Auburn Magazine Fall 2012

Better learning through Legos pg 16 RESEARCH

This year’s gridiron forecast pg 24 SPORTS

FEATURE What dogs can tell us about cancer pg 34 FALL 2012

A Life of Crime Noir fiction writer Ace Atkins ’94 sets his sights on the Spenser detective series

The AWARD-WINNING DOUBLe eAGLe COTTAGeS AT eAGLe BeND;

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Directions from downtown Auburn: Take N. College Street to Shelton Mill Rd. Turn right onto Shelton Mill Rd. Follow Shelton Mill Rd. to US Hwy 280. Cross over US Hwy 280 onto Grand National Parkway (GNP). Follow GNP to the entrance to the Grand National golf facility. Turn right onto Robert Trent Jones Trail. Go 3/4 of the way around the roundabout and turn right onto National Village Loop. The Sales Office is on the left, second from the end of street.

Cary On A spiral staircase made of solid mahogany adds symmetry to Auburn University’s Halliday-Cary-Pick House, built in 1848.

Located at 360 North College St., the Greek Revival raised cottage is home to the College of Human Science’s Cary Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies.

Charles Allen Cary, founder and first dean of Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine, lived in the home from 1897 to 1935.

Photograph by Jeff Etheridge

F A L L

2 0 1 2

From the Editor

Gains and losses

Betsy Robertson

BETSY ROBERTSON

Suzanne Johnson

EDITOR

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Editor, Auburn Magazine

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Once in a while we’re forced by fate to acknowledge our own mortality, and it often happens when we lose someone important to us. This summer, Auburn mourned four good men whose contributions to our university and their communities left permanent legacies.

I first met retired magazine publisher Ed Dickinson ’70 about seven years ago, when I began my stint as editor of Auburn Magazine. A longtime advocate of Auburn’s flagship alumni publication, Ed served on the Auburn Magazine Advisory Council for 17 years, from 1995 until he passed away of cancer in July, including spending time as chair of the group. Ed spent much of his career with Birmingham-based Progressive Farmer magazine, eventually overseeing the editorial, advertising and circulation operations of a 126-year-old publication that survives today amid an increasingly hostile business environment for printed publications. Ed’s background was in advertising sales.

“Think of your publication as a fine piece of jewelry,” he once explained to an Auburn Magazine intern. “Display it reverently when calling on a potential advertising client. And treat the editorial content with respect, because you’re selling the quality of those words.” Ed, I’m going to miss your level head, business savvy, encouragement and dedication to your alma

mater. You made Auburn Magazine a better publication.

NASA luminary Forrest McCartney ’52, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who helped rebuild confidence in the nation’s manned space-flight program following the 1986 Challenger explosion, died in July as well. NASA named McCartney to head the Kennedy Space Center 18 months after the tragedy that killed seven crew members and led to the suspension of the shuttle program for nearly three years. He also played a key role in developing reconnaissance satellites as a highly classified top aide to U.S. Air Force Gen. Bernard Schriever in the 1960s. The Auburn Alumni Association honored McCartney with its Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

Finally, Auburn marks the passing of a pair of supporters who touched the lives of thousands of AU fans: illustrator Phil Neel, who created the cartoon Aubie that appeared on football program covers for nearly two decades in the 1960s and ’70s, and Carl Stephens, who served as publicaddress announcer at Jordan-Hare Stadium for 27 years and hosted former head football coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan’s weekly television show. Auburn football wouldn’t have been the same without either one of them. 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 36849-5149. Phone 334-844–1164.

Fax 334-844–1477. Email: aubmag@auburn.edu. Contents ©2012 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 accepted. 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.

To join, call 334-844–2586 or visit the association’s website at www.aualum.org.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Betsy Robertson at 334-844–1164 or betsyrobertson@auburn.edu.

POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149, or aurecords@auburn.edu.

4

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Shannon Bryant-Hankes ’84 ART DIRECTOR

Stacy Wood WEBMASTER

Dylan Parker UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeff Etheridge EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Hope Burleson ’12, Kristen Oliver ’12 ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Katherine Wessely ’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

Bobby Poundstone ’95

AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR

Neal Reynolds ’77 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD

betsyrobertson@auburn.edu

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, Carol Pappas ’77,

Joyce Reynolds Ringer ’59, Allen Vaughan ’75

REWARD YOURSELF AND AUBURN STUDENTS

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For details or to apply, visit www.auburn.edu/spiritcard.

The Spirit of Auburn credit card is made possible by the Auburn Spirit Foundation for Scholarships (ASFS), which is affiliated with Auburn University. This advertisement was paid for by the ASFS. For information about the rates, fees, other costs, and benefits associated with the use of these cards or to apply, visit www.auburn. edu/spiritcard and refer to the disclosures accompanying the online credit card application. This credit card program is issued and administered by FIA Card Services, N.A. Bank of America and the Bank of America logo are registered trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa International Service Association and is used by the issuer pursuant to license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard International Incorporated and is used by the issuer pursuant to license. Platinum Plus and WorldPoints are registered trademarks of FIA Card Services, N.A. ARV2U0Z2 4/12/12 © 2012 Bank of America Corporation.

Carlos Lemus Auburn Spirit Foundation Scholarship Recipient Auburn Junior Chilton County High School 2009 Graduate Clanton, Alabama

Welcome to the Auburn Family, Carlos.

Excelling at academics and active in leadership roles at his high school earned Carlos an Auburn Spirit Foundation Scholarship, among others. He considered several universities, but as he explained, “Auburn offered me what no other institution could: a suburban setting, great diversity, great education, an excellent range of activities to choose from, and an outstanding financial aid package.”

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Thank you for supporting Auburn scholarships – and students like Carlos – through your use of the Spirit of Auburn credit card. Your efforts are instrumental in welcoming new students to the Auburn Family.

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

5

On the cover Ace Atkins ’94 parlayed a love of detective fiction and his reporter’s savvy into a career as a best-selling author. He and wife Angela live near Taylor, Miss.

Fall 2012 F R O N T 4 From the Editor

Remembering a few great Auburn men.

8 The First Word Illustrator Phil Neel, “father of Aubie,” dies at 84

The Southern gentleman: endangered or extinct?

24 Tiger Walk

What’s up for the Tigers football team this season? Head coach Gene Chizik makes some predictions, but the quarterback question remains.

10 College Street

An art exhibit with political overtones debuts at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Also: Auburn gets online with cyber-security.

B A C K 47 Alumni Center

Meet our Young Alumni Achievement Award winners. Also: a historic groundbreaking.

Band camp, a rite of summer for more than seven decades

Gracie, a German shorthaired pointer from Eufaula, is missing a leg due to bone cancer but has a new “leash” on life thanks to AU veterinarians.

16 Research

Vet students operate an emergency room for turtles. Plus: Porky pigs pack on the pounds— and develop diseases—a lot like humans.

18 Roundup

What’s happening in your college? Check it out.

20 Concourse

Shanna Henderson ’12 gets called back to “The Glee Project.” Also: Carrying a torch.

F E A T U R E S

28

For nearly two decades, Ace Atkins ’94 has penned best-sellers filled with protagonists and villians characterized by dark passions and deep flaws. Now, he tries to tame a familiar hero: the late Robert B. Parker’s inimitable fictional detective, Spenser. by ben bartley ’10 photographs by joe worthem

34

Between Mice and Men

Our pets share our lives and homes, and, in some cases, our illnesses. What can veterinarians, doctors and scientists learn by exploring the ways in which dogs and cats respond to cancer treatment? by phil gentry ’77

40

Junior Marisa Grimes totes the Olympic torch in England.

A Life of Crime

MAIN picnic goers brave the heat

49 Class Notes 59 In Memoriam 64 The Last Word

For Fletcher Eddens ’49 and other young men newly home from war, the future rested on one important decision— who would get to enroll at Auburn?

The Dearth of Newspapers

Early this summer, some of Alabama’s largest daily newspapers announced they were cutting back on frequency and laying off employees. Are paper and ink being crushed beneath the weight of smartphones, tablets and our need to know now? by suzanne johnson

Modular housing, circa 1946

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

7

L E T T E R S

T O

T H E

E D I T O R

The First Word

ALUMNI TRAVEL

THE TOPIC A Southern gentleman amounts to more

than his seersucker suit and bow tie, according to reader Bill Douglas, who received a bachelor’s degree in education from Auburn the same year the Monterey Pop Festival kicked off the counterculture’s renowned “Summer of Love.”

The Southern gentleman

See You At The Tent!

Want a hassle-free tailgating experience? Auburn Alumni Association members enjoy free entry to the Alumni Hospitality Tent prior to home football games. The tent is located on the Wallace Center lawn, just steps away from Jordan-Hare Stadium’s west entrance gate, and features food from Momma Goldberg’s Deli, a big-screen TV, visits from Aubie, and more. See you there! www.aualum.org/tent

Tell me more...

Danielle Fields ’02 334-844-2985 daniellefields@auburn.edu

8

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Those of us boys and men who grew up in the South and were fortunate enough to come from good families learned from an early age the proper role of being a Southern gentleman. First, we were taught to speak respectfully to our elders. That lesson was enforced with a peach tree switch; others may call it a spanking, but the boys in our neighborhood would say, “I just got a switching!” To just about everyone, we had to say “yes, sir” and “yes, ma’am,” and to say “please” and “thank you.” In all of these lessons, nothing was more important than our actions, our manners, and how we conducted ourselves around girls and women.

Off-color jokes and profanity were not told or used around girls or women! We honored our mothers and grandmothers, and protected our sisters and girl cousins (unless they were third cousins, once removed, because they were almost strangers).

An essential part of being a man was to reach a stage where we could be of support. Everyone grew up just knowing that it was a man’s job to support his woman, his wife, his family and his children. If we held our wives or sweethearts on a pedestal, it was no more than what was expected.

Tradition dictated that a man paid for the movie, the dinner and the Valentine’s Day or birthday gift.

Those of us who were raised this way automatically opened a car door—even a supermarket or post office door—for any woman, and our sensibilities were shocked, and our moral codes were violated, when we saw any man treat a girl or woman shabbily. By the age of 12, young boys just knew what was respectful, honorable and honest. If we stumbled, and some of us did, we would say loudly—especially for our mom to hear—“I’m fixing to do better.” And we usually did!

A man who expects or makes any woman pay for what he should be paying for himself is not just disrespectful but downright dishonorable! There are only a few kinds of men in Southern society who will freeload, live or sponge off a woman. When found out, they are universally scorned!

—William W. “Bill” Douglas ’67, Urbanna, Va. NEXT TOPIC What do you think? Does the “Southern gentleman” exist, or is he a figment of our collective imaginations? Share your thoughts by writing Auburn Magazine, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 368495149 or emailing betsyrobertson@auburn.edu.

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9

C A M P U S

N E W S

Max Weber, American, b. Poland, 1882-1961, Fruit and Wine, ca. 1945, Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 26 1/4 inches, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; Advancing American Art Collection, museum purchase with funds provided by Roger and Joyce Lethander, 2012.5

COLLEGE STREET

Art+Politics=Bad

Q and A WHAT’S

YOUR

REACTION

WHEN

YOU

HEAR

AUBURN UNIVERSITY REFERRED TO AS A “COW COLLEGE”?

“Personally, I love it. It’s kind of like when people who are not from this part of the country assume that we are all down here running around barefoot with ringworm.

It can be our little secret that this is one of the best places in the country to go to school. One of my best friends from back home went to the University of Alabama and loves to give me a hard time about the “cow college”—but to me, it’s a source of pride. I am terribly proud of Auburn’s heritage in agriculture.”

Barney Wilborn ’02 Manager, Lambert-Powell Meats Lab, College of Agriculture

YES, WE SCAN A collection of American art once banned by the federal government for being “un-American and subversive” will be on display Sept. 8 through Jan. 5 at Auburn’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. “Art Interrupted: Advancing American Art and the Politics of Cultural Diplomacy” is an exhibition of contemporary paintings originally assembled by art historian J. LeRoy Davidson for the U.S. State Department in 1946. Davidson intended for the works to form a traveling exhibition to be shown throughout Latin America, eastern Europe and Asia.

“Its objective was to exemplify the freedom of expression enjoyed by artists in a democracy while demonstrating America’s artistic coming of age,” says Dennis Harper, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Jule Collins Smith museum.

After only months of touring, however, the State Department put a halt to the exhibition after conservative reporters, politicians and other critics deemed it too radical and unrepresentative of the American artistic aesthetic. As a result, the paintings were eventually sold at auction.

Now, nearly 70 years later, the Jule Collins Smith museum, along with the University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and the University of Georgia’s Georgia Museum of Art, have reunited all but 10 paintings from the original 117 oils and watercolors.

After its debut in Auburn, the collection will be exhibited at several university campuses over the next year and a half. Funding for the exhibit’s production is being provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Located at 901 South College St. near campus, the Jule Collins Smith museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Saturday.

Admission is free.

10

Nice job The city of Auburn in July was ranked No. 17 on Forbes’ list of “Best Small Places for Business and Careers”—the only Alabama city to make it into the top 50. The No. 1 town was Sioux Falls, S.D.

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Administrators and fac-

affecting the body’s or-

ulty in June dedicated

gans. Auburn scientists

Auburn University’s

and their colleagues

new $21 million MRI

began using the 7T

Research Center, a

scanner in July for

45,000-square-foot

research in areas such

facility housing two of

as brain function, meta-

the most powerful re-

bolic imaging, pharma-

search and clinical MRI

ceuticals, diabetes and

scanners on the globe.

heart disease.

The equipment

Auburn administra-

includes a Siemens 7

tors also plan to invite

Tesla, or 7T, scan-

researchers working at

ner—one of fewer than

other universities, hos-

35 in the world—and a

pitals and businesses

3T, the most powerful

to use the equipment,

MRI certified by the

says center director

U.S. Food and Drug

Tom Denney Jr. ’85,

Administration for

Auburn’s Ed and Peggy

clinical use.

Reynolds Family Pro-

MRI, or magnetic

fessor in Electrical and

resonance imaging,

Computer Engineering.

uses magnetic signals

Auburn and East

to create images show-

Alabama Medical Cen-

ing the inside of the

ter in Opelika already

body, helping doctors

are sharing use of the

pinpoint problems

clinical 3T scanner.

S T R E E T

AUBURN UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES

C O L L E G E

Flashback 100 years ago

75 years ago

50 years ago

25 years ago

10 years ago

Fall 1912

Fall 1937

Fall 1962

Fall 1987

Fall 2002

Alabama Polytechnic Institute’s student newspaper, the Orange and Blue, ramped up its publishing frequency to weekly. Prior to 1912, the newspaper had been published twice a month. The Orange and Blue was renamed The Auburn Plainsman in 1922. The Plainsman was named “Best College Newspaper” in the region at the Southeast Journalism Conference in February.

For the first time in the campus’ history, API boasted two female cheerleaders, human sciences major June Tooker ’39 and liberal arts major Doris Greene ’41. Half a century later, Sandra Stephens Beisel ’89 was named Auburn’s first female head cheerleader.

Auburn students anticipated the completion of a new library designed to shelve 1 million volumes and provide seating for 1,200. Three years later, it was named Ralph Brown Draughon Library in honor of the university president who pushed for its construction. A 1988 expansion increased the library’s capacity to 2.5 million volumes and seating for 2,000.

One of Auburn’s most cherished traditions virtually came to a halt as the last annual “Wreck Tech” pajama parade was held Oct. 15. Two days later, Auburn beat Georgia Tech 20-10.

Auburn played Georgia Tech nearly every year from 1906-1987. The rivalry has since been revisited only occasionally, most recently in 2005.

About 14,000 people assembled at Plainsman Park on Oct. 24 to hear U.S. President George W. Bush speak on topics ranging from national defense and the economy to the upcoming Alabama elections, endorsing Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Riley.

Bush’s visit marked the first time a sitting U.S. president had appeared at Auburn since Franklin D. Roosevelt came to town in 1939.

Above: Before there was Camp War Eagle, Auburn’s freshman orientation might have included a formal afternoon snack on the quad such as the one being enjoyed by this quintet of coeds in 1964. Can you identify anyone in the photo? If so, we’d love to hear from you: Email us at aubmag@ auburn.edu.

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

11

C O L L E G E

S T R E E T

Roll it one more time Auburn fans on campus for football games will be able to roll the trees at Toomer’s Corner with toilet paper to celebrate wins again this year. Although the oaks are not expected to survive much longer, university administrators say rolling will not cause additional damage. Officials have vowed to offer other options for celebrating the Toomer’s rolling tradition in the future.

Serving the populace JAY GOGUE ’69

President, Auburn University

CYBER SECURE

12

The FBI calls it “cyber

research program

crime”—a growing

development.

threat to national

security, financial

new Cyber Initiative

stability, and personal

include degree and

and corporate privacy.

certificate programs,

In the halls of the

training for veterans,

agency’s Cyber Crime

critical infrastructure

Unit, federal agents

protection and

work on cases with

open-source intelli-

names like “Operation

gence. Coursework has

Ghost Click” and

already been developed

“Operation Phish Fry.”

for a 15- to 18-hour

graduate certificate

Auburn research-

Goals of Auburn’s

ers have been

program through the

conducting studies on

College of Business.

cyber security for the

But the most significant

last decade, but in

component of the

about a year university

initiative is a proposed

officials plan to arm

building at Auburn

graduate students with

Research Park that

the expertise to work

would foster cyber

on the front lines of

security work by various

what is arguably the

government agencies,

fastest-growing public

including the U.S.

threat. “Our effort, at

Department of Defense.

least over the past 12

to 18 months, has been

need for capabilities

to integrate this into an

and facilities that don’t

interdisciplinary

exist today,” Fillmer

initiative so that we can

said. “Our long-term

bring resources

vision is to have a

together across the

facility at Research

university to present a

Park where this

broader picture of what

capability can be

our capabilities are,”

brought together in an

says Larry Fillmer,

integrated fashion.”

executive director of

—Kristen Oliver

“They all have a

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Until the end of the Industrial Revolution, or about 1850, higher education, for the most part, had been reserved for training doctors, lawyers, teachers and preachers. Answering an American populace that wanted to know when universities would adapt to the needs of the industrial classes, U.S. Sen. Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont introduced the Morrill Act of 1862, which established land-grant colleges.

The original mission of these institutions, as set forth in the first Morrill Act, was to teach agriculture, the mechanical arts and classical studies so that members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education. The federal government’s requirement for these schools also included instruction in military tactics as part of their curricula, forming what became known as the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

The Morrill Act provided the state with 240,000 acres of federal land— 30,000 acres for each U.S. senator and congressman—which the state could sell to fund an agricultural and mechanical

college. Faced with competing proposals from many colleges across state, the legislature accepted East Alabama Male College as the land-grant school and changed its name to Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act of 1862, and the institutions which emerged as a result of that legislation serve the state as well as the national and international communities with their research and outreach in many fields, including agriculture, engineering and animal sciences.

Today, Auburn University is one of the few institutions to carry the torch as a land-, sea- and space-grant university. As such, Auburn emphasizes strong academic and research programs in agriculture, natural resources, life and physical sciences, and engineering, as well as architecture, business, education, forestry and wildlife sciences, human sciences, the liberal arts, nursing, pharmacy, science and mathematics, and veterinary medicine.

