auburn magazine winter 2012

A Life of CrimeNoir fiction writer Ace Atkins ’94

sets his sights on the Spenser detective series

WINTER 2012

SPORTS App maker puts football in fans’ hands pg 24

FEATURE Kitchen gadget king serves up style pg 38

ESSAY Wayne Flynt’s ode to the oaks pg 64

In His Own Words

Retired athletics director David Housel ’69 looks

forward and back

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A Load to BearDeep in the Andes mountain range near the isolated Bolivian village of Quesimpuco, the Quechua people often trek miles for wood to fuel fire for cooking and heating. Water is also at a premium in the region during the dry South American win-ters. A team of Auburn students traveled to Quesimpuco in August with chemical engineering associate professor Steve Duke to help build a gravity-fed irrigation system to funnel water to villagers’ crops. They also set up a small hydro-ponics system aimed at recycling water across plant roots. Photograph by Jeff Etheridge

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

W I N T E R 2 0 1 2

From the Editor

EDITOR

Betsy Robertson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Suzanne Johnson

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Shannon Bryant-Hankes ’84

ART DIRECTOR

Stacy Lipscomb

WEBMASTER Dylan Parker

UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeff Etheridge

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Landrum Isaacson ’12

DESIGN ASSISTANTS

Courtney Collins ’13, Whitney Steeley ’13

ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Allison Swindle ’13

PRESIDENT, AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Jay Gogue ’69

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Deborah L. Shaw ’84

PRESIDENT, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Bill Stone ’85

AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR

Neal Reynolds ’77

AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD

Maria Baugh ’87, John Carvalho ’78, Jon Cole ’88,

Christian Flathman ’97, Tom Ford ’67, Kay Fuston ’84, Julie Keith ’90,

Mary Lou Foy ’66, Eric Ludgood ’78, Cindy McDaniel ’80, Napo Monasterio ’02, Carol Pappas ’77, Joyce Reynolds Ringer ’59,

Allen Vaughan ’75

AUBURN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1077–8640) is published quarterly; 4X per year; spring, summer, fall, winter, for dues-paying mem-bers of the Auburn Alumni Association. Periodicals-class post-age paid in Auburn and additional mailing offices. Editorial offic-es 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: [email protected]. Contents ©2012 by the Auburn Alumni Association, all rights reserved.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Betsy Robertson at 334-844–1164 or [email protected].

POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 Sourth College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149, or [email protected].

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 web-site at www.aualum.org.

[email protected]

I’m not anybody’s moth-er, but I have on occa-sion worn “mom jeans.” There, I said it. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Having recently cele-brated my 45th birthday and begun the very short

skid into middle age, it’s time to face the fact that my fashion sense has declined in inverse proportion to my waistline and that a makeover of sorts is in order. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for the last year or so, but particularly as I began poring over photos for this issue’s feature on Auburn industrial design alumnus Carter McGuyer ’98, who invents darling doodads for the kitchen and dresses like a model to boot. (See Page 38.) Unfortunately, the prospect of looking dapper on a daily basis takes a good deal of work, and my fashion sensibility peaked around 1984, when I was the cutest chick to rock a sailor suit. That’s right, a sailor suit. Complete with a red sailor cap. In the ’80s, largely because of Madonna, every day was a veritable costume party, and I delivered on the fad by sporting miniskirts, plastic shoes and earrings that dangled with charms in the likeness of Doublemint gum wrappers. I once posed for a high school yearbook photo wearing smart-looking corduroy knickers and a matching burgundy blazer with 12-inch shoulder pads that served as an authoritative coun-terpoint to my Justin Bieber haircut

(which, at the time, was modeled after ice skater Dorothy Hamill’s ’do). My friends rocked fingerless gloves, and we all took our cues from Glamour magazine, poking holes in the ozone layer with hairspray made of liquid concrete. These days I’m more likely to get fash-ion tips from Oprah, and I turn to Suze Orman’s financial advice column before flipping to articles such as “How to Look Good at 40.” I purposely spend less time in front of the mirror these days in order to avoid falling into a depression from which the only relief is a facelift and a tummy tuck, preferably executed by doctors with more skill than the quack who worked on Kenny Rogers. In recent years, I’ve often chosen substance over style when it comes to my wardrobe: that is to say, sweatpants and khakis. I used to make fun of my mother’s sensible Clarks footwear; now I consider them a valuable part of my even-tual inheritance. That said, I could do bet-ter on the fashion front, and Carter Mc-Guyer and his wife, Brandi, who own a product-design firm near Muscle Shoals, have become my new inspiration. Togeth-er, they’ve built a firm that combines cre-ative talent, business smarts and sartorial savvy. Besides, anyone who wears blue suede shoes is cool in my book. War Eagle!

Fashion faux pasBETSY ROBERTSONEditor, Auburn Magazine

5a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine

REWARD YOURSELFANDAUBURNSTUDENTS

Carlos LemusAuburn Spirit Foundation Scholarship RecipientAuburn Junior Chilton County High School 2009 Graduate Clanton, Alabama

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.

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.”

“I am studying software engineering with a minor in German and hope to create computer-based language-learning applications. I’m particularly interested in assisting translators for non-lucrative organizations to become more efficient so that they can have an even greater impact on their societies,” he noted. Carlos serves as a Spanish translator for several national and international missionary teams and is president of an international student organization on campus.

Receiving this scholarship has provided Carlos with meaningful possibilities for growth and success at Auburn. “I feel enabled to pursue the goals that I otherwise would have found difficult to achieve. I can honestly say that to me, the Auburn Spirit Foundation Scholarship signifies true opportunity, more than just a cash reward.”

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The College of Architecture, Design and Construction congratulates Daniel Bennett, Faia,

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www.cadc.auburn.edu


Winter 2012

F R O N T

4 From the Editor

Fashioning an ap-proach to middle age.

8 The First Word

An Auburn alumna’s final word on the ways of a gentleman.

10 College Street

Clanton farmers use Foy leftovers to cook up good food; Auburn gets a medical school; and a history prof remembers NASA’s Neil Armstrong.

16 Research

Putting Auburn’s Olym-pians to the test. Plus: Do urban water supplies encourage the spread of the West Nile virus?

18 Roundup

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

20 Concourse

They’re big, they’re tough and they cut a nice figure eight. We’ve got the scoop on Au-burn’s ice hockey team.

F E A T U R E S

28 In His Own WordsDavid Housel, Auburn’s unofficial sports historian, attended his first Auburn Tigers football game at age 10. His career commitment to Auburn saw its share of highs and lows—read Bo Jackson and “Jetgate”—but his love for his alma mater never wavered.

24 Tiger Walk

Hold the hamburgers: An Auburn alumnus has built an app that brings the tailgate party straight to your cell phone. Also: Tyler Mc-Gill swims for the gold.

B A C K

47 Alumni Center

The Auburn Alumni Association honors four graduates with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Plus: Get your pavers now.

51 Class Notes

59 In Memoriam

64 The Last Word

The oaks at Toomer’s Corner aren’t looking so hot, but for retired history professor Wayne Flynt and others, the memories live on.

Who wouldn’t want a bobblehead custom-crafted in his own image? Former athletics director David Housel dedicated his career to Auburn, retiring in 2006.

Aubie rides again during a vin-tage “Wreck Tech” Parade. David Housel ’69 chronicled the Tigers’ sports teams for nearly four decades, starting with his stint as student editor of The Auburn Plainsman.

Students are helping a Walker County town rebuild after disaster.

Auburn’s soccer team goes to the SEC championship tourney again.

Huntsville-Madison County alums held a freshmen sendoff in July.

Bidding adieu to the Toomer’s oaks.

On the cover

by suzanne johnson

34 High and DryThere’s more at risk than dying, brittle lawns when the country experiences the kind of drought that’s plagued us in 2012. Auburn experts talk about the impact on fields, forests, food and fuel. by suzanne johnson

38 Tales of a Zester CzarHe fell in love with a Frenchman’s artfully crafted stool—and the rest was history. Meet kitchen gadget designer and inventor Carter McGuyer ’98, who founded a company built around form, function, fashion and a big splash of fun. by candice dyer


L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

The First Word

THE TOPIC In our fall issue, we asked whether the iconic “Southern gentleman” still exists. At least one reader took the question to heart—and assured us that chivalry is not, in fact, dead. Share your thoughts on all things Auburn: Write Auburn Maga-zine, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849-5149, or email [email protected]. The Southern gentleman, redux

Yes, the Southern gentleman does exist. I married him. He supports me and our family. He expects our daughter to treat me with respect and tells her so in front of me. He has always paid for every-thing. At restaurants, he orders my meal for me. He opens building and car doors for me and other women every day. When we are walking outside, he walks between me and the street. He pulls chairs out for me and waits for me to start eating before he does. He appreciates meals that I prepare and expects everyone at the table to do so also. His fa-ther taught him these things. Thanks, Paw Paw (Bill Vaughan ’57), for grooming a Southern gentleman (Bill Vaughan ’84) who happened to marry me. —Beth Bowers Vaughan ’83, Auburn, Ala.

Newspaper shortages

Sincerest compliments to all on the article “The Dearth of Newspapers” (Fall 2012). As longtime readers of The Huntsville Times, my wife (Anne Case Ware ’61) and I wondered what prompted the sudden and dramatic announcement concerning the planned changes. Even though we are both into digital communications, we will miss regular print versions of the daily papers. —Clyde L. Ware Jr., Huntsville, Ala. The ties that bind

“The Greatest Generation” (The Last Word, Fall 2012) swells up in every reader what it really means to be an Auburn person. People who are not part of the “family” simply do not understand the meaning of all that.—William P. “Bill” Hutto ’56, Birmingham, Ala. Ace in the hole

Many times I think about responding to articles and publications and just don’t do it—but today we received our Auburn Magazine, and it is awe-some. So many wonderful stories, plus fabulous photographs. Very visually pleasing. Several years ago, we had an annual event at the Birmingham Public Library called “Alabama Bound” where we featured Alabama authors. Ace Atkins (“A Life of Crime,” Fall 2012) was one of these. It was great to know more about his career and his life. —Sharon Murphy Hill ’60, Birmingham, Ala.

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C A M P U S N E W S

COLLEGE STREET

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST HEALTH ISSUE FACING

TODAY’S AUBURN STUDENTS?

“One of the hardest health-and-wellness concepts for our students to grasp is bal-ance. It can be really challenging for stu-dents to balance classes, a social life, out-of-class activities and being away from home for the first time. This is only further com-plicated by the reality that many students are forming an identity while experiencing a variety of life changes.”

Eric C. SmithDirector of Health Promotion and Wellness Services, Division of Student Affairs

Q and A

Auburn students

may now moni-

tor their prog-

ress toward

graduation

using a new software

program that provides

a set of web-based aca-

demic advising, degree-

audit and course-plan-

ning tools.

Dubbed Auburn

DegreeWorks, the

software supports

academic advising by

combining the univer-

sity’s degree require-

ments with a student’s

completed coursework

into a format that

enables users to see

which courses have

been completed and

which courses they still

need to take.

DegreeWorks pro-

vides information and

recommendations on

the current curriculum,

plus notes academic

standing and offers a

GPA calculator and a

list of conditions indi-

vidual students must

meet for graduation.

Students are alerted

to unmet conditions

when they log in, and

advisers may enter

notes when meeting

with students, provid-

ing a progress report

and course-planning

assistance.

Exceptions and

class substitutions may

also be documented in

the program.

The system enables

students to view

degree requirements if

they are interested in

changing majors and

find out which of their

completed courses

would transfer, provid-

ing a “what if” analysis

for those considering a

change in their major

area of study.

ONLINE ADVICE FOR STUDENTS

Osteopathic medicine isn’t exactly a household term, but about 4,600 doctors graduate each year from medical colleges that focus on this holistic and preventive form of health care practice. Beginning in 2015, one of those schools will open in Auburn. Officials of the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, Va., affiliated with Virginia Tech, plan to open a branch campus in

Auburn Re-search Park on

South College Street. Administrators expect

the Edward Via College to create avenues for collabo-

ration in biomedical and health care research. The college’s new facil-ity will feature classrooms, small-group learning rooms, laboratories and a technology center. Officials hope to admit the first class of 150 students in fall 2015. “We’re excited to welcome the college to the Auburn Research Park,” said Jimmy Sanford ’68, chair of the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation. “VCOM is a well-respected institution that will provide opportunities for students to receive a medical education, support economic develop-ment and open the door for more health-science advance-ments by Auburn faculty.” The medical school will cover the costs of construc-

tion and operation of its Auburn cam-pus. Its faculty may collaborate with Auburn scientists and researchers, and its medical students will have ac-cess to Auburn facilities and activities. The Edward Via medical college was established in 2003 as a private, nonprofit college affiliated with Vir-

ginia Tech. It serves as a pipe-line for physicians with an

interest in rural and un-derserved areas, and

supports programs that result in a large

number of graduates commissioned as officers to serve in

VA hospitals around the country.

