing schools’ students, faculty and programs.
so many plans to choose from and they change from year to year,” explains project director Salisa Westrick. COLLEGE OF
Sciences and Mathematics For the first time, the Auburn University Museum of Natural
HARRISON SCHOOL OF
Pharmacy Student pharmacists in Auburn’s Harrison School of Pharmacy offered free enrollment counseling to Medicare recipients this fall as part of an outreach grant awarded by Auburn University’s Office of the Vice President for University Outreach. The Medicare Outreach Project is a partnership between the pharmacy school and the Alabama Department of Senior Services’ State Health Insurance Program, which provides assistance to Medicare beneficiaries in such areas as selecting the best prescription drug-coverage plan. “For many Medicare beneficiaries, choosing a prescription drug plan can be very complicated—there are
History has opened its doors to the public. On homecoming Saturday, Oct. 12, the museum hosted an open house, offering the community a unique opportunity to meet the curators and explore the more than 1 million specimens found in the museum’s eight collections. The museum is housed in Auburn’s new Biodiversity Learning Center and features collections of specimens representing the rich history of Alabama, the Southeast and beyond. Sponsored by the College of Sciences and Mathematics, the
museum is used primarily by Auburn University professors and students and well as researchers from around the world conducting biodiversity research. For more information on the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, visit the website atwww.auburn.edu/ cosam/mnh.
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Veterinary Medicine Carl Pinkert and Michael Irwin of pathobiology have received the first year of funding for a two-year grant from the Foundation for a Cure for Mitochondrial Disease, the MitoCure Foundation. Their work targets therapeutic interventions in mitochondrial disease by use of synthetic antioxidant compounds Mitochondrial disease is a rare and often misdiagnosed disorder. Mitochondria convert energy into forms that are usable by the cell and are responsible for creating more than 90 percent of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less energy is generated within the cell, which causes injury or even death of the affected cells. This can lead to system failure.
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Fair game in Swaziland “Warning!” reads the course description, “Mega-mammals, crocodiles, snakes, thorns, baboons, etc., may be abundant at many of the sites. Please be very careful!” The course, Field Biology and Ecology, provides one of the latest study abroad opportunities offered at Auburn. Last summer during the inaugural course, 10 Auburn students ventured to Swaziland and South Africa for a hands-on research experience guided by biological sciences professors Troy Best and Michael Wooten. “We go to teach students about field biology and what it’s like,” Wooten says. “We teach them about animals, and it’s basically an academic exercise to experience animals in their natural settings and see what they are like, as well as learn field-research techniques such as how to collect field data and what you do with the data after it’s collected. The trip also provides a cultural experience, because we had an opportunity to go into a village and we interacted daily with the local people. It’s life-changing. As a faculty member it’s especially fun because we get to see the students grow, day by day.” The students spent 18 days in Africa, primarily in Swaziland at the Mbuluzi Nature Reserve and the Mlawula Nature Reserve. “One of the things that we do is put out little metal traps that catch rodents and other animals, alive and unharmed. When we go to check the traps and find
that one of them is closed, it’s like a little Christmas present,” said Best. “We started out the trip by catching one of the neatest little mammals that you could catch—it’s called a forest shrew. It was the only one any of us had ever seen. We held it on our gloved hands, took measurements of it and turned it loose.” In all, the students set more than 150 live-animal traps, or Sherman traps, in the nature reserves in order to gauge the abundance and distribution of small mammal populations in the region as part of a multiinstitutional research project. They also hung game cameras to Phumelle (seated right), a local and research leader at the base camp in Swaziland, rides with students on their way to Mlawula Nature Reserve to check Sherman traps. capture images of
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large mammals, and mist nets to capture bats. “We caught some really, really cool bats. We only caught three, but each was from a different family and the most exciting was a fruit bat. We do not have those in the U.S.,” explained Hannah Gunter, a senior in wildlife sciences. “That was a big moment for me.” While driving through the reserves, the students had an opportunity to stop and observe more than 100 different animal species, from large mammals like giraffes, rhinoceroses, elephants, lions and zebras, to bird species such as the ostrich, African penguin and African fish eagle. “My parents and I decided this experience would be a test run to be sure I like the field work, and I absolutely loved it,” said Kaelyn Dobson, a junior in zoology/conservation and biodiversity. “Being immersed in the culture of the land was an adventure. I had camped in a tent, but I had never had hippos outside my tent before!”
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AN AUBURN TRADITION C O N C O U R S E
Situated on the charming campus of Auburn University, just a short walk from quaint, historic downtown Auburn.
Individuals & Groups, Alumni, Family & Friends, Meetings, Conferences & Special Events
241 South College Street • Auburn, Alabama 36830 Direct: 334-821-8200 • Fax: 334-826-8755 • reservations@auhcc.com • www.auhcc.com
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Designer dorm The Association of University Interior Designers recognized Auburn University’s newest residence hall, South Donahue, at its 2013 annual conference held at the University of Texas. Auburn interior designer Anna Ruth Gatlin submitted the award-winning entry in the new construction category. South Donahue Residence Hall received second-place recognition from among 36 entries for setting a new precedent for high-end, luxury on-campus living.
GOOD WORKS The four scholars selected as the first fellows of the Hunger Solutions Institute at Auburn University share a commitment to ending hunger, but each brings a different skill to the global hunger fight. Gavin Armstrong and Adam Little from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and Lauren Little and Sydney Herndon from Auburn will spend the next year working on various hunger projects in the U.S., Canada, Italy and Cambodia. Armstrong, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical science at Guelph and Fulbright Scholar, will continue his work with the Lucky Iron Fish Project in Cambodia. Adam Little, who graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College at Guelph, will divide his fellowship between several ventures across the U.S. and Canada. Lauren Little was an active participant in the War on Hunger as an undergraduate at Auburn, including serving as president of the Committee of 19 before graduating in May. Because she is currently enrolled in the
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MBA program in the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, her role as a fellow will be to develop a business model for the Hunger Solutions Institute and the fellows program. She will remain in Auburn for the duration of the fellowship. Herndon, who earned a degree in anthropology from Auburn in August, has been interning at the World Food Programme headquarters in Rome since July. Her responsibilities have been with the Preparedness and Response Enhancement Programme, which aims to improve the World Food Programme’s large-scale emergency responses.
Media watch
The bustle and chaotic nature of a working newsroom is hard to convey in a classroom setting. There’s talking, and then there’s doing. Recently, however, Auburn’s School of Communication and Journalism partnered with Raycom Media to train multimedia student journalists in a working newsroom environment. In a space on Gay Street, a block from the Auburn campus, students will work alongside faculty members and Raycom professionals to apply their classroom learning to the live reporting experience. Communication and journalism majors will work in an active newsroom to produce local news stories for television, the Web, social media and digital devices, said Jennifer Wood Adams, director of the school. “The Auburn and Raycom collaboration will provide students with invaluable training, real-time journalism ethics instruction and insight into industry expectations,” Adams said. “The groundbreaking part of this partnership is the direct link our students will have to Raycom news executives, who will be able to mentor and guide their professional development, as well as tap students and graduates for internships and jobs.” The Auburn University news studio will adopt a teaching hospital model that has been strongly advocated for by media executives and journalism foundations. Last fall, representatives from the nation’s leading journalism foundations, who have been clamor-
ing for change in the way journalism students are educated, wrote an open letter to university presidents stating that students need a “teaching hospital” newsroom that is akin to the training medical students receive by working alongside a physician on rounds while in medical school. “News consumption habits are rapidly changing, and that calls for new ways to prepare tomorrow’s multimedia professionals,” Auburn University President Jay Gogue said. “We’re excited about this innovative partnership.” Raycom Media is providing studio equipment as well as editing software, cameras, sets, furniture and professional expertise all the students will use. Also available for both students and professionals will be live video functionality, including the latest portable equipment making use of 4G wireless technology. The Raycom investment through this partnership provides technology, time and training to the School of Communication and Journalism at a value of more than $350,000. Raycom will house a news bureau in the space, which will allow Auburn students to observe and work with broadcast news and sports reporters, producers and news directors. Through class assignments, students will contribute digital material and video packages for use on WSFA’s and WTVM’s stations, in Montgomery and Columbus, Ga., respectively, and on both stations’ websites. Majors will receive feedback and advice about their reporting and producing skills from journalism professors and news professionals. “The partnership will help students learn how to handle the challenges of today’s news operation,” Raycom Media President and CEO Paul McTear said. “It will also demonstrate the importance of journalistic integrity, while providing Auburn students with an understanding of the need to quickly disseminate news.”
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT Even as the Tigers and Tide football teams prepared to take the field for the annual Iron Bowl matchup, Auburn students were wrapping up the 20th Beat Bama Food Drive. For the past two decades, students from
both schools have held a friendly competition to see which campus could collect the most non-perishable food to stock their local food banks. “This is the largest food drive for us and one of the largest
drives in the state of Alabama,” said Martha Henk, executive director of the Food Bank of East Alabama. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the results of this drive determine whether some families have
meals for Thanksgiving, Christmas and on into the new year. It has that dramatic of an impact.” The six-week competition runs until Nov. 25 and has included a number of events, including benefit nights at several local eateries, 5K and Night Bike at Chewacla State Park and a silent auction. Eighteen barrels were located on and near campus to take donations, and donors were asked to contribute $20 to commemorate the program’s second decade.
Auburn, the reigning champion, has beaten Alabama 11 years of the past 19. Last fall, Auburn raised the highest amount either school has collected to date, 273,650 pounds of food. Auburn’s goal this year is to raise 350,000 pounds, approximately one month of operation for the Food Bank of East Alabama. And in this Iron Bowl, both teams win. “There are no losers,” said Leanna Barker, president of the Beat Bama Food
S T R E E T
Drive. “Everyone truly benefits as we are able to provide food for thousands of individuals.” Tim King, advisor for the Center for Community Service at Auburn, said that while the target is ambitious, knowing the number of mouths that will be fed keeps participants motivated. “The food bank is in a deficit and we want to do everything we can to reach our goal,” King said. “There are 22,130 people in Lee County facing this issue.”
Honoring the Past, Charting the Future A Luncheon Commemorating Integration at Auburn University Fifty years ago, graduate student Harold Franklin enrolled at Auburn before embarking on a successful career in education. As the university’s first African American student, he cleared the way for other pathfinders to come. Join us at a luncheon on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014, at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center as we commemorate this Auburn milestone. www.aualum.org/main
Tell me more ... 334-844-1150 alumpgm@auburn.edu
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S P O R T S
TIGER WALK JEFF ET H ERIDG E
Amped-up athletics An idea to help Auburn coaches communicate spawns a new industry: high-tech football. Watch any movie about college football, at least those set before the mid-’90s, and you’ll see what has been a staple of coaching that held on for a century: a coach paces the sidelines, an assistant coach or player at his heels, strategizing. Or how about this scenario: the quarterback huddles with the team, pokes his head up and looks to the sidelines, where
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an assistant coach—or a bevy of them— gestures furiously with hand signals. Communication—among members of the coaching staff and between coaches and players—has undergone a radical transformation in the last two decades. Assistants spend time in an elevated box where they can see play patterns as they unfold, analyze the opposing team’s strate-
gies, and spot adjustments that need to be made on defense. On the sidelines, coaches still pace and prowl, but now they have a new projectile to bounce off the turf when they don’t like a referee’s call—a headset and microphone. Welcome to high-tech football. Headsets and communications systems for coaches and players have become so
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Money match For the second year, the City of Auburn has pledged a five-to-one match for individual and corporate contributions for the Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve, a community outreach program for Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. The city is providing the grant in the form of matching funds to encourage community engagement and support for this resource for outdoor recreation and education.
ubiquitous that fans rarely notice them. If they did, they’d see one name pop up continuously: CoachComm, the company that supplies wireless sideline communication technology and equipment to 95 percent of NCAA Division I athletics teams and thousands of high school and smallcollege athletics programs. And it all began at Auburn. In 1988, after graduating from Auburn with a degree in accounting, Peter Amos got a job with the Auburn athletics department, operating the team’s headsets. They were a mess, he said, with constant outages and other issues. When the game clock is ticking, the cost of a malfunctioning headset could be enormous. His degree might be in accounting, but Amos had a head for electronics. He rebuilt the coaching staff’s communications system, and was gratified by the difference it made. Before long, he was approached by Telex, a communications firm, to build systems for their National Football League clients. By 1991, CoachComm had been born, and what began as a communication system designed for Auburn has spread throughout the world of athletics, from its more than 13,000 high school customers to the NCAA teams—virtually all of them—that use the CoachComm headsets. Now, CoachComm fills a space in Auburn’s Research Park with engineers who are continually working to improve and expand the company’s products. The company, Amos said, recognized early on that the UHF platform couldn’t expand the growing demand of users and devices, so they developed a new platform from the ground up. The result, Tempest Wireless, uses specialized frequency-coordination software to give clients the best game-day communications possible. It’s now used in more than 40 countries and at most high-profile live televised events, with customers that include ESPN, World Wrestling Entertainment, Disney, the Vatican, HBO, NBC, and the Academy Awards. C o a c h C o m m Right: Volunteers staff get a vireven supplied gear and tual army of headsets to NBC for its cov- tested and ready for erage of the last the Auburn Tigers coaching staff before Olympics games, the recent home game and for the presi- against Ole Miss.
dential debates in 2012. If there’s anyone on the playing field who needs a good wireless communication system as much as the coaches, it’s the referees, and that’s where “CrewCom” comes in. CoachComm recently began working with Southeastern Conference officials to test CrewCom, a communication product aimed at improving the efficiency of the officiating crews. The South CarolinaVanderbilt game was the first televised game in which the SEC officials used the new technology. CrewCom is based off the technology developed for the football and broadcast communications. It allows the officials to speak hands-free, which in turn allows them to communicate more effectively with each other and use hand signals to let the fans and broadcasters know critical decisions. Like the technology developed for coaches, crowd noise was taken into account when developing the officials’ version—nothing can be more deafening, after all, than the derisive boos of a stadium full of unhappy fans.
T I G E R
W A L K
TIGER TRACKS For the Tiger faithful, it’s
ray’s car in the race,
hard to imagine a bet-
which was part of the
ter weekend than Oct.
NASCAR Sprint Cup
19-20.