Auburn University, ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top 50 public universities nationwide for 19 consecutive years, is dedicated to providing opportunities for all students to actively engage in socially fulfilling and educationally purposeful experiences inside and outside the classroom. Participation in campus activities is a great opportunity to individually develop leadership skills such as teamwork, decision-making and planning, while creating meaningful relationships.

War Eagle!

jgogue@auburn.edu

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AU BU RN U NIVERS IT Y PH OTOG RAPH IC S ERVI CES

C O L L E G E

Meet the Prof Kathleen Hale Associate professor of political science, College of Liberal Arts BACKSTORY Kathleen Hale is teaching an upper-division undergraduate and graduate course this fall in nonprofit law as well as a doctoral course in qualitative methods. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Miami University in Ohio and a Ph.D. at Penn State. Hale joined Auburn’s faculty in 2006.

A DONKEY’S TALE: Emma the donkey foal has become a miniature celebrity at Auburn after being successfully fitted with a prosthetic leg. Emma was days old when a severe deformity necessitated the amputation of her right hind limb. Now, at more than three months old, Emma’s progress under the care of Auburn equine surgeon Fred Caldwell ’99 and the Hanger Clinic has surpassed expectations, raising hopes that the day could come when horses and other larger equines no longer would have to be put down due to lameness or other problems. “I think we have a long way to go before we get to this being a procedure that’s routinely an option for our larger patients,” Caldwell says, “but for a prosthetic limb to be an option in horses is something that’s pretty exciting.”

ACTION WEAR Several of Auburn’s in-

brands such as Wrangler,

dustrial design majors re-

JanSport and North Face.

cently impressed officials

project is a little less

Fair with their arresting

about fashion and more

prototypes of tactical uni-

about comfort, equipment

forms for police and other

management and making

emergency personnel who

it easier for police and

work long hours under

emergency management

stressful conditions.

technicians to do their

on uniforms for police

as 24 hours. They’ve got

jobs,” said industrial

officers who patrol on

to have something to wear

and graduate students

design professor Rich

bicycle, eliminated front

that is functional but will

spent spring semester

Britnell ’88, who oversaw

pockets on the pants he

remain comfortable that

coming up with ideas for

the project. As background

designed and situated the

long,” said graduate stu-

uniforms meant to help

research, students inter-

back pockets in a position

dent Dylan Piper-Kaiser.

first responders stay orga-

viewed police, firefighters

that made riding more

nized and comfortable.

and other emergency

comfortable.

Sixteen undergraduate

The client: Vanity Fair

14

“The focus of our

of clothing maker Vanity

workers, and spent more

“They’re wearing these

The group, which produced more than 40 ideas for further develop-

Imagewear’s Horace

than 40 hours shadowing

uniforms for 12 hours a

ment, presented its final

Small uniform company.

them on their jobs. Senior

day or more. For firemen,

concepts to VF Imagewear

VF Imagewear also owns

Chad Griffith, who worked

their shifts can last as long

staff in Nashville, Tenn.

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

MEDIA STAR Hale was honored recently by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals for the research behind her book How Information Matters: Networks and Public Policy Innovation (Georgetown University Press, 2007), in which she examines how government officials and nonprofit leaders can work together to support policy reform. The NADCP was critical to Hale’s study, which followed the adoption of drug-court programs across the country as a significant policy innovation shaping outcomes for drug offenders. The NADCP began in 1994 with 12 local judges and now includes more than 27,000 multidisciplinary justice professionals and community leaders. “It is an honor to have my work read by practitioners,” Hale says. “It’s what everyone in higher education hopes will happen with their research.”

WHAT’S NEXT Hale continues to study professionalization and capacity-building around the contributions of nonprofit organizations. Auburn’s College of Liberal Arts now offers a graduate certificate program in nonprofit organizations and community governance.

Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer.

C O L L E G E

S T R E E T

Auburn Magazine

For Alumni & Friends of Auburn University

Auburn Magazine

For Alumni & Friends of Auburn University

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u aa ll u um m .. oo rr gg Auburn Auburn Magazine Magazine aa u 59AuburnMag_Fall08.indd 59

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7/11/08 5:34:32 PM

Kick It Up To Life

7/11/08 5:34:32 PM

7/24/09 PM 11/1/11 12:59 5:18 PM

Thank you for your annual membership in the Auburn Alumni Association. Kick up your membership today, and join 33,000 other alumni and friends who have pledged to support Auburn for life. Call 334-844-2960, and say you want to “kick it up”! www.aualum.org/join

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a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

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C O L L E G E

S T R E E T

Research

LEGO MY LEGO

16

Working out of Au-

automotive prototypes:

burn’s new automotive

a 231-piece dune buggy,

manufacturing systems

a 254-piece SUV and

lab, engineering majors

a 278-piece speedster.

have figured out a way

During the manufacturing

to build 70 vehicles an

process, 15 students ex-

hour—from sports cars

ecute the assembly, while

to SUVs—at about the

three more students de-

same rate of speed as

liver materials demanded

workers in a profes-

at the workstations.

sional manufacturing

Production expectation

plant.

is one vehicle every 60

The difference is in

seconds. Upon assembly,

the materials. Instead of

each tiny car is electroni-

piecing together bum-

cally inspected for errors

pers, fenders and roof

and defects.

racks, students make

their cars out of Legos.

ing on an assembly

line, students grow to

“The purpose of

By actually work-

the lab is to recreate

understand manufactur-

and simulate an actual

ing operations as well

automotive manufac-

as the discipline of

turing environment at

“lean” manufacturing,

a high volume,” says

a philosophy origi-

Tom Devall, director of

nally illustrated by auto

automotive manufactur-

manufacturer Toyota.

ing initiatives in Au-

burn’s Department of

tory coming in, we

Industrial and Systems

build the product

Engineering.

through processes and

then we simulate the

“It is the only manu-

“If we have inven-

facturing lab of its kind

fact that we ship it; we

in the country. The lab

have a complete organ-

emulates an automo-

ism,” Devall says. “It

tive assembly plant and

simulates manufactur-

is designed to support

ing almost perfectly.”

operations at a high vol-

ume, similar to automo-

students who have par-

tive manufacturers such

ticipated in the lab will

as Toyota and Honda.”

become savvy at eyeing

the production errors

Students use brightly

Devall hopes

colored Lego building

of future employers.

blocks to build three

—Hope Burleson

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Help for terrapins Consider the lowly turtle, always being outrun by a hare, never able to come out of its shell, often left in a roadside daze by speeding vehicles. A reptilian aid group at Auburn hopes to offer terrapins a better life.

Several veterinary medicine majors “had seen a lot of turtles on the side of the road and had taken care of a couple,” says Amelia Munsterman, a clinical veterinary faculty member who is assisting with the College of Veterinary Medicine’s turtle rehabilitation program. “They wanted more experience with exotics, (plus) faculty guidance in how to make sure these little guys survive.”

The turtle rehab effort will have its own space in Auburn’s new William and Kate Bailey Small Animal Teaching Hospital, set to open in 2014. “We accept wild turtles from good Samaritans,” says third-year vet-med major Liz Whitsett. “Sometimes they’re OK, but somebody found them and didn’t know what to do with them. We ask them where they found them, because it’s important to get them back to (that) location. Others that are injured or diseased, we take in—and that allows students to get

hands-on experience with wild turtles.”

For now, students and faculty encourage local residents to bring injured turtles to the existing veterinary teaching hospital at 960 Wire Road near Auburn’s main campus. Should you find an injured turtle, beware of picking it up with your bare hands; stressed or hurt turtles may bite, experts say. Try using a broom or stick to ease the animal into a box or other container lined with damp towels or paper towels. Cover the container and keep it in a quiet place until you can get it to the hospital, and note exactly where you found the turtle so that it may be returned upon its recovery.

Students and faculty have repaired broken shells, euthanized reptiles that were beyond medical help and even performed surgery on a terrapin whose front legs had been badly mauled by a predator.

“Our professor, Jamie Bellah, agreed to do surgery on him, and he felt like the turtle was moving around well enough that he might be able to still swim after we sewed up his legs,” Whitsett says. “That’s the kind of experience you just don’t get anywhere else.”—Kristen Oliver

C O L L E G E

Itsy bitsy spider Auburn biology professor Jason Bond and entomologist Charles Ray Jr. ’75 recently discovered a new species of trapdoor spider in an Auburn subdivision. To catch prey, trapdoor spiders hide in subterranean burrows disguised by a flap or “door” made of silk and soil, then leap out suddenly and bite their unsuspecting victims. Researchers named the spider Myrmekiaphila tigris in honor of Auburn’s mascot.

S T R E E T

Wooly pigs: Good for your heart?

They look and sound like characters from a twisted fairy tale: curly-haired Hungarian pigs capable of eating themselves to death by devouring enough feed to nearly render their own species extinct. The weighty Mangalitsa “wooly” pig, though, may do our own hearts some good.

The swine breed could provide important information on the treatment of diabetes and related illnesses in humans, says Auburn animal sciences assistant professor Terry Brandebourg.

Mangalitsa pigs pack on adipose tissue, or fat, much like humans, growing morbidly obese and, like us, developing symptoms of metabolic syndrome—insulin resistance, liver dysfunction and inflammation.

“We know that obesity is linked to diabetes and diabetic heart disease, but we haven’t fully understood the mechanisms underlying those links, because there hasn’t been a suitable translational animal model,” Brandebourg says.

With the data thus far supporting the genetically corpulent Mangalitsa’s potential as an animal model, Brandebourg and colleague Rajesh Amin in the Harrison School of Pharmacy are studying how obesity affects heart health. Funded by an Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station grant, the

scientists are supplementing the animals’ diets with conjugated linoleic acids, a group of naturally occurring fatty acids that has exhibited anti-inflammatory, anti-atherosclerotic and anti-diabetic effects in mice.

“We’re looking at the potential of CLAs to uncouple metabolic and heart dysfunctions from obesity,” Brandebourg explains. “What if reducing the risk for diabetic heart disease turns out to be as simple as taking CLA supplements?”

The use of swine as animal research models for certain human medical conditions is widely accepted because, as a species, pigs are both physiologically and metabolically similar to humans. But in lab trials, scientists have not yet identified a domestic breed that models the natural progression of diabetes as carcass fat increases without additional intervention.

That’s what inspired Brandebourg to search for the most obese, rudimentary pig on the planet. In Hungary, that breed is called Mangalica, which means “hog with lots of lard”—and that’s an understatement. The carcass of a mature Mangalitsa is 70 percent fat, and the fatback is three times thicker than that found on today’s leaner breeds, such as Yorkshire pigs.

—Jamie Creamer ’79

WASTE NOT A patented Auburn

into giant vessels,

University-developed

where it’s basically

process that converts

cooked like a stew for

animal offal into mar-

a while to remove the

ketable products made

water and separate

its commercial debut

the solids and the

this summer.

fats—that’s where you

get the strong smell

A new company

called Alabama Pro-

that’s associated with

tein Products—located

rendering plants and

at Kyser Family Farms,

the large volume of

a catfish operation

odorous, high-strength

in Hale County—is

wastewater,” says

expected to employ

lead researcher Jesse

up to 10 people as the

Chappell, an Auburn

first private venture to

associate professor

use Auburn’s Agricul-

of fisheries and allied

tural Byproduct Value

aquacultures. “The

Recovery System.

ABVRS uses high heat

ABVRS is a quick,

and relatively simple

energy-efficient and

drying technologies

environmentally sound

that eliminate that

rendering process

whole cooking process

that, unlike conven-

and the environmental

tional rendering meth-

problems that come

ods, creates no foul

with it.”

odors, toxic emissions

or wastewater as it

revolutionize the

recycles catfish parts

waste-rendering pro-

into high-protein fish

cess around the world,

meal for use in poul-

Chappell says. Eventu-

try, livestock and fish

ally, experts say, other

feed and heart-healthy

companies may use

omega 3 fish oil.

the process to render

cattle, pigs, chickens

“In traditional

rendering, offal goes

The system could

and other animals.

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

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C O L L E G E

S T R E E T

Roundup COLLEGE OF

Agriculture Agriculture graduate student Stefanie Christensen began interviewing coastal Alabama and Mississippi fishermen, processors, wholesalers, and restaurant chefs and owners in June as part of a survey aimed at evaluating how those involved in the shellfish supply chain are faring two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Working under the direction of Michelle Worosz, an assistant professor of agricultural economics and rural sociology, Christensen aims to learn how the oil spill and other disasters affected seafood-related businesses as well as industry workers’ views on the effectiveness of food-safety testing procedures and regulations in helping improve consumer confidence in Gulf Coast seafood. Researchers also are updating the baseline economic conditions of the area and looking at the impact of disturbances on coastal tourism as part of the two-year project.

COLLEGE OF

a $500 cash prize in the Groovystuff design challenge at High Point Market in High Point, N.C., the world’s largest annual home-furnishing trade show.

Jones’ circular, teak-framed “Eclipse Mirror”—designed to be produced using sustainable manufacturing practices— generated the most written orders at the market, garnering the fourth-year student lifetime royalties and an endorsement by the Dick Idol brand of home furnishings. … Courtney Brett ’07 recently became the youngest active member of the American Institute of Architects.

She established her own firm, Daphnebased Casburn Brett Architecture, this year.

COLLEGE OF

Architecture, Business Design and Auburn accounting recently selectConstruction faculty ed business major Gabi Industrial design major Rachel Jones took top honors and

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Bailin as the recipient of a $10,000 scholarship from the Public

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Company Accounting Oversight Board for the upcoming academic year. Bailin, a Chicago native who plans to complete a dual major in accounting and finance, is one of only 43 students in the U.S. chosen for the award.

She maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA and serves as president of the Auburn chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, a national honor society for accounting, finance and information-systems majors. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board scholarship is funded by monetary penalties imposed for financial wrongdoing as dictated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which established new standards for U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. The law was created in response to several major corporate and accounting scandals, including those at Enron Corp. and WorldCom.

COLLEGE OF

Education Auburn education professor Karen Jackson Rabren ’83 was recognized in July for her role in helping special education teachers better understand the needs of their students. The Alabama Council for Exceptional Children honored Rabren, who heads the Auburn Transition Leadership Institute, with its 2012 Jasper Harvey Award for Outstanding Teacher Educator in Special Education. A faculty member since 2000, Rabren’s research mainly focuses on postschool outcomes for students with disabilities as well as the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of programs designed to allow disabled young people to live independently and reach their educational and job goals. … Birmingham mathematics teacher Suzanne Bishop Culbreth ’82 earned Alabama Teacher of

the Year honors at the 2012 Alabama Stars in Education Awards ceremony in May. Culbreth has taught at Spain Park High School since 2008 and formerly taught at Oak Mountain High School for six years.

SAMUEL GINN COLLEGE OF

Engineering The Auburn chapter of Engineers Without Borders has joined forces with recent graduates of the Department of Biosystems Engineering to design a gravityfed irrigation system meant to aid farmers in Quesimpuco, Bolivia. To help increase crop production in the Andean region, the newly minted engineers hope to divert water from a mountain stream to flood-irrigate corn, turnips and carrots on a field about 1,000 feet below the water source. The team includes Jessica Machata ’12, Drew Sloan ’12 and Nathan Warner ’12, and is advised by assistant professor Mark

Dougherty. … The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering is adding a 15-hour tribology and lubrication-science minor to its curriculum this fall, a program that officials say is the first of its kind.

Tribology is the study of friction, wear and lubrication. The minor will prepare students for careers in such fields as power generation, human-joint replacement and oil-product chemistry. For more information, see www.eng. auburn.edu/tribiology.

SCHOOL OF

Forestry and Wildlife Sciences University officials in June broke ground on the $1.6 million Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation Learning Center in Andalusia, which will include a 100-seat auditorium and 40-seat classroom addition to the existing Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center. Forestryand-wildlife majors live and study on the 5,300-acre property—which boasts four miles of Conecuh River frontage, hoteland bunkhouse-style rooms, and nearly 1,000 species of plant life—during their summer practicums.

The gift of land and funds to create the original center came in 1978 from the late Solon Dixon ’26, and his wife, Martha.

Sun power Solar power is providing the energy needed to charge as many as 10 electric vehicles on the Auburn campus. University officials have funded the installation of 24 solar panels on top of the Jordan-Hare Stadium parking deck to accommodate the cars’ charging stations. Electric vehicles are used on campus to transport students, staff and faculty with impaired mobility, provide taxi rides to campus from nearby locations and make service calls to campus buildings. Additional charging stations may be added throughout campus as the demand for electric cars increases.

COLLEGE OF

Human Sciences Faculty, staff and students in the Department of Consumer Affairs in July hosted the second annual Project Design Week, in which high school students experienced hands-on activities dealing with the design and merchandising of interiors, apparel and accessories. The program also featured field trips, guest speakers, computer-aided design projects, creative design opportunities and team-building assignments. … The College of Human Sciences’ hotel-and-restaurant management program has officially been granted professional accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration.

The program is one of only 56 of its kind nationwide to achieve the designation.

COLLEGE OF

Liberal Arts Keren Gorodeisky, assistant professor of philosophy, has been named a fellow of the National Humanities Center. As the recipient of the Phillip Quinn Fellowship in philosophy, Gorodeisky will be in residence at the North Carolina-based center from September to May, where she will work on a research project and share ideas in both

seminars and lectures.

The focus of her teaching and research at the center will be a book manuscript titled A Matter of Form: Kant on the Judgment of Beauty. Gorodeisky received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and comparative literature from Tel-Aviv University and a doctoral degree in philosophy from Boston University.

She joined Auburn’s faculty in 2007. …

Hanna Gordon ’12, who graduated in May with a degree in French from Auburn University, has been awarded a Fulbright-French Ministry of Education English Teaching Assistantship. Gordon will work in a middle school in the Besancon region of France.

tors (Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011).

HARRISON SCHOOL OF

Pharmacy

Do you remember Toomer’s Drugs pharmacist McAdory “Mac” Lipscomb ’49, who ran the iconic Auburn corner store and soda fountain between 1952 and 1984? If so, Auburn officials want to hear from you. University communication specialist Amy Weaver and Lipscomb’s widow, Elizabeth “Libba” Lipscomb, are working on a feature story and a book regarding the late pharmacist,

decades. Send your memories to Weaver by email at amy.weaver@ auburn.edu or write Amy Weaver, Attn: Memories of Mac, 2316 Walker Building, Auburn, Ala., 36849. …

Richard Hansen, head of the pharmacy-care systems department, and Mark Carpenter, a statistics professor in the College of Science and Mathematics, received a $102,000 award from the National Pharmaceutical Council to investigate ways to improve the process of identifying safety concerns with pharmaceuticals on the market.

SCHOOL OF

Nursing Nursing associate professor Francine Mancuso Parker ’04 was appointed by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley to serve a four-year term on the Alabama Board of Nursing. The regulatory body’s mission is to advance quality care through licensure, certification and education of nurses.