The Alabama De-partment of Public Health reports that 60 of Alabama’s 67 counties do not have enough primary-care providers such as general

practitioners, family doctors or pediatricians, and that ru-ral parts of the state are the most medically underserved. Alabama ranks 43rd out of 50 states in the U.S. for physi-cians per 100,000 population, according to data from the As-sociation of American Medical Colleges. There are 26 colleges of osteopathic medicine in the U.S. producing about 4,600 graduates each year. Graduates earn the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine de-gree instead of the Doctor of Medicine. The curriculum is similar, but osteopathic medi-cine emphasizes therapeutic techniques and adds osteo-pathic manipulation, hands-on techniques to alleviate pain and restore function associated with muscle and

skeletal injuries.

Hands-on health care


C O L L E G E S T R E E T

Flashback

AU

BU

RN

UN

IVE

RS

ITY

LIB

RA

RIE

S

100 years ago Winter 1912

Soccer found a home at Alabama Polytechnic In-stitute as a winter athletic event and alternative for those not interested in “rugby football.” Only one member of the 1912 team had ever played the game—yet Auburn ath-letes surprised spectators by learning quickly and scoring a goal on a visit-ing Atlanta team during their first game.


Auburn’s Civil War Lathe, on display between Samford and Langdon Halls, made its first appearance on campus. Crafted in Selma and donated to the university by the Tennessee Coal and Iron Works in 1936, the Lathe was once used to bore gun barrels for the Confederate Army and was later adopted by Birmingham Rolling Mill Co. to make locomotive wheels.


Auburn’s Agricultural Experiment Station be-gan studying whether catfish were viable for stocking ponds. Re-searchers loaded a 2.5-acre pond with catfish fingerlings and other species, then opened it to the public for fishing for four months. Although the catfish responded well to their environ-ment, fishermen found them difficult to catch—sending scientists back to the drawing board.


Jordan-Hare Stadium boasted a new addition that made Auburn’s home football facility larger than Legion Field in Birmingham—so the university took steps to make the annual Iron Bowl a true “home and home” series. Auburn and Alabama agreed to begin playing Iron Bowl games in Auburn in fall 1989. Alabama moved its Iron Bowl home games to Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2000.


The Southern Asso-ciation of Colleges and Schools, the accreditation agency whose 11-state region includes Alabama, appealed a federal judge’s order protecting Auburn’s due-process rights in a SACS investi-gation of the university. SACS was investigating complaints brought by the Auburn University Senate over governance issues. SACS put Auburn on a one-year probation in 2003.

Above: “Old Nancy” makes her way through campus during a parade in the late ’70s. The Case steam-engine tractor was purchased in 1906 by Lee County sawmill owner J.W. Dupree and named after the Nancy Hanks, a steam-powered pas-senger train that ran between Atlanta and Columbus, Ga. The tractor was relocated to the Auburn campus and restored in 1974.



Auburn University in August celebrated the opening of its new cen-ter for Korean culture and language educa-tion. The Auburn Uni-versity-Keimyung Uni-versity Korea Center began offering non-credit classes in Ko-

rean language and culture this fall. Taught by a visiting instructor from Keimyung University, a private universi-ty located in Daegu, South Korea, the classes will offer the Auburn community a way to understand and connect with the area’s growing Korean and Korean-American population. Auburn strongly believes that inter-national skills and abilities are essential for its students. The Office of Interna-tional Education has named 2012 the “Year of East Asia” and has developed programming for all students. The Au-burn Abroad office coordinates faculty-led study tours, educational exchanges and international internships designed to help our students gain cross-cultural competencies that foster success in the global arena. Each school and college at Auburn now has at least one study-abroad program, and the number of stu-dents traveling abroad through these programs increases each year. International skills and abilities are essential—not just an option for a limited few. We’ve developed new partnerships or strengthened existing ones with institu-tions in Albania, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Kuwait, South Korea and Vietnam, just to name a few. These partnerships fa-cilitate study tours, educational exchang-es and collaborative research. The strategic plan Auburn put into place in 2008 continues to produce re-sults that strengthen our university and the publics we serve in our city, state, na-tion and, increasingly, at the global level. I also want to mention that U.S.

News & World Report ranked Auburn University 37th among public universi-ties nationwide for its undergraduate programs. The ranking marks the 20th consecutive year the magazine has put Auburn among the nation’s top 50 public universities. Among land-grant universi-ties, Auburn ranks 19th. For the 25,000 students who enroll here from all 50 states and some 80 for-eign countries, Auburn fosters one of the richest academic experiences possible.

War Eagle!

[email protected]

Building bridgesJAY GOGUE ’69President, Auburn University

Auburn University in

September marked 20

consecutive years among

the top 50 U.S. public

universities, based on

U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings.

Auburn is ranked 37th

among public universi-

ties nationwide for its

undergraduate programs.

Among both public and

private universities,

Auburn is ranked 89th

nationally; among its

fellow land-grant

universities, Auburn

ranks 19th.

Auburn’s undergradu-

ate program in the

College of Business

ranked 27th among

public institutions and

47th overall. The Samuel

Ginn College of

Engineering ranked 30th

among public universities

offering doctoral

programs in engineering

and 53rd overall.

“While no calculation

can ever capture what is

most essential and alive

about a college or

university, it is always

good to have confirma-

tion of the challenging

and supportive

environment that Auburn

provides for learning,”

said Drew Clark, director

of Auburn’s Office of

Institutional Research

and Assessment.

Auburn is also

included in the

magazine’s list of

“A-Plus Schools for B

Students,” which

identifies schools that

admit solidly prepared

high-school students and

do a good job of helping

them advance toward

their educational goals.

To establish its

rankings, U.S. News

categorizes colleges and

universities primarily by

mission and, in some

cases, region. The

magazine then gathers

data from each school on

various indicators of

institutional resources and

quality.

The indicators fall

into seven general

categories: academic

reputation among a

college’s peer

institutions, retention of

students, faculty

resources, student

selectivity, financial

resources, alumni giving

and (for national

universities and liberal

arts colleges) gradua-

tion rate performance,

or the difference

between the proportion

of students expected to

graduate and the

proportion who actually

do graduate.

TOP 50 X 20

Tiger goes to churchAuburn’s 32-year-old golden eagle, Tiger VI, officially retired from making flights over Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2006, but she’s still scheduling public appearances on behalf of the Southeastern Rap-tor Center. Early this fall, the senior raptor visited Beulah Baptist Church in Boaz as part of its “Birds of the Bible” program, illustrat-ing Isaiah 40:31—“they will soar on wings like eagles.”

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THE PLAY’S THE THING: It was Christmas in October at Auburn’s Telfair B. Peet Theater as drama students presented

“Guarding Gold Street,” a new musical by Auburn composer and theater instructor Sean Michael Flowers, based on a book

by Flowers and Marya Spring Cordes. Directed by Joseph Bates, the musical tells the story of two sisters who return to their

childhood home to take care of family business, which forces them to break their long-held silence. Told through the eyes of

three generations and inspired by actual letters written by American women, “Guarding Gold Street” entertained audiences

with its story of an American family growing up, growing old and growing together. The production was one of six scheduled

for the 2012-13 season, with three staged during both the fall and spring semesters.

JE

FF

ET

HE

RID

GE

Kitchen equipment left

over from the old Foy

Student Union on campus

is now helping Chilton

County farmers process

and sell produce that

might otherwise have

gone in the trash.

The Chilton Food In-

novation Center, an indus-

trial community

kitchen in Clanton

established in

part through the

Alabama Coop-

erative Extension

System’s Chilton

County office, was

planning its facil-

ity at the same time

Auburn administrators

were looking for a way to

recycle Foy’s kitchen sup-

plies. With the opening of

Auburn’s Student Center

in 2008, the Foy building

is now being used for

classroom space.

For years, Chilton

officials had looked for

a way to add value to

locally grown fruits and

vegetables, especially

produce that—because

of over-ripening or size—

was typically discarded.

Local growers also were

concerned that much of

the processed food sold

in Chilton County and

labeled as Chilton County

goods were made from

nonlocal products.

Until the opening of

the facility last year,

Chilton growers were

hampered by the lack of a

fully equipped processing

center. Alabama law re-

quires that all retail foods

be processed within an

inspected kitchen; the

costs of such processing

centers are far beyond

the reach of most grow-

ers. The center, located

on 13 First Ave. in Clan-

ton, is available for use at

a rate of $40 per hour by

any grower with acidified

food trying to move a

product into retail sales.

“They bring their

labor, their ingredients,

their packaging and will

process in our kitchen,

because they have to

process in a commercial

kitchen that is already

inspected by the health

department,” says

center director Christy

Mendoza ’92.

Meet the ProfJames R. HansenProfessor of history, College of Liberal ArtsDirector, Honors College

BACKSTORY A former NASA historian, Hansen is the author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong (Simon & Schuster, 2005), the only authorized biography of the first astronaut to set foot on the moon. Hansen, who teaches the history of science and technology, has written books and articles covering topics ranging from the early days of aviation, first nuclear fusion reactors and moon landings to the environmental impact of golf courses. An avid golfer since his youth, the Fort Wayne, Ind., native served as co-captain of his college team at Indiana University. He has taught history at Auburn since 1986.

ASTRONAUT’S AUTHOR It took some persuading on the part of Hansen to convince the notoriously private Armstrong to collaborate on an official biog-raphy—in fact, Armstrong at first politely refused. Eventually though—in part because Armstrong’s family was enthusiastic about the idea—the retired astronaut agreed, and Hansen spent many hours in Armstrong’s Cincinnati home and on the golf course as the two formed a friendship. Armstrong died in August at age 82.

WHAT’S NEXT Hansen recently helped chronicle the life of astronaut John W. Young, the only person in history to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft, includ-ing the space shuttle. Hansen is now writing an authorized biog-raphy of golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr., whose work came to define many fea-tures of American golf.

FROM FOY TO FOOD




A L U M N I C E N T E R


59Auburn Magazine For Alumni & Friends of Auburn University

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Research

As a lifelong sports enthusiast, Wendi Wei-mar ’99 followed sports ranging from gym-nastics to soccer last summer as athletes chased gold-medal glory during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. As a scientist, though, Weimar noticed nuances impercep-tible to most sports fans. Weimar, who directs Auburn Univer-sity’s Sport Biomechanics Lab, has helped a number of Olympic athletes refine their techniques and training methods to achieve faster times and better finishes. Several members of Auburn’s 28-member Olym-pic contingent—composed of two dozen athletes and four coaches representing 13 countries—have enlisted Weimar’s assis-tance in recent years. “I’ve been a sports fan my whole life, but the Olympics have taken on a new fervor for me,” Weimar says. “Not only was I rooting for the American athletes, but I was also rooting for (Auburn) ath-letes that I know.” Weimar’s connections to former and current Olympians began several years ago

when former Auburn head swimming coach and this year’s U.S. Olympic team assistant coach David Marsh ’81 asked whether she could help some of his swimmers improve their times. Marsh quickly saw value in de-veloping a better understanding of sports biomechanics—the study of the body’s muscular, skeletal and joint actions. “He asked us to work with them from a biomechanics and martial arts perspec-tive,” Weimar notes. “I took several of his swimmers, and we worked on balance, breathing, fighting spirit and those types of things. We branched out more into biome-chanics, took cameras into the pool and did in-the-water analysis with the swimmers and coaches.” USA Swimming eventually commis-sioned a study by Weimar that examined the approaches and “push-off” strategies employed by swimmers in making turns during races. Weimar can identify imper-fections in an athlete’s technique using a number of tools, including a “force plat-form” embedded on a 44-foot walkway,

A competitive edge

As suburban residential

real estate develop-

ment spreads to former

pastures and woodlands,

more homeowners are

reporting coyotes in their

yards—especially during

autumn, when young ones

begin to move away from

their litters to establish

their own territories,

experts say.

“Coyotes usually have

four to six puppies,”

notes Jim Armstrong,

a professor in Auburn’s

School of Forestry and

Wildlife Sciences. “Both

parents will hunt prey

to feed their young, and

the group stays together

until the next breeding

season in the fall. Then

the parents run their

pups away. Most coyote

sightings occur this time

of year.”

While coyotes typi-

cally aren’t a threat to

humans, they may

destroy gardens—they

feast on some types of

fruits and vegetables,

especially watermelon—

and prey on pets such

as cats and small dogs.

Here are Armstrong’s

tips for keeping wild ca-

nines off your property:

• Don’t leave open bowls

of pet food outdoors.

When coyotes find a food

source, they’ll return for

more.

• Don’t leave food scraps

in unsecured, outdoor

trash bins.

• Consider installing an

electric fence around

your vegetable garden.

Don’t wait until plants

have begun to sprout;

by that time, most

coyotes will already have

identified your garden

as a food source and will

continue trying to breach

the barrier.

• If you see a coyote

in the distance, make

a loud noise to scare

it away.

• If you regularly see

coyotes in the yard,

call an animal-control

specialist. Using proper

safety measures, you

may shoot a coyote

if you live in an area

where it is legal to dis-

charge a firearm. Don’t

try to poison a coyote,

though. In Alabama,

no poisons are legally

registered for coyotes,

mainly because of the

chance that other ani-

mals might accidentally

ingest the toxin.

• Some large dog

breeds, such as the

Great Pyrenees, are

trained to protect live-

stock from predators.

