ENGAGE
“Outside of a Dog” { P r o f e s s o r F r e d Edi n g e r ’ s La s t L e c t u r e }
ENGAGE
Professor of Geology Fred Edinger, who retired at the end of the spring semester, presented a lecture titled “Outside of a Dog” April 10 in the Charles
1. Don Quijote by Miguel de Cervantes (Raffel translation)
2. The Autobiography of Malcom X by Alex Haley
3. Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris
4. Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner
5. Albion’s Seed by David Hackett Fischer
6. The Testament by John Grisham
7. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
9. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
10. Ishmael
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F r e d Edi n g e r ’ s La s t L e c t u r e R e adi n g Li s t
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W. Coker Auditorium of Davidson Hall.
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by Daniel Quinn 2012
C A M P U S I S S U E
Referencing the famous Groucho Marx line about books and friends, Edinger’s lecture shined a light on, among other things, the favorite books of his friends – colleagues with whom he has built lasting relationships, a fascinating career and a proud institution. Edinger joined the Coker College faculty in 1973. Among his many contributions to the institution and its students, his role in establishing COW Days, a student tradition, which began in 1976, may represent the most charming aspect of his legacy at the College. Although he consistently shuns credit for starting the “Coker Olympics of Winter,” the tradition that began as a winter-doldrums breaker under his watch as advisor to Coker College Union has grown into a much-loved, iconic annual competition for the student body. Edinger received his undergraduate and Master of Education degrees at Whittier College in Whittier, Calif., and a Master of Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C. In 1991, he completed his Ph.D. in geological sciences at the University of South Carolina. Selected by students as Coker College Master Professor of the Year in 2000 and again in 2006, Edinger has served on various faculty committees at the College including the curriculum committee, student development committee and in a number of institutional roles including as associate dean of student development and as the faculty representative to various subcommittees of the board of trustees. He has also served as a professor or faculty participant for Coker’s study abroad trips to Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Tur-
key and China. Edinger was promoted to Professor Emeritus of Geology during the spring meeting of the Coker College Board of Trustees in recognition of his long and faithful service to the College. Edinger is a member of the National Association of Geology Teachers, the Carolinas Geological Society, the Darlington County Historical Society, the American Philatelic Society and the France and Colonies Philatelic Society. He is a founding member of the Institute of Analytic Philately. Throughout his tenure at Coker, Edinger has served in volunteer capacities in Hartsville through his involvement with the West Hartsville 4-H Club, the Darlington County School District, the City of Hartsville’s Environmental Commission and St. Luke United Methodist Church. The Last Lecture Series, established by President Robert Wyatt last year to celebrate academic excellence and individual achievements of retiring Coker faculty, “invites students of all ages to pay tribute to excellence and step into stories that will inspire greater individual and shared successes than we have yet imagined.” The Last Lecture by Edinger was part of Coker’s annual Celebration of Academics, which was sponsored by Wells Fargo.
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