Parker, in collaboration with fellow associate professor Bonnie Sanderson, also wrote a chapter, “Managing a Culturally Diverse Workforce,” of the textbook Management and Leadership for Nurse Administra-

who once lobbied to prevent Alabama officials from relocating Auburn’s pharmacy school to Montgomery. The Lipscombs owned Toomer’s Drugs for more than three

C O L L E G E

ages of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but new research indicates there was also massive harm to microscopic creatures in coastal sands, lasting months after beaches appeared clean. Communities of tiny organisms that live in the sediment and between sand grains also underwent dramatic shifts after the spill, according to Auburn researchers. Biological sciences professor Ken Halanych and his colleagues examined five sites along the Alabama coast both before and several months after the spill.

After the disaster, samples from the state’s beaches were dominated by fungi, which are often associated with decomposition, and showed reduced organismal diversity overall. Also, the fungal species found have previously been associated with hydrocarbons, suggesting that oiling may have been more significant than was noticeable to the eye, scientists say. The team is continuing its research to assess potential ecological impacts of hydrocarbons over time.

COLLEGE OF

Veterinary Sciences and Medicine Mathematics The Auburn University COLLEGE OF

Oiled seabirds and turtles may have been the dominant im-

board of trustees in June approved the appointment of Timothy

S T R E E T

Boosinger, former dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, as AU provost and vice president for academic affairs. Boosinger, who has served as interim provost at Auburn since June 2011, will continue to serve as the university’s chief academic administrator— overseeing all academic programming in the university’s 12 colleges and schools—and also is responsible for fostering the advancement of Auburn’s strategic plan. Boosinger earned his doctoral degree in veterinary medicine and a Ph.D. in pathology from Purdue University.

He joined Auburn’s faculty in 1983 and served for six years on the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education, which accredits all colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States and Canada, plus four schools in the United Kingdom, three in Australia and one in New Zealand. He was president of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges from 2007 to 2008 and served as Auburn’s dean of veterinary medicine from 1995 to 2011.

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

19

S T U D E N T

L I F E

CONCOURSE

Singing with‘Glee’ Interview Marisa Grimes Junior, international business THE 4-1-1 Grimes was one of 8,000 Olympic torchbearers who carried the flame as it journeyed through the United Kingdom prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The 19-year-old Ocean View, Del., native was chosen in honor of her longtime involvement in community-service work.

LANDING THE ROLE Three projects in particu-

lar brought Grimes to the attention of Olympic organizers. As a high school student, she created Operation Tumaini (a word that means “hope” in Swahili) to raise money toward providing school uniforms for 400 children in Kenya. During the summer of 2008, she spent 25 days working at an orphanage in Ghana; afterward, she helped form a nonprofit organization to pay for food, clean water, education and medical care for the orphanage’s 103 children. Last year, after deadly tornadoes ripped through Alabama, Grimes organized an effort dubbed “All In For Alabama” with roommate Lauren Barkley. The pair drove a 26-foot Penske truck from Pennsylvania to Alabama, collecting emergency supplies from drop-off sites in six states. More than 200 supporters joined the cause.

SHORT-TERM GOALS Grimes hopes to have trav-

eled to all seven continents by the time she graduates from Auburn. Next up: Antarctica. She also wants to learn Spanish and continue improving the quality of life for children at Bright Future Orphanage in Ghana. “I have seen poverty. I have seen starving children. I have seen the look of desperation in a mother’s eyes as she tries to convince me to take her baby with me so that it will have a better life,” Grimes says. “These are the things that make me realize that I take so much for granted.”

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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Two days before Christmas last year, tornado-warning sirens sounded and the electricity in Auburn theater major Shanna Henderson’s home flickered on and off. The anxious Reeltown native checked her Internet connection, which was still working, and waited eagerly for a Skype call that might determine her future—at least in the short term. The call came, and the words of the man on the other line echoed through the dark room. “I’ll see you in L.A.,” said Robert Ulrich, casting director for Fox’s hit TV series “Glee.”

“I had no words,” recalls Henderson ’12, who’d just been chosen as a finalist for a recurring role on “Glee.” To win the part, she would have to compete against 13 other hopefuls in a televised audition show dubbed “The Glee Project,” which began airing this summer on the Oxygen network.

Henderson made it to week 10 of the series, which airs at 10 p.m. Eastern (9 p.m. Central) each Tuesday on Oxygen.

She was eliminated from the competition on July 31 with only two episodes remaining.

Now living in Nashville, Tenn., Henderson plans to use her time on the show as a springboard to a career in music.

The 21-year-old’s journey to “The Glee Project” was hard-won. The daughter of a drug addict, Henderson was raised by her grandparents and bullied in school. She grew up singing in her church choir and, at 16, tried out for Fox’s “American Idol” but was eliminated after the second round of auditions in Birmingham. As a freshman at Auburn, she suffered a shoulder injury while playing softball and subsequently was accepted as a musical theater major despite having no prior professional training. Soon after, in December 2010, she emerged the victor of the second annual “Auburn Legend” local singing competition.

Winning Auburn Legend “was a huge impact on my career,” Henderson says.

“It gave me this confidence—it made me believe in myself more than I have ever believed in myself before.”

Undeterred by the “American Idol” rejection, Henderson tried out for NBC’s “The Voice” in summer 2011, was snubbed again and then noticed that “The Glee Project” was accepting applicants. She propped a laptop computer on her bed and filmed herself answering personal questions and singing former “Idol” winner Carrie Underwood’s 2007 country smash “Before He Cheats.” Her submission video received 4,000 views in a matter of hours.

Following more rounds of auditions in Nashville and Los Angeles, Henderson packed her bags in January, bound for Sunset Boulevard.

During each week of the “Glee Project,” contestants are given “homework” assignments that require the group to

C O N C O U R S E

Greek to us Warrensburg, Mo.-based Sigma Tau Gamma joins Auburn’s Greek community this fall with a new chapter on campus. Notable alumni of the 92-year-old social fraternity include comedian Dennis Miller and former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft.

Syllabus COURSE NAME 2710/2820 “The Human Odyssey

I & II” INSTRUCTORS Mary Mendonca, professor of

biology; Barb Bondy, associate professor of art; Chris Correia, professor of psychology; German Mills, associate professor of chemistry; Gerard Elfstrom, professor of philosophy; Dan Mackowski, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Scott Bishop ’83, educational curator, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art; and Carol Daron ’74 and Charlotte Ward, visiting professors, Honors Program.

THE SCOOP The course, which is divided into two semesters, roughly follows historical events, focusing on the development of human thought and culture in the sciences, humanities and fine arts. During fall semester, students examine the origins of humanity and how human societies developed in terms of language, writing, art, war, religion and philosophy. Spring semester lectures and discussions touch on the Protestant Reformation, musical time, the ethics of medical research, sustainability and quantum physics. A pair of faculty members—one from the humanities or social sciences and another from the “hard” sciences—teaches each class.

collectively choreograph and sing specific songs. Henderson’s winning individual performance in a group number of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” during the first week of taping garnered her a mentoring session with “Glee” actress Lea Michele—but it was her relationship with the other contestants that ended up making a lasting mark.

“I have to say the biggest lesson I learned was how Opposite: “Everything genuine people happens for a reason,” Shanna Henderson truly can be,” said after her July 31 Henderson says. “I elimination from “The went into this comGlee Project.” “Now I’m coming out to Nashville petition series in a with a hope and a prayer, competitive mode. just like I did on (the … I was expecting show).”

to make friends, but I wasn’t expecting to actually make lifelong friends or to keep a relationship with these amazing people.

When we wrapped the show, I was sad!

Everyone was there for each other, and we didn’t have to be. It just showed me so much about how people really do have it in them to be amazing people and treat (others) with respect.”

Having graduating from Auburn earlier this year, Henderson hopes to record an album in Nashville.

“I’m thrilled that I didn’t make it on any of those other shows,” she says. “(‘The Glee Project’) was perfect for me, because it allowed me to fully express who I am as a person, my story and who I am as an artist.”—Hope Burleson

WHO TAKES IT The course is open to all Auburn

students. Since its inception in 1977, the Human Odyssey program (formerly called “Ascent of Man”) has provided interdisciplinary perspectives to thousands of undergraduate students. The program has been offered in conjunction with the Littleton-Franklin Lecture Series in Science and Humanities, which has been responsible for bringing prominent thinkers to campus ranging from writers Eudora Welty, Robert Penn Warren and Joyce Carol Oates to scientists Richard Leakey and John Archibald Wheeler.

SUGGESTED READING Students are required

to read excerpts from The Human Odyssey: Readings from Original Sources, Volumes 1 & 2 (Pearson, 2005), edited by retired Auburn professor James T. Bradley. Bradley directed Auburn’s Human Odyssey program for 13 years.

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

21

C O N C O U R S E

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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

•• • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • •

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AUtumn Nights ®

9.14.2012 11.16.2012 f eatu r i n g

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f ea t u r i n g

SWINGIN’ cHEVY 6 MEDALLIONS 6-10 PM toomer’s corner

aubie I cheerleaders I band

PRESENTED BY: Auburn chamber I Auburn University Athletics I city of Auburn Auburn Alumni Association I Auburn Downtown Merchants Association for updates and information, visit facebook.com/auburnchamber.

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S P O R T S

TIGER WALK TODD VAN EMS T

Countdown to the gridiron

Tigers formulate new offensive, defensive strategies for 2012

Head football coach Gene Chizik’s preparations for the 2012 season were interrupted June 9 when a shooting at an apartment complex near the Auburn University campus left three dead, including former Tigers offensive lineman Ed Christian and fullback Ladarious Phillips, and three wounded, among them current offensive lineman Eric Mack. A suspect has been charged. Meanwhile, Chizik and his staff—which includes new-this-year offensive and defensive coordinators Scot Loeffler and Brian Van-

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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Gorder, respectively—continue to mold the team in advance of the Tigers’ season kickoff against Clemson at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central) Sept. 1 in the Georgia Dome. No tickets? The Tigers vs. Tigers matchup will be televised nationally on ESPN. Chizik sizes up the season for Auburn Magazine readers and football fans: How do you feel about the overall direction of the football program as you head into your fourth season at Auburn?

GC: We are in a much stronger position as a football program than we were this time a year ago. I don’t know how many wins that will translate into this season, because we still have some question marks that need to be answered at different positions, including quarterback. The good news is that we have more depth, more experience and more competition across the board. We have 16 returning starters, but in many cases we have guys right behind those returning starters

High school hero Auburn’s first Heisman Trophy winner, Pat Sullivan ’72, was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in July, becoming only the second athlete from Alabama to be so honored. Sullivan, who is the head football coach at Samford University, was a multi-sport star at John Carroll High School in Birmingham.

who are really pushing them. That’s exactly what you want.

We are also working on our fourth full recruiting class, which we think is really important to solidify the foundation that we have been methodically building. We are building a very solid foundation for Auburn for the long term. Our administration and the university have done a great job in giving us the resources we need, especially with facilities. We’ve got the new indoor facility, and the university is upgrading the old Sewell Hall dorm with an incredible new residence hall. Those things are really important in recruiting. Overall, I feel very good about the direction of our football program.

You only have about six seniors among those 16 returning starters.

Who do you expect to be the leaders of this year’s team?

GC: There is no question that the leadership of those seniors is going to be key. As you said, we don’t have a lot of seniors who are returning starters—but the good news is they have had a lot of success. They have won a national championship, they have averaged 10 wins a year over the past three years, and they have never lost a bowl game. We have guys like Philip Lutzenkirchen, Onterio McCalebb, Emory Blake, Daren Bates and T’Sharvan Bell who we expect to step up to the plate as leaders. I’ve seen a noticeable change in them stepping up as leaders.

You have added two new coordinators this year. Starting with Scot Loeffler on offense, what can fans expect to see?

GC: The offense that we will be running with Scot is a little different than what we’ve done but is not entirely new. It has really been a seamless transition since he got here, and our players have embraced it. Scot has both college experience and NFL experience, and developing quarterbacks has been his forte, going back to when he coached quarterbacks at Michigan with (head coach) Lloyd Carr.

He’s also worked with (NFL quarterbacks) Tom Brady and Tim Tebow, so there is no question that he has tremen-

dous experience and is a proven guy in the development of quarterbacks.

The last couple of years, you haven’t seen our offense huddle. That’s something that you will see this season. We’ll do some different things on offense.

One thing that you will see is a physical run game, and we will spread the ball around to our playmakers, both the running backs and receivers. We know that’s something that we have to do to be successful.

How about on the defensive side with Brian VanGorder?

GC: It’s been a great transition with Brian as well. I’ve known Brian for a long time, and we are on exactly the same page in terms of what we believe in defensively. We’re both 4-3 guys, and we believe in the same type mixture of coverages and defensive fronts. He is another guy with great college and NFL experience, so that is obviously big for us. The exciting thing is our guys really came a long way on defense in the spring, and they have really bought into what we are trying to do.

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diminish the importance and the intensity of the regular season. Every week matters, and that is certainly one aspect that makes college football such a great sport. So overall, I think the four-team playoff is a good move for college football.

You start the season with a neutralsite game against Clemson and then your first SEC game on the road at Mississippi State. How much of a challenge is it to start the season against those two opponents?

GC: It’s a tremendous challenge. Clemson will be a highly ranked team and they are very talented, but we are looking forward to playing in the Georgia Dome. Our guys have obviously played in some high-profile games there, so that experience is extremely valuable. Going to Mississippi State and playing in that stadium is never easy. So we have two big challenges ahead of us before we even play our first home game—there’s no question about it. But it’s a challenge we look forward to.

The big news during the off-season in college football has been the move to a four-team playoff in 2014.

What are your thoughts on the new system?

GC: I think it depends on what set of glasses you are wearing at the time. If you had asked me that in 2010, I would have been in favor of the current system after going through this league undefeated and winning the Southeastern Conference Championship game. That’s really hard to do in our league, as we all know. If you had asked me that in 2004 when I was here as defensive coordinator, I would have been in favor of the four-team playoff because we had a great team that was undefeated and got left out of the championship game. So I think it just depends on your perspective.

I think one very important thing is they have kept the bowl system intact to the best of their ability. The bowl games are a great reward both for players and for coaches, so I was glad to see that.

The other important aspect of the fourteam playoff is that I don’t think it will

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What a doll!

Four universities in the Southeastern Conference are represented in a new line of university-themed Barbie dolls. The Auburn University cheerleader Barbie—which retails for $24.95 at Walmart and on barbiecollector.com—boasts an AU cheerleading uniform, orange and blue pom-poms, and lyrics to Auburn’s “War Eagle” fight song.

Other dolls in the line root for Alabama, Arkansas and LSU.

By the time this issue of

Track & field

Auburn Magazine hits your

Marc Burns ’06,

mailbox, the 2012 Sum-

Trinidad & Tobago;

mer Olympics in London

Sheniqua Ferguson ’11,

will have concluded, the

Bahamas; Josanne

medals awarded, the red

Lucas ’07, Trinidad &

carpets rolled up and

Tobago; Avard Moncur

put into storage.

’02, Bahamas; V’alonee

Robinson, sophomore,

Did you see the

Auburn Tigers who were

Bahamas; Stephen

there? Of the more than

Saenz, sophomore,

two dozen current and

Mexico; Leevan Sands

former AU athletes who

’05, Bahamas; Shamar

competed (plus four

Sands ’06, Bahamas;

coaches), most were to

Kai Selvon, junior,

make a return appear-

Trinidad & Tobago;

ance alongside several

Maurice Smith ’05,

first-timers. Auburn’s

Jamaica; Kerron Stewart

competitors represented

’08, Jamaica; and

one of the largest del-

Donald Thomas ’08,

egations from the South-

Bahamas.

eastern Conference.

Following are this

Glenn Eller ’04, United

athletes and the coun-

States.

tries they represented:

Swimming George Bovell ’06, Trinidad & Tobago; Adam Brown ’11, Great Britain; Marcelo Chierighini, sophomore, Brazil; Cesar Cielo ’07, Brazil; Kirsty Coventry ’06, Zimbabwe; James Disney-May, sophomore, Great Britain; Megan Fonteno, freshman, American Samoa; Stephanie Horner ’09, Canada; Micah Lawrence, senior, United States; Gideon Louw ’11, South Africa; Tyler McGill ’11, United States; Eric Shanteau ’06, United States; Matt Targett ’10, Australia; and Arianna VanderpoolWallace, senior, Bahamas.

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Shooting

year’s Auburn Olympic

Four current or

former Auburn coaches also were selected for Olympic coaching berths: head swim coach Brett Hawke ’10 served as head coach of the Bahamas swim team; former head coach David Marsh ’81 served as assistant coach for the U.S. swim team; assistant head track-andfield coach Henry Rolle served as relays coach for the Bahamas trackand-field team; and Auburn distance/cross country coach Mark Carroll was the distancerunner coach for Ireland.

For more informa-

tion on the Auburn Olympians, check out www.auburntigers.com/ olympics.

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

AUBURN UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES

All-in for AU Olympic athletes

Auburn mourns Aubie creator Neel Longtime Birmingham Post-Herald illustrator Phil Neel, who brought Auburn’s mascot, Aubie, to life on the printed page, died July 25 of complications from nonHodgkin lymphoma. He was 84.

Long before Aubie became a three-dimensional fixture on the sidelines at sports events, he delighted fans as a cartoon character on the covers of Auburn football programs. Neel’s illustrations of Aubie first appeared on the Tigers’ football media guide in 1957, then on programs beginning Oct. 3, 1959, and continuing for the next 18 years.

“Phil Neel did not go to Auburn, but you will never find a better Auburn man than Phil,” noted retired Auburn athletic director David Housel, who co-wrote a book with Neel in 2006 called The Aubie Story. “Phil’s creation of Aubie is a part of our legend. It gave personification and a face to the name Auburn Tigers.”

The last Auburn football program cover featuring Phil Neel’s cartoon Aubie marked the Nov. 30, 1991, Iron Bowl game—the final Auburn vs. Alabama matchup at Birmingham’s Legion Field.

Neel also drew Aubie for the cover of Auburn Magazine’s Fall 2007 issue, which

commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Auburn Tigers’ first national football championship.

Over the years, Neel altered Aubie’s look. In 1962, the mischievous feline began to stand upright, and the next year wore clothes for the first time—a blue tie and a straw hat. Aubie’s appearances on game programs proved to be something of a good luck charm for late Auburn head football coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan’s teams: The Tigers were victorious in the first nine games in which Aubie graced the covers, and, during his first six years, Auburn posted a 23-2-1 home record.

“Thanks to Phil’s creative genius, Aubie became the most recognizable and beloved mascot in college sports,” said current Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs.

“While everyone who knew and loved Phil will miss him, his spirit and his love of Auburn will forever live on through Aubie the Tiger as well as his many drawings.”

A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, Neel was a sports cartoonist for The Birmingham Post-Herald for 34 years and also worked as a freelance artist. To view a collection of Neel’s program covers, see www.weagleweagle.com.

President truman saw it as a threat to the American way of life

the artists saw it as a celebration of their freedoms O. Louis Guglielmi, Subway Exit, 1946, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; Advancing American Art Collection, 1948.1.17

In 1946, a collection of modernist paintings was assembled to show the world the freedom of expression enjoyed by American artists.

Within a year, President Truman and Congress viewed the exhibit as too controversial and sold the art at public auction. Auburn University had the foresight to bid on these pieces and was fortunate enough to acquire a third of the collection.

Advancing American Art was gone—never to be exhibited as a complete collection again.

Well, it’s back.