Series. The nod to AU
First, Auburn pre-
recognized Auburn’s
vailed on the football
academic programs as
field over a highly
well as the members
ranked Texas A&M team
of Auburn’s War Eagle
in the teams’ first meet-
Motorsports teams,
ing in College Station.
which participate in
Then came veteran NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray’s Sunday win
collegiate SAE and Baja SAE competitions. As for McMurray,
in the Camping World
he’s no stranger to
RV Sales 500 at Tal-
Talladega, having made
ladega, driving the No. 1
his first Superspeed-
car, a Cessna-sponsored
way start in 2002 and
Chevy decked out in
22 career starts since,
orange and navy blue,
completing 3,841 laps
with the big interlocked
of competition.
Auburn University logo
He said he was excited to carry the Auburn
on its hood. Earnhardt Ganassi
colors on his car. “I
Racing, along with
know that there are a lot
Felix Sabates and
of Auburn alumni and
team sponsor Cessna
fans at Talladega every
Aircraft Co. (Cessna),
year, so hopefully we
chose the Auburn
gave them something to
theme for McMur-
cheer for on race day.”
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Auburn
T I G E R
W A L K
Burying the Iron Bowl hatchet Imagine it: the biggest game of the football season rolls around and there’s no Iron Bowl. In a world where the culminating game of the season ends up being Auburn versus anybody besides Alabama, something’s not quite right. And yet it could have happened. In 1893, Alabama and Auburn (then the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama) met on the gridiron for the first time. Over the next 14 years, the players met on the field in Birmingham while the powers-that-be in Auburn and Tuscaloosa squabbled about whether the game was the last of one season or the first of another, how expenses were calculated, whether Alabama coach Doc Pollard was running illegal plays (Auburn coach Mike Donahue said yes), and where unbiased referees could be found. Finally, in 1907, both teams walked off the field, with plans never to return. That’s where things stood 40 years later, when Gillis Cammack III came home from war. He’d spent the last few years piloting 93 combat missions of the 27th Fighter Bomber Group, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.
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Back at Auburn, studying mechanical engineering, Cammack was elected president of the Student Government Association. Then he took on another war. There had been attempts to renew the game over the years. Alabama wanted to start over in 1911 and 1923, but Auburn said no—the game would overshadow the rest of the season. In 1944, Auburn wanted to talk, but Alabama refused. In 1947, the Alabama House of Representatives encouraged the schools to work it out, but nobody took the hint until the state threatened to withhold funding. Money talks. Finally, in 1948, Auburn president Ralph B. Draughon and Alabama president John Gallalee agreed to give it another shot. Signs went up on the Auburn campus, for and against, and others went up in Tuscaloosa. Years later, Cammack recalled the dislike on all sides. “There were hard feelings,” he said. “A couple of times we had students from one school go to the other and try to pull up signs.” Which is where Cammack’s claim to fame arises in the form of a “bury the hatchet” ceremony before the 1948 game.
He was to join Ala- When Auburn and bama SGA president Alabama met on the Willie Johns in dig- field in 1948 for the time since 1907, ging a hole in what first a lot of work had gone is now Birming- on behind the scenes ham’s Linn Park. to make it happen, including the burial of They would literally a ceremonial hatchet. bury a hatchet as a symbol of collegiate peace. First, Birmingham’s police chief Bull Connor delivered a warning. “If anybody got out of line, he said it was going to be jail right then,” Cammack told the Birmingham News in 2010. Standing in a light sports coat next to an Auburn flag, Cammack joined Johns (and his dark coat and Alabama flag) beside the newly dug hole. “I threw the hatchet in,” Cammack recalled. “I don’t imagine it stayed there long. Somebody probably dug it up.” So the game was played. Alabama won in a 55-0 rout, after which, Cammack said, “All of us Auburn fans hightailed it back to Auburn.” Now, 65 years later, the rivalry’s still fierce and in no danger of disappearing. Gillis Cammack, his name written in Auburn history, graduated in 1949 and went on to work for Ford Motor Co. before returning to Selma. He married Patricia Ann Bridges of Bessemer, had three daughters who all attended Auburn, and tried to never miss an Iron Bowl. Gillis Cammack passed away on May 9, 2013.
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The key to successful change can be discovered in the answer to a simple equation: vision (+) resources (+) perseverance (=) transformation. You do the math. b y
david mckay wilson
Business Sense in 2010, bill hardgrave had a decision to make. A candidate for the deanship of the Auburn University College of Business, he had to determine whether or not coming to Auburn would be the right career move. So he flew to Birmingham to meet with one of the South’s leading investment managers, Raymond J. Harbert ’82. After all, Harbert was not only an internationally respected businessman in his own right, but he also knew Auburn intimately, both as a university trustee and a business alumnus. A few hours later, Auburn’s future business dean had his answer. “The conversation with Raymond clinched it for me,” recalls Hardgrave, who began his Auburn tenure in August 2010. “He was passionate about the college and wanted it to become great. I realized then that if people like Raymond were involved, I could really make an investment in being here.” Harbert was sold as well—on Hardgrave’s dream of what the college could become and his drive to make it happen. Three years later, they launched their plan to transform
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the school, and this fall Harbert literally put his money behind their vision, pledging a $40 million gift, part of which will serve as a $15 million challenge match. It is the largest single gift in Auburn University’s history, and one of the largest educational gifts in the The first collegiate school of business was state of Alabama. at the UniverIt is also what in administrative founded sity of Pennsylvania in and advancement parlance is known as 1881, gradually moving business education transformational. of the realm of The transformation goes way be- out “specialized” business yond a name change, although the Ray- colleges that had little mond J. Harbert College of Business of- or no academic oversight and were primarficially took its new moniker in an early ily vocational, offering October ceremony. On a sunny Satur- instruction on such as penmanship, day, banners streamed from Lowder areas bookkeeping, and “comHall, more than 1,200 people enjoyed position of mercantile a leisurely tailgate barbeque lunch, and correspondence.” the Auburn Tigers did their part by contributing a 30-22 win over Ole Miss.
I L LU S T RAT I ON B Y M A RI A RE N DON
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Now, however, the real business begins. Harbert’s gift is far more than donating money to a college and giving it a new name. “My capital is just the beginning,” he says. “I want Auburn to be the best it can be.” Also helping launch the business college’s $100 million comprehensive campaign, with gifts exceeding $1 million, were Kerry Bradley ’79; Julie and Robert Broadway ’91; and Terri Lynn and David Luck ’71. Harbert’s gift provides the seed money to recruit top faculty and expand the college’s doctoral programs while developing initiatives in three key areas: business analytics, investments and supply-chain management. Among Auburn’s newer colleges and schools, the Harbert College of Business, founded in 1967, already is the university’s second-largest college, with 3,400 undergraduate majors and about 600 graduate students, including 25 doctoral candidates. “We can make some headway,” says Hardgrave. “This gift will make the college stronger and more nationally competitive.” Recruiting eminent scholars to lead research efforts and attract doctoral students to the college’s expanded advanceddegree programs is a key element of the plan. The college, which last year added a doctoral program in business with a concentration in finance, was on the hunt for renowned academics this fall. Hardgrave wants to triple the number of doctoral students from 25 to 75 over the coming years. When all the pomp and circumstance of the naming ceremony took place in October, Professor of Finance Jimmy Hilliard, the Harbert Eminent Scholar, was in Chicago conducting interviews. “There are synergies,” says Hilliard. “Eminent scholars will attract talented Ph.D. students, Ph.D. students will supply energy and talent for original research, and the wealth-management center will both enhance outreach into the business community and provide ideas for research.”
“Eminent scholars will attract talented Ph.D. students, Ph.D. students will supply energy and talent for original research, and the wealthmanagement center will both enhance outreach into the business community and provide ideas for research.” 32
Hardgrave says building up the school’s doctoral program will pay dividends both on campus and beyond. “The payback is in the research that gets generated and how that can lift up the faculty,” says Hardgrave. “It will build Auburn’s reputational capital too as these Ph.D.s go out into the academy.”
Energy, Synergy The developments at the Harbert College of Business have revitalized alumni like Kerry Bradley ’79, the recently retired president of the eyewear giant Luxottica Retail North America. He’s heading up the college’s comprehensive campaign, which was jump-started with Harbert’s donation. Bradley had lost touch with Auburn for many years after leaving Alabama for graduate school in Scotland and a job in Cincinnati at Proctor & Gamble. But he still retained a fondness for the place where he earned his undergraduate degree. In Cincinnati, his basement was painted orange and blue. In January, Bradley will move to his new home, currently under construction on South College Street, and become more involved in the community that launched his successful career. He remembers a line from the Auburn alma mater in which alumni “vow to work for thy just fame.” Kerry Bradley means it. “Bill Hardgrave has challenged us to think way bigger than Auburn has traditionally thought about its college of business,” says Bradley. “He’s got a dream, and a business plan to get us there.”
One World The initiatives will build on the business school’s strengths. Supply chain management, for example, is the fastest-growing undergraduate major within the business school, with the
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Father knows best? Not always. When Raymond Harbert ’82 arrived at Auburn in the fall of 1976, he seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of his father, John M. Harbert III, the Birmingham construction magnate and a 1946 AU engineering graduate. It was all mapped out. Like his father, Raymond would study engineering. Then he’d join the the family’s successful construction firm. But the plan had one major flaw, at least from Raymond’s point of view: he didn’t like engineering. He wanted to study finance. Raymond needed time to find his own path. He eventually transferred to the College of Business, where he majored in industrial management. It took him six years to earn that degree, during which time he took courses in finance and statistics, providing him with a solid foundation for analytical thinking in the business world. “I had several junior years,” laughs Harbert, 55, from his Birmingham office. “College is a time when you are making decisions. You have to learn to think for yourself, as opposed to being told what to do.” His extended stay at Auburn also provided also provided time for the courtship of his initially reluctant wifeto-be, Kathryn Dunn ’81. He met her at a fraternity party on campus, was smitten, and suggested to one of her Phi Mu sorority sisters that she
set them up on a blind date. He invited her to a party at his college apartment to watch the Academy Awards. Raymond Harbert might have been smitten, but Kathryn Dunn wasn’t. “I asked her to go to every football game the next fall,” he says. “She wouldn’t go with me.” He persevered. Much as with his academic career, he refused to give up or settle. Months after his initial attempts, the couple finally started dating and he won her over. They were married in October 1982. “I was very persistent,” he says. Auburn business degree in hand, Harbert went to work for his father at Harbert Corp., the thriving construction company with several subsidiaries and investment arms. He started in the construction business and was soon running Harbert’s commercial real estate development division. “Working for my father, I was exposed to many business situations,” he says. “Today, I feel like a self-taught MBA.” By age 28, he’d found his stride, heading up Harbert’s investment operation. Three years later, he became Harbert’s president and CEO at a time when the construction company was struggling during the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992, he managed to convince his father it was time to sell, and the next year he
and four Harbert executives launched an investment company called Harbert Management Corp. The group included Charlie Miller ’80, Harbert’s Kappa Alpha fraternity brother who now serves as the corporation’s executive vice president and global head of distribution. Today, Harbert Management Corp., with about 300 employees, has $3.5 billion under management around the globe, with offices in Australia, Hong Kong, London, Paris and Madrid. Their clients range from high-networth individuals to large in-
stitutions, the largest of which in 2013 is CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, a provider of retirement, health and financial programs. If persistence got him through Auburn and perseverance helped him win over the love of his life, it’s performance to which Harbert credits business success. “Wealth management is a fantastic industry,” he says. “You can be very successful, but it’s also very Darwinian. If you don’t post results, you go out of business.”—David McKay Wilson
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number of juniors and seniors specializing in this growing field doubling in recent years. Commerce has long involved supply chains, as businesses looked for ways to produce their goods cheaply and move them to consumers yearning to buy them. Today’s supply chain is more complex than those that have served the commercial world for eons. In the 20th century, a factory owner would focus on economies within his own manufacturing operation to improve its efficiency. Today, those savings may arise through finding new sources for materials around the world, or developing the logistics to bring the goods to market in a profitable manner. But in today’s global economy, what works one year might not work the next. Consumer tastes change too. So supplychain professionals must remain vigilant—and nimble—as the situation on the ground changes. “We had 5,000 stores in North America and we needed to get frames and lens from all parts of the world,” says Bradley. “You’re thinking about lowering inventories, just-in-time deliveries and knowing what to have on the shelves so you don’t have too much of the wrong stuff and not enough of the right stuff.” Hardgrave is holding talks with faculty at Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering about the possibility of developing a cross-disciplinary research center to delve into the issues confronted by companies that operate in the globalized economic system. It’s all about producing new business graduates who are equipped to handle the rapidly changing nature of their fields, from investments to management. Companies such as UPS, FedEx and Georgia-Pacific now come to Auburn to recruit Auburn graduates, and as the initiatives funded by Harbert’s gift and the comprehensive campaign are realized, the demand for Auburn business graduates will continue to grow. “Our students are getting phenomenal jobs,” Hardgrave says. In today’s economic climate, that’s a sure sign of success.
In today’s global economy, what works one year might not work the next. Consumer tastes change too. So supply-chain professionals must remain vigilant—and nimble— as the situation on the ground changes. 34
Watchword: Analytics The exponential growth in data generated by computer systems provides a wealth of information for business executives. But it can be a huge challenge to analyze Big Data in ways that offer ideas on how to drive decision-making in the corporate boardroom to create a competitive advantage. The rise of business analytics in the past 15 years has helped develop professionals with the skills to glean those trends from the mounds of data that get generated. This year, the Alabama Commission on Higher Education approved Auburn’s request to establish an undergraduate major in business analytics. In addition, every business major is required to take six credit hours in the subject. “There’s a huge rush for businesses to get into this space,” says L. Allison Jones-Farmer, the Clyde M. and Elizabeth S. Smith Professor of Business Analytics and Statistics, and now director of Auburn’s business analytics program. “They have all the data, computational power is cheap and there’s room to store it. Businesses want to know how they can leverage Big Data to make big decisions.” Jones-Farmer has created the Auburn University Business Analytics Lab, which provides students with the opportunity to explore data analysis. One project this year looked at the predictive power of social networks, with students mining data from the Twitter social-media platform to identify trends. Since launching in 2006, Twitter has become a social media giant, with 500 million registered users in 2012 who posted an estimated 340 million “tweets” per day in 140 characters or less and submitted 1.6 billion daily search queries. It’s also familiar turf for college students. “It’s a computational sandbox where the students can play,” says Jones-Farmer. Jones-Farmer has worked with Alabama business leaders to develop the curriculum for the business analytics major. It includes courses in predictive modeling, Big Data and machine learning as well as analytics electives in fields such as marketing, finance or supply chain, so the analysts learn the lingo of those fields. The capstone course—“Communicating Quantitative Results in Business”—provides students with the skills to make analyses understandable to colleagues or clients by creating white papers or presentations. “If you can’t communicate it back to an audience, your data analysis is meaningless,” she says.