WILY COYOTES

Bomb sniffersIf you travel by air or work in a government building, you’re no stranger to long lines leading to security scanners—and neither are would-be terrorists. Enter the most sensitive, sophisticated technology of all: a dog’s nose. Auburn scientists are training specially bred dogs to detect scent trails left by undetonated explosives. For more on Auburn’s “vapor-wake” dogs, see auburn.edu/research/vapor-wake-dogs-stay-on-target.



Professors in Auburn

University’s School of

Forestry and Wildlife Sci-

ences are studying the

links between urbaniza-

tion and West Nile virus

to figure out whether city

dwellers are any more or

less likely to be infected

than rural residents.

“Many of the environ-

mental factors associ-

ated with West Nile virus

remain unclear,” says

Graeme Lockaby, who is

studying the impact of

forest-to-urban conver-

sion on human health

along with colleague

Latif Kalin and several

collaborating agencies.

“What we as a natural re-

sources unit bring to the

table is the ability to do

a very detailed analysis

of the landscape, includ-

ing aspects that may

contribute to risk.”

Lockaby, director

of Auburn’s Center for

Forest Sustainability, has

done extensive work on

the impact of urbaniza-

tion on water quality.

Past studies have shown

a direct link between

poor water quality and

increased mosquito

populations, including the

species that is responsi-

ble for the spread of West

Nile virus. But scientists

lack precise data linking

land-use change to the

risk of the virus.

“We are trying to

bring together data sets

of water quality and

hydrology, land use/

land cover changes, and

occurrences of West Nile

virus, to see if there is

really a link between

urbanization and mosqui-

to-borne diseases, how

we can best describe

that linkage and what we

can do about it,” says

Auburn postdoctoral

fellow Krisztian Magori,

a disease ecologist.

Lockaby and Magori

are preparing a smaller

study they hope will

clarify the specific water

chemistry that is most

conducive to breeding

mosquitoes associated

with the virus.

“This is about

predicting risk,” says

Lockaby. “We don’t want

to just say bad water

quality probably means

more mosquitoes. We

want to show a numerical

relationship in order to

help prevent infection.”

Urban itch?

a Vicon motion-capture system with 10 high-resolution, infrared video cameras, a digitizing system and an electromyography system that records the electrical activ-ity produced by skeletal muscles. The equipment allows Weimar and her team of graduate stu-dents to evaluate such things as an athlete’s balance and gait pat-terns, the “take-off” speed of a sprinter, or the force exerted by a long-jumper. The scientists may then compare athletes and help develop personalized stretching and weightlifting programs aimed at eliminating weaknesses. Understanding the functional roles of muscles may influence train-ing procedures and result in athletes moving more efficiently and effec-tively. Last year, Weimar worked with former Auburn sprinter Ker-ron Stewart ’08 and former Auburn hurdler and fellow 2012 Olympian Shamar Sands ’06, among others. “Kerron had some issues with her starts, and we helped her there,” recalls Weimar, a former college field hockey player who became interested in biomechan-ics while recovering from a sports injury. “The biggest thing we look for are decrements in perfor-mance. Then we look for the rea-sons why it happens. We analyze their movements and try to iden-tify what is preventing them from being more successful.” Stewart went on to win a sil-ver medal for Jamaica this year in the 4x100-meter relay. Other beneficiaries of Wei-mar’s insights include Olympic medal-winning swimmers Tyler McGill ’11, George Bovell ’06, Cesar Cielo ’07 and Kirsty Cov-entry ’06, plus two-time U.S. Olympian and 2004 gold medalist Mark Gangloff ’05. “They’re always impressed when we show them something that they didn’t realize was happening,” says Weimar, an associate kinesiology professor. —Troy Johnson



Roundup

COLLEGE OF

AgricultureThe National Poultry Technology Center, located on the Auburn campus, has an economic impact on Alabama of nearly $30 million a year, officials say. Auburn research-ers’ innovations—which include advances in poultry-house insu-lation and structural design, lighting, energy use and environmental control—are saving the state’s poultry farmers

about $10 million a year on energy bills, another $10 mil-lion on feed costs and $9.6 million on facility repairs. “The prices of production inputs—fuel, electric-ity, water and feed—have exploded over the past eight years, with increases of anywhere from 60 to 300 per-cent,” says center co-founder Jim Donald, a biosystems engineering professor and expert in poultry-house design. “Profitability can be greatly improved by applying and adopting new technologies.” Donald and his col-league, Auburn poultry economics professor Gene Simpson, estab-

lished the National Poultry Technology Center five years ago to help Alabama’s 3,500 poultry growers improve their farms’ profitability.

COLLEGE OF

Architecture, Design and ConstructionA student team in plan-ning and landscape ar-chitecture won “Best Use of Vinyl” in a national student competition for

their design of a sustain-able, inexpensive Habi-tat for Humanity home. From a field of 100 competitors, the judges chose four regional win-ners and recognized two teams for their suggested use of vinyl building ma-terials in their designs. The work of fifth-year Auburn students Mary Win McCarthy, Ashley Clark and Peter McInish will be exhibited at the annual meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architec-ture in San Francisco in March as well as at the American Institute of Architects’ national convention in Denver next June. The team was co-sponsored by Auburn architecture professors

Justin Miller ’99 and Robert Sproull ’95.

COLLEGE OF

BusinessAuburn’s College of Business is featured in a two-page profile in The Princeton Review’s “The Best 296 Business Schools” directory re-leased in October. The listing, based in part on the results of stu-dent surveys, highlights the college’s small class sizes and low student-to-faculty ratio as factors that make Auburn’s business pro-gram one of the best in the South. Auburn’s graduate program in business administra-tion allows flexibility with class scheduling and helps students master the fundamen-tals of business theory while focusing on an area of interest, such as finance, business analytics, management of information technol-ogy, or marketing. “We are focused on provid-ing a superior student experience,” says Auburn business dean Bill Hardgrave. “Our attainment of that goal is reflected in the positive reviews provided by the students as input to The Princeton Review.”

COLLEGE OF

EducationA $200,000 gift from the AT&T Founda-tion will help Au-burn’s Truman Pierce

Institute expand its efforts to reduce the 39 percent dropout rate in Alabama high schools, which officials have described as the state’s primary educational and economic obstacle. The institute launched its “Building Individual Capacity for Success” project—which aims to help at-risk students earn their high school diplomas—in 2008 with the help of a $400,000 initial gift from AT&T. The BICS program provides mentoring, leadership training and service-learning opportunities for 50 at-risk students each year in Lee, Hale, Bullock and Tallapoosa county schools, helping students improve their

GPAs and attendance rates while reducing disciplinary referrals. The Truman Pierce

Institute reports that 89 percent of the more than 100 students involved in the BICS program since its inception remain on course for graduation.

SAMUEL GINN

COLLEGE OF

EngineeringThe American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers recognized Auburn biosystems engineer-ing alumnus Nathan Warner ’12 with its 2012 Robert E. Stewart Engineering Humanities Award for his academic accom-plishments, service and leadership. Warner served as president of the Auburn chapter of

Alpha Epsilon honor society, and was a member of the Col-lege of Engineering’s

Cupola Ambassadors group and Auburn’s Student Government Association. He found-ed the Auburn Global Citizenship Initiative to increase student awareness about global issues and is a co-founder of the campus chapter of Engineers Without Borders. He also brought the ONE Campus organization to Auburn to create awareness of poverty and disease, and has been active in campus sustainability activities by serving as president of the Auburn Sustain-ability Action Program and working on several committees to help the university reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions and improve its energy sustainability.

SCHOOL OF

Forestry and Wildlife SciencesForestry and wildlife sciences professor Ken McNabb has been named a Society of American Foresters Fellow in recogni-tion of his contribu-tions and service to the organization and the field. A faculty member in Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences since 1989, McNabb has been active in a vari-ety of international projects and programs, primarily in Brazil, but also in Chile, Cape Verde, Romania and Pakistan. In addition



to research on planta-tion sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon, he developed a new course in international forestry that provides students a more com-plete understanding of the world’s fiber-producing regions and the silvicultural systems used in fiber production, as well as international poli-cies affecting forest sustainability. COLLEGE OF

Human Sciences

The College of Human Sciences in December will honor Alastair Summerlee, president and vice chancellor of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, with its 2012 International Quality of Life Award. Under Summerlee’s leader-ship, the University of Guelph has emerged as a leader among Canadian institutions for its dedication to civic engagement and volunteerism. The college also will recognize Sylacauga philanthropists James T. Pursell ’52 and wife Chris with its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. The Pursells began-their careers working at Parker Fertilizer, a company started by Chris Pursell’s father. The family business evolved into Pursell Technologies, best

known for producing Polyon, a patented ultra-thin polymer-coated fertilizer.

COLLEGE OF

Liberal ArtsAssociate art professor Zdenko Krtic was one of a handful of people commissioned by CNN

to illustrate the theme of power as part of its coverage of the 2012 presidential election. Krtic’s mixed-media piece, titled “People,” tries to “disrupt the status quo where (a) small power elite … rules pretty much everyone else. It depicts an empty space around which a small crowd has gathered and into which performer Patti Smith is about to step to recite her song ‘People Have the Power,’” he explains. A dual citizen of Croatia and the U.S., Krtic stud-ied at Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Cincinnati. He is a recipient of an Alabama Council on the Arts individual artist grant and has completed two artist’s residencies at

the American Academy in Rome. To view the work, see www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/08/opinion/power.gallery/index.html.

SCHOOL OF

NursingAbout 700 students, alumni, faculty and

friends attended the nursing school’s 12th annual Blue Jean Ball fundraiser in October at former Auburn head football coach Pat Dye’s Crooked Oaks Hunting Lodge in Notasulga. The event—in which attendees bid on auction items ranging from a football signed by former Auburn Tigers quarter-back Cam Newton to a purse crafted from a pair of Dye’s boots—netted more than $90,000 for the school, officials said. The money will benefit student scholarships and programming, among other initiatives.

HARRISON SCHOOL OF

PharmacyThis fall’s new class of pharmacy students got

a lesson in professional responsibility when at-torneys, faculty and staff presented a fact-based criminal case involv-ing the death of a child due to a pharmacist’s mistake. The school hosts a mock trial at the conclusion of its week-long “Foundations of Pharmacy” orientation

course, which introduces first-year students to the pharmacy doctoral program and covers the professional responsibil-ity of pharmacists. In the past, the mock trial has centered on civil litiga-tion involving medica-tion errors, but officials this year opted to base the proceedings on a real criminal case in which an Ohio pharmacist was charged with reck-less homicide in 2006 following the death of a 2-year-old. “Mock trial is the best way to drive home the idea of professional responsi-bility,” said pharmacy dean Lee Evans. “It’s a lesson our student pharmacists need to practice now. They are a trusted medical profes-sional from this point

on.” Lee County district attorney Robbie Treese ’89 played the role of prosecutor while Alabama State Board of Pharmacy attorney Jim Ward portrayed the defense counsel. Presiding over the pro-ceedings was Auburn municipal judge Jim McLaughlin ’91.

COLLEGE OF

Sciences and Mathematics

Auburn University honors graduate Mat-thew Ramirez ’11 was awarded a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship to study the popula-tion dynamics of sea turtles. The fellowship provides three years of support at $30,000 annually plus an edu-cational allowance of

$10,500. Ramirez, who majored in biological sciences at Auburn, completed his honors thesis on the functional changes in the gastroin-testinal tract of lactat-ing Columbian ground squirrels. He is now enrolled in the fisheries-science master’s degree program at Oregon State University and hopes his research on sea turtles may be used to guide conservation

efforts and develop policies designed to aid the endangered species’ recovery. Ramirez is the fourth Auburn student to be named an NSF fellow this year. COLLEGE OF

Veterinary Medicine

The College of Veteri-nary Medicine in Octo-ber was again granted full accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education. To maintain accredita-tion, veterinary colleges must provide an exten-sive self-evaluation and arrange for a site visit at least every seven years. The college was evalu-ated on 11 standards, including organization of personnel; finances; curriculum; facilities and equipment; library and informational resources available; and research programs. Reviewers praised students’ enthu-siasm for the program; the college’s culture of shared governance and its modern, well-equipped classrooms and study rooms; and students’ exposure to research. “Accreditation by the AVMA Council on Education represents the highest standard of achievement for veteri-nary medical education worldwide,” said interim veterinary school dean Frederic Hoerr. Auburn’s vet school, which awarded its first degrees in 1909, is the oldest in the South.

New look for Dudley libraryAuburn’s architecture library in Dudley Hall is undergoing a $200,000 renovation. When complete, the library will feature individual study areas on the upper level and group study areas on the lower floor. The public may view the renovations during regular library hours.