And it’s here in Auburn.

jcsm. aubur n .e d u the traveling exhibition Art Interrupted: Advancing American Art and the Politics of Cultural Diplomacy is organized by the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University; Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma; and the Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia.

AdvAnCinG AMeriCAn Art And the POLitiCS OF CULtUrAL diPLOMACy the exhibition, accompanying catalogue, educational programs, and national tour of Art Interrupted: Advancing American Art and the Politics of Cultural Diplomacy are made possible by grants from the henry Luce Foundation and the national endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: three Centuries of Artistic Genius.

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University September 8, 2012 – January 5, 2013

artinterrupted.org

Guns. Graft. Grits. Writer Ace Atkins ’94 serves it all up with Southern flair in his signature hard-boiled fiction. b y b e n b a r t l e y ’ 1 0

A Life

of Crime The town of Taylor is about 15 minutes from Oxford, Miss., down Old Taylor Road, which twists and bends through pastoral greenery and tilled fields. Might be best to say Taylor’s a village—population’s right around 500.

The main street, such that it is, is a 100-yard bend in the asphalt that incorporates a single house, two abandoned buildings, a brown-brick post office, a restaurant and what might be an antique shop. Standing in the street, it’s hard to tell the difference between what’s in use and what’s out of service. Of course, standing in the street isn’t something one should do, as it’s 103 degrees here in mid-summer: breezeless, cloudless, the sun radiating hate for all flesh.

The black text on a sign reading Taylor Gro. & Restaurant (taglined “That Catfish Place”) is bleached nearly white; two “Enjoy Coca-Cola” ads emblazoned on either side are spotty with flakes of rust. The whole façade’s sun-faded and paintchipped. There’s an empty church pew under a single naked light bulb so folks can make themselves comfortable.

Taylor Grocery is something of a local landmark, the kind of place where the tea is very, very sweet. “Hey pretty girl,” says a smiling man sporting a “Semper Fi” hat and sandals with socks, indicating a table of two. “Your daddy’s ugly as heck.

You know that?” A waitress asks the cashier—a girl of 15 or

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PHOTOGRAPHS B Y J OE WORT H E M

Former Auburn defensive end Ace Atkins ’94 cut his teeth as a crime reporter for The Tampa Tribune prior to publishing the first of 11 noir novels. The best-selling author recently was chosen by the estate of the late Robert B. Parker to perpetuate the adventures of Parker’s iconic fictional Boston private eye, Spenser.

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Opposite and right: In The Lost Ones (Putnam, 2012), Ace Atkins returns to his first love: hero-driven series fiction. The novel’s protagonist, Quinn Colson, is a veteran U.S. Army ranger who returns to northern Mississippi to fight corruption on his home turf.

16—about her boyfriend. “He ain’t my boyfriend,” she says. Knowing laughs reverberate throughout the place.

An empty fifth of whiskey hanging from a string lifts as the door opens, and in walks William E. “Ace” Atkins, crime novelist. Atkins is a big man: This is something that should be established from the start. He looks every bit the exAuburn Tigers defensive end, which he is. In fact, he’s wearing a navy baseball cap stitched with Auburn University’s familiar interlocking AU logo, which he removes upon entering.

“I’ve got my Auburn hat,” he notes later. “I love Auburn.

But I’m not there at Tiger Walk in my old (No.) 99 jersey.

That’s not really me. I’m very proud of that time, but I’m more concentrated on things I’m working on right now.”

At the moment, he’s being led outside by a group of elderly patrons. They want a photo with the author, who has just returned home to Mississippi from a nationwide tour to promote his latest pair of books: The Lost Ones, the second novel in Atkins’ New York Times best-selling Quinn Colson lawman series, and Lullaby, his first novel in the late Robert B. Parker’s famed 39-book set of Spenser mysteries. After Parker died in 2010, Atkins, a fan of the Spenser books since his school days, submitted a manuscript as part of the Parker estate’s quest to carry on the series. He was chosen for the job.

“One of the things Bob Parker was great at was finding the humor in a corrupt world,” says Atkins, who is now finishing up the second half of Spenser novel No. 41, set for publication in May 2013. “The publisher told me they were going to send me all of Bob’s books, but I already had them all.”

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er he could: author profiles, articles for small magazines, freelance newspaper assignments. Shortly after settling in Florida, he was hired by the St. Petersburg Times. “One of my proudest moments was getting business cards saying I was a staff writer covering the crime beat,” Atkins recalls.

Later, at the Tribune, he continued covering the crime beat, cranking out two or three stories daily.

“Some reporters get into reporting for the information, and you could see Ace got into it for the story,” recalls former Tampa Tribune assistant features editor Carole Tarrant, who now edits The Roanoke Times. “You could tell he had a literary mind. He wasn’t just writing about ‘man kills wife’—he could really tell it like a yarn.”

The goal, though, was to get out of the news business and into the world of fiction. Like other journalists-cum-novelists—Ernest Hemingway comes to mind—Ace Atkins began to perfect the art of editing himself.

“You learn, as a journalist, that words are cheap,” he notes. “You have a little bit of space to say a lot. You get a lot better at saying a lot with a little bit of space.”

Spare. Direct. Cynical. Think Chandler’s hard-boiled Philip Marlowe or Hammett’s Sam Spade.

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eople know other people here in Taylor, Miss., and Atkins knows just about all the people. He stops to say hellos and how-are-yous no less than three times between the restaurant’s front door and his table at the back. The author’s local popularity is borne of both the South’s inherent friendliness and the fact that he’s lived on a farm here for a dozen years. He moved to Taylor from Tampa, Fla., at age 30, having decided to quit his job as a crime reporter for The Tampa Tribune and write fiction full time. Three years earlier he’d written and published his first book, Crossroad Blues, chronicling fictional gumshoe Nick Travers’ attempts to discover the murderer of real-life blues guitarist Robert Johnson. Atkins started the four-book Travers series as an Auburn undergraduate.

“My wife read (Crossroad Blues) recently, and she said, ‘This book is basically all the stuff that you like to do,’” he says, referring to certain recurring thematic elements: the city of New Orleans; blues music; history; the crime novels of Parker, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Ross Macdonald; beer drinking; and women.

Atkins met his wife, Angela, in Tampa, where he’d moved in 1995. After graduating from Auburn with a degree in journalism the previous year, he wrote whatever he could, whenev-

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Think Southern, even. In this region of the country, where even pleasant conversation may involve a degree of political parry, a statement such as “Well, isn’t that nice” might be read as either innocuous or venomous. “One of the key things about Southerners is not discussing unpleasant subjects,” Atkins says.

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ords. In Tampa, Atkins became intrigued by the unsolved murder of retired crime boss Charles McKay “Charlie” Wall, who in the 1920s controlled gambling rackets, houses of prostitution and other criminal enterprises from his headquarters in the neighborhood of Ybor City.

Wall was found bludgeoned in his bedroom in April 1955 with his throat slit from ear to ear. Atkins’ Tribune stories on the case eventually were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and became the basis of his book White Shadow, the first of four “nonfiction novels” Atkins wrote between 2006 and 2010.

“I am writing novels, so if there’s something I need to bend a little to make it work, I do,” the author says of his work. “If I were writing straight nonfiction, I would be more compelled by those rules. It’s storytelling.”

More than once, Atkins says he hopes to create “a good story well told,” which often means the melding of truth and fiction. His Quinn Colson series, which started with The Ranger and continued with this summer’s The Lost Ones, is fiction based on reality.

“At the time this came out, I was seeing tons of people coming home from the war, and I was seeing a lot of people coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Atkins says. “I didn’t want to write about a ‘super soldier’—I wanted to write about the American GI returning home from the front and dealing with issues like corruption and greed in the modern South.”

Take White Shadow, which includes an epigraph from William Faulkner: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” The book’s narrator, 26-year-old St. Petersburg Times reporter L.B. Turner, mirrors Atkins as a young journalist—for one thing, both discovered their love interests at rival newspapers. Atkins once competed with his future wife, Angela Moore, also a crime reporter, to break stories. “Except she wasn’t killed by the mob,” he says.

Atkins orders catfish with double slaw and says he’d have invited me to stay in the guest bedroom of his house if it wasn’t already occupied.

We talk about Auburn. We talk about football. We talk about his father, late Tigers fullback William E. “Billy” Atkins ’58.

“I’m very proud but very aware of my dad’s place at Auburn,” Atkins says. “He was the Cam Newton of the ’57 team. He was the M.V.P. and the leading scorer, everything. His place in Auburn history was firmly etched.”

So much so that, when Atkins himself walked up to JordanHare Stadium for the first time, his father’s face appeared big and bold on a banner outside. After a stellar career at Auburn, Billy Atkins—former AU backfield coach Vince Dooley called him one of the “most determined and hardest-working boys” to ever play at Auburn—was drafted in 1958 by the San Francisco 49ers in

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the fifth round and subsequently played for Atkins’ first Spenser the Buffalo Bills, the New York Jets and the novel, Lullaby (Putnam, 2012), debuted at No. 6 Denver Broncos. He later coached profes- on the New York Times sional and college ball, leading Troy Univer- best-seller list in May novels by sity to a national conference championship alongside John Grisham, Stephen in 1968 and posthumously securing a spot King and Charlaine Harris. “It’s a feat in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. a writer creates

It was during his father’s coaching stint when characters who ... make at Troy that Ace Atkins was born in 1970, readers care and keep later traveling with Billy as he coached and coming back for more.

To manage that with scouted in cities and towns around the someone else’s characters, let alone with an country. like Spenser, is a “I think a lot of the way I work, the icon minor miracle. Ace Atway that I approach my work as a novelist, kins pulls it off,” wrote is the same way my dad would approach Chicago Sun-Times recoaching football,” Atkins says between viewer Paul Saltzman. bites of catfish. “He had that passion and that drive for football— loved it. His work ethic was unparalleled. I think I look at my writing career in the same way.”

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tkins settled on the writing life as early as high school, having read Ian Fleming’s James Bond series (“loved the travel, loved the intrigue, loved the way they were written”) as a teenager. Upon graduating in 1989, Auburn officials recruited him as an outside linebacker. He left the team before playing, then rejoined two years later as a walk-on. Billy Atkins died suddenly that fall, before his son, an Auburn sophomore, ever played a game.

“Not a good time,” Atkins recalls.

He began taking tae kwon do, bought a motorcycle and finished Auburn as a 215-pound defensive end, where his role was to rush the passer.

Enter Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel. In 1993, the undefeated Auburn Tigers played the undefeated Gators, which boasted one of the top passing offenses in the nation. Wuerffel—who went on to win the Heisman Trophy in 1996—attempted 50 passes; Atkins sacked him three times, the only meaningful action of his football career. A month and four days later, fans would hear Tigers play-by-play announcer Jim Fyffe scream, “Eleven and 0! Eleven and 0!!!”

Sports Illustrated subsequently ran a photo of Atkins, standing over the crumpled Wuerffel, on the cover of its commemorative issue marking the Tigers’ perfect season. Fans still bring the issue to Atkins’ book signings.

At Auburn, stereotypes battered the player and would-be writer. Some faculty presumed that, as an athlete, he couldn’t be taken seriously as a student. Conversely, some coaches wondered whether Atkins’ interest in academics meant he lacked dedication to his performance on the field.

“I try to avoid those stereotypes, but he was a bright kid, well-read and articulate,” says George Plasketes, a professor in Auburn’s Department of Communication & Journalism. “He had a good sense of humor and was very conversational. Sometimes undergrads can seem distracted. He seemed to be less distracted and very aware of the world around him.”

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he sweet tea’s been refilled five times before the empty whiskey bottle is raised and lowered and we step outside. Atkins is well acquainted with the contemporary Oxford literary scene: He’s pushed both his children—Billy, 5, and Jess, 1—around in a stroller given to him by the late short-story master Barry Hannah. Still, the conversation inevitably turns to a writer who died a half century ago but may never lose his standing as Mississippi’s most famous literary figure: Faulkner, whose quintessentially Southern family home, Rowan Oak, stands a few miles away near the University of Mississippi campus.

“Where we’re standing, right here in Taylor, there’s this book called Sanctuary,” notes Atkins, referring to Faulkner’s controversial 1931 potboiler. “A large part of Sanctuary takes place right around Taylor. In fact there’s a scene at the old Taylor train station right down the street. Where it was. Not there anymore.”

We can still see the tracks crossing the stream. Three cars are parked on gravel in front. Stagnant, cloying heat. We walk toward Ace’s office.

“He was a terrific crime novelist,” Atkins continues. “Some of my favorite crime stories are by Faulkner … Sanctuary is one of the

best noirs of the 20th century. There’s a lot of connection in crime novels and what Faulkner did. So it’s very inspiring.”

Nearby, an old dog with a muzzle hoary like a dusty white mask and wearing a bright orange flea collar barks at the edge of a fenced yard. A man in front of the house nods and waves. We return the gesture.

Atkins read Faulkner—really read Faulkner—after moving to Taylor.

“Faulkner didn’t write naval-gazing kinds of books,” Atkins says, head tilted, aviator-style sunglasses deflecting the daylight.

“He wrote about the Civil War, madness and all kinds of crossroads of society.”

Atkins utters the term “naval-gazing” contemptuously: He’s a man of expansion. His own inner turmoil is not the stuff. He’s a craftsman, like his father. And he’s a Southerner.

The sleepy, dusty road opens to a cultivated trail surrounded by pre-ordained trees. Atkins’ office is, fittingly, located on Tincan Alley in a new neighborhood development known as Plein Air. Posters of William Faulkner line the stairwell and walls. On the desk sits a typewriter and a computer; a collection of his own books and a smattering of those by Robert B. Parker are nearby.

Atkins offers coffee. I ask how much he drinks.

“Dude, it’s all day,” he says with a lopsided grin. Ace Atkins will drink coffee and write. He’ll write and write and write.

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A new research center at Auburn is bringing together cancerfighting scientists and their pet patients—all of whom may become the newest heroes in the quest to conquer one of the nation’s deadliest diseases. b y p h i l l i p g e n t r y ’ 7 7

Between Mice and Men Cancer affects one out of every three dogs and is the leading cause of death among canines, according to the National Canine Cancer Foundation.

Auburn veterinarians have treated Gracie, a German shorthaired pointer, with the same drugs used to combat bone cancer in humans.

Gracie isn’t a puppy anymore, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to retire and sit with her head on someone’s lap—although that wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a steamy summer afternoon. Instead, she still looks forward to the hunt—to brisk winter days in Oklahoma, working the fields with younger, less experienced dogs, back and forth, sniffing the ground and air for pheasant or quail until suddenly, there it is and POINT!—goal achieved, albeit with less classic artistic grace than a typical hound.

Gracie, a German shorthaired pointer who lives with her human family in Eufaula, lost her left front leg to bone cancer about two years ago. Most dogs with Gracie’s diagnosis might live a few months to a year, but veterinarians caught her cancer early; oncologists at Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine amputated the leg, then prescribed six rounds of chemotherapy to blast any leftover cancer cells. As in most veterinary cancer cases, the chemotherapy drugs used to treat Gracie—along with an anti-cancer pill she still takes every other day—were originally developed to treat cancer in humans. That’s not surprising considering there are only two approved drugs on the market specifically designed to treat cancer in animals. Two. The good news: Types of bone cancer affecting both humans and dogs are so similar they can be treated with the same medicines.

The associations between human and animal cancers—and their treatments—are the basis for an area of research fostered by a new organization on campus dubbed the

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Auburn University Research Initiative in Cancer. Funded by a $1 million appropriation from the Alabama legislature, AURIC is based in the veterinary college but also supports cancer research by faculty and scientists in other campus units.

“I have taken some ribbing from a few of my colleagues about funding breast cancer research in dogs,” says Alabama Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, speaker of the state House of Representatives and sponsor of the original appropriation. His interest in the issue has a personal underpinning: “I have a friend who had breast cancer, who received treatment and survived,” Hubbard says. “And her treatment was developed at a vet school.”

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uburn scientists have conducted cancer-related research for years, but until AURIC was established this spring, no umbrella organization existed on campus specifically to promote and dispense funds for cancer studies, says AURIC director Bruce Smith, a professor in the veterinary college’s pathobiology department. Once the state appropriation was approved, administrators appointed a strategic planning committee that sprinted to a finished plan in only two months, and AURIC was born. Suddenly, cancer research at Auburn had a name, face and email address: auric@auburn.edu. Smith began seeking out anyone involved in cancer studies in Auburn’s 12 colleges and schools to become part of the new group.

“I wasn’t very discriminate about who I sent the first announcements to,” he admits. “I sent them to everybody.”

Then the responses started rolling in—from faculty researchers to undergraduates to university staff, all hoping to get on board. “The students are enthusiastic, from undergraduates all the way through graduate students and post-docs,” Smith says. “I’m getting phone calls and emails saying, ‘I really want to work in a cancer lab. Can you hook me up with a cancer researcher?’ They want to get involved. They think this is the place to be for the future.

“The thing that surprised me,” he adds, “was the service personnel. I’ve had secretaries and receptionists and administrative assistants from all over campus writing me emails and asking, ‘Can I join your program? Cancer’s important to me, so what can I do as a receptionist to help you? If you have a conference, I want to help you set up registra-

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tions. I’ll help you administratively. Veterinarians nationwide have begun Just tell me what to do.’” advocating the concept Most adults have been affected by of “one medicine,” which scientists cancer in some way over the course of in attempt to mine the their lives, either as a friend or fam- intersection between ily member of a patient, or as a patient advances in medical veterinary science themselves. More than 1.6 million Amer- and for the improvement icans are expected to be diagnosed with of all species. Auburn cancer this year, according to the Ameri- vets hope that treating naturally occurring can Cancer Society. cancers in pets will

For associate professor Annette Smith eventually help doctors strides toward ’01, who leads Auburn’s veterinary oncol- make combatting the disease ogy group, the personal connection in- in humans. cludes a grandfather and two vet school colleagues who died of cancer, as well as the pet owners she encounters at Auburn’s Small Animal Clinic.

“We hear so many personal stories of people who are battling cancer at the same time their pet is battling cancer,” says Annette Smith. “The heartwarming part for me is in helping owners of pets with cancer know that there are options—that it isn’t an automatic death sentence. We can offer a message of hope for both of them.”

A growing number of animals are candidates for clinical trials in cancer treatment. Atlanta resident Nancy Hunter chose that option five years ago when her greyhound, Pretty, was suffering from bone cancer. Even after local veterinarians amputated one of Pretty’s legs in an effort to rid her of a malignant tumor, the prognosis remained grim, Hunter learned. “I wanted to get her the best treatment possible, but what was available wasn’t particularly effective,” she recalls. “I saw some information about work that Bruce Smith was doing, and I decided to put Pretty in the clinical trials and continue her chemotherapy at Auburn.”

Hunter’s retired racing dog received an experimental gene therapy, followed by regular chemotherapy. Auburn’s team continued to monitor her health for the next two years.

“Dr. Smith said they saw some things that were very encouraging,” says Hunter. Pretty died in April 2009, “but for 28 months she had an amazing quality of life. It was much longer than the survival times I had seen in the research I did. I was very happy she made it that long and had that quality of life while she was alive.”