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Sound Investments
What’s Up with Business?
Raymond Harbert made his fortune in the investment arena by managing the wealth of individuals and institutions. His gift will provide the financial support for research and collaboration among faculty exploring this domain in the financial world. These issues take on added importance as the Baby Boomer generation moves to retirement, supposedly in charge of their future through investments in 401(k) accounts and institutions look for top performance for their endowments. Among the initiatives under study are a student-managed investment fund and an investments research center. The student-managed fund, to be seeded with about $1 million, would provide Auburn students with a real-life experience in making choices in the investment world. Wealth management is all about risks and returns, and comes in all scales of size, from endowments and foundations, family offices, pension funds,
Recent doings at the Harbert College of Business: Transportation solutions Global transportation giant FedEx recently sponsored a supply chain management case competition for Raymond J. Harbert College of Business students. Company executives developed the case based on real-world experiences with a client similar to the one outlined in the case. Fifteen teams from Cliff Defee’s Supply Chain Strategy course analyzed the case with five passing through to the final judging in front of two FedEx executives. The result: FedEx representatives left the university very impressed and students Will Doster, Joe Swinson and Ben Truesdale claimed the top prize of $2,500. “The thing I was most impressed with was the fact that they have already learned through their curriculum that you can’t look at transportation as a single component,” said Dave Pollard ’85 of FedEx. Total recall As diligently as businesses work to prevent them, product recalls are inevitable. In recent years, corporations have had to pull everything from faulty automobile brake pads to salmonella-tainted peanuts off the market to prevent extensive harm to consumers, not to mention reputations, sales and stock prices. While time is of the essence in identifying and recalling defective products, little is known about the process that leads to their removal from the supply chain. Dave Ketchen, Lowder Eminent Scholar in the Department of Management, and two colleagues have been honored by the Decision Sciences Institute for their investigation of the product-recall process.
financial institutions, insurance companies or individuals with high-net personal worth. For students to enter the workforce with the flexibility to handle a variety of complex investment situations, having the opportunity to interact in a lab that approximates a real-world setting will be invaluable. The research center would provide an environment where academics, students and executives from the world of finance could come together to collaborate on investment-related projects and research. “My whole idea is to enhance and increase the intellectual capital at Auburn,” says Harbert. And he wouldn’t mind if some of Auburn’s top business graduates came to Birmingham for a visit—or perhaps to stay. “In my own company, we are hiring new analysts every year,” he says. “It would sure be nice if some of them came from Auburn.”
The 500-pound economy When Richard Yamarone weighs in on the state of the economy, he does so with the understanding that many listeners won’t like the forecast. In speaking to Auburn finance students in October, Yamarone expressed doubts that the U.S. economy could be nursed back to health without significant changes. “You don’t need to be a doctor to see a 500-pound man with a donut in one hand and a cigarette in the other to say, ‘That’s not going to end well,’” said Yamarone, senior economist for Bloomberg Brief: Economics. The 60-second interview Take it from a Harbert College of Business graduate who hopes to be able to hire other alums: a good resume will only get you so far. Your chances to separating yourself from other potential hires during an informal meet-andgreet with a job recruiter may hinge on what happens in a 60-second window. Brandon Broach ’05, a Birmingham-based account manager for Stanley Black & Decker, offered advice to Auburn students as he networked on campus during the first wave of the college’s Industry Weeks.
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Auburn Magazine goes behind the scenes with a few of the hundreds who help make fall Saturdays on the Plains the best college game day on the planet—not that we’re biased. by suzanne johnson, anna claire conrad and kerry coppinger. photographs by jeff etheridge
Game Day! there’s nothing else like it. A late October Saturday afternoon’s soft sunshine warms the skin. A light, just-cool-enough breeze teases the senses with aromas of grilled burgers and popcorn. Shouts of “War Eagle” and the trill of a marching band and the greetings of old friends blend into a joyous cacophony. The very twilight itself gets into the spirit, bursting a final flash of orange and blue in the darkening sky as if in a Tigerinspired warning to the opposing team as it takes the lush green field at JordanHare Stadium. What else can it be but game day at Auburn University? A successful game day means fans come away from campus not only celebrating a victory but having enjoyed the
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entire day. We celebrate without thinking about the hundreds upon hundreds of people who work hard behind the scenes, both volunteers and university employees, to make everything run smoothly for athletes, fans, players and coaches all. Join us as, in words and photographs, we take a look under the hood at just a few of the pit crew members who make game day run like a well-oiled, orangeand-blue racing machine.
Safe and sound
No matter how many Auburn home games you attend in a lifetime, there’s one part of Jordan-Hare Stadium you really don’t want to see on game day: the holding cell beneath the north end zone,
Think those orange and blue shakers magically appear in neat formation on the stadium stands before blocs of fans, not to mention band members, arrive? Volunteers and university staff members do all kinds of jobs to make the stadium ready long before the players, coaches and fans arrive: checking the turf, testing sound systems, verifying media and camera placement, monitoring the weather and, yes, positioning pompons.
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where Lee County sheriff’s deputies will put you on ice with not a touchdown or field goal (or goalpost) in sight. With more than 90,000 extra people on campus—not counting the family and friends who come to tailgate without plans to attend the game, security is a major concern. No one wants a game-day dream to turn into a nightmare. Keeping fans safe means monitoring a plethora of video feeds, responding to fan complaints, discouraging disorderly conduct, tracking weather conditions, satisfying the requirements of fans who arrive with special needs, posting police officers for incoming and outgoing traffic, and organizing patrols both on and off campus. Since 2002, Randal Cerovsky, the associate director of the Office of Public Safety and Security Services at Auburn, has managed the busy security command booth at Jordan-Hare Stadium while working with both the Auburn Police Department and the Auburn University
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athletics department. Everything, he says, is funneled through the stadium’s command central. Cerovsky’s responsibility is to protect the university’s interests, which means “not leaving it solely on the city of Auburn to make all of the decisions about what’s happening in that stadium.” Not just the stadium. His jurisdiction extends campuswide as well as in the city immediately around campus, “especially after the game to get all of that traffic out.” As one would suspect, fans trying to sneak alcohol into the stadium and drunk and disorderly conduct are the most frequent security issues Cerovsky, the Auburn Police Department and the athletics department have to deal with during game day. “The officers are doing the best job they can of keeping [alcohol] out of the stadium,” he says. People caught with alcohol or who become involved with a fight or disruption are taken to the holding cell located underneath the north end zone of the
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stadium run by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Offenders are booked and later taken to the county jail. If students are caught with alcohol, their punishment is handled by the university. According to Cerovsky, another issue that plagues game day is heat stroke—before those cool late-October days arrive, there are the hot and humid September and early October days, where the heat is exacerbated by crowded conditions and dehydration. The responsibility falls to Cerovsky’s crew to get the paramedics on duty to the location of the person suffering from heat exhaustion. From heat stroke to traffic jams, RVs stuck in parking lots to restrooms without enough paper towels, Cerovsky and his team in the command booth have their hands on just about every aspect of an Auburn game day. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. —Anna Claire Conrad
The tao of tents
michael hood ’95, supervisor of service support within Auburn’s facilities man-
agement division, is what some might call a game-day logistics guru. Have an event and need a tent? He’s the guy to call. And on game days, a lot of departments and organizations want tents. “The best way to describe my work is that you must be a really good juggler,” he says. On any given day throughout the year, Hood’s customers include students, departments, campus organizations and the president’s office. But during football season, he works primarily with commercial tent vendors. “Fall is the busiest time for tents,” he says. “If I had to estimate the numbers, fall events account for 80 percent of all the tents we set up during the year.” Students and fans have come to expect tents popping up all over campus in the fall, but few know the details that go into making that happen. Detail, however, is Hood’s specialty— there’s a lot more to setting up a tent than driving a few stakes in the ground. Approvals, utility locations, size, reserving the right space—the week before a game
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Left, It takes a lot of coordination to place cameras to both get the right shot—not just for television but also for referee play reviews—while not obstructing fans’ views.
is filled with the minutiae of setups. Hood and his team work to make sure game-day tent setups are both successful and safe. Above, Jordan-Hare Command Central, “All the work that where various officials goes into transkeep an eye out for forming the campus everything that could possibly go wrong, in right before game the stands and on the day comes from so field. The game itself many people and takes a backseat. areas,” he says. And his job doesn’t end when the tents are up. Once game day is in full swing, he can be found walking from tent to tent, checking to make sure there are no problems. He also checks in with each vendor to follow up on previous communications. Among all the business, though, Hood is still able to enjoy much of game day. As both an alumnus and an Auburn native who grew up eight miles west of Toomer’s Corner, he likes knowing that he and his staff support the overall mission of the university.
“Working with the commercial tent vendors provides an opportunity to support the hospitality the Auburn Family is so well known for. We treat everyone like family.” —Kerry Coppinger
Manning the mic
For any game day to be successful, whether or not our Tigers win on Pat Dye Field, there is one thing that must happen—the “12th man,” as the fans are often called, has to stay involved and vocal. That’s where the Mic Man comes in. A native of Windermere, Fla., Justin Melnick is a senior in industrial and systems engineering with a minor in general business. He is an active member of Auburn University’s Air Force ROTC program, in which he has held several leadership positions, and he is a devoted member of FarmHouse Fraternity. Melnick also completed an internship with the industrial engineering department at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. However, he is better known around the SEC as the Auburn University 20132014 Mic Man. He isn’t just a cheer-
leader; he’s the guy behind that booming voice designed to whip fans into a frenzy. Melnick says he became interested in becoming an Auburn University cheerleader because his roommate was the Mic Man last year. He was the perfect replacement—he’d gotten plenty of experience exercising his diaphragm through ROTC, his Disney internship and his musical theater work in high school. Still, being Mic Man can be overwhelming. “It feels like I’m in a room by myself,” Melnick says. “It’s just me staring at this huge mass of people that are going up and down with their emotions and cheering really loud sometimes, and sometimes need extra encouragement. It’s not like anything else I’ve done, but it’s crazy and a lot of fun.” Melnick doesn’t just cheer on game days. Four hours before kickoff, he’s setting up sound equipment. During the game, he keeps beat with the marching band, interacts with Aubie, chooses when to use which cheer—all while keeping the crowd engaged from the time the eagle flies to the final seconds of the fourth quarter. —Anna Claire Conrad
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Green grass of home
philipe adahir has a passion for turf. His journey to becoming the agronomy aficionado he is today began when he was a child living in Brazil. “Growing up, my two favorite channels were ESPN and ESPN2. I just had to find a way to work in the sports area.” A graduate student in agronomy and soils, Adahir found his happy medium in the work of preparing, analyzing, fertilizing, covering and even painting Auburn’s beloved Pat Dye Field. Adahir and his co-workers begin preparing the field long before even the most dedicated students, alumni and fans begin tailgating on any given game week. Beginning the Tuesday before a game and extending through kickoff, they paint lines and logos, put tarps and equipment in place, and begin a long list of maintenance tasks. Game day is the payoff for Adahir’s year-round work on the field. “It’s a nonstop process,” he says. “The season is only three months long, but in order to
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have the turf ready for game day we need to take care of it year-round.” The winter before the first kickoff of the season, Adahir is prepping the base grass used on the field, which is a Bermuda grass that needs to be fertilized regularly and protected from harsh weather. When football season does arrive, Adahir and his coworkers are the first to arrive at the stadium and the last to get off the field. After the final whistle blows, they remove debris, look for damage and, if needed, fertilize or even re-seed portions of it. The most exciting part of game day? “Watching the stadium fill up,” he says. “Since we’re there from the beginning. It’s everything around the game that makes it so interesting.”—Kerry Coppinger
immediately at the end of the previous season,” he says. There are ticket renewals, new seat selections and, as the new season approaches, tens of thousands of tickets to coordinate and mail. Although Naughton cites winter and spring as the busiest times for his office, he still has about 45 employees out there on game days to execute last-minute sales and present long-distance fans with their physical tickets before and during games. “In addition to selling tickets on game day, we troubleshoot any problems with access management, scanners, reprints, left-at-home tickets, etc.,” he says. As anyone who works in a high-stress environment can tell you, no matter how much you plan, there are always aspects of unpredictability. Naughton enjoys this part of his job, describing it as exciting and saying, “It keeps you challenged.” While Naughton and his team’s presence is clear on game days, their work hinders them from viewing the game firsthand. “Our staff is located in the ticket purchase and distribution areas, which don’t have access to the field.” Naughton is an avid Auburn fan, though, and enjoys watching away games on television. And he loves the feeling of making a difference and being part of the Ticket Office team. He especially loves seeing parents bringing their children to their first game day. “Knowing what that’s like is exciting and always heart-warming.” —Kerry Coppinger
Forgot your ticket?
face it—you can enjoy a lot of game day without a ticket, but you can’t get into Jordan-Hare Stadium. It’s up to Stephen Naughton, the assistant athletics director in charge of the Tigers’ ticket office, and his team to make sure you’re all set Upper left: Athletics with that magic director Jay Jacobs slip of cardboard gets a pregame health status report from when kickoff time Tigers team physician approaches. Michael Goodlett. N a u g h t o n ’s Right: On the sidestaff, like the many lines, volunteers other offices that provide towels and water for the players work on game-day before the game. Oppreparations, begin posite: the Tigers have their work long bea moment of togetherness before taking the fore football season field...maybe giving arrives. “Game-day thanks for all the game-day volunteers? prep for us begins
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A former AU diver braves deep water (and car crashes and free falls and fires) as one of Hollywood’s leading stuntmen. Join Mike Smith ’90 behind the wheel—and behind the camera. b y s u m m e r a u s t i n
Off the High Dive The earliest professional stunt performers were comedians, and most of their work involved slapstick and pratfalls. The profession evolved quickly in the 1960s and 1970s, however, as stunt technology developed and audiences grew more sophisticated in their desire for realistic action scenes. The “Oscar” for stunt work is the Taurus World Stunt Awards Foundation’s annual recognition, for which alumnus Mike Smith has received four nominations, as well as a Screen Actors Guild nomination in 2009.
mike smith glances over the precipice of the Chattahoochee River bank at the charred and demolished sports car resting on the rocks below. It’s a Koenigsegg Agera R, said to be the fastest car in the world, a Swedish wonder of carbon-fiber that can top 270 miles per hour and do 0-186 mph in less than 15 seconds. Then he casually looks away; no big deal. It’s just another day on the movie set for a veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator. One more pile of wreckage. And the Koenigsegg Agera? Don’t worry. It’s just a replica. A couple of days earlier, the vehicle had been set on fire and sent careening over the railing of the Chattahoochee bridge that spans the river between Columbus, Ga., and Phenix City. This time, Smith wasn’t behind the wheel of the freefalling sportscar, but behind the camera, co-coordinating the stunt action for Need for Speed, a movie partnership between Electronic Arts and DreamWorks scheduled for release in March 2014. Smith has been there, though, in similar situations. “My heart rate never gets up when it’s happening, but on the way home, after it’s over… Sometimes I think about what could have happened.” On this particular day, Smith is in another red Koenig-
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segg, leading a pack of racing vehicles back and forth over the bridge. The car zooms past, screeches to a halt. Then does it again and again. The number of takes is endless on a shot like this one, a production assistant notes. The burning dive off the bridge? That one needs to be right the first time.