S T U D E N T L I F E

CONCOURSE

The smack of hard hits—and harder falls. Bruises. Scrapes. Hel-mets and pads. Add the slicing sound of blades on ice and the shiver of a round black disk flying across a freezing surface, propelled by a curved stick. Wayne Gretzky, eat your heart out. Yep, it’s ice hockey. In Auburn. Meet the denizens of Auburn University’s newest winter sport: the campus’ club ice hockey team, now in its third year of competition. Team founder James Florkiewicz looked around the Southeastern Conference a few years ago and realized other schools in this unlikely region already boasted suc-cessful ice hockey programs—and he thought Auburn needed one too. “I used to play, and I always enjoyed watching it,” says Florkiewicz, an aviation-and-flight-management major. “After gathering a team of interested guys and putting the idea before the Student Government Association, things happened quickly, and the team began playing the next season.” Nearly two dozen students of all ages and majors—many of whom found out about the club by word-of-mouth—make up Auburn’s ice hockey team. New players, who often are recruited by friends, try out in August in order to be ready for the fall season. The team is coached by campus information-technology employee Michael Robinson, who runs players through drills and endurance training with the helpful prodding of assistant coach Joe Caruthers, a bomb-disposal-team specialist at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. The team’s home rink is the Columbus Ice Rink, nearly 40 miles across the Georgia state line and a time zone away from downtown Auburn. The club plays various SEC

Auburn’s ice capadesInterview

Jonathan HoodDoctoral candidate, computer science

THE 4-1-1 Jonathan Hood ’11 hasn’t let the cost of education get in his way—he’s paid the bulk of his college expenses with proceeds from rebate programs used to market various products. Since 2010, Hood, who also works as a software developer, has cashed in more than 700 rebates and refined his technique into an art: He paid more than $3,500 of his most re-cent tuition bill of $4,500 using money from rebates. According to The Wall Street Journal, fewer than 60 percent of offered rebates are ever claimed.

THE SYSTEM Hood does all his shopping online, focusing on companies that offer “free-after-rebate” deals. Most retailers issue prepaid debit cards as rebates, so Hood entered between 200 and 250 debit cards into Auburn University’s online billing system to pay $2,500 of his tuition bill, then paid much of the rest with rebate checks. “The trick is paying attention to detail,” Hood says. “The rebate may ask for a sales order, packing slip, an invoice or a receipt. Make sure you send what they’re asking for. Making copies is important too, because rebate companies often ‘lose’ your rebate information.” Hood follows up when a rebate doesn’t arrive within the expected time frame. Only once has a company ever shorted him on a rebate—because it had gone out of business. Rebates are typically processed in about 12 weeks.

WHAT’S NEXT? With a doctoral degree to complete and a baby on the way (with wife Caitlyn), Hood says he’ll continue to amass rebates on a smaller scale. “If you have time, you can always make more money, but no amount of money can buy you more time. I won’t be doing as many rebates when our baby arrives,” he says. “I’ll make sure to have enough to support my family without shirking my responsi-bilities as a husband and father. This adventure in re-bates has been great for keeping my wife and myself out of debt ... but there are more profitable things to invest my time in just around the corner.”

Opposite and below: Auburn’s club ice hockey team rose from its icy grave in 2010 after a 27-year hiatus. The 20-member team is coached by Mike Rob-inson, an information-technology specialist and longtime hockey player himself.


C O N C O U R S E

In many small towns,

the local grocery store

represents more than just

a place to buy food—it’s

often a gathering place

for residents to hang out,

jaw about the weather

and have a chat. That was

the case for Cordova, a

tiny burg of 2,095 citi-

zens located northwest of

Birmingham.

Everything changed

when the Cordova grocery

store—along with the

town hall, police station,

a bank branch and the old

Tallulah Bankhead hotel,

which together made up

nearly 90 percent of the

town’s civic infrastruc-

ture—was wiped out

during the deadly April

2011 tornado outbreak in

Alabama.

Led by faculty Paul

Holley ’89 and Josh

Emig, graduate students

in Auburn’s McWhorter

School of Building Sci-

ence have designed new

buildings meant to re-

unite Cordova’s citizens.

Students were divided

into four teams, each

collaborating on a single

facility, including a new

city hall, fire station

and grocery store, plus

alternative business

plans for the companies

involved. The assignment

emphasized a review

of cost-effective and ef-

ficient ways to construct

buildings, particularly

in a downtown virtually

abandoned by the lure of

strip malls and big box

stores. Cordova residents

also have offered input.

“Being a native of

Alabama and having

witnessed the destruction

of the storms, this project

is more important to me

than any other design

project I have been as-

signed in my education,”

said Julian Vida ’11, who

helped design a town

library. “I hope I can

provide the city and its

citizens with a library

design they will embrace

as their own.”

REBUILDING CORDOVA

The other 47 percentNearly half of Auburn’s graduating stu-dents—47 percent—leave college with debt amounting to an average $24,800, according to a study by the Project on Student Debt. Nation-ally, college students report an average debt of $26,600 upon graduation.

schools between September and February, and—like the Auburn Tigers football team—players pretty much hinge their bragging rights on a single tourney: Auburn vs. Alabama. Auburn’s ice hockey players will compete for the “Iron Cup” Jan. 11-12 in Pelham. This year’s 24-game season laced up for home and away games at ice rinks in Columbus and Cumming, Ga., against rival Georgia Tech in late September, splitting the series. Other games will find the team taking on Georgia, Florida State, Clemson, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Arkansas and the Univer-sity of Memphis. The venues may sound funny to fans accustomed to venerable names such as Jordan-Hare Stadium, Bryant-Denny Stadium, Neyland Stadium or even Death Valley. Besides the Columbus Ice Rink “home field,” the team will play its 2012-13 games at the Duluth, Ga., Ice Forum, the Savannah, Ga., Civic Center, the Wilcoxon Ice Com-plex in Huntsville, the Pelham, Ala., Civic Complex, the Extreme IceCenter in Indian Trail, N.C., and the Mid-South Ice House in Olive Branch, Miss. Ten teams compete in the South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference. While Auburn, Arkansas, South Carolina and Vanderbilt play under the umbrella of fa-miliar sports brands—Auburn fields its team as the Auburn Tigers—other schools tinker with their monikers. Also taking the ice this season are the Alabama Frozen Tide, the Florida Ice Gators, the Georgia Ice Dogs, the Mississippi Ice Rebels, the Mississippi State Ice Dawgs and the Tennessee Ice Vols. The SECHC, led by former Georgia Tech hockey coach Kenny “Sarge” Day, runs its seasons from late September through mid-February. Auburn’s final regular-season games will be Feb. 8-9 against Ole Miss. Although the club’s fan base is sparse and individual players bear most of the costs involved, including uniforms and travel, Florkiewicz says the hard work pays off in good times on the ice. “It’s a great atmosphere, it’s fun to watch, and it’s a great way to watch Auburn beat Alabama in more than just football,” he says. “We hold a lot of games, and we’re really competitive. It does get a little physical, but that’s just part of the fun.” For more on Auburn’s ice hockey club team or to donate to the program, see wp.auburn.edu/hockey.—Landrum Isaacson


C O N C O U R S E

In a warehouse on Auburn University’s campus, a dozen 6-foot-tall, plastic-wrapped columns of computers, monitors and other electronic components await sorting by sur-plus-property manager William “Bill” Capps ’88 and his crew of employees. In a month, workers have gathered nearly 5 tons of so-called electronic waste. Were they to be thrown in a landfill, the machines could leach lead, mercury or arsenic into the ground, air or water; the plastic, metal and glass components would never degrade. That’s where Capps comes in. He and his team are responsible for figuring out how to part with the campus’ outdated computer monitors, printers, fax machines and other electronic gadgets—more than 60 tons of technological garbage last year alone. “Progress makes things better, but leaves so much behind,” Capps notes. “People want the latest trend in technology and abandon the older models. Auburn University has a commitment to being sustainable, so throwing out-of-date computer systems in a landfill is not an option. We are good stewards; we have to do things responsibly.” Capps’ department first looks to sell or give useable electronic discards to Alabama’s public school systems, other departments at Auburn or state-funded agencies. Other-wise, the debris is recycled by Tampa, Fla.-based Creative Recycling. In recent years, administrators have instituted programs to promote better environ-mental stewardship. An annual residence hall competition, dubbed “Sustain-a-Bowl,” encourages students to reduce electricity use, conserve water and improve their recycling habits. Students may also elect to complete a 15-credit-hour minor in sustainability. Auburn’s recycling program, established in 2005, has expanded to provide recycling bins inside and outside campus buildings as well as at special events. “Over the past year and a half, the waste reduction and recycling department has expanded its campus-building recycling program to more than 50 buildings and has in-creased its recycling efforts with athletics by collecting all of the plastic bottles left in the stands at Jordan-Hare Stadium,” says Donny Addison ’05, manager of waste reduction and recycling on campus. Adds Mike Kensler, director of Auburn’s Office of Sustainability: “The sustainable and recycling efforts all come down to Auburn University’s core values and the dedica-tion to future generations.”—Katherine Harding ’10

Techno trash

Uniform gloryAuburn University is among the top 15 percent of colleges na-tionwide that deliver the best experience for military students, according to G.I. Jobs magazine. Among the services Auburn offers to veterans are assistance with registration, housing options and counseling. More than 280 military veterans were enrolled at Auburn during fall semester.

SyllabusCOURSE NAME LAND 5370 “Plant Ephemerality”

INSTRUCTORS David M. Hill, assistant professor of landscape architecture, College of Architecture, Design and Construction

THE SCOOP “We investigate how plants change through time. Much too often, designers unfortu-nately imagine and represent plants at one fixed moment in time,” says Hill, who grew up among an assortment of flora in his family’s plant nursery in south Georgia. “Throughout this course, we look for design opportunities embedded in the many scales of time. We begin by closely examining how plants grow and reproduce, and the spatial implica-tions of these processes. We then examine the cyclical changes of the seasons and experiment with methods of creating evocative landscape throughout the year. Finally, we observe the plant communities associated with each phase of succession, examining the connection between evolving microclimates and species selection.” As part of the course, students have examined how plantings at Toomer’s Corner—including new trees—may be “choreographed over an abnormally long period of time.”

RECOMMENDED READING The course’s reference books provide students with excellent resources for plant information. They include Field Guide to the Piedmont: The Natural Habitats of America’s Most Lived-In Region, from New York City to Montgomery, Ala. (University of North Carolina Press, 1997) by Michael A. Godfrey and Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses (Stipes Publishing, 2009) by Michael Dirr.

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S P O R T S

TIGER WALK

Win or lose, you want to spend fall Satur-days watching football, because it’s more than a game—it’s a social occasion. So what if you can’t be with your BFFs on game day? Josh Peyton ’09 has an app for that, one that will also help wounded mili-tary veterans. When Peyton, a U.S. Army captain, found out he was going to be deployed to

Iraq during the Auburn Tigers’ 2010 Na-tional Championship season, he wasn’t sure how he was going to stay connected to the action in Jordan-Hare Stadium. “I wanted nothing more than to be with my Auburn friends during the National Championship game, but I was deployed. I realized at that moment (that) football fans like me needed a product that connects

friends through football from anywhere in the world. That’s when we started to devel-op the concepts that eventually turned into ‘YellowFlag,’” says Peyton. “YellowFlag” is a free smartphone ap-plication that allows friends to communicate with each other during football games. It’s faster than texting, because you can talk to multiple fans during the game while keeping

Virtual tailgate parties: Are they the new normal?


T I G E R W A L K

tabs on the score. The app sets out to en-hance the overall fan experience by provid-ing live scores, play-by-plays and updates for NFL and college games. Peyton, who likens the app to “having a tailgate in your pocket,” founded the Yel-lowFlag company along with his brother, Gabe. The name originated with an argu-ment between the brothers and their group of friends over a controversial referee call during an Auburn-LSU game. Texting was too slow to maintain the debate. “The whole reason I created this com-pany is so that regardless of where you are in the world—Iraq, Afghanistan, on vaca-tion, on business trips or across Jordan-Hare stadium—you can stay connected with your friends through football in a virtual tailgat-ing environment,” Peyton says. YellowFlag 1.0 launched in August for iPhone, iPad and iPod. Between Au-gust and October, more than 3,500 foot-ball fans had downloaded the app, rack-ing up more than 33,000 page views and complimentary comments. “I was able to chat on YellowFlag during the Auburn/Clemson game with a good friend who is serving in Afghani-stan,” Peyton recalls. “I felt like it had changed someone’s life.” Officials of the Military Bowl—the annual matchup that pits an Atlan-tic Coast Conference team against a team from Conference USA or one of the service academies—will be using YellowFlag as the exclusive app for its nationally televised game on Dec. 27. YellowFlag’s growth plans include serv-ing as an employer for wounded veter-ans—something Peyton knows all about. In July 2011, he was injured in a wreck while serving in Iraq. “Our vehicle hit a sandy patch in the road,” Peyton says. “My driver lost con-trol, and we flipped several times. Dur-ing the rollover, my right hand lodged in the passenger-side window and was severely damaged.” Peyton, who now lives in the Wash-ington, D.C., area, was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he underwent multiple surgeries to repair his hand. Because of the expe-rience, Peyton is determined to support other veterans who have been injured during military service.