While increasing a pet’s lifespan by only two or three years might not seem like a huge victory, it’s possible that—given the proportional life spans of dogs and humans—a successful new animal drug therapy could extend human survival rates by five to 10 years, Annette Smith says. Another benefit: Because animal patients age faster, so do their tumors—meaning scientists can obtain results from clinical trials on dogs and cats relatively quickly, potentially decreasing the time it takes to get new cancer drugs on the market and available to human patients.

The nation’s existing cancer drug-development system is the most advanced and sophisticated in history—yet it still doesn’t work very well. Of all the experimental cancer drugs that entered the first phases of human trials between 2004 and 2010, only 4.7 percent successfully continued to be used to treat cancer patients. That’s less than one success in every 20 clinical trials—each of which might cost millions of dollars and last for a decade or more. Part of the

problem, researchers say, may be the system’s dependence on rodents, especially mice, for testing new drugs.

“I always stand up in front of students and say that we’ve

been able to cure cancer in mice for the last 60 years,” says Annette Smith. “You hear it all the time: They’ve got this new drug that’s going to be the (cancer) cure, because they were able to cure a bunch of laboratory mice. But those were induced tumors, and those mice weren’t normal to begin with or you wouldn’t be able to grow ‘people’ tumors in them.”

Typically in the drug-development process, the next step after cell-culture testing involves testing in mice, says Bruce Smith.

“These are inbred mice, so they all have exactly the same immune system, and, when they have a tumor, it’s transplanted or injected. You basically grow cells in culture, and you inject them into the mouse, and you watch the cancer grow. It’s the same cancer cells in every mouse, so everything is the same.”

The methodology works well for completing initial tests to find out whether a drug or therapy is active against cancer— but outside the lab, cancer patients aren’t identical, and they don’t have the same tumors and immune systems. Auburn veterinary researchers and some of their colleagues nationwide are promoting what could be a more realistic—and ultimately successful—testing option: Treating pets that already have cancer

with experimental drugs and monitoring the results. “These are people’s pets that have developed cancer, who are brought into our clinic looking for therapy,” says Bruce Smith. “What is important about those being spontaneous tumors is, that is what happens in people. We aren’t creating tumors in these animals.

“So, we have an experimental drug, and we know it works in the laboratory, and we know it works in mice—but we want to be able to test that in an animal with a naturally occurring tumor,” he adds. “We want to test it in a more realistic setting.

For a lot of these tumors in pets, they can have a survival time, with no treatment, of only six months, or with chemotherapy maybe a year. If we can increase that survival time to two years, that’s an obvious change. We give those individuals a year longer with their pet—but we can also translate that, perhaps, into a longer disease-free interval in people.”

As in human trials, testing on natural tumors in various types of domestic animals makes an experiment harder to control. Some pets are slim; others are hefty. Diets, schedules and heredity differ. Tumors are discovered in different stages of development. Some animals respond to a treatment, while others don’t. “It drives some people in the field nuts,” Bruce Smith explains. “The experiments aren’t nearly as clean as doing them in mice.”

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Still, the “one medicine” concept—the Opposite: Auburn oncologists idea that what scientists learn from one spe- veterinary continue to monitor cies can be applied to others—has gained Gracie’s prognosis foltraction. A group of doctors and vet- lowing a limb amputation and chemotherapy. erinarians in 2009 formed the national Early signs of cancer One Health Commission, a Washington, in dogs include abswellings that D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for normal persist, sores that do collaboration across various academic not heal, weight loss, disciplines. The veterinary-to-human can- loss of appetite and breathing or cer research pathway is already bearing difficulty swallowing. fruit. Auburn’s veterinary college has five clinical trials under way, with another recently approved.

“There is an osteosarcoma (bone cancer) that occurs in children,” notes Annette Smith, “and children were having their legs amputated—and they were still dying of the disease. What we recognized was that this cancer is much more common in dogs, but it has a very similar time course, very similar behavior in dogs as it does in kids. So a lot of limb-sparing techniques—a lot of the techniques that are allowing kids with osteosarcoma to keep their limbs and live longer—were actually developed in dogs.”

I

n many academic disciplines, $1 million—plus an additional state appropriation of $1.1 million for the next fiscal year—would be a lot of money. Applied to medical research, however, the principal value of the funding is to serve as seed money, or intellectual venture capital.

Across Auburn’s campus, scientists in far-flung disciplines are Most of AURIC’s start-up funds will be doled finding common ground in research that could potentially adout to support what are essentially proof-ofvance cancer treatment. Among the ongoing projects: concept projects for studies that might later

• A team in the Harrison School of Pharmacy has identified qualify for much larger federal research grants, a hormone that binds to a receptor unique to certain cancer says David Riese, associate dean for research in Auburn’s Harcells. The hormone signals a cell to destroy the receptor, po- rison School of Pharmacy and a member of the AURIC board. tentially killing the cell. The hormone isn’t particularly handy “The hope is that by giving money to investigators in the to work with, so researchers hope to discover a more portable early stages of a project, you can propel the growth of that molecule that does the same trick. project so it can attract a lot more funding,” he says. “If we were talking about manufacturing, we’d talk about making a

• Scientists in the College of Veterinary Medicine have engi- prototype: You can’t sell a product unless you’ve got a protoneered a virus that only reproduces inside cancer cells. Sick can- type. This is exactly the same model.” cer cells may be killed by the immune system, or might be more While the approval rate for federal grant proposals is sensitive to chemotherapy. The virus also circulates throughout low—only about 10 percent of research projects are funded— the body, potentially attacking unseen cancer cells before tu- the odds of obtaining substantive funding are even lower without the initial legwork. mors develop.

“The drug-discovery business is inherently and enormous • Researchers in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering ly risky,” Riese says. “The odds are terrible, but if we don’t do are looking at lipids that might be used to more effectively de- it, we’re never going to get anywhere. The risk is very high, but liver cancer drugs. the alternative is unacceptable. I’m delighted that Auburn and the state have decided to put some money into this.”

• Auburn veterinary scientists have developed techniques AURIC officials now are seeking partnerships with other designed to fuse immune cells from cancer patients with cancer groups around the state—including the University of Alabama cells, which “teaches” immune cells to recognize at Birmingham, the University of South Alabama, the Hudand attack cancer cells. When the fused cells son-Alpha Institute in Huntsville and the Southern Research are injected back into a patient, they share Institute—to make use of equipment and other needed assets this knowledge with other immune cells, available on other campuses. which may also take on the work of fight- “There are probably more biotech assets in this state than ing the disease. most people realize,” Bruce Smith says. “This new funding is from the state of Alabama, so if we can help build biotechnology as a state industry, and this is something the state gets to be known for, that would be fantastic.”

Cancer fighters

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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

What does the downsizing of Alabama’s three largest newspapers signal for civic engagement in the state and the future of the journalism business itself? Is it “rest in pieces” for the Fourth Estate—or simply a natural evolution? b y s u z a n n e j o h n s o n

The

Dearth

of Newspapers “Black Thursday,” as it was dubbed by Forbes magazine, slipped up on many of us. On a Thursday morning in late May, word began spreading via social media like a flash fire: New Orleans’ 175-yearold daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune—awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for its unrelenting, unflinching coverage of Hurricane Katrina—would be scaled back to three days a week. In the ensuing online static, what almost got lost was another piece of bad news for the journalism business: Alabama’s three largest dailies—The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and the Mobile PressRegister—also were dropping to a thriceweekly print schedule.

A few weeks later, the ax fell. Massive staff cuts at the four papers, all of which are owned by the Newhouse division of Advance Publications Inc., mocked a decades-old company “nolayoff” policy. More than 600 employees lost their jobs, according to the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Poynter Institute, one

of the nation’s top training schools for professional journalists and news media leaders. The dominoes continued to fall in July as the family-owned Anniston Star announced it would no longer publish a Monday print edition, leaving the state of Alabama with only one large daily, The Montgomery Advertiser.

Pundits had prematurely predicted the demise of daily newspapers shortly after 1980, when media mogul Ted Turner founded CNN and introduced consumers to televised news available all day, every day. The death knell tolled again in the 1990s as use of the World Wide Web picked up steam, then again five years ago when the economy tanked.

Still, the daily newspaper continued hitting the driveways of subscribers in medium-sized towns and big cities nationwide every morning, offering readers news, features, commentary and crossword puzzles to peruse over their morning coffee. Now that at least four of those papers are cutting back significantly on

frequency—affecting more than 400,000 subscribers—the death knell is sounding louder than ever. In fact, it sounds a lot like a tweet.

On a hot Saturday night in June, a fight broke out at an apartment complex near the Auburn University campus, ending with three people injured and three more dead of gunshot wounds. How did people hear about it? Local residents began posting the news on Facebook and Twitter even before newspaper, radio and television reporters began disseminating the story. When suspect Desmonte Leonard turned himself in three days later, Auburn’s student newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman, broke the story—on Twitter.

The way citizens received word of the shooting illustrates a key driver of changes in the news industry, says Jennifer Adams, an associate professor and journalism program director in Auburn’s College of Liberal Arts. The Plainsman’s student reporters “kept their audience up to date with the story’s development via

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No one sits in front of their television 24 hours a day, so TV wasn’t the competition we thought it would be.

Twitter and their website,” Adams notes. “Then, through their weekly printed product, they were able to go more in-depth.”

The media’s coverage of the Auburn shooting illustrates an emerging pattern of news consumption insiders have dubbed the “three C’s,” says online news executive Napo Monasterio ’02, regional digital development/design lead for al.com, the combined online presence of the Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile newspapers. “It has become very obvious that many people turn to the Web for news first,” he says. “Not just that, but they turn to different Web options throughout the day. In the morning, lots of folks are looking at their smartphones— think ‘commute.’ During the day, it’s browser-based—think ‘cubicle.’ In the afternoon and evening, it’s tablet—think ‘couch.’”

In a time of instant everything, print newspapers simply can’t compete with the immediacy of online news sources, which is why portable, Internet-ready hardware—smartphones, tablets and laptops—is driving the evolution of journalism in ways the 24-hour TV news channels failed to do. “No one sits in front of their television 24 hours a day, so TV wasn’t the competition we thought it would be,” says Anthony Cook ’93, managing editor of The Anniston Star. “But today we seem to be surgically attached to our social media and electronic devices. In addition to that, we live in a ‘microwave, fast-food’ society where everyone is in a hurry and expects everything in an instant.

“Simply put, people increasingly don’t have or don’t make time for the traditional newspaper. What we’ve been working to do in recent years is embrace the technology and the new media not as just an avenue but the primary avenue by which we reach our audience.”

Many publishers have not responded quickly, and advertisers—who traditionally have been responsible for between 75 and 80 percent of newspapers’ revenue base—have turned to the Web to capture potential customers, experts say.

“The newspaper companies have failed to keep up,” says Chris Roush ’87, senior associate dean of the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Ad dollars are shifting from print to online, and newspapers are not realizing it fast enough.”

It bothers Roush—who cut his teeth in the industry as editor of the Plainsman and spent part of his career as a business reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other newspapers—that

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his sons get their news from Facebook and Twitter, but he believes larger dailies must adapt to new technology if they’re going to survive. “Journalism is a business, and a business has to make a profit to continue operating,” he notes. “What we’re seeing now is that the newspapers are retrenching into a business model they believe can be profitable. The jury is still out on that.”

The transition hasn’t been easy for publishers, editors and reporters steeped in the power and permanency of paper and ink.

“When circulation started falling—both because of self-inflicted wounds and cultural and technological changes—newspapers panicked,” says reporter and columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson ’77, who writes for Hearst Corp.’s King Features. “At first they pandered, then they redesigned, then they laid off editorial staff— the very people who could have gotten them out of this pickle.”

Surprisingly, two of every three Americans say they still prefer reading a printed newspaper to viewing an online version, according to Rasmussen Reports—but the statistics among younger readers suggest papers will continue to lose traction as Generations Y and Z age.

“What we will lose in the short term is the ability to create those familiar, timeless keepsakes,” notes Cook, whose newspaper’s reported average circulation as of March was down 6 percent from the previous year. “You can’t stick a Web post on the refrigerator.

You can’t clip a tweet and keep it in a family album. Newspapers have been a tangible way for people to preserve the history they care most about. We haven’t come up with a way to replace that yet.”

Newspapers in small towns and rural areas, meanwhile, could become the sleeper hits of the journalism industry. “Community newspapers are the great newspaper story in this country,” Roush says. “They thrive because there is no competition in most of their communities, and they thrive because they provide content no one else is providing.”

That content typically consists of “hyperlocal” reporting— intimate coverage of city and county commission votes, community events and issues directly affecting the local citizenry. But while community newspapers make up the vast majority of the print journalism business—97 percent of American newspapers have circulations of less than 50,000—some industry advocates believe the decline of larger papers could hasten a lapse in civic engagement nationally.

“Nothing is better than a good weekly,” Johnson notes. “But unless Angelina and Brad live in your hometown, the surviving weeklies can’t be what the great metropolitan papers of yesteryear were—part watchdog, part conscience and scold.”

Ultimately, citizens’ desire for news that exceeds Twitter’s 140-character limit or Facebook’s rumor-mill vibe will likely survive, but instead of being satisfied on the pages of a newspaper, it might be fulfilled online. Two years ago, Web-based ProPublica.org became the first online-only news organization to win a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. “Many industries have weathered technological disruptions,” notes Auburn’s Adams. “The newspaper industry is in the midst of one right now. However, the news we report and the stories we tell are the commodity—not the pages on which they are printed.”

The method of news delivery might vary, but demand for news won’t, she adds, citing the music industry as an example.

“We now buy music via iTunes, but music is still available,” Adams says. “Artists are still making and selling music.”

Newspapers aren’t the only institutions scrambling in the face of an evolving business model: Collegiate journalism-ed-

T H E

ucation programs, charged with preparing new graduates for the job market, also are trying to figure out what the workplace might look like in the coming years.

“Journalism programs must teach students how to report, edit and shoot for the new platforms,” says Ford Risley ’80, head of the journalism program at Penn State University. “The fundamentals of good journalism should not change, but we have to prepare students for the new ways that the news is being delivered, including social media.”

Beginning this fall, Auburn journalism students will be able to choose from nine areas of specialization to augment their basic reporting and writing courses: community, sports, visual, digital/technology, health and science, entrepreneurial/business, investigative, and magazine journalism, plus media law.

W

ith change comes pain.

Will the Fourth Estate, as our parents and grandparents knew it, survive?

Experts say recent events likely serve as an indication that a chapter of U.S. newspaper history is closing—an especially painful predicament for a generation of reporters and editors who viewed the Watergate scandal as a siren call to a career that was more mission than job, and who now find themselves either facing unemployment or swimming in a strange digital sea.

After all, “Black Thursday” was, first and foremost, about people: those whose lives and careers were derailed in what analysts for American Journalism Review, Forbes and other publications deemed a lesson in how not to handle change. The manner in which the Newhouse layoffs were announced and reported was fraught with irony, from the way rumor trumped factual reporting to company officials’ rationale behind the cutbacks in frequency.

According to the online Huffington Post, a leak, probably at Newhouse, led to social media buzz that The Times-Picayune would be cut back to three days a week. Newhouse was forced to do emergency damage control; employees were told about the decision in a hasty memo after staff members had begun hearing about the decision via social media and wire services. “Press reports have necessitated our giving you this news now,” said the memo from publisher Ashton Phelps, reprinted by online news watchdog Jim Romanesko. “We realize it will make people anxious, but we do not know enough today to be able to announce how the changes will affect individual employees.”

After the New Orleans news was made official, Poynter reported, memos went out to employees at the Alabama papers, stressing that the company planned to “dramatically expand its news-gathering efforts around the clock … while offering enhanced printed newspapers.” The rhetoric about expanded online versions and “more robust” print editions made the dramatic staff cuts even more shocking. In New Orleans, The Times-Picayune editorial staff dropped from 173 to 84; The Birmingham News went from 112 to 47; the Press-Register from 70 to 20; and The Huntsville Times from 53 to 15.

A few staffers were laid off and then offered spots in the new digital configurations—and many rejected them. Bill Barrow ’00, a reporter at The Times-Picayune, instead accepted a job with the

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Associated Press. “When you look at it, they were asking us to take a job where the revenues are still very dependent on the print product, but that newspaper is no longer a priority,” he told The New York Times. “No one knows what it is going to look like or what it will have in the way of news when it comes out. There are too many unknowns.”

The losers, in the long run, may be the readers. “Those communities lost seasoned journalists who know their communities, know the stories and have built relationships with sources,” Adams says. “With fewer reporters, there will be stories missed or stories that do not go far enough or dig deep enough, simply because there will not be the reporters to devote to such an undertaking.”

A July 8 article in The New York Times titled “The Fissures Are Growing For Papers” cites “cracks in publishing operations that are both hilarious and terrifying” as a result of the evolving dynamics. Among them: A newspaper in Scranton, Pa., published a box score for a baseball game that was never played; the score had been part of a coach’s joke. The daily Union-Tribune in San Diego published a two-week-old blog post on its front page. Several papers owned by the Tribune Company—including dailies in Chicago, Houston and San Francisco—have run local stories produced by a “content farm” in the Philippines.

“You can expect a more tabloid-style mix of celebrity stories and sports when news staffs are fired and techno geeks take over what passes for news coverage,” predicts Johnson. “There will be precious little shoe-leather reporting by real journalists, which means more political corruption, more corruption of all kinds, and blissfully ignorant voters and citizens.”

A few Auburn alumni working in the newsrooms of all four Newhouse papers kept their jobs. Many more did not. In what may be one of the journalism industry’s greatest ironies, reporters and editors who have dedicated their careers to reporting the news have been gagged by non-disclosure agreements. They can’t lend their voices to the discussion without jeopardizing severance packages and their families’ livelihoods.

But their spirit, tempered by anger and maybe a touch of rebellious fear, lives on. To quote one alumnus who will find his editorial position gone in September after decades in the news business: “War Damn Journalism.”

The news we report and the stories we tell are the commodity—not the pages on which they are printed. a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

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Belief in Auburn is in our blood Congratulations to Lightfoot attorney, Liz Huntley, for her recent appointment to the Auburn University Board of Trustees. A steward of the Auburn spirit, Liz is all in.

Photo courtesy of Auburn University

VISIT

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No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

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AN AUBURN TRADITION 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

A L U M N I

ALUMNI CENTER

Calendar

Thanks for everything

Aug. 31

BOBBY POUNDSTONE ’95

President, Auburn Alumni Association This is my final column as president of the alumni association. Although my term has flown by, it has been an eventful two years for the Auburn family. We have experienced emotional highs, such as the 2010 BCS National Championship, and the lowest of lows with the poisoning of the Toomer’s trees and, most recently, a senseless off-campus shooting that claimed the lives of three people. Throughout all the highs and lows, it has been comforting to see the steadiness and resilience of the Auburn family. Your response to these events reminded me that Auburn men and women really do live by the values set forth in the Auburn Creed.

It has been a rewarding experience getting to know many of you and having the opportunity to visit with many of our 98 Auburn clubs. The Auburn club program is a vital conduit between the association and its members. Unlike many local alumni chapters associated with other universities, which tend to be nothing more than athletic booster clubs, our Auburn clubs focus on all aspects of Auburn University. I am continually amazed by the amount of time and effort that club volunteers put into raising scholarship funds so that future generations of students may attend their alma mater. To those of you who are active in your local clubs, thank you for everything you do for Auburn and the association. For those of you who have not been active in club activities, I encourage you to reach out to your local club officers and become involved. If you live in an area without an Auburn club nearby, consider leading the effort to start one—we are looking for our 99th club!