G The Mike Smith Stuntography: A Partial List Need for Speed (stunt co-coordinator, stunts, to be released in March 2014) Nightcrawler (stunt coordinator, secondunit director, currently filming) 21 & Over (stunt coordinator) Rites of Passage (stunt coordinator) A Little Bit of Heaven (stunt coordinator) The Craigslist Killer (stunt coordinator) Fast & Furious Black Water Transit (stunt coordinator) Pineapple Express (stunt coordinator) The Kingdom Harsh Times (stunt double for Christian Bale) Soccer Dog: European Cup (stunt coordinator) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Bruce Almighty Anger Management In Enemy Hands (stunt coordinator; second-unit director) Laurel Canyon (stunt double) Independence Day
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iven the nature of their work, one might expect a stuntman to be an adrenaline junkie. But the point of good stunt work, Smith says, is minimizing the adrenaline, not accelerating it. “There’s a big difference between being a daredevil and a stuntman,” he says. “A daredevil is like Evel Knievel, an extreme type of guy. What stuntmen do is a very planned, very organized illusion with elements of danger.” Smith’s not crazy, because he knows what he’s doing and ensures the outcome is a whole lot safer than it looks. “I demand rehearsal because, let me put it to you in football terms—you don’t just show up to practice. You have to have a plan and you have to execute your plan. You don’t just show up and get lucky. You have to prepare for success.” Involvement in a stunt requires physical preparation, but Smith thinks mental readiness is just as important. “As I’ve gotten older doing stunts, I get very calm before I do something big,” Smith said, explaining that he likes to quiet his breathing, be very alert and focused and replace any negative thoughts with positive. “Of course you are going to be a little scared sometimes, but by the time you’re doing the stunt you’ve probably thought about the stunt 150 times. I always visualize myself doing it perfectly.” And it’s a good thing: stuntmen get paid to get a little hurt, not a lot injured. Inherently, when doing stunts, you will get a little banged up, he says. It’s part of the job in the same way a football player gets bruises, cuts and scrapes. More preparation, mental and physical, means less chance of real injury. Stunt work is still risky business,
though. He recalls Left: In a last attempt one scene that re- to save his struggling quired him to perch garage, blue colmechanic Tobey atop an ambulance, lar Marshall (Aaron Paul, next to the lights, right) builds and races as it raced for a low muscle cars on the with his team that bridge at 60 mph. side includes Benny (Scott Smith’s job was to Mescudi). Dreamslip off the side of Works Pictures’ Need for Speed chronicles a the ambulance just near-impossible crossas it passed under country race against that begins as a the bridge, ripping time mission for revenge the lights off the top. but proves to be one “If my timing’s of redemption. Photo: Sue Gordon off, I die,” he says. Melinda © DreamWorks II Dis“You just have to tribution Co., LLC. All have great timing.” Rights Reserved. Quick thinking in making judgment calls is required as well. Earlier in the filming, a stunt that had to be altered at the last second to prevent injury didn’t quite follow that adrenaline-minimizing goal. On that particular early-morning shoot, Smith admits he’d been scared. “Any stunt guy that tells you he doesn’t get scared is probably a little foolish,” he says. “Fear is very healthy. It keeps you alert.”
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mith is a stunt driver on DreamWorks’ Need For Speed, but his resume includes a broader range of work behind the camera, including as second-unit director. He’s served as stunt co-coordinator on a number of films (see the “Stuntography” at left). Need for Speed is a big-budget, box office production that will open in March, a theatrical adaptation of the Electronic Arts auto-racing video games. The film stars “Breaking Bad” actor Aaron Paul and is directed by Scott Waugh. The plot’s cross-country race requires the crew to film in several different areas, which allowed Smith to visit his alma mater during the filming’s downtime. That’s what made this movie a little different than the more than 100 films Smith has worked on over the past 21 years. He appreciated the opportunity to see Auburn’s campus again. It’s been a long time since he competed with the Auburn diving program, joining a successful swimming and diving en-
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vironment that had begun back in 1932, when the university pool was located in the basement of the gymnasium. He says he hasn’t been able to visit as often as he’d like, but Need for Speed gave him a chance to come back to Auburn. Since his career took off, Smith has been involved in filmmaking from one side of the camera to the other. Most of his credits have involved stuntwork, either in front of or behind the camera, but he’s had some 14 acting credits as well, including playing a Marine sergeant on the TV hit show “24” and the character Bob Harris in a 2010 episode of “The Closer.” According to his Internet Movie Database listing, there are 99 films and television shows for which he has performed stuntwork or served as stunt coordinator, ranging from a 1992 appearance on the TV show “Melrose Place” to the movie Nightcrawler, for which he serves as stunt coordinator and is currently filming. His resume is filled with blockbuster movies, including Mission: Impossible III, Spiderman and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. He has stunt-doubled for
Christian Bale, Mel Gibson and David Duchovny, and has in recent years begun moving more into the role of stunt coordinator. He’s received World Stunt Award nominations for his work on The Kingdom, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (two nominations) and Charlie’s Angels. In a lot of ways, he says, it’s the best of both worlds—being in the middle of an exciting industry without the loss of privacy. He’s well-known in filmmaking circles, but if he does his job well, his work blends seamlessly into the film. “I love the anonymity,” he says. “I’ve been recognized a few times but I can still go out and eat at a restaurant.” His career began shortly after graduation from Auburn, when he said he was in that period of not wanting to get a “real” job. He accepted a gig to be in a high-diving show at Magic Mountain and a man in the audience asked him if he’d ever thought about doing stunt work. Everything took off from there. As a diver at Auburn, Smith says he learned invaluable lessons about body control and kinesiology, and also about life in general.
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He remembers talking to a teammate’s father in the stands following his performance at the SEC Championships his senior year, when the Tigers finished fifth overall in the conference. He was upset about his results, of course, but quickly realized he was missing the whole point. It’s not about winning or losing, but about the experience. About living it. So live it, he does. And along an exciting the way, he’s had a In return to the great chance to assume car culture films the roles of the of the 1960s and ’70s that tap into world’s most identi- what makes the fiable action heroes. American myth of open road so “I’ve gotten to the enticing, Dreambe Batman,” he Works Pictures’ says with a grin. Need for Speed added of action to “I’ve gotten to be plenty its film locations, James Bond. I get to including western Georgia around the be a kid every day. Chattahoochee River. “I get to play Photo: Melinda Sue with big toys and Gordon © DreamII Distribution do things most Works Co., LLC. All Rights people only dream Reserved. about.”
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Larry Benefield ’66
Tim Cook ’82
John Brown ’57
Pat Sullivan ’72
ee Join us in recognizing four of Auburn University’s best. On March 8, 2014, we will be presenting the university’s highest alumni recognition to environmental engineer Larry Benefield, dean emeritus of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering; engineering graduate Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc.; 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan, head football coach at Samford University; and John Brown, chairman emeritus of the medical equiment maker Stryker Corp.
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Tell me more ... To learn about this year’s honorees, visit us online at www.aualum.org/laa
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Howdy* and War Eagle!
LOOKING FOR WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS TOURS?
See the listings on Page 52.
AUtumn NIGHTS IN AUBURN
President, Auburn Alumni Association
every year! I am thankful, honored and humbled to begin my second year as your Auburn Alumni Association president. (*Howdy was the authentic Texas welcome we all received during our first-ever Auburn visit to Texas A&M.) As an Auburn man and an Auburn fan, I was privileged to make the October road trip to College Station, Texas, for our epic victory over the Texas A&M Aggies. WOW! It truly was a “Great day to be an Auburn Tiger.” I mention this trip because of the “Texassized” outpouring of hospitality by the A&M fans and family. Their traditions, from “Midnight Yell Practice” to the Yell Leaders, from BTHO and t.u. (trust me, if you ever make the trip, you’ll understand!), to Reveille and the Corps, Texas A&M is a proud and loyal group. We are thankful to have Texas A&M University, and their loyal “former students” and fans, join us in the SEC West. Let’s also make sure that we continue our grand Auburn tradition as the “Loveliest, and Most Hospitable, Village on the Plains” to all our campus visitors. At homecoming, we welcomed four new alumni association board members: Les Hayes ’80 of Prattville, Rip Britton ’82 of Birmingham, Regenia Sanders ’95 of Atlanta and Deborah Carter ’72 of Saint Simons Island, Ga. Please join me in a War Eagle welcome to these new stewards of your association. At the same time, we offer our thanks to our four outgoing board members: Kathleen Saal ’83, Vernell Barnes ’75, Cindy Sahlie ’85 and Randy Ham ’73. Each has served our Auburn Alumni
Calendar
Nov. 29
BILL STONE ’85
Howdy* and WAR EAGLE! I would like to wish you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. Our Auburn Family has much to be thankful for—this year, and
C E N T E R
Association with great integrity and “a spirit that is not afraid.” Your Auburn Alumni Association is thankful for your service and your many contributions. Fall now begins to turn to winter. We’ll soon know where we are headed for a bowl trip this year, and who, and what great traditions, await us. What a treat is ahead as we join Coach Malzahn and our Auburn Tigers in the return to postseason play. Just as with our Tigers, the opportunity for this “extra season” of practice provides each of us in our individual lives the time to celebrate our past achievements and to look forward to the work that lies ahead. It will be hard but rewarding work, focused on goals to continually improve ourselves, our family, our businesses and our beloved Auburn University. Are you ready? Are you plugged into your Auburn Alumni Association and local Auburn Club? I encourage you to use this extra practice time to begin, or continue, your own tradition of giving back, and paying forward, to Auburn University. December will be a busy first month of winter: two great commencement ceremonies, the International Quality of Life Awards presented by our College of Human Sciences, the college football bowl season and, best of all, the time to visit and renew ourselves with family and friends during the holiday season. I began by wishing each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Now, I also have the blessing to be one of the very first to wish you Merry Christmas. WAR EAGLE!
On Nov. 29, from 6-10 p.m., the Auburn Family will gather in downtown Auburn to kick off an Iron Bowl weekend of fun on the Plains with the last of this year’s Downtown AUtumn Nights, featuring Aubie, the marching band and live music. The free event is sponsored by the Auburn Chamber along with the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau and a partnership between the Auburn Alumni Association, the City of Auburn, Auburn Athletics and Downtown Auburn Merchants. Nov. 30 FOOTBALL: IRON BOWL HOSPITALITY TENT
The last Alumni Hospitality Tent of the season will open three hours prior to kickoff (check TV listings for game time) and close 30 minutes before the game begins. Located on the Wallace Center lawn, steps away from the west stadium entrance, the tent offers food, a big-screen TV, visits from Aubie and the band, and more. www.aualum.org/tent.
Dec. 14 COMMENCEMENT
For detailed information about commencement visit www.auburn.edu/graduation. And don’t forget: Auburn Alumni Association members receive discounts on lodging! For more information got to www.aualum.org/benefits. Dec. 23-Jan. 3 HOLIDAYS
Auburn University will be closed for business during this two-week break, and will resume normal operating hours, 7:45 a.m.-4:45 p.m., on Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Jan. 21 INTEGRATION COMMEMORATION LUNCHEON
BillStone@auburnalum.org
Sponsored by the Auburn Alumni Association, the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs and Auburn University Outreach. The luncheon will be held at the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. Information: 334-844-2985.
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Calendar March 8 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT CEREMONY & DINNER
Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel & Conference Center at Grand National. Information: 334-8442985. The Auburn Alumni Association will honor four graduates as recipients of its highest honor: Larry D. Benefield ’66, an internationally recognized researcher in biological treatment processes who retired as dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering in 2012; John Brown ’57, chairman emeritus of Stryker Corp, a leading medical equipment maker for which he served during a 32-year career as president and chief executive officer; Tim Cook ’82, chief executive officer of Apple Inc.; and Pat Sullivan ’72, 1971 Heisman Trophy winner and currently head football coach at Samford University. For more information about this year’s honorees or the recognition dinner, please visit www.aualum.org/laa. WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: UPCOMING TOURS
Travel with your fellow Auburn alumni on the following tours. For more details, visit aualum.org/travel or call 334-844-1443. March 18-28, 2014 MAYAN MYSTIQUE
Discover the Western Caribbean from the comfort of the elegant Oceania Cruises Riviera. Cruise to lush islands and ports in Latin America, ancient lands brimming with culture and natural splendor, where rainforests are dotted with colonial towns and Mayan ruins. From $2,699. April 4-11, 2014 PARIS
Discover the sheer elegance and romance of Paris with its astounding array of world-famous sites: the Louvre, Notre Dame, Palais Garnier and the Eiffel Tower. More of historic France awaits at Versailles, Chartres and the beaches of Normandy. From $2,699.