“I am a wounded veteran. I know that soldiers love sports. It makes sense to me that, as a sports app company, we can recruit wounded veterans that want to be involved in sports, even though they physically might not be able to play sports anymore,” he says. YellowFlag currently boasts 13 em-ployees and 34 interns, but is seeking to add staff by working with the Wounded Warrior Project and related organiza-tions to hire and train veterans to become members of the team. The company is supported through in-app advertising and promotions. Peyton credits Auburn with playing a huge role in YellowFlag’s success. “First and foremost, Auburn fans are the most passionate football fans in the world,” he says. “From rolling Toomer’s Corner to the War Eagle flights at Jordan-Hare Stadium, their passion for football is infectious. As a result, I became infected with the Auburn bug, which carried over into creating a company dedicated to con-necting passionate fans through football.” To find out more, see www.yellowflag.net.—Landrum Isaacson

Gogue: Stay all inAuburn University president Jay Gogue ’69 released a statement in late October encouraging fans to rally around the Tigers football team. “The Auburn spirit is part of everything we do,” Gogue said. “It includes the spirit we show when we support those who represent us on the playing field. … I ap-preciate everyone who has taken the time to share your thoughts about the football program. ... As we do every year, the football program will be evaluated in an objective, thorough and professional process. For everything there is a time, and now is the time to support.”

Auburn’s soccer team began the quest to defend its 2011 Southeastern Conference Tourna-ment Championship shortly before Auburn Magazine went to press, playing third-seeded Tennessee in the quarterfinals at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. At press time, the team aimed to become the first repeat SEC Tourna-ment champion since Tennessee won it all in 2002 and 2003.

“Tennessee is a very good team,” Auburn head soccer coach Karen Hoppa noted. “They finished out incredibly strong to finish third in the league, and they are a top-15 team in the country. It’s a big matchup.”

Auburn (11-9-0) went into the tourna-ment as the sixth seed after going 7-6-0 in league play and finishing second in the SEC West. This

marks the first time Auburn has held the sixth seed since the 2009 tournament, and the fifth time overall. The club has gone 5-4-0 while playing as the sixth seed. Two of Auburn’s four SEC Tournament championships came from this spot in the rotation.

“We learned how to win (in the postseason) at the SEC Tournament last year, and that’s something our pro-gram had struggled with,” Hoppa said. “We will take that experience, but we cannot rely on that. We can’t think that, because it happened last year, it will happen this year. We have to put last year behind us and really focus on what this team does well.”

Learn the results of the team’s champi-onship bid online at www.auburntigers.com/sports/w-soccer.

SOCCER TEAM TRIES FOR TWO IN A ROW


T I G E R W A L K

Auburn head basketball coaches Tony Barbee and Terri Williams-Flournoy head into this year’s season anxious to see their teams move up in the rankings. “For me, the expectations are going to be high,” Barbee said of the men’s team, which kicked off its season Nov. 9 with a home opener against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. “Nobody can put a higher expectation on my program or myself than my players or myself. With that being said, we want to step forward and keep the momentum going. When I talk about expectations, I don’t want to talk about the number of wins, because whenever I look at our schedule, I don’t see a game we are going to lose. That’s how I look at things. It’s going to be a fun year for us.” Fifth-year senior Frankie Sullivan ’11 is the leading returning scorer for the men’s team after averaging 12.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season. He is ranked 25th on Auburn’s all-time scoring list with 1,091 career points. “It has been a great preseason for us,” Sullivan noted. “We have a lot of condition-ing going and a lot of team chemistry with the freshmen and newcomers who came in. Everybody has been working hard, and that is a great thing. I haven’t felt this good since my freshman year, body-wise.” A recruiting class that was ranked third in the Southeastern Conference also is ex-pected to help Barbee’s rebuilding project. “We’re getting close,” Barbee said. “Each year we want to take positive steps forward. This year our roster is stronger than it was last year. These positives are going to equal to a higher finish in the conference.” Twenty-year coaching veteran Terri Williams-Flournoy, formerly head coach at Georgetown University, tipped off her first Auburn season Nov. 9 against Maine in the Wolfpack Invitational in Raleigh, N.C. Williams-Flournoy was named Auburn’s sixth women’s head basketball coach in April. Auburn’s women’s team in October was picked to finish 10th in the SEC by a voting panel of SEC members and national media. Kentucky was predicted to win the 2013 SEC title with 20 of the 26 first-place votes. “It’s hard to say how we stack up right now, because we are still so much in the learn-ing phase,” said Williams-Flournoy. “As a new coach coming in, you always want to try to be in the middle of the pack. We are trying to get there right now. We keep telling the players that—that we have to get better to get there.”

Building basketball

Strike up the bandAuburn’s athletics department has pledged $1.5 million toward a new practice facility for the Auburn University Marching Band. The $10 million, 32,500-square-foot building is expect-ed to include rehearsal halls, a percussion stu-dio and a music library.

It’s been a busy year

for Auburn business

major Tyler McGill ’11.

He married his college

sweetheart, former

Auburn swimmer Julianne

McLane ’11, joined the

Auburn athletics staff

as a volunteer assistant

swimming-and-diving

coach, and—oh yeah—

won a gold medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics

in London.

McGill, who won the top

prize as part of the 4x100-

meter U.S. medley relay

team, was one of 28 current

or former Auburn athletes

and coaches (including

16 swimmers and divers)

representing 13 nations at

this year’s games.

Fellow swimmer Eric

Shanteau ’06 also won gold

as part of the U.S. team in

the 4x100-medley relay;

Kerron Stewart ’08 won sil-

ver in track and field in the

4-x-100-meter relay race,

representing Jamaica;

and three former Auburn

athletes won bronze med-

als: Marc Burns ’06 in the

4-x-100-meter track and

field event, representing

Trinidad and Tobago; Cesar

Cielo ’07 in the men’s

50-meter freestyle swim-

ming event, representing

Brazil; and Matt Targett ’10

in the men’s 4-x-100-meter

swimming medley relay,

representing Australia.

Although McGill fell

in love with swimming

at age 11, he didn’t

really begin dreaming of

becoming an Olympian

until he came in fourth

at the Olympic trials in

2008. “It was really un-

expected and awesome,”

he says. “I always swam

in a way that was focused

on maintaining Auburn’s

level of excellence, but

when I came in fourth, my

Olympic dreams started.”

McGill won a gold

medal at the world

championships the fol-

lowing year, after which

he set his sights firmly

on London. During his

college years at Auburn,

the Champaign, Ill.,

native was a 16-time

All-American, helping

Auburn to NCAA titles in

2007 and 2009. He won

two individual titles in

2009 as part of the 400-

yard freestyle relay and

400-yard medley relay

teams. He has also been

a three-time medalist at

the FINA World Champi-

onships and a three-time

silver medalist in the

100-meter butterfly

at the USA Swimming

National Championships.

A specialist in the

butterfly, McGill still has

trouble putting into words

the experience of standing

on the winner’s platform

last summer. “It’s surreal,”

he says. “Whatever expecta-

tions you have as an athlete

going into the games,

you can’t prepare for it.

No matter if it’s your first

Olympics or your fifth, each

one is different, and you

can’t prepare for it. It was

an amazing experience.”

Next up: training for

the 2016 games in Rio

de Janeiro.—Landrum

Isaacson

MCGILL: OLYMPIC GOLD STANDARD

updatedMyLowes_AUB w bleed.indd 1 10/17/2012 2:57:52 PM


Human icons are funny things. Formed over time by widespread recognition and determined longevity, they become symbols rather than flesh-and-blood—imbued with idealism, the sum of years and experience and memory and story. Which is how David Housel, the son of a one-time mayor and city councilman from Gordo (popu-lation 1,750), has moved resolutely through nearly half a century either enrolled at, working for or retired from Auburn University: watching his first Iron Bowl with the fervor and optimism only a 10-year-old could muster; attending class during the troubled Vietnam era; teaching journalism undergraduates the virtue of a well-turned phrase; and spinning news as a sports information officer and, eventually, athletics director. At 66, Housel has evolved as Auburn’s primary sports historian and unof-ficial elder statesman—the man to whom reporters look for a sound bite and to whom alumni listen, rapt, at lecture venues, and who likely holds the key to the closet that houses whatever skeletons lurk on campus. Housel graduated from Auburn in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, briefly wrote for The Huntsville Times and returned to Auburn the following year to take a job in the Department of Athletics’ ticket office. After working at Auburn for 22 years, he was named the university’s 13th athletic director in 1994 and retired in 2006, two years after the infamous “Jetgate” controversy, in which several Auburn administrators were accused of conspiring to oust former head football coach Tommy Tuberville in favor of then-University of Louisville coach Bobby Petrino. Today, Hou-sel still spends time with Auburn students, meeting weekly with an Honors College book club to explore issues and ideas ranging from civil rights to Islam. He plays golf when he can and enjoys domestic life with wife Susan McIntosh Housel ’73, a retired teacher, and their cat, Star. Officials named the Jordan-Hare Stadium press box

In His Own Words

During his days as athletics director at Auburn, David Housel ’69 was immortal-ized by illustrator Jack Davis, one of the founding cartoonists of Mad magazine and a noted caricature artist. This illustra-tion graced the cover of his 1991 mem-oir, From the Desk of David Housel: A Collection of Auburn Stories, made up of Housel’s newspaper and football program columns.

To paraphrase an old James Taylor tune, former Auburn

athletics director David Housel ’69 has seen fire, and

he’s seen rain. Through the years, he still believes in his

alma mater—and loves it. b y s u z a n n e j o h n s o n


after Housel in 2005, and, last year, the Auburn Lettermen’s Club presented him with its Coach Jack Meagher Award. Auburn Magazine chatted with Housel in October as his beloved Auburn Tigers were experiencing a disappointing foot-ball season, having won the BCS National Championship only two years prior.

On his first memories of campus “I’ve been blessed to be a part of Auburn

for a long, long time. My very first memory of Auburn was in 1955. I had an uncle who was on the ROTC staff here, and my parents came down for the Auburn-Mississippi State game that year. They couldn’t get a ticket for me, so I went to the theater with my cousin. I remember going to sleep in the theater and my cousin walking out and leaving me. “But my first big personal memory of Auburn was the first Auburn football game I ever saw—the 1956 Auburn-Alabama game at Legion Field in Birmingham, which Auburn won 34-7. I was 10 years old. It sounds kind of trite to say it changed my life, but in many ways it did. I was really taken away by the color, the pageantry, the excitement of it all. “When I got home, I wrote both Auburn and Alabama, ask-ing for information on their football teams. Auburn sent me a media guide and a note thanking me for being an Auburn fan. Alabama sent me a media guide and a bill for $2. Auburn seemed like they appreciated this kid more, so I became an Au-burn fan. Alabama got their $2, and Auburn got my heart. “I think my story is probably not unlike a lot of Auburn stories. We got introduced to Auburn through football. That got us off the street and up on the front porch, so to speak, and then you saw what a wonderful experience it is being an Auburn person.”

On his favorite Auburn moments “There are just too many. Auburn’s been my life, and how do you pick one part of your life? One of the great things about living in Auburn is interacting with students; they keep you young. Your body ages, but your mind and your heart stay young. “I’ve been fortunate to be in Auburn for a long time. Folks say I worked at Auburn, but it never felt like work. I felt like it was an opportunity to serve and an opportunity to give back, so I never worked at Auburn. “I remember—and this wouldn’t qualify as my favorite—but as a student I remember protests against the Vietnam War, and I thought it was terrible how students were protesting against the country. But when I grew up and realized had I known then what I know now, I’d have probably been out there protesting too.”

On mentors and coaches “Coach Ralph ‘Shug’ Jordan and coach Jeff Beard, the athletic director from 1951-72, were my mentors in terms of love of Auburn, dedication to Auburn and trying to give something back to Auburn. They taught me about the importance of Auburn, the Auburn spirit and the importance of committing yourself and working to make Auburn better. “Coach Pat Dye taught me one of the most important les-sons: You can’t worry about what’s going on somewhere else. You have to worry about the things you can do something

about. Auburn people don’t need to be worrying about what’s going on in Tuscaloosa, or Athens, Ga., or Baton Rouge, La. Auburn people only need to be worrying about what’s going on at Auburn.”

On the Iron Bowl “For 50 years, the Auburn-Alabama game dominated my life. Looking back on it, I’m not happy to say it, but it was the most important thing in my life for more years than I care to think about. And then I finally realized: This too shall pass. No matter who wins that game, you’re going to play again next year. So all glory is fleeting, as all pain and loss is fleeting. “I saw my first Iron Bowl in 1956. In 2006, after I retired, I intentionally did not go to the game in Tuscaloosa. I went to New York. I went to see “Les Miserables” on Broadway and didn’t know the score until we got to Grand Central Station and Michael Jordan’s Steak House. “That didn’t mean I didn’t care about the Alabama game—it’s still the biggest thing around. But my life is no longer dictat-ed or determined by the outcome of that one game. Let’s put it this way: It’s taken more of its proper role in my life than it has in many years. It’s part of the aging process, I think. I realized I was the same person on Sunday that I was on Friday. My values hadn’t changed; my work ethic hadn’t changed. If we won the game, I was not a better person, and if Alabama won the game, I was not a lesser person. People get so wrought up in it—they define themselves by whether or not their team wins or loses. That being said, do I still want to beat ’em? Hell, yes.”

On winning and losing seasons “I remember something (former Auburn administrator and assistant coach) ‘Buck’ Brad-berry used to say. If the football team was bad, Buck would always say, ‘You know, our football team has got to get better.

I N H I S O W N W O R D S

Opposite and right: A longtime theater fan, Housel missed his first Iron Bowl in decades shortly after he retired in 2006. He traveled to New York City that year, where he attended a Broadway performance of “Les Miserables.” The experience was, he says, surprisingly liber-ating. Housel worked at Auburn for 34 years.