I have been blessed to work side by side with an incredibly gifted and active board of directors who work tireless volunteer hours setting policy for the alumni association and interacting with members and clubs. Association executive director Debbie Shaw and staff are equally dedicated, talented and hard

working: They do an incredible job of handling the day-to-day operations of the association, working countless nights and weekends. I would be remiss if I did not thank all of these folks in my final column—so, THANK YOU all for your dedication and commitment to Auburn and the association.

Many of my past columns have addressed trustee selection, and the process ended up taking nearly all of my two-year term. Too often in the past, there was infighting in the Auburn family over the trustee-selection process. Thankfully, we have nine trustees selected and confirmed. The consensus is that we have a great group of trustees and, perhaps just as important, the process was handled in an open and transparent manner. I am proud to have served on the selection committee with trustees Raymond Harbert ’82 and John Blackwell ’64, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, and alumni association board members Howard Nelson ’69 and Nancy Fortner ’71. I thank them all for their leadership.

Association vice president Bill Stone ’85 will be replacing me as president. Bill is a first-class person and a great Auburn man. He lives in the Chattanooga, Tenn., area and was president of the Greater Nashville Auburn Club before serving the past five-plus years as a director and officer of the association. I cannot think of a single person more qualified to lead this association than Bill. He will do tremendous things for the association.

We have completed our Tiger Trek events, which means football season is upon us. The Alumni Hospitality Tent will be at its usual location near the Wallace Center for all home games. For you road warriors out there, check out the travel packages offered by our travel partner online at the website www.totalsportstravel.com. I hope to see you on game days this fall. War Eagle!

N E W S

AUBURN NIGHT AT TURNER FIELD

The Atlanta Auburn Club and the Auburn Alumni Association have teamed up with the Atlanta Braves to reserve a section of Turner Field for Auburn fans during the Braves vs. Phillies game. Order tickets online by Aug. 24. Info: atlanta.braves.mlb.com/atl/ ticketing/supergroup.jsp?group=auburn or communications@atlantaauburnclub.org.

Aug. 31–Sept. 2 AWAY-GAME TRAVEL

Auburn vs. Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. Package includes accommodations, a pregame party and more. From $345 per person (adults).

Info: 334-844-1134 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Sept. 13–24 WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: EUROPEAN MOSAIC

Explore the coasts of Portugal, Morocco, Spain, France, Monaco and Italy via cruise ship. From $3,499. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/ travel.

Sept. 14 DOWNTOWN AUTUMN NIGHTS

Entertainment and shopping featuring classic rock band Swingin’ Medallions. 6-10 p.m. at Toomer’s Corner. Repeated on Nov. 16 featuring Chevy 6. Free.

Info: 334-887-7011 or www.auburnchamber.com.

Sept. 15 ALUMNI HOSPITALITY TENT

Auburn vs. Louisiana-Monroe tailgate hosted by the Auburn Alumni Association. 8-10:45 a.m. on the Wallace Center lawn. Info: 334-844-2960 or www.aualum.org/tent.

Sept. 22 ALUMNI HOSPITALITY TENT

Auburn vs. LSU tailgate hosted by the Auburn Alumni Association. Starts three hours before kickoff on the Wallace Center lawn. Info: 334-844-2960 or www.aualum.org/tent.

Sept. 22–30 WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: ITALIAN LAKE DISTRICT

Experience the essence of village life in northern Italy at a hotel overlooking Lake Como. From $3,395.

Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Oct. 4–12 WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: DORDOGNE, FRANCE

bpoundstone@babc.com

Experience the provincial character of Dordogne with a week in Sarlat-la-Canéda. From $2,995. Info: 334844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

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C E N T E R

Auburn Alumni in Action Auburn alumni and friends will participate in community service projects nationwide Oct. 13-20 during the Auburn Alumni Association’s annual Auburn Alumni in Action week.

To find out details, call 334-844-1148 or see www.auburnclubs.org.

Calendar Oct. 4–18 WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: EAST AFRICA

Catch a glimpse of wildlife in their natural habitats in Tanzania and Kenya. From $6,070. Info: 334-8441443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Set your name in stone DEBBIE SHAW ’84

Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Executive Director, Auburn Alumni Association

Oct. 6 ALUMNI HOSPITALITY TENT

Auburn vs. Arkansas tailgate hosted by the Auburn Alumni Association. Starts three hours before kickoff on the Wallace Center lawn. Info: 334-844-2960 or www.aualum.org/tent.

Oct. 12-14 AWAY-GAME TRAVEL

Auburn vs. Ole Miss in Oxford. Package includes accommodations, a pregame party and more. From $375 per person (adults). Info: 334-844-1149 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Oct. 19-21 AWAY-GAME TRAVEL

Auburn vs. Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. Includes accommodations and more. From $335 per person (adults). Info: 334-844-1134, www.aualum.org/ travel. Pregame tailgate info at www.greaternashville auburncub.org/tailgate.php.

Oct. 27 ALUMNI HOSPITALITY TENT

Auburn vs. Texas A&M tailgate hosted by the Auburn Alumni Association. Starts three hours before kickoff on the Wallace Center lawn. Info: 334-8442960 or www.aualum.org/tent.

Oct. 31-Nov. 8 WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: AEGEAN MARVELS

Savor ports of call in Turkey and Greece. From $1,499. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/ travel.

Nov. 3 HOMECOMING

Auburn vs. New Mexico State. Included: MAIN Event on Nov. 2 (334-844-1113 or www.aualum. org/main); Alumni Hospitality Tent (334-844-2960 or www.aualum.org/tent); and the Auburn Alumni Association annual meeting at 9 a.m. in the Auburn Alumni Center.

Nov. 3-8 WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: POLAR BEARS OF CHURCHILL

See hundreds of polar bears descend on the small seaport of Churchill, Manitoba, in anticipation of the freezing of Hudson Bay. From $4,995. Info: 334-8441443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

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Fall in Auburn: Students are returning to campus, and alumni by the thousands will be returning to the “loveliest village on the plains” in time for the first home football game on Sept. 15.

You can feel the energy in the air.

As you walk down College Street, you now have the opportunity for more nostalgia by viewing your name or the names of those you love on a specially engraved paver at the entrance of the Auburn Alumni Center. I invite you to take advantage of this new Auburn Alumni Association project, which not only will leave your mark on campus for future generations but also has the potential to raise thousands of dollars for student scholarships needed by Auburn-bound children of alumni and association life members. (See display ad, Page 57.)

R

I hear many stories each spring from alumni who have successfully recruited students in their families, communities and sometimes from all over. One bears repeating for you.

Auburn graduate Damian Shepard ’01 bleeds orange and blue as much as, or perhaps more so than, the rest of us. So it came as no surprise when he called to say that he had recruited his cousin, David, to apply to Auburn. That led to David’s acceptance and then his trip to Camp War Eagle for summer orientation in June.

David is from Temecula, Calif., midway between Los Angeles and San Diego.

He had never visited our campus—not once! David trusted his cousin and mentor, and was perhaps swayed by Damian’s unbridled enthusiasm for his alma mater.

But there’s more. David lost his father— a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran of Desert Storm who suffered a heart attack at 52—a year and a half ago. David took

a great leap of faith in leaving his home and moving 2,200 miles to Auburn, where he knew absolutely no one. I met David at the Atlanta airport to bring him to Auburn for his Camp War Eagle session. Dropping him off, I felt anxiety wondering if he would make friends, fit in and be confident of his college decision. After the two-day program, I called to see how things went.

“It was amazing,” David said. “I know Auburn is the right place for me to be.”

Kudos to the Camp War Eagle staff for coordinating such an awesome orientation program, and a big thanks to alumnus Damian Shepard for sharing his love for Auburn with family and friends. I am also grateful to all of you who are doing similar work in your communities. Auburn is indeed a special place, and it’s meant to be shared. War Eagle!

debbieshaw@auburn.edu

A L U M N I

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Class Notes GOT NEWS? Auburn Magazine

and a fourth dubbed Josh Goes to College.

317 S. College Street Auburn University, AL

Alice Johnson Mal-

36849-5149, or

lory ’66 was elected

aubmag@auburn.edu

chairperson of the board of directors of Georgia Electric Membership Corp. She is president of Mallory Aviation Services Inc. in Fayetteville, Ga.

Life Member Annual Member

’30–’59 Burke O’Kelly ’48

and wife Selma of Melbourne, Fla., recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

Stanley P. Wilson ’53

received the Auburn University Retiree Association’s 2012 Wilford S. Bailey Award for his service to the organization and the university. He formerly served as assistant dean of Auburn’s College of Agriculture and associate director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station.

Booker Pearson ’66

of Playa del Ray, Calif., was named Citizen of the Year by the Westchester Rotary Club for his work as an advocate for the homeless and recently was named a commissioner of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

was inducted to the Foodservice Consultants Society International’s Council of Fellows.

She serves as president of the FCSI Educational Foundation.

Shelton Granade ’59

retired as an adjunct professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., after 37 years of teaching.

’60–’69 Frank H. Orr III ’61 of Nashville, Tenn., has written four electronic books, three that make up a series titled “The Jeffersonville Tales,”

Donald Vaughn ’71

retired as chief engineer of the Alabama Department of Transportation.

Armand DeKeyser ’72

was named executive director of the Birmingham-based Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Steve Robinson ’72

of Atlanta was promoted to executive vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer of Chick-fil-A Inc. Karen Teague DeLano ’73 was named superin-

Jeanne Swanner Robertson ’67, a motivation-

al speaker and humorist, wrapped a nationwide tour in April. She lives in Burlington, N.C., with her husband, Jerry.

tendent of Auburn City Schools. She formerly served as assistant superintendent of Vestavia Hills City Schools.

Katherine “Kathy” Nowell Barr ’75, an at-

Ruby Parker Puckett ’54 of Gainesville, Fla.,

& Forman, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers list.

Tom Kime ’69, owner of Standard Heating and Air Conditioning Co. in Birmingham, received Carrier Corp.’s 2012 Dealer Hall of Fame Award.

torney in the Birmingham office of Sirote & Permutt, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers list.

’70–’79

Gowan ’76 of Camden,

William J. Caskey ’71 was named to the

board of directors of the National Restaurant Association. He is vice president and general manager of ConAgra Foods Inc.’s Lamb Weston division in Eagle, Idaho.

Ronald W. Farley ’71, an attorney in the Birmingham office of Burr

James E. “Jim” Mc-

S.C., received the South Carolina Press Association’s “Best Humor Column” award in 2009 and 2011.

LaBella Stewart Alvis ’77, an attorney in the

Birmingham office of Christian & Small, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers list.

Gooooo, Auburn tur-tles!

It’s over: Auburn has already won the Southeastern Conference championship this year in the only sport that counts—turtle racing.

Representing the Tigers in June at the Houston SEC Alumni group’s happy-hour turtle races at Little Woodrow’s sports bar was “Big Swede” Bjorn—a terrapin with an indeterminate athletic background yet lauded as “No. 8 on the Scandinavian circuit”—who beat all other turtles competing on behalf of nine participating schools’ alumni groups.

Sporting a tiny interlocking “AU” logo on his shell, Big Swede made a crawl for the finish line against several other hard-backed reptilian athletes, including the University of Florida’s aptly named “Sunny” as well as “Tweedle Dee” and “Tweedle Dum,” representing LSU and Ole Miss, respectively.

Individual alumni clubs in the city have taken turns hosting the Houston SEC Alumni since the group was established last year.

Most events are purely social, but the GREATER HOUSTON AUBURN CLUB, which sponsored the June meeting, also held a water-bottle collection contest for charity. More than 600 SEC alumni and friends donated 40 cases of water bottles to the Houston Area Women’s Center, which offers shelter and support services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

For more Auburn club happenings or to find a club near you, see www.aualum.org/clubs. In other club news: • The CLARK-WASHINGTON COUNTIES AUBURN CLUB in southwestern Alabama became the newest addition to the Auburn clubs family, reorganizing after several years and drawing 150 guests to its annual meeting June 14 in Jackson. Mark Murphy ’75, publisher of Inside the Auburn Tigers magazine, was the guest speaker.

• Auburn Tigers head football coach Gene Chizik and the Auburn Alumni Association wrapped their nine-city “Tiger Trek” tour in July with a visit to the GREATER BIRMINGHAM AUBURN CLUB. A portion of the proceeds of the annual tour benefits student scholarships administered by the Auburn clubs sponsoring each stop.

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JOE S ONG ER/ T H E B IRM INGH A M NEW S

Class Notes Olivia Kelley Owen ’77 of Westlake, Texas,

retired as vice president of safety, security, health and environment for Exxon Mobil Corp. after 34 years of service.

Robert F. Runkle ’77, a Merrill Lynch financial adviser in Montgomery, was chosen for inclusion on Barron’s “America’s Top 1,000 Advisors: State-byState” list, published in February.

SNAPSHOT

Tiger bite How do you treat a tiger with a toothache? Give him a root canal, of course.

Pelham veterinarian Robert “Bert” Gaddis ’83—Alabama’s only veterinary dentist—recently operated on Kumar, a 13-year-old Malayan tiger, after Birmingham Zoo veterinarian Stephanie McCain ’01 discovered during a routine exam that the 235-pound feline had broken a tooth. She called Gaddis, owner of Indian Springs Animal Clinic, who performed the surgery on May 2.

The difference between performing a root canal on a maneating tiger—the third largest carnivore on Earth behind the polar bear and brown bear—and a domestic cat or dog, Gaddis says, is simply one of scale. “Where I usually have a working length of around 30 to 40 millimeters, or about 1.5 inches, in a tooth of a Labrador (retriever), the tiger’s tooth was about two times that size,” he notes.

Gaddis has worked with the Birmingham Zoo for the past 18 years, performing root canals on a white tiger, a couple of river otters and a small, tree-dwelling primate known as a gibbon. He also has performed tooth extractions on a California sea lion and a red-fronted lemur.

But if the idea of sticking one’s hand in the mouth of a ferocious carnivore seems slightly riskier, well, it’s just another day at the office for Gaddis and the zoo’s team of vets and keepers.

“When I arrived, the tiger was already sedated and intubated,” Gaddis says. “There are people monitoring the animal’s vital signs, so they would know if he was waking up.”

Gaddis, who became a board-certified veterinary dentist in 2009, is one of only about 120 veterinary dentists worldwide. “My grandfather taught dentistry at Emory University in Atlanta,” Gaddis says. “My mother is convinced that dentistry is in my blood.”

To view a video of Kumar’s root-canal surgery, see http:// blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/05/zoos_malaysian_tiger_gets_a_ ro.html.— Hope Burleson

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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Timothy A. Barton ’78 was named global

finance director for Gibson Guitar Corp. in Nashville, Tenn.

Alfred F. “Al” Cook

Games in London as an Athlete Services Team volunteer for beach volleyball.

MARRIED Joseph Clyde “Joe”

Perry L. Oakes ’78

of Auburn was named a 2012 Outstanding Alumnus of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. He serves as state conservation engineer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resources Conservation Service.

James J. McGinnis ’79 joined the Atlanta law firm of Warner, Bates & McGough as a partner.

Cynthia Sebastian

’85, a partner in the

Wright Blackenburg on May 7, 2011. They live in Madison.

Montgomery office of Jackson Thornton, is the 2012-13 chair-elect of the board of directors of the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Malcolm R. Braid ’74

to Carolyn Colland on Feb. 25. They live in Alabaster.

William Bryan Mash

’80–’89

’86 is vice president of

Timothy Hunt ’80, an attorney in the Tampa, Fla., office of Hill Ward Henderson, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Florida Super Lawyers list.

human resources for Augusta, Ga.-based Club Car, a division of Ingersoll Rand.

Daniel L. Haulman ’83

of Montgomery received the Alabama Historical Association’s 2012 Milo B. Howard Award for his article “The Tuskegee Airmen and the Never-Lost-A-Bomber Myth,” published in the Alabama Review.

Pamela Pitman Brown ’84 of Warrensburg,

Mo., received a doctoral degree in social gerontology from Miami University in May. Cary “Buck” Moore ’84, president of Buddy Moore Trucking Inc. in Birmingham, was awarded the Alabama Trucking Association’s H. Chester Webb Award for Distinguished Service.

’79, a former Auburn

volleyball player, traveled to the Olympic

Renee Brady Hubbard

Pickett ’71 to Shirley

Jr. ’78 of Opelika

was named 2012 Lee County Distinguished Citizen of the Year by the Chattahoochee Council of Boy Scouts of America.

ham office of Sirote & Permutt, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers list.

Jim Sturdivant ’84, an attorney in the Birming-

D. Keith Andress ’89

was named managing shareholder for the Birmingham and Montgomery law offices of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

Paul Hunt ’89 was named vice president of proprietary brands for Sam’s Club. He lives in Bentonville, Ark., with wife Lorraine Baird Hunt ’89 and sons Austin and Jason.

Karen Turner Knarr ’89 is a certified veteri-

nary Chinese herbalist in Chattanooga, Tenn.

She and husband Robert E. Knarr ’88 own East Ridge Animal Hospital.

BORN A son, Achilles Tobias, to Damon Eric Woodson ’88 and wife Jennifer of Juliette, Ga., on April 3.

A L U M N I

C E N T E R

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a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

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VILLAG E PH OTO

Class Notes ’90–’99 Michael Kraus ’90

is an associate vice president and certified financial planner in the Wilmington, N.C., office of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Linda Godby ’91 of Indianapolis, a former Auburn Tigers basketball player, was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

GOLDEN EAGLES REUNION: Members of the class of 1962 marked the 50th anniversary of their Auburn University graduation during the Auburn Alumni Association’s annual Golden Eagles Reunion in April. Events included dinner at the home of AU president Jay Gogue, an induction ceremony and a dance featuring the Auburn Knights alumni orchestra, led by Charlie Higgins ’41 on trumpet. The classes of 1942, 1947, 1952 and 1957 also were honored.

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’92 was named chief

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Johnson ’93, an attorney

in the Birmingham office of Sirote & Permutt, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.

Juan Ortega ’95, an

attorney in the Birmingham office of Sirote & Permutt, was chosen for inclusion in the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.

deputy director of athletics at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, was appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Legislative Council.

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52

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

Michael Ray Griffin ’96 is director of

national retirement plan sales for Merrill Lynch in Charlotte, N.C.

works as production planning manager for Shaw Industries Inc. in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

Steven K. Sartain ’98

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Rebecca Godbey Lioi ’96 of Culver City,

Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc.’s health care reform team. She and husband David live in Jacksonville, Fla., with their children.

was named director of the AeroSpace Training Centre at Jandakot Airport in western Australia.

A daughter, Caroline Victoria, to David Thomas Derrer ’92 and wife Joy of Atlanta on Feb. 17.

has worked on behalf of children with autism spectrum disorder for nearly 30 years.

Twin girls, Lauren Kendall and Kensley Reagan, to Christopher Allen Cochran ’95 and wife Beverly of Columbiana on June 20, 2011.