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Thank you for your membership DEBBIE SHAW ’84
Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Executive Director, Auburn Alumni Association I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a member of the Auburn Alumni Association. Our members are a very loyal group, and are extremely passionate about Auburn University. If you have received this magazine in the mail, it means you have received one of our top benefits. Our association operates as a 501(c)3 organization, and our mission includes supporting the goals and mission of Auburn University. We do this in many ways, including involvement in the strategic planning process of AU as well as providing student scholarships, faculty awards and faculty professorships. The university recognizes the value of membership in the alumni association, as it is vital to keeping alumni connected to their alma mater. What else do you receive for your membership? Since we are still in football season, you receive free admission to the Alumni Hospitality Tent before each home game. Almost 2,000 people per game visit our tent, which provides seating, a bigscreen TV, food, music, the marching band, cheerleaders and Aubie, and we are located across the street from the west side of Jordan-Hare Stadium. You can bring a nonmember guest for a discounted fee. You can also rest assured that money from your membership dues goes to support the academic mission of AU in the form of student scholarships (more than 200 awarded this fall) and faculty awards for excellence in teaching and research. The association also provides numerous discounts for its members in the form of local store discounts, national insurance rates for home and auto, hotel and restaurant discounts, free use of the AU Aquatics Cen-
ter and free on-site use of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library. You can also access the Alumni Network online, which provides opportunities for members to network. There are other available discounts too numerous to mention, but you can access this information by visiting www.aualum. org/benefits. Please encourage others to join the Auburn Alumni Association as well, as we want to touch as many alumni and friends of Auburn as possible. More members also mean we will be able to do many more things to support our great university. If by chance you are one of those individuals who joined the alumni association many, many years ago, please consider supporting our efforts by joining our donor society, the Circle of Excellence. This is a way you can make a tax-deductible gift and help us make a larger impact in supporting AU. If you are interested, please contact me at debbieshaw@auburnalum.org. Hey, that’s another benefit of membership! You can sign up for a permanent, forwarding email address like mine. Visit the Alumni Network to do so from our home webpage at www.aualum.org. Lastly, if you are looking for a great idea for a holiday gift, please consider purchasing an engraved paver in front of the Auburn Alumni Center. For as little as $200 (fully tax-deductible), you can recognize a special person whose name will be forever engraved in a special part of campus. We will even send a certificate and gift card on your behalf. Contact me and I will put you in touch with a staff member happy to help. Thanks again for your commitment to Auburn University through your membership in the Auburn Alumni Association. I sincerely appreciate your dedication. Please continue to support us by asking a friend to join. War Eagle!
debbieshaw@auburn.edu
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’50-’59 Abram L. Philips Jr. ’57 writes that he has many fond memories of his years at Auburn in 1953-55, when he was a member of the marching band and a sophomore class senator. Upon receiving his law degree in 1959, he moved to Mobile and joined a small six-lawyer firm that eventually grew to 24. He served as a managing partner for 15 years there before relocating to another Mobile firm. “I enjoyed 52 years of active practice, most of which was devoted to specialization in maritime law,” he writes. “I am now retired, still living in Mobile and devoting my time to my church, Auburn athletics, quail hunting, 10 wonderful grandchildren and a wonderful wife of 54 years, Carolyn.” Robert Savage ’59
published a new book, Shortening Our Leash on Politicians: Returning to Purpose, with Tate Publishing on Sept. 17. This is his second book. His first, Rendering Unto Caesar: The Fairest Tax, released in November 2011. He is retired from BellSouth, where he was a director
for the company’s pricing and economics department in Atlanta. He and his wife, Annette, live in Hartwell, Ga.
’60-’69 Thomas P. Glanton ’62 of Dallas, Ga., was
earlier this year named to the West Georgia Regional Library Strategic Planning Community Team. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he has served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, was a founding director of The Bank of Newnan, Ga., and has served as CEO and general partner of a number of business entities. He also is very active in community service. John Stickney ’64, a
semi-retired consulting engineer, recently published a biography of a Confederate Navy lieutenant, Promotion or the Bottom of the River, through USC Press. He lives in Chapin, S.C., and writes: “An engineer writing a history book?” Benjamin B. Spratling III ’67 was selected for
the public finance law category of The Best Lawyers in America, 2014 edition.
served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force and five years as Staff Judge Advocate, Alabama State Defense Force. He initiated a program with the lawyer referral service that provides a 25 percent discount for legal services to active, reserve, National Guard and retired members of the armed forces. He also is a professor emeritus from AuburnMontgomery and is active in Montgomery community and civic programs. He and his wife, Biddie R. Schrader ’81, live in Montgomery.
’70-’79 Bo Walkley ’71 has been named vice president for research and program development at the National Institute of Aerospace, a nonprofit aerospace research and graduate-education institute located in Hampton, Va. He recently celebrated his 40th year in the aerospace industry, having started at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, Mo., in June 1973 after receiving his master’s at Auburn. His wife, Judy Walkley ’73, is in her 16th year as guidance director at Poquoson (Va.) Middle School. They live in the Yorktown, Va., area.
George D. Schrader ’69 received the Univer-
Richard Geiger ’76
sity of Kentucky College of Law’s Legacy Award in July. The award is given in honor of a UK law graduate who has shown “exceptional leadership” in his profession. Schrader
retired on Sept. 15 after working 17 years for SAP America as a technical architect and 24 years with Digital Equipment Corp. as a system consultant. He writes, “I purchased
season tickets for the first time since graduating Auburn—I love being back on the Plains on Saturdays in the fall!”
’80-’89 Cynthia Hammond
May 10-17, 2014 DESTINATION DUBAI
Dubai conjures up images of gleaming skyscrapers set against the backdrop of the vast Arabian Desert and glistening sea. See Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building; bargain for gold, spices and handicrafts at the “suqs” markets. Ride camels, go sandsurfing, and feast under the stars in this intriguing adventure. From $1,625.
Langley ’83 has been
named executive director of Communities in Schools of Carrollton, Ga. She previously served as a coordinator at Carroll County (Ga.) Juvenile Wellness Court. She says her job gives her a “great opportunity to raise the graduation rates of at-risk students.” Jan Ziglar Eunice ’86
of Eufaula is a retired public educator with the Eufaula City Board of Education, performs as a flute soloist for the community and is currently on sabbatical from private flute and piano instruction.
May 13-21, 2014 ITALIAN LAKE DISTRICT
Discover the unique character of Italy’s turquoise lakes while exploring the charming towns, majestic Renaissance villas and lush gardens of Lake Orta, San Giulio, Borromean Islands, Lakes Maggiore and Como, and the city of Milan. From $2,995. May 19-June 1, 2014
Kenneth Knight ’87
has been promoted to vice president of financial management at Georgia Lottery Corp. in Atlanta. He previously was financial planning and analysis manager.
ALASKA DISCOVERY LAND AND CRUISE
Enjoy the epic Alaskan scenery as you cruise through the Inside Passage and Glacier Bay, then ride the McKinley Express train through breathtaking scenery. Explore Juneau, visit Ketchikan and wind your way through vibrant Vancouver. From $3,890. May 21-29, 2014 MEDITERRANEAN ANTIQUITIES
Victor Segrest ’88
of Atlanta was named chief financial officer for Lee & Associates Valuation and Consulting Services, a nationwide provider of real estate appraisal services.
’90-’99 Commander John Croghan ’96 recently
Uncover the revered antiquities of the Mediterranean as you sail to fascinating ports on the coasts of Italy, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece aboard Oceania Cruises Insignia. From $2,499. June 16-24, 2014 EUROPEAN MOSAIC
Savor Europe’s rich past and exciting present as you cruise to Italy, Monaco, France and Spain aboard the elegant Oceania Cruises Nautica. See the cities of Pisa and Florence, the French Riviera, Provence, Barcelona and Cartagena. From $2,499.
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Class Notes passed the professional engineer’s exam and is now a licensed PE in Alabama. He currently is on active duty in the U.S. Navy, stationed in San Diego, where he expected to take command of the U.S.S. Jefferson City in November. Stacy Maze Croghan ’96 recently received
SNAPSHOT
Seat of Power Houston is no stranger to natural disasters. Besides being touched in the last decade by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike, the nation’s fourth-largest city also has seen extensive flash flooding in the past few years. In April, torrential downpours left cars submerged in streets after up to eight inches of rain fell in short order, swamping a city that already suffers from insufficient drainage and a high water table. When the waters rise and the electricity falters, however, it’s more than motorists who have to cope. Houston is also the location for the largest medical center in the world, and that’s where Steve Swinson ’81 comes in. Swinson is the president and chief executive officer of Thermal Energy Corp., a not-for-profit district energy company providing thermal energy to the Texas Medical Center. Keeping the massive medical complex with functioning machinery, lighting and air-conditioning can literally be a matter of life and death. Born and raised in Auburn, Swinson graduated with a mechanical engineering degree and later worked at Auburn University in the facilities division for 10 years. He helped install air conditioning in the coliseum and put in a central chilled water system, among other improvements. His work at Auburn laid the groundwork for running the largest energy district chill-water system in North America. “Not to be overly dramatic, but if you don’t have air conditioning today in Houston, Texas, people will die,” Swinson says, explaining how many patients come to TMC as a last resort and are in fragile condition. In many ways, their comfort and health sit as directly on his shoulders as on the medical personnel who treat them. TMC also houses many institutions dedicated to research, including one of the largest cancer research centers, all of which depend on stable environments. “We’re one of the most efficient and environmentally responsible companies, one of the most reliable in the country and one of the most cost-effective,” Swinson says.
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her master’s in public health, with a focus in environmental and occupational hygiene, from Johns Hopkins University. She is a certified industrial hygienist and serves federal agencies in the Washington, D.C., area as a subject-matter expert in occupational safety and health. She is an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton. Brian Beattie ’98
works as a public defender in King County, Wash. He published his second novel, aka Freight, in December of 2012, a sequel to his first novel, Off Locusts and Wild Honey.
BORN A son, Zayden Sui Yuen Chow, to Christina Ogburn-Chow ’94 and her husband, Daniel, on April 4. The family lives in San Francisco.
MARRIED Staci Suzanne Newman ’98 married James Alan Brown on Oct. 6 in Leeds. The couple lives in Trussville. Christopher Flint Anderson ’99 married Kyra
Kathleen Peters on July 6 in Birmingham. The
couple lives in Vestavia.
’09-’13 Dustin Swart ’05 has been promoted to project engineer in the Dallas, Texas, office of Thornton Tomasettie, the international engineering firm handling projects in more than 50 countries. Denise Duncan ’07
of Birmingham has earned certification as a professional in human resources (PHR). She is an employee services rep at U.S. Steel.
A daughter, Baylin Elizabeth King, to Anna Ludlum King ’04 and William G. King III ’01. The family lives in Auburn. A son, Jackson Thomas Sleeman, to Justin Sleeman ’07 and Amy Sponsler Sleeman ’10 on July 10. The fam-
ily lives in Madison. A son, Brayden James Watkins, to Stephanie Holmes Watkins ’09 and her husband, Herman. They live in Hoover, where Stephanie teaches special education at Simmons Middle School.
BORN A boy, Andrew Hill Barnett V, to Andrew H. Barnett IV ’00 and Lauryn Y. Barnett ’00 on March 14. The family lives in Atlanta.
MARRIED
A son, Eli Blackburn Daniels, to Jack W. Daniels Jr. ’02 and Joslyn
Haley Westbrook ’06
Blackburn Daniels ’02
on Aug. 14. He joins an older brother, Jack III. The family lives in Lowndesboro, where they own their own structural engineering firm, Blackburn Daniels O’Barr Inc. A son, Joseph Vincent Amari, to John Amari ’03 and his wife, Amber, on Aug. 27. The family lives in Trussville. A daughter, Sara Collins Chambliss, to Laura Chambliss ’05 and her husband, Matt, on July 30. The family lives in Montgomery.
Ben Kramer ’05
married Erin Duggan in August in Rockport, Maine. They live in New York City.
married Chris Yearout ’08 on Jan. 26, 2013, in Birmingham, where they currently live. Jonathan Corley Hill ’07 married Ann Eliza-
beth Phelps on Aug. 17 in Blowing Rock, N.C. They make their home in Birmingham. Katherine Holloway ’07 to John Drew ’05 on
July 13 in Belton, Texas. They currently live in Louisville, Ky. Melody Patton Peoples ’05 married Royce Wayne Curtis on Sept. 13 in Opelika, where they are currently living. Logan Rice Adams ’05 married Christian W.
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Johnston ’04 on Nov.
17, 2012, in LaGrange, Ga. The couple lives in Phoenix, Ariz. Melissa Bains Appleton ’06 married Douglas Lee Rollins III on March 16 in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. They couple lives in Birmingham. Emory Knox Richardson ’07 married Thornton
Hope Ratliff on Oct. 12 in Birmingham, where they are currently living. Katherine Anthony Sasser ’08 married Theodore
DuBose Bratton Jr. on July 20 in Montgomery. The couple lives in Chapel Hill, N.C. Katherine McTyeire
in Korea, he participated in planning the Marine landings at Inchon. He retired from the Marine Corps as a brigadier general in 1958. He later went on to a successful career in research and education. MARTHA KEITH SNAVELY ’36 of Jackson, Miss., on June 8. She served as a dietitian for the troops in the European Theater during World War II, then later worked as a dietitian for the American Heart Association. She was active with the American Dietetic Association, the American Cancer Society, the Kidney Foundation and other health-related groups.
Millhouse ’09 married Michael Thomas Roeder
HELEN ELIZABETH
’09 on Sept. 7 in Bir-
MAULSBY STITZEL ’36
mingham. The couple lives in Albertville.
of Annapolis, Md., on Aug. 30. She worked as an engineering aide for the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps during World War II, and later became an art and substitute teacher in Montgomery and Fairfax counties in Virginia. She enjoyed art, fashion design, sewing and needlework.
Sarah Kathleen Litchfield ’10 maried Gregory
Nolan Smith on April 27 in Birmingham, where they make their home. In Memoriam BRYGHTE D. GODBOLD ’36 of Dallas,
Texas, on July 8. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, commanding a defense battalion on Wake Island in 1941, where he was captured and held as a prisoner of war until September 1945. In 1950, as assistant chief of staff with the 1st Marine Division
HILDA POPE YOUNG ’38 of Montgomery on
Sept. 22. She taught English for 27 years in Montgomery County and served as president of the Montgomery County Teacher’s Association. EDMOND SCOTT SPRAGUE ’39 of Bir-
mingham on July 29.
WILLIAM EDWIN PRATHER SR. ’39 of
Cullman on Aug. 29. A U.S. Army Air Corps veteran, he helped manufacture the B-51 Mustang Fighter plane for service during World War II. He spent much of his career as an industrial engineer in the shoe-manufacturing business in Gallatin, Tenn., before moving to Cullman to be near children and grandchildren. He loved golf and Auburn football. CHARLIE HIGGINS ’41
of Montgomery on Oct. 1. In 1956, he joined the Easter Seals organization in Montgomery, was named president in 1973, and remained in that position through his retirement in 1986. He played a major role in the development of Camp ASCCA, a camp for individuals with disabilities so they could participate in outdoor recreational activities. An active member of several social and professional organizations, he was happiest when playing his trumpet. At the time of his death, he was the oldest-living member of the Auburn Knights alumni organization.
in Birmingham after having worked around the United States and Canada with the company over a 43-year career. MAYS ELLIOTT MONTGOMERY ’42 of Fort
Myers, Fla., formerly of Athens and Huntsville, on Sept. 22.He served in World War II in Gen. George S. Patton’s 1st Armored Division in North Africa and Italy, earning a Purple Heart. At Auburn, he played football and, afterward, served as president of the South Eastern Poultry and Egg Association. ROBERT RANDOLPH STERNENBERG ’42 of
Montgomery on Sept. 6. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of World War II serving in the Pacific theater, he eventually retired from the city planning department for the State of Alabama. He enjoyed spending time with his family, visiting Grayton Beach and watching Auburn football.