I N H I S O W N W O R D S

On Auburn’s Heisman winners “I’m proud of the fact that Auburn is the only school where John Heisman coached to have a Heisman trophy winner. Ed Marinaro of Cornell and (Auburn quarterback) Pat Sullivan locked horns in a real battle in 1971, and Pat won it, of course. It was exciting sitting on the couch and hearing the announcement made on TV, then hearing all the horns blowing as everybody went to Toomer’s Corner to celebrate—and didn’t throw toilet paper! “I was involved more intimately with Bo Jackson, and I’ll never forget sitting in the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City when the announcer said, ‘The 1985 Heisman win-ner is B …’ and the instant he said ‘buh’ we knew it was Bo, and there was both happiness and relief. “The year Cam Newton won, in 2010, it wasn’t close, and it shouldn’t have been close.”

On Auburn students “I don’t think students have changed at heart. I don’t think human nature changes at heart. If human nature changed, the works of Shakespeare, the Bible and all the great literary works down through the years would have lost their meaning. The works of Shakespeare are every bit as mean-ingful today as they were when they were written. “One of the big changes is how they dress going to class—shorts, very casual. It’s almost like going to the beach some-times. But the thing that concerns me most about today’s stu-dents is the fact that, when we were in school, you walked out of that classroom and across campus, and you’d be talking to your friends. Now, you see them come out of class and get on that cell phone, and they’re texting. I hope Auburn doesn’t ever lose its reputation for friendliness, but these students come from a different age. “I also think the Auburn student is getting smarter and smarter and smarter. A lot of good Auburn men and women would not be able to get in today because Auburn is, perhaps rightly so, concentrating more on test scores and academics. The essence of Auburn used to be that a blue-collar guy could come here and work his way through and make it. There are still some of those.”

On Auburn today “A newspaper editor friend once told me something I didn’t fully understand, but time has taught me what he meant. He said, ‘Beware of people who love Auburn too much. Because when they love Auburn too much, they’re seeing Auburn in their own image. And they want Auburn to be for everybody like it was for them.’ “I’ve since come to realize that the love of the Auburn peo-ple is (the university’s) greatest strength and its greatest liability. People love it if Auburn is shaped to their expectations and memories. And if it’s not what they want it to be, then they try to reshape it to what it was, not what it is or what it has to be. “Sometimes we hold Auburn too close. It’s a human insti-tution, and has to change and grow. In the process, we hope it doesn’t lose the values that made it special—especially the Auburn spirit—but change is inevitable. “We should just love Auburn and be grateful for our as-sociation with it and the impact it’s had on our lives.”

We’ve got to have people feeling good about Auburn so they’ll give to the university and increase their donations.’ And if the football team was good, he’d say, ‘Football doesn’t have any impact whatsoever on donations.’ So it’s just where you are, as to how you look at it.”

On “Jetgate” “I was part of a process that went awry. The (university) president, Dr. (William) Walker, decided that we needed to look in different directions and was eager to go for-ward. The cart got put before the horse, and the cart fell in the ditch. What more can you say? “There was a long time where Auburn didn’t love me, but I never stopped loving Auburn. And I know there are still people out there who are angry and upset, but the only thing a person can do is the best you can do when you have to do it. “I’m kind of like Colin Powell in his ‘weapons of mass de-struction’ speech at the United Nations. I wish it hadn’t hap-pened, but it did. You can’t change history, but neither can you let history hold you back. But I do think about it.”

On the Toomer’s oaks poisoning “A student called me and told me about the poisoning of the trees. It’s terrible to look up there and see them dying. It’s sad because of the loss of conti-nuity of human experience from one generation of Auburn people to the next. But there’s more to Auburn and being an Auburn per-son than an oak tree. We don’t ever need to forget that. The trees are but an outward and visible symbol of what’s in the heart.”

On rolling the oaks “People often wonder when the tradition of rolling the trees at Toomer’s Corner started. Some people say it started in 1955, but I don’t remember it that way. In 1972, Auburn was getting ready to play Alabama in Birmingham when Alabama was undefeated, No. 2 in the nation. They called their defensive line the ‘great redwood forest’ because they were so impenetrable. “For two weeks before the game, WEGL-FM, the campus radio station, went around getting people’s comments about how the game was going to come out. And one of the players, Terry Henley ’73, said we were going to beat the ‘number two’ out of them. After Auburn won, 17-16, everyone came back and start rolling Toomer’s Corner with toilet paper because we beat the ‘number two’ out of Alabama. That’s when I remember it starting. The year before, when Pat Sullivan won the Heisman, we gathered, but there was no rolling.

Opposite: Housel may frequently be found in a huddle with friends at Chappy’s Deli on Glenn Avenue in Auburn. Left: Housel attended the 1985 Heisman Trophy ceremony with Auburn running back Bo Jackson ’95. “David played an integral role in my bringing Auburn its second Heisman Trophy,” says Jackson, who lives near Chicago.


Just how important is rain? Four Auburn researchers explain how the

nationwide drought will affect your wallet. b y s u z a n n e j o h n s o n

High and Dry

This summer, the colors of drought surrounded us. Driving down rural back roads of the Southeast, we witnessed the brown of dying fields and the burnt orange of dusty, cracked clay. In the cities, we listened as TV meteorologists droned about the lack of rain while posing before rainbow-hued U.S. maps spotted with yellow, orange, red and burgundy, indicators of the situation’s severity. The nationwide drought painted our lawns a mortal shade of brownish-gray and saturated a cloud-less sky with rich blues and blinding rays of gold. All that paint left us with one burning question: Just what’s up with the weather?

Here are a few statistics to ponder. By the end of September, 89 percent of the continental U.S. was suffering from drought conditions ranging from moderate to extreme based on the Palmer Drought Index, one of the major indices monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This year’s drought—the worst in more than two decades—impacts 80 percent of U.S. agricultural land. As of August, at least mod-erate drought conditions were adversely affecting two-thirds of the nation’s cattle farms and more than 70 percent of its corn and soybean crops.

Even the prolific, constant pine tree is showing signs of stress in some areas of the country, telling the tale of dry weath-er through its trunk, says Lisa Samuelson, director of Auburn University’s Center for Longleaf Pine Ecosystems. Weak, brittle stands have attracted some of the worst outbreaks of bark bee-tle infestation in recorded history. But absence of rain is only part of the problem, scientists say. A complex mélange of precipitation, heat, trade winds and timing also contributes to what experts consider drought condi-tions, all of which may vary between regions. No one knows


that better than Auburn forestry and wildlife sciences professor Hanqin Tian, who directs the International Center for Climate and Global Change Research. “Drought is related to different climate zones,” Tian says. “For example, here in the Southeast we are used to humid weather, but in the Southwest it is very dry. So the Southwest might get less precipitation, but the impact might be worse here because the plants and the crops are used to wetter condi-tions. So we’re really talking about different kinds of drought in different regions—both in terms of its area and its dura-tion.” The climate patterns of La Niña and El Niño are to blame as well. As extremes of a natural climate cycle referred to as El Niño/Southern Oscillation, they’re driving the drought bus. During La Niña periods, temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean are cooler than average, while during El Niño they heat up. In the Northern Hemisphere, trade winds coming off La Niña may result in less rainfall in the Southeast. “What has been occurring in the last two years is that we entered a La Niña phase,” says Brenda Ortiz, an Auburn assis-tant professor of agronomy and soils who studies climate cycles in order to advise farmers about irrigation and planting during drought conditions. “When we have a very strong La Niña sig-nal, it tends to last for more than a year. We were in an El Niño phase in 2010, but went into La Niña in 2011 with a very short transition between”—leaving farmers and timber growers with little time to adapt to changing weather conditions by varying planting times or methods.

o what does dry weather mean for the rest of us? Drought has a cumulative effect that trickles through every aspect of our lives in ways we might not expect, notes associate professor of forestry Latif Kalin, an expert in engineering hydrology. He identifies four stages of drought impact, starting with lack of precipitation. “The agricultural drought comes next,

when we start seeing the impact of drought on agriculture,” he says. “Then there’s a hydrological impact—there’s a lag between

precipitation and its impact on stream flow and groundwater, and cities often rely on groundwater for their water supplies.” Finally, he says, there’s the socioeconomic impact of drought as food and fuel prices rise. Our dead lawns are only the tip of the iceberg: Continued drought conditions are like-ly to drive food prices up, harm the quality of crops, threaten the supply of gasoline, fuel the spread of the West Nile virus, create giant dust storms, and impede the shipping of coal, steel and other products that travel to their destinations via river barge. Crop farmers have been the first to feel the effects. Corn, for example, is a staple of everything from processed food to fuel production; the bulk of the U.S. corn crop is used for livestock feed, ethanol and products such as corn syrup—a common food thickener, sweetener and humectant. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in August reported that 85 percent of the nation’s corn crop is located within drought-stricken areas, including growing swaths of Alabama and Georgia as well as major por-tions of the Midwest. “This is the most extensive and severe drought in the last 25 years,” says Ortiz, “and corn is the most-affected crop because of the large drought and decline in yield that we have seen in the Midwest. Where it’s going to be reflected is in our processed foods because of all the cornstarch and cereals and corn flour that we use to process food. Prices will continue to go up.” Meanwhile, cattle and pork producers are finding creative ways of coping with feed shortages. Florida farmers were trying to make up for low corn and hay yields in September by offering their animals gummy candies, Froot Loops and potato products, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Nationwide, many farmers are culling their herds earlier than usual so there’s enough feed to go around. “Cattle ranchers are going to increase sacrificing cattle because of the higher feed costs, so for a short period of time we might see prices of meat going down because we will have a higher supply,” Ortiz says. “But that’s going to reverse pretty quickly.” Even crops that rely on pollination to produce seeds—in-cluding cashews, melons, cucumbers, almonds, squash, peaches and berries—are at risk. “Drought and temperature can suddenly change the time that different species flower and produce fruit, and the insect life cycle doesn’t have time to adapt,” says Samuelson. “So you get a mismatch of pollinating insects or birds that rely on a certain seed or fruit.” Meanwhile, in cities and towns across the U.S., utility bills are expected to rise as water supplies dry up. Homes may settle and deteriorate faster as groundwater levels fluctuate, particu-larly in cities where groundwater lies close to the earth’s surface, notes Kalin. At the same time, in stagnant pools created by drying rivers and lakes, insects and other invasive species thrive—in-cluding the West Nile virus-carrying mosquito. “Mosquitoes need wet conditions, but they also need food,” Tian says. “So when drought conditions cause surface-water levels to go down, it creates conditions where more bacteria are con-centrated in the remaining water, providing more places for mosquitoes to eat.” Enter birds and dragonflies, which feast on mosquitos, and the increased transmission of the West Nile virus is virtually as-sured, Kalin adds.

H I G H A N D D R Y

This is the most extensive and severe drought in the last 25 years, and corn is by far the most-affected crop.

S


here’s good news for the Southeast, however, in the form of storm clouds on the hori-zon. Experts pre-dict a wetter-than-average winter, which means farm-

ers and foresters may collect and store water in greater quantities for use dur-ing the next growing season as they consider upgrading their irrigation sys-tems, Ortiz says. “There is a big interest by the gov-ernment here in Alabama to encourage irrigation, perhaps offering tax incen-tives,” she notes. “A couple of farm-ers in north Alabama are already tak-ing advantage of that, and a couple are building reservoirs to store water dur-ing the winter.” Foresters also may choose drought- and disease-resistant species for future plantings, reduce the density of their stands and harvest earlier to keep dam-aging beetles at bay, adds Samuelson, pointing to a recent study showing that 10 percent of trees in drought-stricken Texas have died. “One thing that was interesting is (that) the amount of trees killed was double what they’d normal-ly take out during harvesting. To me, that’s significant.” In the end, though, much of our fu-ture depends on Mother Nature herself. Don’t you just wish it would rain?

T

In stagnant pools, insects may thrive— including West Nile-carrying mosquitoes.

“Auburn University has been part of our family for three

generations. Our purchase of pavers in the new Alumni Walk

allows us to give back to our alma mater by contributing

to the Auburn Alumni Association’s endowment, which will

provide scholarships to students for generations to come.”

–Steve Boucher ‘77 and Lynne Hawkins Boucher ’77

Buy a paver today and preserve your family’s legacy.