’03 accepted a position

Benjamin Burnett

A daughter, Mary Sloane, to Thomas Taylor ’97 and wife Heather of Belmont, N.C., on May 22.

A son, Grant Charles, and daughter, Emily Grace, to Grant Dewey Bevel ’99 and Keri Richardson Bevel ’98 of Houston on March 29.

Keri is general counsel and senior vice president of Element Markets.

Joseph Cale Tennison ’99 is an inventory con-

trol specialist for Apple Inc. He and wife Kristi live in New Orleans.

BORN A son, John Cunningham, to Walter Clarence Hall ’90 and wife Amy of Nashville, Tenn., on June 17.

A son, Cannon Robert, to Robert Matthew Thomas ’90 and Kimper

A daughter, Caroline Elizabeth, to Allison Bagby Youngblood ’99

and husband Craig of Birmingham on June 21, 2011.

’00-’09

of Charlotte, N.C., on Feb. 6.

the Birmingham office of Burr & Forman, was chosen for inclusion on the 2012 Alabama Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.

Hinojosa Greeson ’91

Cindy Williams ’05

of Morganton, Ga., received the Piedmont College Alumni Association’s Pacesetter Award for outstanding career achievement.

Ileeia A. Cobb ’06 of Montgomery joined the Alabama Commission on Higher Education as a staff associate for institutional effectiveness and planning.

Andrew C. Knowlton ’06 joined the Birming-

ham office of Hand Arendall law firm in the litigation section.

Melinda Eubanks Sellers ’01, an attorney in

and husband James of Columbus, Ga., on April 18.

Taylor Griswold ’04

has moved to Austin, Texas, after eight years as the Detroit Pistons’ mascot, Hooper. He recently competed on the NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”

Justin Hardee ’01

of Auburn was named county engineer by the Lee County Commission.

E. Cannon Thomas ’01

A son, Zachary Hinojosa, to Adelita

at Valley High School as a science teacher, assistant varsity football coach and head baseball coach.

Jordan Campbell ’06 has designed a line

of children’s collegiate apparel dubbed “I Heart Toomer’s.” She lives in Tyler, Texas.

Steven Scyphers ’07

Caroline Gomez ’03 of

Auburn was elected to the board of the Autism Society of Alabama. She

of Medford, Mass., was awarded a SEES Fellowship by the National Science Foundation.

A L U M N I

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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 2012 winners represent fields ranging from architecture to veterinary medicine.

Nominations for next year’s Young Alumni Achievement Awards will open in November.

Rebecca Balkcom ’94

After only four years of classroom teaching, Balkcom was named Auburn City Schools’ 2010-11 Secondary Teacher of the Year. A science teacher at Auburn Junior High School, she holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agronomy and soils.

Richard C. Bell ’11

Bell serves as deputy director of the Afghanistan Assessment Group of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, where he oversees U.S. and international military officers and civilians involved in data and analytics, reports and studies, and campaign assessment. He earned a master’s degree in statistics and a doctoral degree in industrial and systems engineering at Auburn.

Jeffrey Alan Brewer ’95

Having graduated first in his class in the School of Architecture, Design and Construction, Brewer received Auburn’s President’s Award and was honored with the American Institute of Architects’ Henry Adams Medal for outstanding achievement in school. He is vice president and principal in the Birmingham office of Goodwin Mills Cawood.

Jessica Brookshire ’09

As a student studying international trade and Spanish at Auburn, Brookshire established an anti-bullying organization dubbed KARMA. She has since traveled to schools across Alabama and Georgia, educating more than 106,000 children about the effects of bullying on individuals and communities.

Steven K. Brotherton ’96

An international business major at Auburn, Brotherton earned a law degree from the University of Alabama and began his career with Boeing Co. In 2001, he joined Fragomen, Del Rey, Bersen and Loewy law firm to build its export controls practice group, which now boasts a client list that includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Microsoft Corp. In 2008, he became the youngest attorney in the firm’s 60year history to be promoted to partner.

Courtney Ann F. Dow ’04

Upon graduating from Auburn with a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, Dow joined the Bangkok offices of NightLight

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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

International, an organization that helps free women and children from lives of prostitution and exploitation. She returned to Auburn for a graduate degree and now directs NightLight’s Atlanta office.

Brent Fox ’98

An assistant professor in Auburn’s Harrison School of Pharmacy, Fox coordinates the school’s “Foundations of Pharmacy” course for incoming doctoral students and has gained a national reputation for his use of technology to enhance pharmacy practice and education. Fox earned his degree in pharmacy from Auburn in 1998 and completed his doctoral degree in 2000.

Richard W. Hall ’95

Hall serves as senior vice president of timberland services for Bank of America in Atlanta and teaches at Auburn as an affiliate assistant professor. A graduate of the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, he sought out an international internship and received funding to serve as a U.S. Forest Service intern in Puerto Rico.

opportunities for faculty and students. She received a bachelor’s degree in human sciences from Auburn.

Candace Dyson Mangum ’99

Mangum is a nurse practitioner with Notasulga Healthcare Family Practice Clinic in Notasulga.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing science from Auburn in 1999 and is known for showing sincere compassion for patients both at work and away from the office.

Emily Pauli ’96

Pauli graduated magna cum laude from Auburn in biomedical science in molecular biology and, after working in the biotech industry in research and development, marketing, sales, and business development, returned to AU to earn a doctoral degree in pharmacy in 2006. Pauli now serves as director of research and oncology specialists for the Clearwater (Fla.) Cancer Institute.

Mark Spencer ’00

Hendricks is director of athletics at Kentucky State University, where she also serves as a mentor for an NCAA program that matches 10 outstanding athletics administrators with 10 aspiring athletic directors to provide guidance and training. She earned master’s and doctoral degrees in higher education from Auburn.

As chairman and chief technology officer of Huntsville-based Digium Inc., Spencer drives the strategic vision of the world’s leading opensource telecommunication provider. He founded the company in 1999 as a computer-engineering student at Auburn when, faced with the high cost of purchasing a private telephone branch exchange for his fledgling computer company, he developed his own. The product, known as Asterisk, now boasts more than 2 million users.

Dee Jones ’01

Octavia Spencer ’94

Denisha L. Hendricks ’01

As Alabama’s state public-health veterinarian, Jones provides professional guidance for the Alabama Department of Public Health’s epidemiology division concerning zoonotic exposures and risks; works closely with the oral rabiesvaccination program; and serves as a liaison between state public-health and agriculture officials. Jones formerly served as a U.S. Army veterinary medical officer in Ft. Polk, La.

Katy Law ’01

Law is director of sales/Americas for Design Hotels in New York. She has served on Auburn’s Hotel and Restaurant Management Programs Industry Advisory Board since 2009 and was named the first AU College of Human Sciences Outstanding Alumnus in 2010. Law has also sponsored professional-development

After graduating from Auburn with a bachelor’s degree in English, Spencer was working as a film production assistant when she began being cast as an actress in movies and on TV. Earlier this year, Spencer won a People’s Choice Award, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for her pivotal role in the movie “The Help.”

Kyes Stevens ’94

Stevens founded and oversees the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project, in which instructors teach literature, art, history and writing classes to inmates in 12 state correctional facilities. The program is a five-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts funding.

Stevens earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Auburn and a master’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College.

A L U M N I

C E N T E R

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E x e c ut i v e M B A Pr o gr ams business.auburn.edu

Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer.

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

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Class Notes Maria Toro ’08 accepted a position as an assistant account executive for Crowley Webb in Buffalo, N.Y.

SNAPSHOT

House of golf Aside from its branded name and the fact that the Tigers’ golf teams practice and compete on its 225-acre championship course, the privately owned, 13-year-old Auburn University Club has barely been affiliated with Auburn University itself.

Now, a pair of AU fans—a father and son-in-law—is about to change that.

“When you come into this driveway, when you see this clubhouse, when you go out on the golf course—I want it to be more Auburn,” says club co-owner Mike Thompson, who, along with his colleagues, purchased the property in December for a reported $3 million. “I want you to know you are at the Auburn University Club.”

Thompson, plus son-in-law Will Herring ’06, a New Orleans Saints linebacker, and developer Mike Poole of Lafayette, La., started work at once, overhauling the grounds and facilities to give everything an Auburn feel. Phrases from the Auburn Creed are on display for guests, and golfers are provided with orange-and-blue tees.

Thompson also has teamed up with AU’s horticulture department to landscape the front of the clubhouse, and help improve turf conditions and playability on the golf course.

“We are undertaking a rigorous fertilization program,” Thompson says. “We have aerated the fairways for the first time in 10 years. We are also top-dressing, making the greens the types of greens the PGA would play on.”

Thompson worked with students and faculty in Auburn’s interior design program to update and redesign the club’s dining area, and is offering discounted initiation fees to Auburn Alumni Association members.

Originally dubbed Auburn University Club at Yarbrough Farms, the property, located off North Donahue Drive, has never been owned by the university but does serve as the home course for the Tigers’ golf teams. The club has hosted a number of NCAA and PGA events over the years.

“When you walk in the door, I really want you to feel like you are at some kind of Auburn facility,” Thompson says. “I want it to feel truly like the Auburn University Club, a place where everybody who loves Auburn like I do can feel this is part of the Auburn experience.”— Hope Burleson

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Ashleigh DeMoll ’08, a student at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Georgia campus, will be completing her third-year rotations in Rome, Ga.

Katie Elizabeth Hines ’09 to Russell Brown

on June 2. They live in Opelika. Katie is a financial sales consultant for P&C Bank.

Melinda Jan Hardin ’09 to Mark Crosby

Riddle on Dec. 17. They live in Prattville.

Boehme ’09 of Hunts-

ville received the Mississippi College School of Law’s Regions Bank Award, the Estates and Trusts Section of the Mississippi Bar Award, and the Mississippi Corporate Counsel Award.

MARRIED Cynthia Brooke Whiddon ’05 to Thomas

Andrew Preston on April 14. They live in Dothan.

Shelley Elizabeth

Leigh Millican Jones ’02 and husband Casey

of Pisgah on May 20.

A daughter, Mallory Laine, to Jason “Jay” McFarland ’02 and Sara Flurry McFarland ’03

of Meridian, Miss., on April 12.

Kristen Lynn Palazzo ’09 to Michael Louis

Sarah Frances

A daughter, Lori Isabella, to Amanda

Cooper ’02 on July 28.

They live in Jacksonville, Fla., where Kristen is employed by CSX Transportation, and Michael works for Tournament Players Club Sawgrass.

BORN A son, Jacob Carter, to Samantha Whitehead Hartsell ’00 and husband Jason of Russellville on April 27.

A son, Robert David, to Bradley David Wideman ’00 and Amanda

A daughter, Avery Elizabeth, to Lesley Boles Cuicchi ’03 of New Orleans on July 29, 2011.

A daughter, Scarlett Tatom, to Melissa Sanders DeLoney ’03

and husband Bryan of Ozark on Jan. 18. She joins sister Isabelle.

A son, Grady Lewis, to Rory J. Jones ’03 and wife Katharine of Huntsville on Aug. 16, 2011.

on April 20. He joins siblings Abigail and Lauren.

A daughter, Jillian Claire, to Elizabeth Cooley Loring ’03 and husband Porter of Cumming, Ga., on Feb. 9.

A son, Arthur William, to Katherine Deeter Douglas ’01 and husband Art of Atlanta on Feb. 23.

A son, Spencer Joseph, to Jonathan New ’03 and Jill Beatty New ’03 of Newport, R.I., on March 9.

A daughter, Olivia Grace, to Travis Prewett ’01 and wife Susan of Fairhope on April 13.

A son, Levi Harrison, to Derrick Dennis ’04 and wife Andrea of Franklin, Tenn., on May 24.

Newcomer ’06 to Steven

McClure Wideman

Carl Blackburn on May 5. They live in Montgomery.

’00 of Orlando, Fla.,

Brett Seaf Olive ’07

to Diana Lane Pettus on March 26. They live in Florence.

Katherine Leigh Russell ’07 to Robert

Vincent Moody III on Feb. 18. They live in Mobile.

Sarah Elisabeth Thompson ’07 to Camp-

bell Warren Kirbo on March 31. They live in Atlanta.

A son, Aiden Lee, to DeAnna Boyett Woods ’01 and husband Wesley

on May 7. He joins brothers Tyler and Weston.

A son, Slade Douglas, to Amanda Collier Yates ’05 and husband Gavin of Auburn on Dec. 12.

On the clock Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering in April dedicated its Dwight L. Wiggins Mechanical Engineering Hall and unveiled a historic grandfather clock first installed in Ramsay Hall in 1925. The clock was once responsible for ringing all the bells on campus; for nearly 37 years, mechanical engineering professor John C. McKinnon kept the clock accurate to within seconds. It was refurbished through a gift from McKinnon’s daughter, Marjorie McKinnon Hale ’43, and grandchildren Anne Hale Craft ’70, Mary Curtis Hale Schroth ’75 and Ben Hale ’76.

A daughter, Estelle Nettles, to Drew York ’05 and wife Sarah of Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 21.

Twin sons, William Joseph and Joshua Vincent, to Joseph

In Memoriam George Carroll Dunn Sr. ’35 of Raleigh, N.C.,

died Feb. 24. He was a partner in M.O. Carroll Grocery Co. Frank B. Rutledge Jr.

Vincent “Vin” Webster

’39 of Demopolis died

Jr. ’06 and Laura

May 12. A pharmacist, he co-owned F.B. Rutledge & Sons Drugs and F & F Drugs.

Millwee Webster ’06

of Orange Park, Fla., on April 24.

A son, Brooks Kalman, to Kelly Oravet Riley ’07 and husband Brett of Bowling Green, Ky., on Dec. 23.

’10 Phillip Poundstone

of Panama City, Fla., formed Rent Gear Here, a vacation-gear rental business.

Robert Lee Wood Jr. works for Blue Bell

Creameries in Columbus, Ga., as a territory operations manager.

’11 Amy E. Barton earned

a master’s degree and works as an intern for the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce.

James Monroe Callaway Jr. ’40 of Birming-

ham died March 9. He received a Bronze Star for his service during World War II.

of Lago Vista, Texas, died Feb. 10. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he served as a pilot during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. He also was the first mayor of Lago Vista, Texas.

John W. Tucker ’41

of Chattanooga, Tenn., died March. 20. He served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iceland during World War II and worked for Combustion Engineering for 40 years.

Robert Louis Bunnen

Qualls to Danae

’44 of Atlanta died

Williams on March 31.

July 15. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was an oral surgeon who helped establish Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

They live in Huntsville.

BORN A daughter, Sofia Arden, to Ryan Alcaino and wife Ashley of Chelsea on May 28.

Pyron Keener ’44

of Montgomery died March 9. He had a 42-year career with the Alabama Department of Agriculture.

William M. Goode ’44

of Williamsport, Pa., died Feb. 22. A World War II veteran, he was a music professor at

C E N T E R

Ferrin Colin Campbell Sr. ’48 of Crestview,

Fla., died May 12. A retired attorney and former sheriff, he had served in the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate.

William Reed Davidson ’48 of Lancaster,

James M. Shuler ’45

of Dadeville died April 12. He had headed the U.S. Air Force Veterinary Corps in Europe and later served as state veterinary epidemiologist for the Indiana state health board.

Rodman Lyon Lan-

William H. Laseter ’40

MARRIED Blakely J. “Blake”

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania for 26 years.

A L U M N I

caster ’46 of Morehead

City, N.C., died May 11.

He was a veterinarian for more than 35 years and had served as mayor of Atlantic Beach, N.C.

Pa., died May 31. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War, he worked for DuPont Co. for 36 years.

J. Floyd Hall ’48 of Greenville, S.C., died May 30. He had served as superintendent of the Greenville County School District and as a professor of leadership and policy at the University of South Carolina.

Carolyn Hunter Meeks ’48 of Fort Myers, Fla.,

Robert E. Hails ’47

of Macon, Ga., died March 16. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant general and served as a management consultant for aerospace companies.

died Feb. 19. She taught at Fort Myers High School for 33 years.

Clarence A. Norton Jr. ’48 of Milton, Fla., died May 6. He taught mathematics and coached sports.

Robert R. Head ’47

of Titusville, Fla., died Feb. 29. A World War II veteran, he retired from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and taught mechanical engineering at five different universities.

Henry Grady Pitchford ’48 of Dadeville

died May 14. He held a doctoral degree in sociology and taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

William Richardson

Bert Louis Trapani ’47

of Savannah, Ga., died May 30. A U.S. Marine veteran of World War II, he majored in mechanical engineering and retired as a business owner.

Jr. ’48 of Perry, Ga.,

died Feb. 9. He served as editor of the Unadilla Observer, grew timber and pecans, and owned Richardson Loan Co. and Richardson Auto Co.

Reserve Your Tailgate Today!

For private parties, Auburn Alumni Association members may reserve Exclusive Member Tailgate space within the Alumni Hospitality Tent site on Wallace Center lawn near JordanHare Stadium’s west entrance gate.

We provide tables, seating, set-up, breakdown and more. Catering options are available, and fees apply. www.aualum.org/tent

Tell me more...

Danielle Fields ’02 334-844-2985 daniellefields@aubur n.edu

a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

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In Memoriam James “Jim” Farrior III ’49 of Fernandina

Beach, Fla., died May 29. A veteran of World War II, he worked in Huntsville’s aerospace industry for 30 years.

He was also a founding member of both the Madison County and Alabama archaeological societies.

Chatham Brothers grading company and also assisted with American Red Cross disaster relief efforts for 20 years.

George Richard “Dick” Whatley ’50 of

Pell City died May 26.

He retired after a 30year career in the U.S. Air Force and worked in the real estate business.

John G. Million Jr. ’49 of Knoxville, Tenn.,

HOT TIMES IN ATLANTA: About 40 Auburn alumni, plus their families and friends, braved the heat at Atlanta’s Grant Park in June for a picnic sponsored by the Auburn Alumni Association’s Minority Alumni Involvement Now program. Next up: the annual MAIN Event, scheduled for 8 to 11 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Auburn Alumni Center. Register today at www.aualum.org/main.

The perfect heirloom Christmas gift for every Auburn fan on your list.

An original, hand painted, blown glass tiger ornament by New York artist Mia. Call and reserve yours today!

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60

Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g

died March 21. An analytical chemist, he had worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Eastman Chemical Co. and Union Carbide Corp.

Samuel H. Yancey

Fla., died March 21. She had served as a teacher, librarian and director of media services in the Santa Rosa County School District.

died March 13. A World War II veteran, he was a salesman for Wyeth pharmaceutical company.

died May 20. A former Auburn Tigers baseball player, he pitched for the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. He held management positions in various companies over the years.

Tenn., died Feb. 14. A U.S. Navy veteran, he worked in advertising for The Buntin Group and Eric Ericson & Associates. He was also a past president of the Nashville Advertising Federation.

Wilmer “Dick” Webb Jr. ’51 of Locust Fork

died July 18. A former Auburn Tigers baseball player, he operated Dick Webb Insurance and was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

James Heflin Knight ’56 of Alexander City

died May 24. A U.S. Navy veteran, he retired from Russell Corp. after 33 years of service.