NORMA AUTREY BLEVINS ’43 of Birming-
ham on Jan. 20. After a few years living on the west coast with her Navy pilot husband, Lt. MIKE BLEVINS ’43, she and her family moved to Minor. She taught junior high and high school for 19 years in Pleasant Grove and started the first Girl Scout troop in Minor. GABRIEL WILLIAM
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nizations, he received a 50-year certificate from the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in 1996. In 1986, the medical residents of Carraway established the Robert M. Bryan, M.D. Award for Excellence in Teaching in Internal Medicine. JOHN COATS CLEVELAND III ’44 on Aug. 13. MARGIE KINARD
OSBURN ’43 of Valley
CLARK ’45 of Sandy
Grande on Sept. 14. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II serving in Germany, he moved his family to his property in the Selma area in 1955, where he owned Gabe’s Service Station, raised cattle and worked as a rural mail carrier for more than 27 years.
Springs, Ga., on March 23. A lifelong writer and educator, she authored several religious texts and Sunday school literature resources for young children.
ROBERT M. BRYAN ’44 of Birmingham on
Aug. 24. He practiced medicine as a member of the Department of Internal Medicine at Norwood Clinic and the Carraway Methodist Hospital. A member of many professional orga-
REBECCA CONINE O’GRADY ’45 of Mont-
gomery on May 16. She moved to Montgomery in 1969, where she was employed as a federal wage and hour investigator. She also was a longtime member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority, assisting with community projects, and was an avid bridge player.
EDGAR CUTHBERT GENTLE JR. ’41 of
Nashville, Tenn., on July 20. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he earned a Bronze Star for service in the Pacific theater. He retired in 1983 as vice president of South Central Bell
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Chikin dinner
The Chick-fil-A on the second floor of the Auburn University Student Center serves more than 15,000 customers on any given day. So, when things like salads, posted caloric information and the look of the menu change, people take notice. What they don’t think much about is how those changes get decided. Steve Robinson ’72, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Chickfil-A Inc., is the man behind the curtain. He and his team of food developers, marketing experts and engineers are responsible for insuring that Chick-fil-A continues to be a popular dining option on Auburn University’s campus and throughout the United States in hospitals, shopping malls, airports, college campuses and in their own freestanding locations. Robinson and his team work on anything and everything to keep the Chick-fil-A brand relevant. This includes developments in the food itself, advertising, promotions, store design, media strategies, public events—even the menu layout. However, the first and most integral part of this process is listening to the customers and applying the appropriate changes they want to see in the products they buy. “In the marketplace, people’s interests, tastes and demand for food change much more rapidly today than they did even 10 years ago,” Robinson said. “So we have a lot of people who do customer research on a daily basis and listen to what our customers want. These are folks that work on food testing, engineering and visuals all before we roll the products out.” Robinson said the recent decision to
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change the look of the menu incorporated a lot of customer-centric factors, including making the pictures of the food be more visually dominant and making the caloric information more distinguishable from the food prices. “We also wanted people to see that they have more options when it comes to creating their meal. It’s not just waffle fries any more; they can choose salads, fruit or yogurt. We also wanted to make sure that people could identify better with our options for children.” Although Robinson has been with Chickfil-A for 32 years, he remembers the first product he and his team of roughly 30
role in how the hall of fame is marketed and activated on the Internet and with partners like ESPN. This will be another major platform for Chick-fil-A, but also for the company’s home city of Atlanta and for the community of college football. In addition to its involvement with the new College Football Hall of Fame, Robinson also said this year will be the last that Chick-fil-A hosts the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Beginning in 2014, every third year Chick-fil-A will host one of the six playoff bowl games. It will continue to be a season-long partner with ESPN and CBS, serving its college market of students, faculty and alumni.
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years worked on together. “I remember the first major product my group orchestrated was the nugget,” Robinson said. “For everything and anything new since then, my product development team has worked on it.” However, the menu isn’t the only thing changing for Chick-fil-A. According to Robinson, Chick-fil-A is going to be one of the lead sponsors of the new College Football Hall of Fame opening in Atlanta in August 2014. It will play a key
Being that he is still a season ticketholder at Auburn (he’s seen above with Bo Jackson), Robinson is thrilled for these new developments. Despite all of his success at Chick-fil-A on both regional and national scales, Robinson said he is grateful for the education he received at Auburn and the relationships he built there because they laid the foundation for his career. —Anna Claire Conrad
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Young Alumni Achievement Awards Auburn University’s Office of Alumni Affairs established the Young Alumni Achievement Awards program in 2011 to recognize extraordinary accomplishments by graduates under age 40. The 2013 winners represent fields ranging from architecture to veterinary medicine. Nominations for next year’s Young Alumni Achievement Awards open in March.
Diaco Aviki ’95
Aviki graduated from Auburn with a degree in chemical engineering. He also holds an MBA from the University of Texas. Aviki began his career with ExxonMobil Lubricant and Petroleum Specialties. He quickly rose to positions such as national account manager, natural gas trader and brand manager, and manager for gas and marketing for ExxonMobil’s Gas and Power Marketing. Aviki is an active member of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council and the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council. He currently serves as regional marketing manager for BHP Billiton in Houston.
Donna Bossman ’96
Donna Staarup Bossman graduated from Auburn with a B.S. in math and chemistry education, and went on to pursue a Ph.D. in materials chemistry from the University of Minnesota. She has held roles in research, development, chemical operations and leadership across Medtronic, General Electric, Trane, and currently Ingersoll Rand. She holds two patents in the area of polymer formulation development. In her current role as engineering director, she oversees the company’s materials and chemistry teams which support the technology, design, reliability and quality efforts impacting a $13B family of products around the world. She was a charter member of Ingersoll Rand’s Women’s Network.
James Farmer ’04
Farmer graduated from Auburn with a degree in horticulture. His experience as a landscape designer led to careers in design, wedding planning and writing. Farmer’s knowledge of agriculture and Southern cooking has led to his five best-selling books: A Time to Plant, Sip & Savor, Porch Living, Wreaths for All Seasons and A Time to Cook. His work has been featured on national programs and publications. Farmer is editor at large for Southern Living magazine. Beyond his professional work, Farmer is the spokesperson for The American Camellia Society.
Kenneth Fields ’07
Fields graduated from Auburn with a degree in pharmacy. Soon after graduating, he purchased the 25-year-old independent Waynesville, Ohio,
family pharmacy. He launched health care programs such as a national pharmacy benefitmanagement company ApproRX, established a Suboxone clinic for opiate addictions and created Fields Mini-Medical Clinic in his pharmacy. He was named United States Entrepreneur of the Year for 2011 by Parata, Pharmacy Times Magazine and Next Generation Pharmacist and a 2010 Outstanding Independent Pharmacist by Drug Topics. His pharmacy was named the 2010 Innovative Pharmacy in America by Drug Topics Magazine.
Juli Goldstein ’03
Goldstein graduated from Auburn with a degree in zoology and obtained her doctorate in veterinary medicine. She began her career as a veterinarian and ultrasonographer at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration National Ocean Service Health and Environmental Risk Assessment Project. She is currently the attending veterinarian for the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, and serves as the on-site clinical veterinarian for Florida Atlantic University, assistant research professor and attending clinical veterinarian for the FAU Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
John-Bauer Graham ’96
Graham graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in history. He then earned his master’s degree in history from Jacksonville State University and his master of library and information science from the University of Alabama. He is pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration and serves as dean of library services at Jacksonville State University.
Rob McDaniel ’02
McDaniel graduated from Auburn with a degree in hotel and restaurant management. He then studied at the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt. McDaniel is the executive chef for SpringHouse restaurant on Lake Martin and general manager of the Kowaliga Restaurant. McDaniel was recognized by the faculty and staff of Auburn’s hotel and restaurant management program as its 2012 Outstanding Alumnus. McDaniel was active in Chefs to the Rescue, an Alabama Tornado
Relief event, and is the president of the Slow Food Crossroads local chapter.
Carter McGuyer ’98
McGuyer graduated magna cum laude from Auburn with a degree in industrial design. He became the design director at a national branded kitchen manufacturing company and managed product design, packaging, overseas manufacturing and the company’s trade show presence. Carter then founded the Carter McGuyer Design Group. His work has won numerous awards including the 2003 Gourmet Gold Award, the 2004 Good Design Award, the 2009 Housewares Design Award for Best of the Best, the 2013 Housewares Design Award for Best in Category and the 2013 Red Dot design award.
Soren Rodning ’02
Rodning graduated from Auburn in animal and dairy sciences and a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 2002. He began his career as a veterinarian at the Heart of Florida Animal Hospital in Haines City, Fla., before returning to the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine to complete a residency in theriogenology. Rodning currently provides statewide food animal agricultural support as an associate professor and extension veterinarian in the Auburn University Department of Animal Sciences and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. He also serves as a veterinarian in the Alabama Army National Guard.
David Williams ’97
Williams graduated from Auburn with a degree in radio, television and film. He was hired by WSFA 12 News in Montgomery as producer of the early morning newscast, “Today in Alabama.” While there, Williams produced “Friday Night Fever,” the high school football review, and produced the evening news broadcast. He then became the news director of KPLC-TV, a CBS affiliate, in Lake Charles, La. Williams and his team won awards including Best Ongoing Coverage, Best Public Affairs, Story of the Year and Reporter of the Year for their coverage during Hurricane Katrina. Williams is assistant news director at WHNT News 19 in Huntsville.
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In Memoriam ORMAN WILLIAM
RAIS HILTON MAJORS ’48 of Abilene, Texas,
ERICK WILLIAMS ’49 of
of Memphis, Tenn., on Oct. 3. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II stationed in Germany, he later spent more than 35 years working for Shell Chemical Co. After retiring, he worked another 15 years for Microflow and was an avid golfer.
on Aug. 26. An Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, he went on to work for the commissioned corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, with the rank of Lt. J.G., and retired as a captain in 1982.
Sylacauga on Aug. 15.
HOWARD EUGENE BAKER ’48 of Green-
MARVIN C. BURKE ’48
of Anniston on Aug. 15. He was a certified public accountant. WAYNE W. HELPER ’48 of Cleveland, Tenn.,
on July 8. He joined Boeing in 1956 as a design engineer and was assigned to a design group in Florida, where he participated in eight Apollo launches at Kennedy Space Center. He later worked at Boeing Marine Systems in Washington, where he stayed through his retirement in 1987. One of his proudest personal achievements was building his own 30-foot trimaran, the War Eagle, and sailing with his family across the Gulf and to the Bahamas. LAVERNE J. HOOVER ’48 of Rome, Ga., on
April 16. A U.S. Army veteran, he served during World War II and earned a Purple Heart. He worked as a special investigator with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, in the organization’s East Central Alabama area.
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WILLIAM “BILL” FRED-
“BILL” WHITEHEAD ’47
ville on Sept. 14. A U.S. Navy veteran, he worked as a director of process engineering at Miliken. He was a Sunday school teacher and former deacon at Pendleton Street Baptist Church.
B. PHIL RICHARDSON ’50 of Montgomery on
Aug. 22. He enjoyed a long career with ALFA Insurance Co. (then Alabama Farm Bureau), starting out as a dataprocessing manager and named executive vice president of operations in 1978. He retired in 1997 but continued to serve on the company’s board until 2008. He served on the 1996-97 Auburn University Board of Trustees. WILLIAM MATTHEW
and in Asheville, N.C. He founded Fax and Financial Systems Inc. in Birmingham, where he served as president and CEO. He moved to Jacksonville in 2009. ROBERT H. “BOB” WILLIS ’51 of Lineville
on Sept. 30. After a 26year career in the Army, where he served in both the Korean War and in Vietnam, he returned to Alabama in 1988. He was a member of the Retired Officers Association, Manning’s Chapel Friendship Church, the Lineville VFW Post and the Lineville Masonic Lodge.
STEWART JR. ’50 of ROBERT JONES BEDWELL ’49 of
Piedmont, formerly of Montgomery, on Sept. 14. He joined New York Life in 1962 and retired in 1999, during which time he was No. 1 in the company for 10 consecutive years in sales of employee protection group plans. Civic activities included founder and past president of the Central Alabama Alumni of Sigma Phi Epsilon, organizer and past president of the Capital Club of Montgomery, and a 60-year member of the Montgomery Lions Club. E. CURTIS HENSON
Birmingham on Aug. 28. He was a construction project manager for various water-treatment plants in the Southeast over a long career.
HAROLD R. TURNER ’51 of of Tucker, Ga.,
on Aug. 24. He was retired from the DeKalb County Department of Education.
of Wadley Kiwanis Club and Randolph County Cattlemen’s Association. THOMAS BUFORD CARR ’52 of Albertville
on July 10. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he worked for 30 years in a civil service career at Redstone Arsenal and at Fort Rucker. After retirement he returned to Albertville, and enjoyed traveling and Auburn football. MARY SAIDLA PLUMMER ’52 of Reidsville,
N.C., on July 23. She was active for many years in the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association Auxiliary, serving as president twice. A music lover, she sang in the choir at her church for 62 years. ANDREW MASON MONFEE JR. ’52 of
WILLIE LANDER
JAMES “JIM”
AVANT ’50 of Dothan
HAROLD SIBLEY ’51 of
on Sept. 5. After serving aboard a minesweeper with the U.S. Navy during World War II, he opened his own delivery business, later evolving into Avant Air Freight and Delivery, which he operated for 40 years. He was an avid Auburn football fan and member of Highland Park United Methodist Church.
Knoxville, Tenn., in September. After positions of increasing responsibility with International Minerals and Chemical Corp, he moved to Knoxville in 1973 to manage Bill Mullins Tobacco Warehouses and Construction Co. He eventually became president/owner of Truck Sales and Service, a Volvo dealership.
DEWEY NORMAN
’49 of Birmingham
SANDERS ’50 of of
on Aug. 8. A Navy veteran of World War II, he spent his career in education in the Atlanta area prior to retirement.