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Kate Larkin

334-844-1149

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Czar

Tales of

When industrial designer Carter McGuyer and wife Brandi launched their housewares design company a scant six years ago, they took a shock-and-awe approach. “Nobody has much money to spare when they’re getting a business off the ground,” notes Brandi. “We thought: Let’s look as if we do, and really turn up the volume with some eye-popping, guer-rilla marketing. There’s a long taxi-line that you walk through at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, which was coming up. We decided to create as much buzz as possible there.” At the 2007 show, Brandi—who cultivated her leggy stage presence as a ballerina before becoming a marketing special-ist—catwalked in a sheath trimmed in ostrich feathers, while Carter, a consummate clotheshorse who once was named one of Esquire’s “25 Best-Dressed Real Men,” modeled a grey plaid

suit with a shirt in a contrasting pattern, a pocket square and a bowtie by his hometown friend, fashion legend Billy Reid. (Later on, Carter also rocked some blue suede shoes.) The McGuyers make a striking, mediagenic couple under any circumstances, but—even in this en-vironment of creative types—the duo’s audacious peacock style turned heads. And the phone started ringing at Carter McGuyer Design Group Inc., or CMDG, in the Muscle Shoals area, where he grew up. “It was typical of what I try to do in my work, because nothing matched but everything came together,” says Carter, who graduated from Auburn’s College

Ever wondered how to get into Oprah Winfrey’s drawers? Ask Tuscumbia

kitchen gadget designer Carter McGuyer ’98, whose graters, peelers,

colanders, salad scissors and spoon rests may be found in the haute homes

of celebrities and latter-day hausfraus alike. b y c a n d i c e d y e r

Don’t step on his blue suede shoes: Carter and Brandi McGuyer have fashioned a kitchen-, office- and home-accessories empire through ingenu-ity, savvy marketing and a blending of form and function. Carter McGuyer Design Group is based near Muscle Shoals.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SHANA ALEXANDER & STACY FULTON OF CAPTURED STUDIOS

a Zester


of Architecture, Design and Construction in 1998. “I don’t want to look like a clown, but I do want to look high-end, different and unexpected, and I want to make a statement in everything I do and touch. Design is not rocket science—it’s much more complicated than that. It’s about communication.”

hat all-consuming aestheticism informs CMDG’s work and has made its founder a nationwide household presence, if not yet a recognizable name: Carter Mc-Guyer reigns as the undisputed king of kitchen gadgets. If you have acquired anything nifty lately from Crate & Barrel, Williams-So-noma, Bed Bath & Beyond, Pam-

pered Chef, Pier 1 Imports or a mega-mall of other retailers who target refined sensibilities, you probably have some of his products in a cabinet or drawer. One of McGuyer’s most popu-lar and enduring designs—extolled by Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and all of the chefs, foodies and top-shelf mixologists worth their Himalayan sea salt—is the “Premium Classic Se-ries Zester/Grater 46020,” manufactured by Microplane. “This actually started as a woodworking tool, so it looked very utilitarian,” says Microplane CEO Chris Grace of the coveted product that made its way from shed to truffle plate because of its pinpoint precision. “We wanted some-thing that looked a little flashier and kitchen-specific, so we called Carter, and he came up with several designs we liked. We have a team of engineers who know how to build things, but they’re not as strong on aspects of visual appeal, which is where Carter really shines.” McGuyer recently upped the ante by developing a sort of Swiss Army knife of zesters. “This is the ‘Ultimate Zest-ing Tool,’” he says, brandishing an implement with a plastic-lemon handle. “It has two different types of blades to score the skin of citrus in different widths. It’s great for garnishing a cocktail!” The Tuscumbia native also comes up with fresh twists on whisks, herb mills, cereal scoops, coffee presses, tongs, wine-glass holders and mandolines, among other items. His whimsi-cal kitchen tools for children are especially imaginative and fun to eyeball—a long-legged bird as a potato masher, a peeler that looks like a smiling snake. He drew for six hours straight one day at the California headquarters of Williams-Sonoma to develop the “Nordic Ware Platinum Backyard Bugs Pan,” a sculptural cake-baking mold boasting enough ladybugs and other insects to keep an ambitious hospitality provider deco-rating for hours. “They kept saying, ‘Make the wings spread just a little more’ and ‘The eyes need to be more rounded,’” McGuyer recalls. The result of his final draft appeared on the cover of Williams-Sonoma’s spring catalog in 2008 and be-came the company’s No. 1 seller that summer. “We take suggestions from our retailers and give those gener-al concepts to Carter, who then comes up with his own ideas and provides us with, say, eight or 10 sketches,” Grace says. “His im-print is all over most of our products—he’s largely responsible for all of our colors, textures, finishes and other eye-catching details.”

Heads-up, coffee drinkers: Mc-Guyer also is designing new mugs and tumblers for Starbucks. And his sideline of Carter & Co. beach totes—featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America”—sprang from a moment of improvisation with untreated canvas and dowel rods when he and his wife were struggling to lug their chairs, towels and sunblock to the beach. “Carter really listens, and he under-stands the manufacturing process,” says Pat Eckerstrom, executive vice president of merchandising for Northbrook, Ill.-based retailer Crate & Barrel. “Many designers can produce a wonderful-looking product on paper, but knowing that it can actually be made is another thing altogether. Carter has the knowledge and experi-ence to understand the entire process.”

Opposite: Carter McGuyer’s northeastern Alabama studio de-signed a line of clever, whimsical kitchen gad-gets for kids who cook, including a long-legged chick potato masher, a snakelike peeler and an octopus whisk. Below: The company recently began a Carter & Co. line of beach totes inspired by the McGuy-ers’ own struggle to lug all their beach gear to the shore.T

T A L E S O F A Z E S T E R C Z A R


cGuyer’s calling in industrial design started with the “W.W. Stool,” by Philippe Starck, a renowned French cre-ator of luxe furnish-ings. Starck created the piece for a film director as part of a fantasy office environ-

ment. “What struck me was that (the stool) was so organic in shape that it looked more like a sculpture—a piece of art—than a piece of furniture,” notes McGuyer of the spare, three-legged aluminum “standing aid” inspired by the idea of a sprouting rhizome. “It was radically different for the early ’90s. It was the first time I had looked at a product and thought, ‘Wow, this is truly beautiful.’ It was love at first sight.”

Having grown up around blueprints—his father was in the construction business—McGuyer planned to study architecture, but decided, after an internship, that the field might be a little too staid for his artistic sensibility. “When I saw that stool was when I started looking through Auburn’s catalog for an indus-trial design listing,” he says. The university’s program—the old-est fully accredited industrial design program in the South—has consistently ranked in the top 10 nationwide for the past five years. It also looms as one of the largest in the country, with 10 full-time faculty members and around 250 majors. “I would spend days on end in the studio with a very close group of students—friends I still have today—and what was so cool was that it was so difficult,” McGuyer says, remem-bering his undergraduate years. “We were all very competitive but in a friendly way. We spurred each other on to do better. We worked hard, and then played very hard together once we finished a big project.”

M


McGuyer also studied abroad in Ireland, in a Bauhaus-based program. After graduating from Auburn, he took a job in Atlanta with Videolarm, where he added flourishes to cameras and other security equipment. But he always came back to Auburn for football games, and still does, sitting in the same section he has occupied since earning his bachelor’s degree. Upon visiting Auburn’s Wallace Center during one trip, he happened to notice a help-wanted ad for a job with KitchenArt, a Florence-based manufacturing company. The business hired McGuyer to manage its product design, pack-aging and overseas manufacturing, as well as the company’s trade show appearances. There, he met Brandi, who handled sales and marketing. “A lot of designers don’t have outgoing personalities, so they’re not suited to sales, but Carter is—he’s very high-ener-gy and engaging,” she says. “I thought: It will save legwork for me if I take him along and let clients talk with him di-rectly about developing and customizing their orders. He also understands price points and how to work to those specifica-tions. We started working together and realized we made an effective team for brainstorming and meeting deadlines. He makes it; I sell it.” The awards soon started piling up. Among other trophies, McGuyer garnered the Gold Medal Design Award from the International Housewares Association for his four-sided Mi-croplane box grater. He and Brandi struck out on their own in 2006, establishing CMDG, and married a year and a half ago. Between sales trips, they enjoy quiet time in the tiny north-western Alabama town of Tuscumbia, where CMDG is based. “There’s something about this area that feeds the creative spirit—I don’t know if it’s all the rivers or the music history of Muscle Shoals—but you can see it in the large numbers of successful artists and designers who call this place home,” Carter says.

ne secret to successful design, he notes, is simply paying attention to the world around you. “I study trends in fashion, cars and technol-ogy, and, of course, we watch the kids closely,” he says. “The so-called ‘post-millennials’ are the big driver of design across the board. They’re even bigger in size than the

baby boom, but they’re working off a different value system because they’re growing up in a recession. They don’t have as much disposable income, so they’re more conscious of how much they spend and what they spend it on, but they’re not afraid of occasionally investing in large purchases like an expensive coffee machine. Social media is relative to every aspect of what I do. Young people are guided by it, but they want to be individualistic, too, so any features that enable them to customize a product are big.” Less influential among today’s young adults, he says, are brand signifiers. “Whereas my generation clamored for sta-tus symbols like a Polo shirt, people growing up today don’t really connect emotionally to any one product and stay reli-giously loyal to it—they’re more inclined to experiment.”

Just as McGuyer’s persona combines elements of old-school Southern dandy and forward-thinking hipster, his work is known for integrating “retro” and “modern.” “I based these on items I used to see at my grandmother’s house,” he says, pointing to a line of utensils called “Artifacts,” with handles that somehow resemble the “good china.” He of-fers his own tennis shoes—looped with a familiar-looking logo from a bygone era—as further examples of his new take on the old: Tretorns with bold, contrasting shoelaces. “These have nostalgia appeal, and I like incorporating that factor into my work—using one or two elements that make you think fondly of the past without having to revisit it totally. I mean, we’re not marketing our housewares to the super-traditional, June Cleaver housewife of the ’50s who pre-sumably wore an apron, pearls and heels.” Just don’t ask this kitchen gadget king to actually, um, cook. “I really don’t do it as much as I should,” he says, blush-ing in response to a question about his own culinary skills. “I’m always traveling. But I do watch the cooking shows and read all of the blogs.”

O

T A L E S O F A Z E S T E R C Z A R

a. necklace by Logo Art; b. notecards by Herff Jones; c. framed diploma by Professional Framing; d. women’s watch by Logo Art; e. Alumni Walk paver; f. bracelet by Logo Art; g. official class ring by Balfour; h. men’s watch by Logo Art.

a. b. e.

g. h.

f.

c. d.

Tinsel in Tiger Town Shop with your Auburn Alumni Association this holiday season, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit alumni programs and services. We only recommend the finest Auburn products, from stationery and jewelry to mahogany diploma frames. We have the perfect Auburn gift for you!

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A L U M N I N E W S

BILL STONE ’85President, Auburn Alumni Association

ALUMNI CENTER

Living by the creedCalendar

War Eagle! It’s my great honor to serve you as president of the Auburn Alumni Association. The word “steward” is defined as “a person who manages another’s prop-erty or affairs; one who

administers anything as the agent of another or others.” My friend, Auburn athletics di-rector Jay Jacobs ’85, told me shortly after he accepted his position that his role was that of steward. Auburn University and the Auburn Tigers athletic program were here long before Jay and will be here long after. His goal was, and is, to help make our Au-burn athletic program the best in the coun-try. That’s what it means to be a steward. I told Jay not long ago that I was going to steal his line. I see my role as your steward for the Auburn Alumni Association. Our as-sociation will continue to grow and to im-prove. It is said that the enemy of “better” is “best.” To be the best, we will continue to get better. Each day, one step at a time, get-ting better is our goal. To serve you better. I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work. I currently serve as vice president of business development for Mayer Electric Supply Co. Inc. I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely, and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully. I graduated in 1985 from Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. I’m a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. SigEp! I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men. I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities. I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all. I believe in the hu-man touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness, and brings happiness for all.

I am a resident of Signal Mountain, Tenn., and am the proud father of a 12-year-old son, William Bryan “Trey” Stone III. As many of you know, my wife and Trey’s mother, Lisa, passed away in July following a courageous and Christ-honoring fight with cancer. Lisa was not an Auburn grad-uate, but she was an Auburn lady. Lisa loved Auburn! I believe in my country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by “doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with my God.” I came to Auburn from Rainbow City after graduating from Southside High School, largely because of a great Auburn man, Pete B. Turnham ’44, who served longer than any other legislator in the Ala-bama House of Representatives. He served our country on the battlefield and in the statehouse. He still serves Auburn, and our God, humbly. Your Auburn Alumni Association is one of the largest, strongest, most respected alumni groups in the U.S. We are blessed with an incredible staff team led by Debbie Shaw, and our Auburn club network is a model program that other universities covet. We are one of the “best of the best.” Please reach out to Debbie, her team, me or other members of the association’s board of directors. We want to know how to serve you better and how to be better stew-ards of what has been built by Auburn leg-ends: Roy B. Sewell ’22, Ben Gilmer ’26, Lloyd Nix ’59, Bob Word ’55, and some of my own mentors, Batey Gresham ’57, Ralph Jordan ’70, Nancy Young Fortner ’71 and Bobby Poundstone ’95, with whom it has been my pleasure to serve the last two years. And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I believe in Auburn and love it. War Eagle!

Nov. 24–Dec. 2

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS:

CHRISTMAS ON THE DANUBE

Begin the holiday season with a relaxing cruise along the scenic Danube River, stopping at traditional Christmas markets in Vienna and Nuremberg, the famous toy-making center known for its gingerbread and fanciful nutcrackers. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Jan. 5–23


ANCIENT MYSTERIES OF THE AMERICAS Discover unspoiled natural wonders, dramatic coast-lines and remains of ancient civilizations along the shores of the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Belize, Guate-mala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Peru while sailing aboard Oceania Cruises’ Regatta. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Jan. 11

TOOLS FOR TIGERS

Job-preparation seminar for recent or soon-to-be graduates featuring sessions on interviewing, résumé writing and job preparedness. Sponsored by the Auburn University Career Center and the Auburn Alumni Association. Includes lunch. 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Auburn Alumni Center, 317 S. College St. Info: 334-844-1149 or www.auburn.edu/career.