Edmund “Mac”

Raymond Lee Lawrence ’56 of Huntsville

bus, Ga., died Feb. 27. He was a surgeon and had served as the Georgia delegate to the American Medical Association.

died April 20. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, he was a charter employee of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and served as chief avionics engineer for SkyLab prior to his retirement in 1984.

Marion J. Smith Jr. ’53 of Hoover died Feb.

19. He was chief architect for Rust Constructors Inc.

Vachel Homer

Call ’50 of Galena, Ohio, died Feb. 21. A World War II veteran, he worked for Abbott Laboratories as a pharmaceutical salesman.

“V.H.” Wilson Jr. ’51

of Birmingham died March 20. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he worked for Alabama Power for 30 years.

Forrest McCartney

’50 of Woodstock, Ga.,

’52 of Indian Harbour

died March 2. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he retired from

Beach, Fla., died July 18. He was a retired Air Force lieutenant general

James Franklin “Bo” Anthony ’57 of Trussville

William Clyde Burns Jr. ’54 of Whiteville,

N.C., died May 16. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he was awarded the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He worked as a veterinarian for more than 50 years.

died Feb. 19. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve and was a partner in Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors.

He also had served as president of Alabama Associated General Contractors.

Novel “Rudy” Boyd

William O. Harrison ’54 of Athens died

James “Mac” Mc-

Winford P. Southern

March 17. A U.S. Army veteran, he had worked for American Cast Iron Pipe Co. and Bridgestone Corp.

Molnar ’53 of Colum-

William A. Letchworth ’51 of Sarasota, Fla.,

Jr. ’50 of Nashville,

Charles E. Sellers ’55 of Houston died

Joann Johnson McCombs ’51 of Milton,

’49 of Hickory, N.C.,

Ralph Langreck

who played a central role in developing military spy satellites and the MX intercontinental missile system before being appointed head of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 1987. He was also a pioneer of the military’s unmanned space program and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Auburn Alumni Association.

March. 10. A U.S. Navy veteran, he retired from NASA after 26 years as a structural engineer.

T. Adrian Brown ’55 of St. Petersburg, Fla., died May 31. He retired as a program manager for Honeywell International Inc. after 36 years.

’57 of Columbus, Ga.,

died Feb. 18. He owned Boyd’s Pest Control and was a member of the Rotary Club of Columbus.

Carl Winston Goggins ’57 of Pleasant Grove

died May 21. A U.S. Navy veteran, he edited a weekly newspaper in Dothan and was a political columnist.

A hero’s salute Auburn University officials in May posted a historic marker and dedicated its new ROTC drill field to the late Max Adams Morris ’42, who, as an honors military student at Auburn, received the Carnegie Medal for heroism. Morris suffered severe burns in 1941 while trying to rescue fellow students who had accidentally come into contact with an electrically charged radio antenna during an ROTC summer training camp at Ft. Benning, Ga.

William Milner “Bill”

Henry “Hank” Acree

Donald M. Wickham

’59 of Louisville, Ky.,

’61 of Wetumpka died

Billie Jr. ’69 of Prattville

died May 14. He served in the U.S. Navy for 30 years and received the Bronze Star and Vietnam Service Medals before retiring as a commander in 1976.

died March 1. A U.S. Army veteran, he retired as an industrial engineer with Ford Motor Co.

May 10. He served in the U.S. Air Force until his retirement.

died April 5. He retired as a wildlife biologist and forester with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and owned Timber Creek Consulting.

Francis Pugh ’57 of Tehachapi, Calif., died Feb. 13. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he was an attorney and taught law classes.

William T. Ramsey Jr. ’57 of Indian Springs died Feb 17. He served in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, and worked at IBM Corp., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc.

Corley Chapman Jr. ’59 of Columbus, Ga.,

died May 8. He retired as a sales manager for Prudential Financial Inc. Luther Theodore Long Jr. ’60 of Mobile

died March 2. A U.S. Air Force veteran of the Korean War, he retired after 51 years as a pharmacist.

ton” Frazier Sr. ’61 of

Dalton, Ga., died Feb. 18. He was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps and served six years on the Dalton City Council.

James Hayward Kel-

Warner J. Raines ’61

ley Jr. ’58 of Ozark died

May 19. He retired as a division engineer from the Alabama Department of Transportation after 39 years of service.

He was a trust officer and vice president of Troy Bank & Trust, and served on the boards of the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center, Troy Bank & Trust and Henderson Bancshares.

Hilton Jack Harrell Jr. ’63 of Enterprise died May 6. He was a farmer.

of Fort Valley, Ga., died Feb. 10. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he worked as an educator for 38 years.

J. Willard King Jr. ’64

of Peachtree City, Ga., died Jan. 17. He was a teacher.

Jane Riddle Parks

died Feb. 27. A career educator, she retired as a counselor at Martin Luther King Elementary School.

John Rawls ’58 of

Alachua, Fla., died March 4. He worked for Sperry Rand Corp. and helped start a farmequipment business.

John Mason Tomp-

Ga., died May 10. He worked for WS Pharr & Co. insurance firm.

John Julius Atkins Jr.

William Richard “Bill” Turberville ’65 of St.

Matthews, S.C., died Feb. 12. A U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, he was a retired pilot and pharmacist.

Euell Robert Barberousse ’66 of Virginia

Beach, Va., died May 8. He had served as an assistant professor of education at Auburn.

David Wayne Thomp’58 of Huntsville

Charles H. Collins ’69

of Smyrna, Ga., died Feb. 23. He played in the Canadian Football League for eight years and served as chaplain for the Atlanta Falcons for 20 years.

kins ’69 of Marietta,

William Wayne “Cot-

Brewton died March 11.

He played in the American Football League with the San Diego Chargers, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs from 1962 to 1967. He later coached high school and college athletics.

Neil Houston ’58 of

’62 of Troy died May 4.

son ’61 of Gulf Shores

Frederick Austin

died May 25. He was an Eagle Scout and a member of Gulf Coast Church of Christ.

Golson ’66 of Decatur

died March 23. He was a retired employee of Amoco Corp.

’70 of Decatur died Dec.

30. He retired from the U.S. Army.

Ed Frank Dickinson ’70 of Alexander City

died July 20. He had served as publisher of Progressive Farmer and was a longtime member of the Auburn Magazine Advisory Council.

Jim A. Speake ’71

of Alexander City died March 13. He was an educator for more than 30 years and served in the U.S. Air Force.

Martha Wilson Buffkin

Bill Walker ’61 of Ra-

Mac McKensie Chas-

leigh, N.C., died March 1. He served in the U.S. Army Security Agency and worked for Eli Lilly and Co.

tang ’67 of Loxley died

May 21.

Larry Eugene Powell ’68 of Gulf Shores died

May 22.

C E N T E R

Chester E. “Chet”

Kelly Jr. ’57 of Talladega

Kenneth H. Wilkinson

A L U M N I

’72 of Panama City,

Fla., died June 13.

She was a teacher and former president of the Bay County Education Administrators’ Association.

Breaking ground Construction began in July on the Auburn Alumni Association’s new Alumni Walk, a fundraising effort expected to raise as much as $400,000 in support of student scholarships.

The association’s board of directors held a June 22 groundbreaking ceremony.

Officials have described the project as one of the most ambitious scholarship fundraising projects ever undertaken by the organization. “There’s no doubt that Alumni Walk represents a significant step forward in the association’s commitment to providing the children of alumni who are life members with the financial support to enroll at Auburn,” said Debbie Shaw, the association’s executive director. “By purchasing a paver in Alumni Walk, supporters can leave their mark on Auburn for generations to see—and help deserving students now.”

Located in front of the Auburn Alumni Center at 317 South College St., the Alumni Walk project allows alumni and friends of Auburn University to buy personalized pavers commemorating a graduation date; celebrating a baby’s birth, retirement, engagement or wedding; honoring or memorializing a loved one; or recognizing a club, sorority, fraternity, business or other organization. Pavers purchased during the initial phase of the project will be in place prior to Auburn’s Sept.

15 home football opener. Pavers are available in several sizes: 4-inch-by-8-inch bricks for $200; 8-inch-by-8-inch bluestone slabs for $500; and 12-inch-by-12-inch granite squares for $1,000. Purchases are tax deductible. Questions? Contact Janet Bryant at 334-844-1150 or janetbryant@auburn. edu, or see www.aualum.org/scholarships.

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In Memoriam Thomas Andrew

Goodbye, ‘Doc’ Holley Retired Headland pharmacist William Howard “Doc” Holley Sr. ’29, who became known in recent years as Auburn University’s oldest living alumnus on record, died May 10. He was 105.

As recently as two years ago, Holley still lived alone, made his bed each morning, baked blueberry pies from scratch and held a valid driver’s license. His pharmacy degree from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, which hung in a frame on his bedroom wall, was made of actual sheepskin.

“I’ve still got some mind,” Holley, then age 103, noted at the time. “Most people my age have already gone crazy.”

A few years earlier, in his 90s, he still farmed, putting up miles of fence with a posthole digger and demonstrating how to shear sheep at Headland’s Landmark Park.

He also familiarized himself with computers. “You never get too old to learn if you put your mind to it,” he said during a 2010 interview for Auburn Magazine.

Born Feb. 1, 1907, in Samson, Holley was the youngest of eight siblings whose parents were farmers. After graduating from Auburn, marrying and eventually serving in World War II, he bought a pharmacy—complete with soda fountain—in Headland, renamed it Holley’s Pharmacy and ran it until he retired in 1973. The townspeople nicknamed him “Doc.” Holley is survived by daughter Elizabeth Holley Caneer ’59 and husband Ralph Caneer Jr. ’60 of Huntsville; son William H. “Bill” Holley Jr. ’71 and wife Teresa Adkins Holley ’71 of Headland; four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

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Judith Eugenia Sherer

Gilkeson ’72 of Mont-

’75 of Fresno, Calif.,

gomery died May 28.

He retired as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and as director of research for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

died May 19. She taught at Fresno City College.

Duane Carlton Oberg ’72

of Renton, Wash., died May 16. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 32 years and was awarded the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and Bronze Star.

Dean Hutchison Kilgore Hawthorne ’76 of Midlothian, Va., died May 24.

She taught school and volunteered for Meals on Wheels.

Linda Lee Seigle ’76

of Tallahassee, Fla., died Feb. 13. She was an engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation for 30 years.

Janice Hurd Dukes ’73

of Opelika died May 24.

She taught history and economics at Opelika High School for 20 years.

Ruth Camp Edwards ’73

Gary Stephen “Steve” Lambert Sr. ’77 of

Orange Beach died May 8. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was the former owner of Best Talk Telephone Directory.

of Tallassee died June 5.

William “Nick” TomlinCraig Moore ’73 of

organization serving at-risk youth, and was active in the Boy Scouts of America. He was also a member of Sigma Pi fraternity.

Thomas Terrance Leach Jr. ’85 of Cedar

Bluff died May 8. He was a physician and spent two years as a medical missionary in Tanzania.

Gayle Bolt Price ’85 of Greenville, S.C., died March 6. She was a professor, dean and associate provost at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Diseker ’89 of Auburn

died May 22. She was a sales representative for OPC pharmacy in Russellville.

son ’77 of Jacksonville, Texas, died March 15. He worked for the Houston Police Department for 32 years, mostly as a narcotics officer.

Henry Franklin “Hank”

Tim Sherriff ’81 of

Young ’73 of Fayette died May 9. He worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 34 years.

LaFayette died March 8. He was a partner in Southeastern Pond Management Co.

Pankajkumar N. Patel

Thomas R. Allocca ’83 of

John Thayer Voltz ’96

Tucson, Ariz., died May 10. He retired from the U.S. Air Force after 20 years of service and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.

of Montgomery died May 21. He was a sales representative at Blue Creek Marina.

Hoover died May 29.

He was a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War and served in the Army’s Special Forces unit.

Norman Hill Rahn III ’75 of Gadsden died July

18. He was a radiologist.

James Stewart III ’83

of Auburn died March 8. He founded Umbrella Foundation Inc., an

Monita G. Hara ’03

of Trussville died Feb. 23. She had served as director of the Louisiana School for the Deaf in Baton Rouge, La. Elizabeth Bailey Jones ’09 of Birmingham died

June 4.

William Kolb Olson ’11 of Marietta, Ga., died May 2. He was a mechanical engineer.

Faculty and Friends Dalta Garrett of Pelham

Caryn Harrelson

Venice, Fla., died Feb. 13. He served as a public health veterinarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and also ran a private clinic.

John Orion Ray ’74 of

ham died May 28. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.

Leslie Reese ’89 of Gulf

Shores died May 13. She was special events manager for the Centre for the Living Arts’ Saenger Theatre in Mobile.

died July 3. She was a junior majoring in industrial engineering at Auburn and a U.S. Air Force ROTC cadet.

John Holmes III of Auburn died Feb. 11. He served on the mathematics faculty at Auburn from 1972 to 2010.

’94 of Clarksville, Tenn.,

Madison P. Jones Jr. of Auburn died July 9. He was an English professor at Auburn for 37 years.

died May 23. He was a chemical engineer.

Robert “Bob” McGuire

Gayle Ballard Parker ’98 of Opelika died Feb.

15. She was an elementary school teacher.

Kathryn Elliot Patterson Williams ’98 of Birming-

of Auburn died Feb. 27.

He retired as an animalsciences professor at Auburn after 19 years of service.

Sara Roberta Waid of Auburn died May 12.

She was a life member of the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club and a recipient of Auburn’s Pamela Wells Sheffield Award.

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A L U M N I

C E N T E R

The Last Word

The greatest generation

BY FLETCHER C. EDDENS ’49 The war was over. There had been victory in Europe and Asia, and, by 1946, 12 million military-service veterans had been mustered out to rejoin civilian life. Congress had passed the GI Bill allowing World War II veterans to attend college—with tuition, fees and books paid for, plus $65 a month for housing and food.

Colleges across the United States were expecting a large influx of new students, including Auburn.

Four of us high school buddies who had received our manumission from the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy were happy to be together again, free as birds. All of us wanted to go to Auburn, then known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, on the GI Bill, so that summer we paid a visit to campus to secure a living place for fall quarter. We drove the 120 miles from Decatur to the “loveliest village” and found a beautiful little town where people were enjoying the summer, unaware of the coming avalanche.

The night before the first day of fall registration they began to gather. Hundreds of determined and prescient hopefuls started lining up at the registrar’s door and sleeping there. By morning the line had gotten so long you couldn’t see the end. It looked like half the state was there.

The registrar and the president’s staff had a pretty good idea of how many freshmen Auburn could accommodate. By noon on opening day they could see at least twice that many anxiously waiting to register. The question, then, became how to choose applicants for admission. How do you tell a veteran of three or four years serving his country—who might have fought at risk of life and limb— that he can’t be an Auburn man? A policy of “first come, first served” seemed too arbitrary. Would it be length of military service?

High school grades? Legacy status? What factor or set of factors could possibly be fair and in keeping with the Auburn way?

We four buddies were not in line close enough to be registered that first day. We’d heard through the grapevine that a decision would be made that night as to criteria for admission.

We thought it might be political, and you would need some kind of pull; we had none. So we decided to lobby the registrar by phone. It was a good idea, because we located him in a meeting at API president Luther Duncan’s mansion. We only got to talk to a secretary, but she heard our appeal and promised to relay it upward. We left our phone number.

At the president’s office there had gathered, in addition to Duncan, the registrar, the dean of students, all available members of the board of trustees—including old man Sheldon L. “Shell” Toomer, banker and owner of Toomer’s Drugs—and other school officials. They had a decision to make which could possibly determine the future of that larger thing than the school or the town, or the budget or the faculty or the facilities. It was something called Auburn that hung in the balance.

The four of us wannabe students went to bed convinced we

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were out. About midnight the phone rang, and it was the secretary we had spoken to earlier. She said she had news of the administration’s decision: “All ex-servicemen residents of the state of Alabama who have a high school transcript will be admitted, regardless of how many apply.” That was an Auburn decision.

They would make do somehow. And they did.

To accommodate the 7,000 new students at an institution with a typical total enrollment of about 3,500, instructors were pressed into duty from a pool of graduate students, retired professors and new hires. Classrooms were opened in old Samford Hall and every other possible place. Dozens of trailers were delivered, parked on campus and transformed into classrooms.

And what kind of Auburn students did these older people— some of whom had experienced the Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima and even enemy prison camps—turn out to be?

They fell right in as college hots: Some even wore rat caps.

They joined fraternities, yelled “War Eagle!” and went to football games. Several things were different, though. There was no ROTC and no physical education. Students whose $65-per-month allowance failed to cover new civilian clothes instead wore leftover Army uniforms to class. I was there at the time but realized one highly significant thing only later in life: There was no talk of the war itself. No sea stories. No references to what one had done during the war; no clue as to any student’s former military rank.

There was no difference between a former private and a former major. I think the real reason was that the private may have landed at Tarawa, and the major who had been a desk jockey knew that the private outranked him by the current standard.

As a result of that year’s swollen student body, Auburn eventually graduated an outstanding crop of teachers, businesspeople, farmers and engineers—a good portion of whom went on to attain great things in their fields. At Mrs. Monroe’s boardinghouse alone, I can remember sitting down for meals with the future CEO of aerospace giant Thiokol, the future dean of the University of Alabama law school and a person who would eventually become the world’s greatest authority on ants. And that was just one table of three-times-a-day food for $30 a month.

That great decision, made in fall 1946, to admit the state’s returning military veterans helped make Auburn University what it is today—and it was certainly an apt manifestation of the Auburn spirit.

A retired mechanical engineer, former petty officer Fletcher C. Eddens, 87, completed one quarter at Alabama Polytechnic Institute prior to enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1943 at age 18. He served as a stateside radar technician for three years before re-enrolling at Auburn following World War II. He and wife Barbara live in Wilmington, N.C.

Real Estate Donations a ‘Win-Win’ Charles Gavin ’59 and his wife, Carol Ann, have long supported Auburn by endowing scholarships and providing annual fund gifts benefiting the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. The Gavins also discovered yet another unexpected way to expand achievement of their philanthropic goals. Wanting to reduce their investment property holdings, they donated their underutilized Orange Beach, AL, condo to the university.

Once the property was sold, the proceeds helped fund construction of Engineering’s new Shelby Center.

There are several benefits of donating property to Auburn University: • immediate gift credit and recognition • no capital gains tax on the transfer • option to designate proceeds to fund an area or program of the donor’s choosing Various types of property can be considered for donation: • gifts can include primary and vacation homes, farms, timberlands, and commercial properties • gifts can be given as a retained life estate, allowing its owners to live in or use the property throughout their lifetime Our Trusts, Estates and Gift Planning professionals can discuss with you how gifts of real estate can support your charitable giving goals. For more information, email them at plannedgiving@auburn.edu, call 334.844.7375, or visit www.auburn.edu/plannedgiving.

The sale of donated real estate generates revenue to support university programs. View listings of Auburn’s real estate holdings available for sale at www.auburnuniversityrealestatefoundation.org.

“If you have a piece of real estate, a lot or acreage, you should consider offering it as a gift to Auburn— it’s a ‘win-win’ for you and the university.” - Charles Gavin OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT

Auburn Alumni Center 317 South College Street Auburn, AL 36849-5149 w w w.aualum.org

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