Jacksonville, Fla., formerly of Birmingham, on Oct. 1. A U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean War, he later built a successful sales career with stops in Gadsden
FRED SHADDIX BAILEY ’52 of Wadley on
June 29. An Army veteran of the Korean War, he was co-owner of Bailey Brothers Lumber Co. at Abanda for 34 years. He also was a member
Russellville on Sept. 15. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he moved to Pine Bluff, Ark., in 1953 after finishing veterinary school and opened Monfree Animal Clinic, where he treated the pets of Pine Bluff and Jefferson County for 33 years. He retired in 1986.
ROBERT K. “BOB” AUSTIN SR. ’53 of
Geraldine on July 31. A U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, he was co-owner of Crossville Nurseries Inc., where he served as president and general manager for more than 40 years before his retirement. He was an avid hunter and fisherman. RONALD STANFORD BARKSDALE ’53 of
Savannah, Ga., on Sept. 1. A U.S. Navy veteran of Vietnam, he worked for Savannah River Plant for many years and raised his family in Augusta. His love of literature led him to open several used bookstores in Statesboro and Savannah. He also had his private pilot’s license. REID LEDBETTER ’53
of Grosse Ile, Mich., on July 19. A U.S. Navy veteran, he embarked on a career with National Steel Co. after military duty, rising through the ranks first to superintendant of steel-making and then superintendent of iron and steel production. He retired in 1984. JAMES “JIM” MARLOW ’53 of Winston-
JOSEPH FRANKLIN WALTERS JR. ’52 of Troy
on April 7. A U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, he was retired from the U.S. Postal Service and was a lifelong member of the First United Methodist Church of Troy.
Salem, N.C., on Aug. 6. He retired from Lucent Technologies in 1983 after 30 years of service. HARRY CRANFORD NELSON ’53 of Hunts-
ville on Aug. 3. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he served in the South Pacific. Afterward, he enjoyed a long
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Treating wounded warriors Auburn nursing students will have the opportunity this spring to work with staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., providing care to wounded service men and women. The first clinical experience is scheduled for spring break 2014. Students will spend five days focusing on the different points of care from injury to recovery.
career with the Army Corps of Engineers in Mobile and Huntsville, retiring in 1981. He enjoyed fishing, gardening and traveling. LUTHER EMMETT TAYLOR ’53 of Colum-
bus, Ga., on Aug. 4. A retired major in the U.S. Air Force, Taylor enjoyed a 20-year military career. He was a member of the Eagle Scouts, Sons of the American Revolution and the Air Force Skeet and Pistol Team, for which he served as captain of the skeet and trap team.
BETTY DARNELL MORRISON ’53 of
Homewood on Oct. 10. She served as executive director of the Rotary Club of Birmingham for 27 years and after her retirement from Rotary became executive director of The Thompson Foundatioin and Shoal Creek Foundation. She was a deacon and lmember of Independent Presbyterian Church. VANN V. PRUITT ’53 of Madison on Jan. 14, 2013. RAYMOND HARRIS “KIT” REAMES ’53 of
Columbus, Ga., in July.
A World War II veteran, he owned Reames Ford, Reames ChryslerPlymouth-Dodge in Manchester, Ga., and Kit’s Mini Markets in Warm Springs and Pine Mountain, Ga. He served on the Harris County (Ga.) Board of Commissioners as chairman, and on the Lower Chattahoochee Planning and Development Commission. ROBERT “BOB” CHENEY ’54 of Mont-
gomery on Aug. 8. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran in World War II and Korea, he served with Alfa Insurance Co.
for 41 years, retiring as vice president. He also was state president of the Sons of the American Revolution and governor of the Alabama Company of the Jamestown Society.
JAMES STEVENS ELKINS JR. ’54 of Atmore
on July 22. A veteran of the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, he taught music and served as a guidance counselor for more than 34 years before retiring in 1997.
WILLIAM R. “BILL” EAST ’54 of Birming-
ham on July 18. He was retired from AT&T, where he was employed for 35 years while serving in both Birmingham and Atlanta. He also sepnt four years with Bell Labs in New Jersey. While at Auburn, he was circulation manager of The Auburn Plainsman.
CLARENCE E. MIDDLETON JR. ’54 of Fort
Wayne, Ind., on Aug. 15. An Army veteran of the Korean War, he was a human resources manager at Slater Steel for 25 years before retiring. He was an avid golfer and Chicago Cubs fan. CLARENCE C. NEWSOM ’54 of Arlington,
C E N T E R
Texas, on July 20. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he commanded a battery of the 155th Field Artillery Battalion in the European theater. After the war, he returned to duty stateside and was an instructor at the instruction training course and the educational advisor to the Army Aviatioin School at Fort Rucker. CHARLES CHRISTOPHER BASKIN ’54
of Mobile on Sept. 12. He was an expert in seed technology as an agronomist with the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station and
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In Memoriam a professor of agronomy at Mississippi State University prior to his retirement. He is known globally for his contribution to cottonseed production and quality evaluation. HAROLD DEAN PATTERSON SR. ’54 of
Guntersville on Sept 2. A U.S. Army veteran, he served as a school superintendent in Mountain Brook for 25 years. He was recognized as one of the Outstanding Top 100 Educators in North America. He crafted a reorganization plan and rezoned school attendance to bring school systems into compliance with Civil Rights Acts requirements. As the result of some of his work, the School Improvement Act of 1984 also was initiated. DAVID “SONNY”
JOE DEVANE ’56 of Dothan on Aug. 20. A commander of the New Brockton and Headland National Guard for 14 years, he served as executive vice president of Dorsey Trailers for 35 years and was working with Wabash National Trailer Corp. at the time of his death. ARTHUR N. MINAS ’56 of Jacksonville,
Texas, on July 24. He opened his own firm, Art Nicholas Minas Engineers, in 1980 and designed offshore platforms for many of the major oil companies in Houston and was one of the first firms to use the AutoCAD program for drafting. He was a life member of the American Society of Professional Engineers and was active in a number of other engineering organizations.
WHETSTONE THAMES ’54 of Montgomery on
July 16. After serving in the U.S. Army in Heidelberg, Germany, he returned to Montgomery, where he eventually began his own construction business, David W. Thames Inc. He was involved in land development, apartment and home construction, and served on numerous civic boards in Montgomery, where he was a director of the Greater Montgomery Homebuilders’ Association, Durr-Fillauer Medical Inc. and AmSouth Bank.
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FRANCES P. BOWLES ’56 of Winter Haven,
Fla., on Oct. 12.
JOHN P. HANSEN
STEWARD ’61 of
on July 13. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he was a longtime resident of Montgomery, where he owned Alabama Specialty Advertising for many years.
ville, Fla., on Aug. 7.
Southern Pines, N.C., on Aug. 7. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he served as chair of the mathematics department at Western Carolina College (now Western Carolina University), then served as professor of mathematics and computer science at Rhode Island College from 1963 until his retirement in 1987.
KENNETH WAYNE LYLE ’57 of Birmingham
on May 13. He attended the Jefferson Davis-Birmingham School of Law and enjoyed gardening and Auburn football. JOHN BOWEN STONE III ’57 of Virginia Beach,
Va., on July 22. A U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, Stone retired from Tidewater Construction Corp. after a 33-year career. He loved watching SEC football and traveling. OWEN F. BENDER ’58 of Huntsville on
Aug. 28. A U.S. Navy veteran, he worked as an engineer for the AntiBallistic Missile Agency, NASA, the U.S. Army and Kaman Sciences Corp.
RUSSELL V. SKINNER
on July 22. A veteran of World War II, he served as a veterinarian for Montgomery County, Ky., for more than 50 years.
’58 of Daphne on Jan.
18. He owned King Pontiac-Buick in Atmore for many years before retiring to Daphne. JIMMY E. MCDOWELL
24. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was a pharmacist, operating Collins Drug Store in LaFayette with his brother Bill for 40 years.
FLOYD K. AGEE ’58
of Greenfield, Ind., on Sept. 7. He worked for the Department of Defense at Fort Harrison, Ind., near Indianapolis, as an accountant for more than 30 years before retiring in 1991. He was treasurer for Kenneth Butler Soup Kitchen, a dean and elder at Greenfield Christian Church, and member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. WILLIAM PAUL ANDERSON ’58 of Pen-
sacola, Fla., on April 19. Before retiring in 1993, he worked for 35 years in Huntsville as an operations research analyst for U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal. After moving to Florida, he enjoyed surf fishing, watching Auburn football and working on carpentering projects. ROBERT CLYDE
E. MARVIN KING
RANDOLPH BOWLING
ROBERT F. “BOB”
TONN ’58 of Jackson-
’56 of Mt. Sterling, Ky.,
’57 of LaFayette on Aug.
JANE PATTERSON
’57 of Birmingham
SR. ’58 of Concord on July 20.
SMITH ’58 of Suwanee,
Ga., on Oct. 10. He was an insurance adjuster with Crawford and Company and, earlier, a commercial insurance salesman with F.M. Global. ANDREW “RED” LEE CHILES ’59 of Demopo-
WENDELL BENIAH
lis on July 23.
NIX ’58 of Rhoades-
ville, Va., on July 15. A past member of the Fairfax (Va.) Republican Committee, he enjoyed woodworking.
LUTHER J. NALE ’59
of Opelika on Aug. 14. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was retired from Uniroyal Tire Co.
MARY ANNE
Sept. 28. He worked as the plant engineer for Georgia-Pacific, from which he retired in 2001. He enjoyed fishing, gardening and working in his shop. JESSE BIRCHFIELD ’64 of Enterprise on
Nov. 24, 2012. He served in the Alabama National Guard and was an agriculture teacher as well as an instructor in agribusiness. BARBARA DARE
HARGETT CREEL ’62 of
BRIGGS ’64 of Cooke-
Alabaster on Aug. 4. She retired from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court after 22 years of service.
ville, Tenn., on Aug. 20. An avid tennis player and gardener, she was an associated professor of mathematics at Tennessee Tech University prior to her retirement in 1999.
JAMES ALLEN JONES ’63 of Auburn on Aug.
2. A U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, he spent his career teaching and coaching. At Auburn, he was a football letterman. BOBBY SHERER ’63
of Dora on Aug. 10. He was employed by Alabama Power Co. for more than 35 years at the corporate office in Birmingham, and retired in 1997. He was an avid golfer and Auburn fan. R. CLAY FORBES ’63 of Suwanee, Ga.,
formerly of Stone Mountain, Ga., on April 4. He served in the U.S. Air Force and went on to a 31-year career with Delta Airlines. JOSEPH FRANCIS
DONALD M. ELKINS ’64 of Cookeville, Tenn.,
on July 23. After earning his graduate degrees from Auburn, he began what would become a 28-year career at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. He later became dean of agriculture and human ecology at Tennessee Tech University. Among his many awards, he was named the top agronomy teacher in the U.S. by the American Society of Agronomy. He also was named the Tennessee Tech Distinguished Agricultural Alumnus by the Agricultural Foundation in 1986 and the Tennessee Tech Alumni Association in 1989.
“JOE” PARRISH ’64
of Palatka, Fla., on
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REFUEL YOUR CAREER WITH THE BEST, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
FRANCES ARRENDALE WRIGHT ’65 of
SANDRA HOME
FLOWERS ’66 of Dothan
phy, cooking and sports.
sity at Montgomery as director of housing and residence life after 25 years of service.
word-usage rules. The book was used in various Georgia education system schools.
C E N T E R C E N T E R
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon II
A L U M N I A L U M N I
mistress in the Air Force Officers’ Wives’ Club at the Air Force Academy and at Maxwell Air Force Base.
Auburn on Oct. 9. She on Aug. 1. She taught MARY ELIZABETH “BETTY” STEWART was a lifetime member middle school and HARRIS ’68 of Auburn of Auburn United Methhigh school French and The Executive MBA Programs odist Church. English in the Ozark at Auburn on July University 24. She worked JULIAN SCOTT PENERSKINE S. MURRAY KENNETH NOBLE can fuel your career without grounding yourAT&T schedule. ROD ’68 of Birmingham ’69 of Montgomery on PAISLEY ’70 of BirmingSchool System and was a for both and PAGE RILEY LOYD ’65 of college administrator for BellSouth Telecommuon Nov. 19, 2012. He Aug. 3. A U.S. Army ham on July 25. A U.S. Atlanta on Aug. 12. She among Alabama nications, and retired spent a long career as a veteran who served Navy veteran, he retired Ranked theAviation world’s and best by the Financial Times was a retired schoolTechnical Collegefeature and in 1995 after 30 years transportation profesduring World War II, he from BellSouth. of London, the programs a uniquely flexible teacher. Andrew College. of service. At Auburn, sional in the trucking was the former assistant blend of advanced curriculum delivery and short she was secretary of industry. state superintendent of RANDALL LEE POWcampus visits. ELL ’70 of Greensboro, JAMES “JIM” N. DENJAMES “JIM” the student body, vice education for Alabama. Take yourRICHARD career PLANT to new’67heights. NIS ’66 of Fernandina of president of Alpha Delta ROBERT E. LIEBENGa., on Aug. 6. During DORFER ’69 of ColumBeach, Fla., on July 22. Torrance, Calif., on July Pi sorority and was TED WILLIAMS ’69 his career he worked in Contact 26. us for information He was retired following A U.S. Air Force at: selected outstanding bus, Ga., on Aug. 10. petrochemical indusCofOBoaz L L on E GDec. E 10, O F B U the SIN ESS a 30-year career in the veteran who helped presenior woman of her He retired after 35 years 2012. He was a retired try as a mechanical engiwww.AubEMBA.org E x e c u t i v e M B A P r oneer. g r a He m s retired in 2009, pulp and paper industry. pare flight crewsor for1.877.AUB.EMBA the class in 1968. of teaching in Columbus pharmacist. He was an avid fan of physiological stress of schools, and wrote and and was an avid Auburn Auburn football, and high-altitude flight, he published a textbook football fan—one of his DICK E. MERRITT ’68 RUTH CAROLINE SHAW business.auburn.edu ’70 of Greenville, S.C., enjoyed hunting and was founder and owner for students having difgreatest memories was of Wetumpka on July fishing. of JD Manufacturing. ficulty learning various seeing the Tigers win the 19. In 2003, he retired on July 16. She previAuburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer. He enjoyed photograEnglish grammar and national title in 2010. from Auburn Univerously served as a toast-
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The brothers Newberne
SNAPSHOT
Editor’s Note: The following was submitted by J.T. Vaughan ’55 of Auburn. St. Petersburg had its Brothers Karamazov, Rochester its Brothers Mayo, and Auburn its Brothers Newberne. This is an altogether too brief an account of two remarkable careers spanning the last half century, chronicling their contributions to both human and animal medicine on a global scale. Paul Medford Newberne and James Wilson Newberne were born three years apart (1920-23) near Adel, Ga., a small agricultural community in the south-central part of the state on a farm devoted to tobacco, cotton and peanuts. Surviving the boll weevil’s invasion and the Depression years, they attended the University of Georgia for two years before entering the U.S. Naval Air Corps during World War II. Under the G.I. Bill, they entered the College of Veterinary Medicine of Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1945, graduating with the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1950. Immediately, they extended their education into graduate school, majoring in pathology. After completing their master’s degrees, Jimmy pursued postdoctoral studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Paul in the Agricultural Ex-
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periment Station with W.D. Salmon of the College of Agriculture. From there, the brothers’ path diverged. Paul entered a Ph.D. program in nutritional biochemistry with a minor in human pathology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, while Jimmy became a research pathologist at the Pitman-Moore Division of Dow Chemical Co. in In-
dianapolis, Indiana. By 1962, Paul had been given a professorship in nutritional pathology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology following a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Blindness in Bethesda, Md. He’d also spent four years as an animal pathologist at the Alabama Experiment Station. By 1963, Jimmy had progressed to senior director of the Richardson-Merrell Corporate Toxicology Laboratories worldwide, and was department head of pathology and toxicology of the William S. Merrell Co., responsible for all pathology-toxicology functions related to new drug research and development. Their careers from that point onward were meteoric. Jimmy, who had added a Ph.D. in toxicolgy from Pacific Western University to his credentials, became global vice president and chairman of corporate drug safety of Marion Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., with responsibility for development, implementation and oversight of worldwide regulatory functions. He also had responsibility for the scale-up of manufacturing and safety testing of the Salk polio vaccine and was the pathologist for the five companies that produced mil-
lions of doses of the vaccine worldwide. Jimmy safety-tested vaccines for influenza, measles and rabies as well as veterinary testing for canine distemper, hepatitis and rabies and for feline panleucopenia. Pursuing an academic career and certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, for which he served as president in 1970, Paul distinguished himself at the highest levels of his discipline. By 2000, he had published 315 refereed journal papers, seven books and 75 book chapters and reviews. In 35 years, he was advisor to more than 85 Ph.D. students at M.I.T. and Boston University School of Medicine. It is particularly noteworthy that his landmark research in cancer can be traced back to his early work as a postdoctoral fellow with W.D. Salmon, W.S. Bailey and Herman Seibold at A.P.I. Working in the laboratory, they demonstrated the role of choline, an essential vitamin, as a lipotrope (liver protective) in preventing the deposition of fat in the liver, used in treating fatty degeneration and cirrhosis. Then came the discovery of the tox agent aflatoxin, produced in moldy corn and other grains harvested and stored under unfavorably hot, humid climatic conditions. When fed to animals on diets deficient in choline, there was a high incidence of liver cancer, identifying aflatoxin as carcinogenic. These original revelations of the role of choline dietary deficiency and aflatoxin contamination of animal feeds in the production of liver cancer earned Paul not only recognition by the National Institutes of Health but an invitation to join the faculty at M.I.T. The story is recorded in no less than 45 refereed journal articles spanning 50 years. Paul retired as professor emeritus of M.I.T., Cambridge and the Boston University School of Medicine. Jimmy retired as consultant in drug-safety assessment, pathology-toxicology, regulatory-legal affairs and strategic policy development from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. —John T. Vaughn ’55
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In Memoriam AUBURN UNIVERSITY HOWARD E. “GENE” REARDEN ’70 of Ope-
lika on Sept. 14. A U.S. Air Force veteran serving in the Dental Corps, he opened his dental practice in Opelika in 1977 and was still in practice at the time of his death. He organized the District Nine Dental Society of the Alabama Society of the Alabama Dental Association, was a lifetime member of the Alabama Sheriffs Boys and Girls Ranches Builders Club, and participated in Donated Dental Services for the handicapped, disadvantaged and elderly. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and spending weekends at Lake Martin. JAMES LIGON O’KELLEY ’72 of
Birmingham on Aug. 12. He spent the past 37 years practicing criminal law, focusing on white-collar crime, and was a member of the Birmingham Bar Association Executive Committee and a member of the board of the Birmingham Bar Foundation. At Auburn, he was the Glomerata editor, member of ODK honorary fraternity, and a member of Sigma Nu. TRAVIS ANDREW TUCKER ’72 of West
Blocton in July. He served as a combat medic with the 4th Infantry Division for two years in Vietnam before being honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant. He retired from Jim Walter Corp.,
where he worked as an electrical engineer. JOHN MICHAEL MARGESON ’75 of Opelika
on July 15. He enjoyed a long career in real estate and worked with Russell Lands at Lake Martin as a realtor and later a broker. At Auburn, he was a member and president of Kappa Alpha, a Plainsman and member of Army ROTC. TINSLEY R. WOOLEY ’76 of Valley on Dec. 9,
2011. An active member of Langdale United Methodist Church, he served as chairperson of Men on a Mission and also chaired the Eloise Gray Scholarship Golf Tournament. He enjoyed Auburn tailgating, fishing and golf.
was awarded numerous commendations, including the Bronze Star, Korean Service Medal with four stars, Vietnam Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal and Joint Service Commendation Medal. TERRY ROBERTS
GARY LEE SIDES JR. ’76
BARBARA EL-
on Aug. 30. She worked as a medical technologist and pharmaceutical sales representative, but her true love was cooking, and she taught cooking classes in her home. TREZ D. GRENN ’80
of Vestavia on July 28. An avid Auburn fan, he worked at Wilcox & Allen, where he’d been for 25 years.
Hopkinsville, Ky., on Jan. 5, 2013. GARY BRANDT
LEN CALDWELL ’77
MEINSLER ’80 of Prat-
of Seguin, Texas, on July 8. Her working career spanned the U.S. and abroad, where she worked as a district buyer, a human resources director and held three vice president positions. She received the Business Woman of the Year award from the UK-based Alexander Proudfoot consulting firm while living in Florida.
tville on Aug. 10. He was a pharmacist at St. Margaret’s Hospital before joining the family business, Foster Drug of Alabama in Prattville and Yancey Park Drugs in Montgomery. He was an avid fisherman and enjoyed attending Auburn football games.
LCDR . MELVIN CLINTON FREEMAN SR. ’78 of Charlottesville, Va., on July 17. An active duty armed services member for 22 years, he
of Montgomery on July 20. She worked with the Alabama Department of Public Health, overseeing their quality-assurance, and later developed, directed and implemented the state’s OBRA program.
DUKE ’79 of Gadsden
DAVID LECROY ’80 of
of Alabaster on July 11.
SANDRA MIXSON POUNDSTONE ’84
JIM GATLING ’83 of
Montgomery on Aug. 12. He taught for 20 years in Montgomery and Tallassee schools, and loved history, politics, reading and the Beatles.
LT. COL. JOHN H.
Parents’ Association
Your
ORGANIZATION
DAMEWOOD ’87 of
Springfield, Va., on Aug. 12. He served in Korea before going through Special Forces training, after which he served at Camp Gia Vuc in South Vietnam as a civil affairs officer. He served as assistant professor of military science with the Army ROTC program at Auburn before returning to military service, serving at the Pentagon and as a battalion commander at Fort Benning. He earned his master’s in fisheries at Auburn after retirement.
Participating in the Parents’ Association is an excellent way to stay connected as a part of the Auburn Family and to support the education of your son or daughter.
MEMBERSHIP IS FREE! JOIN TODAY www.auburn.edu/aupa
ASHLEY MANGHAM
TON ’05 of Mobile on
Aug. 9.
Sept. 2. He was retired from the Alabama Army National Guard with 20 years of service. He also worked in law enforcement for 15 years, and 10 years with the Alabama State Board of Pardon and Parole.
HELEN GILLILAND ’02
of Birmingham on Aug. 7. He was employed by Robins & Morton as a graphic designer.
RUTH BLAIR LITTLE ’91 of Fort Myers, Fla.,
in July. In the 1960s, she was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives and attended the 1964 Republican National Convention as a Goldwater delegate. She enjoyed international travel. PHILLIP LOREN WILLIAMS ’95 of Auburn
on Sept. 26. He was a finance graduate of Auburn and worked in management in the food industry.
PAUL FREDERIC MOR-
’00 of Anniston on
BARCLAY BAILEY BARGANIER ’04 of
Birmingham on July 17. She worked at Realty South in Birmingham, and enjoyed dancing, music and her dogs. JOHN RICHARD CROWLEY ’04 of Atlanta
on July 25. He was cofounder of the CrossFit 404 gym and worked with Robinson Humphrey and Buckhead Investment Partners. WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER “CHRIS” DEASON
COLLIER ANN BYERS ’13 of Montgomery
on Aug. 18. While at Auburn, she was a member of Delta Gamma, and graduated in May with a degree in human resources.
Faculty and Friends CHARLES LAMAR BENCE of Calera on July
24. A certified public accountant, he enjoyed coaching little league baseball and golf.
’04 of Jasper on Jan. 16.
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The Last Word
Star Struck BY JAMES PATTERSON ’78
While at Auburn in the late 1970s, I kept a framed black-andwhite photograph of silent film actress Lillian Gish on the wall above my study desk. The photograph of Miss Gish is from her 1919 film Broken Blossoms, which I saw in high school in the early 1970s. In the film, she is a young woman suffering from an abusive father. It is one of Miss Gish’s many films that did not have a happy ending. My fascination with Miss Gish began in 1969 when I saw an ABC-TV production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Lillian and Helen Hayes, her lifelong friend, starred as two sisters who put arsenic in elderberry wine and dispatched elderly gentlemen to graves in their basement. I found Miss Gish, 75 at the time, excellent and energetic in her role. Shortly after Arsenic and Old Lace, I read her autobiography and learned of her exciting work in silent films. I read with great interest that she placed her neck in the guillotine for 1922’s Orphans of the Storm. She walked into a fierce sandstorm blasted by airplane propellers for 1928’s The Wind. She famously lay unconscious on an ice floe raging down a dangerous river in 1920’s Way Down East. Our correspondence began in 1970, and she was generous of time. She made it possible for me to make my fi rst visit to New York and to see the treasures of the Museum of Modern Art. She also made possible my fi rst visit to Lincoln Center. She introduced me to the world of silent cinema, U.S. and international. She also told me fascinating stories about her friends Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Greta Garbo and others. In 1978 while in graduate school at Auburn, I took friends from St. Dunstan’s Episcopal College Center to see Miss Gish in Robert Altman’s A Wedding, playing at a downtown theater. We all enjoyed it. The 1980s, when I was an Auburn graduate living in Washington, were a busy period for Miss Gish and she was a frequent guest at the Reagan White House. She knew the parents of Nancy Davis and helped the young actress fi nd stage work in New York in the 1950s. First Lady Nancy Davis Reagan and her husband enjoyed Lillian’s visits. During the Reagan years, Miss Gish received a Kennedy Center Honor and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. At one White House event, Miss Gish and her date were photographed at their table. Miss Gish was 89 at the time and looking petite and happy. Her date, a much younger Hollywood leading man, was sitting to her left and looking sad. His name was Rock Hudson. I visited the location of Lillian’s last film, The Whales of August, in 1987. It was a remote island in Maine’s Casco Bay, a 90-minute ferry ride from Portland in choppy water and dense
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fog. Miss Gish was 93 at the time. In 1990, I had a U.S. flag raised over the Capitol in honor of her sister, actress Dorothy Gish, who died in 1968. Lillian telephoned to say it was going in a prime place in the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Theater at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. It is displayed there today, along with her Kennedy Honor, many other awards, photographs and letters. I began writing about my friendship with Lillian Gish in the early 2000s and I forwarded copies of articles to the Gish Theater at Bowling Green. I was invited to become an adviser to the theater by founder Ralph Haven Wolfe in 2005. My fellow advisers include Lily Tomlin, Eva Marie Saint and Lauren Hutton, among many others. In Memorium advisers include Roddy McDowell, Phyllis Diller, Helen Hayes and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., among others Though you might say I know quite a bit about Miss Gish, she continues to amaze me. In August 2013, I saw the Rolling Stones’ 50-year career exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. On the sixth-floor exhibit space there was a black-and-white collage of the Stones coming down a long stairway with dozens of women in white gowns surrounding them. Coming down the stairs immediately behind the Stones is a young Lillian Gish. James Patterson is a public policy analyst based in San Francisco and a former diplomat. He was recently appointed co-chair of development for the Gish Theater at Bowling Green State University. You can learn more at his blog, ldgish.blogspot.com.
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Auburn Magazine is looking for essays for the “Last Word” department of the magazine, as well as contributors for our magazine blog (which can be found at auburnmagazine.auburn.edu). Have a point of view on a topic of current interest or of concern to the Auburn family? Share it with us! We’d also love to see photos and hear accounts of War Eagle encounters around town or around the globe.
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THIS IS ACADEMIC INVESTMENT.
Improving heart health. Building financial stability. Preventing debilitating medical conditions. These are what three of Auburn’s newest endowed professorship recipients are known for nationally and internationally. These faculty members inspire our students, advance our research accomplishments, and improve society through their work. When Auburn concluded its Endowed Professorship Campaign Initiative in 2010, donors had created 85 new professorships. These professorships enable colleges and schools to retain highquality faculty and recruit promising new faculty through salary enhancements. Auburn acknowledges donors for their investment through professorship endowments by naming a professorship in honor of the donor or someone of the donor’s choosing. Endowed professorship opportunities exist in every Auburn University school and college. Visit develop.auburn.edu/contacts to contact a member of our Office of Development team to learn more.
Bonnie Sanderson, PhD, RN, St. Francis Hospital Endowed Professor, School of Nursing
Christopher J. Easley, PhD, C. Harry Knowles Associate Professor for Research Leadership in Physical Science Instruction, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Sciences and Mathematics
Jung Chul Park, PhD, McLain Family Associate Professor, Department of Finance, Raymond J. Harbert College of Business
THIS IS AUBURN. whole_bookW2013-sh.indd 3
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Ware Exclusive
111 South College Street Downtown Auburn 334 .821.7375
The Shoppes at EastChase Montgomery 334 .386.9273
TigerTown Center Opelika 334 .749.50 05
Eastern Shore Centre Spanish Fort 251.338.9273
An Auburn Family Tradition Since 1946 w w w.w a r e j e w e l e r s . c o m
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All stores closed on Sunday.
11/6/13 3:22 PM