Jan. 16–27

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: TAHITIAN JEWELS

Savor the tropical island splendor of Moorea, Bora Bora, Hiva Oa and more as you sail the beautiful South Pacific on one of the finest vessels afloat, Oceania Cruises’ Regatta, where every port of call is a Polynesian paradise. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Jan. 19–26

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: HAWAII BY SMALL SHIP Cruise to the Hawaiian islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and the Big Island, where you may learn about traditional Hawaiian culture and experi-ence the remote coves, hidden inlets and secret beaches of this fabled tropical paradise while seeing wildlife found nowhere else on earth. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/[email protected]



Daniel D. Bennett Class of 1968

A specialist in urban design and residential ar-chitecture, retired Auburn University dean Dan Bennett, who led Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction from 2000 to 2010, is a Fellow of the American In-stitute of Architects and in 2011 was named one of 25 “Most Admired Educators” nation-wide—a distinction drawn from more than 1,000 architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and industrial design faculty—by DesignIntelligence, the bimonthly publication of the Design Futures Council. He also served as dean of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture for nine years; was inducted into the Alabama Associated General Contractors Construction Hall of Fame; and served as pres-ident of the Alabama Architectural Foundation and Alabama Historical Commission. A life member of the Auburn Alumni Association, he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Auburn and a master’s degree in urban design from Rice University in 1974. Bennett and wife Joan Haley Bennett ’74 live in Auburn.

Ronald L. Burgess Jr. Class of 1974

After graduating from Auburn’s ROTC program in 1974, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ron-ald L. Burgess Jr. earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern Califor-nia and attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. A military in-telligence professional, Burgess has held numerous Army command and staff posi-tions, helping strengthen the nation’s ca-pabilities against its adversaries in critical regions of the world. He was appointed as the 17th director of the Defense Intel-ligence Agency in 2008, where he com-manded the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. He has earned nu-merous awards and decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, Joint Service Com-mendation Medal and U.S. Special Opera-tions Command Medal. A life member of the Auburn Alumni Association, Burgess and wife Marta Jordan Burgess ’75 live in Ft. Myer, Va.

Lifetime Achievement AwardsCalendar

Feb. 1–2

AUBURN CLUB LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Auburn alumni club leaders from around the nation gather at the Auburn Alumni Center for training in fundraising and event planning. Info: 334-844-1148 or www.aualum.org/clubs.

Feb. 18–26

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: GALAPAGOS ISLANDS Observe and photograph at very close range the iconic animal species that have become exquisitely adapted to the environment. You may find yourself in the midst of a colony of tropical penguins or snorkeling with inquisitive and playful sea lions! Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Feb. 24–March 14

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: SPLENDORS DOWN UNDER Discover captivating ports, scenic panoramas and unique wildlife in the land “down under” on a voyage that begins in Auckland, New Zealand, and covers Wellington, Christchurch and Timaru. Then sail to Australia, where you’ll visit Tasmania, Melbourne and the beautiful city of Sydney, with its majestic Opera House. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Feb. 25–March 7

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: TANZANIA SAFARI

It’s the trip of a lifetime: a 10-day safari in Tanzania, Africa’s premier safari destination, during the annu-al “great migration” of herbivores—including zebras and wildebeests—from Tanzania north in search of food. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

March 2

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS BANQUET

Dinner and induction ceremony honoring Daniel D. Bennett ’68, Ronald L. Burgess Jr. ’74, Clifford L. Hare (1891) and Sally Jones Hill ’63 at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. 6 p.m. reception; 6:30 p.m. dinner. Black tie. Info: 334-844-1145 or 334-844-1150.



Clifford LeRoy Hare Class of 1891

The late Clifford LeRoy Hare, a longtime chemistry professor and dean at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn in 1891 and 1892, respectively, and completed postgraduate work at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. His involvement on the Auburn faculty spanned academics, athletics and policy-making, but he was specifically concerned with student development. He helped form a collegiate athletics oversight organiza-tion dubbed the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which set standards and eligibility requirements for student athletes, and served as the first president of the Southern Athletic Conference, which later became the Southeastern Conference. Hare also served as mayor of the city of Auburn and worked to establish a medical clinic in the town. Auburn’s original foot-ball stadium was named in his honor. Hare died in 1949.

Sally Jones Hill Class of 1963

As an Auburn student, retired business executive Sally Jones Hill served as vice president of Chi Omega sorority, and vice president and president of the Women’s Student Government Association. After graduation, she accepted a position as personnel director for Yorklyn, Del.-based National Vulcanized Fiber and worked 16 years for Products Sales Associates, pro-gressing through the ranks to vice presi-dent. A life member of the Auburn Alumni Association, Hill has served on the Au-burn Alumni Association board and the Auburn University College of Business Advisory Council, and now serves on the College of Human Sciences International Board of Advisors. She is a former presi-dent of the College of Human Sciences’ Women’s Philanthropy Board and served as the first female president of the Auburn University Foundation from 2004-06. She and husband Jim Hill ’64 live in Coconut Grove, Fla.

March 11–19

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: ITALIA CLASSICA History, culture, art and romance await on this won-derful introduction to Italy. See classical Rome and visit the famed Colosseum, and enjoy a Venetian adventure that includes St. Mark’s Square. Savor a walking tour of Florence; ride a train from Mogliano Veneto to Venice, crossing the famous Ponte della Liberta; and stroll the elegant streets of Milan. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

March 22–29

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: LESSER ANTILLES Cruise the southern Caribbean islands with small-ship flair on the six-star M.V. Silver Cloud. Ports include beautiful St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Dominica, Antigua, St. Barts and Virgin Gorda. A pre-cruise option to visit your embarkation point, historic San Juan, Puerto Rico, is available. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

April 2–14

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: CHILE AND ARGENTINA Your journey begins in cosmopolitan Santiago, Chile’s lively capital. Discover an outstanding collection of ancient artifacts at the Colchagua Museum on your way to Santa Cruz and the country’s prized vineyards. Soak up a panorama of spectacular scenery as you journey through the Andes. Travel the famous wine roads of Mendoza and discover Argentina’s diverse history as you stroll the boulevards of Buenos Aires. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

April 4–7


CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY Travel through the California countryside and explore the beautiful Napa and Sonoma valleys. Experience wine culture and production, and sample locally made wines during tours and tastings in a region where wine-making has been practiced since the mid-19th century. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

April 8–14

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: MASTERS TOURNAMENT The Masters is not just a golf tournament; it’s a state of mind. As the lucky few pass through the hallowed gates of Augusta National Golf Club each spring, they do so with a sense of awe. Set among towering pines, beautiful dogwoods and colorful azaleas, this is not an ordinary sporting event. War Eagle Travelers participants receive tickets to the selected day’s round; gourmet meals at The Executive Club; complimen-tary bar service and more. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

Calendar



Calendar

DEBBIE SHAW ’84Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Executive Director, Auburn Alumni Association

Auburn alumni are known for their loyalty to the university, and Montgomery attorney Bobby Poundstone ’95 is a great example of that. Bobby ended his two-year term as presi-dent of the Auburn

Alumni Association this month after serving five years on the association’s board of direc-tors. He has served with integrity, humility and dedication. We will miss his leadership. Bill Stone ’85 of Signal Mountain, Tenn., is the association’s new president. Bill served as the association’s vice president for the past two years and previously held sev-eral other leadership roles on the board. Bill will no doubt take our association to new heights, and I look forward to working with him. (See Bill Stone’s column, Page 47.) I am happy to announce a new addi-tion to the staff of the Office of Alumni Af-fairs. Dwayne Brown, a 1990 graduate of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, has joined our team as assistant vice presi-dent and brings a wealth of management experience. He will be overseeing most of our departments and providing leadership in strategic planning and financial manage-ment, as well as working with the associa-tion’s board of directors. Prior to returning to Auburn, Brown served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for eight years, owned a financial planning business and worked in retail store management for 11 years. For the last three years, he has served as a volunteer with the Office of Alumni Affairs, assisting with graduation, activities at the Alumni Hos-pitality Tent, and other administrative and service projects. We are fortunate he’s here to serve our alumni. Dwayne’s wife, Regina, is a 1992 graduate of Auburn University’s College of Business. She teaches flight les-sons to Auburn students and members of the community and is a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

R

Most of us could write a book about our Auburn memories. The coming year will mark my 30th anniversary as an Auburn administrator. I am not sure how that slipped up on me, but Auburn has a way of doing that to people. It just sort of grabs you, and you don’t want to leave. Let’s face it, we just have a little slice of heaven here, and the air smells better, too. You all know that, of course. You come back when you can and smile as you drive to-ward Toomer’s Corner. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I get to be here every day. How lucky is that? I am sure each of you has special Auburn memories, and I can picture you smiling when you remem-ber most of them. Stay involved in the Au-burn Alumni Association, and we’ll bring you plenty of information to keep you en-gaged with Auburn University. We know you care about our progress, and we want to keep you informed. This fall has been a reflective one for me as I drive by the oaks at Toomer’s Cor-ner each day. Obviously, it is sad to see how they now look—no leaves, branches pruned to avoid limb breaks. However, I have also come to realize that while the rolling of our trees is certainly a revered tradition, it is really not what it is all about. When most of us arrive at Toom-er’s Corner after a win, we can’t even get close enough to the trees to roll them due to the crowds. And that is what it is really about: Auburn people gathering to cel-ebrate with each other. We already know the trees will be replaced with large, live new specimens in the future, but it will take a few years for all that to happen. In the meantime, the celebrations at Toom-er’s Corner will continue—so don’t forget to bring a roll of paper.

War Eagle!

[email protected]

A changing of the guardApril 20-28

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: MEDITERRANEAN MARVELS The elegance, excitement and rich cultures of the Mediterranean are yours to explore as you cruise aboard Riviera, Oceania Cruises’ newest vessel, to France, Monaco and Italy. Depart Barcelona and travel to Marseille, the gateway to Provence. Expe-rience the French Riviera in St. Tropez and Monte Carlo, or explore surrounding Cote d’Azur locales such as Nice, Cannes and St. Paul de Vence, one of the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera. Later, enrich yourself among renowned Italian art and natural beauty in Portofino, Florence and Ca-pri. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

April 22-30

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: CANADIAN ROCKIES

Board VIA Rail’s The Canadian in Vancouver for a once-in-a-lifetime overnight train journey. Relax in the dome car and experience panoramic views of snow-capped mountains, glacial lakes and the sheer unspoiled wilderness. Arrive in Jasper to experience the dramatic Maligne Canyon and its picture-perfect lake, where you enjoy breakfast with a view! Travel one of the world’s most spectacular roads, the unfor-gettable Icefields Parkway; overnight at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and Banff Springs Hotel; and more. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

April 25-27

GOLDEN EAGLES REUNION

Grab your rat cap and join us as we induct Auburn’s Class of 1963 and honor the classes of 1943, 1948, 1953 and 1958. Info: 334-844-1145 or 334-844-1150, or see www.aualum.org/goldeneagles.

May 14-23


CLASSIC EUROPEAN GRADUATION TOUR

From the pomp and pageantry of London to the glamour of Paris, and from ancient Roman ruins to the majesty of the Greek isles, Europe’s infinite variety of people, places and traditions represents the perfect setting for a journey that celebrates and educates. Visit the most famous cities in Europe and see the continent’s greatest monuments, from Big Ben to the Louvre, and Notre Dame to the Colos-seum. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.

June 13-27

WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS: CHINA

Julie Nixon Eisenhower discusses her late father’s pivotal role in reopening U.S./China relations during this 15-day journey. Info: 334-844-1443 or www.aualum.org/travel.



Class Notes

GOT NEWS?

Auburn Magazine

317 S. College Street

Auburn University, AL

36849-5149, or

[email protected]

Life Member

Annual Member

’30–’59 Martha Elizabeth

Helton Giganti ’40 of Abbeville celebrated her 100th birthday in October.

Stanley P. Wilson ’53

of Auburn received the 2012 Wilford S. Bailey Award from the Auburn University Retirees Association for his con-tributions to Auburn’s College of Agriculture.

F. Ivy Carroll ’57, an organic and medici-nal chemist for RTI International in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, received the 2012 Dis-tinguished Alumnus Award from Auburn’s College of Sciences and Mathematics.

Sam Ginn ’59 of San Bruno, Calif., was appointed to the board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) by acting U.S. Commerce Sec-retary Rebecca Blank. He will also serve as the board’s chair-man. The creation of FirstNet will allow for a new broadband net-work that enables first responders and public safety officials to com-municate within and across jurisdictions.

’60–’69Michael “Mickey” Col-

pack ’61 and Judy Weber

Colpack ’63 of Orlando, Fla., and Hoffman Estates, Ill., recently celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. Mickey is a consultant with Northrop Grum-man Corp.

J. Wayne Fears ’64 of Owens Cross Roads, a wildlife expert and writer, was inducted to the “Legends of the Out-doors” National Hall of Fame in August.

Henry L. Miller Jr. ’64

is a professional pho-tographer in Greenbrae, Calif. He plans to lead a two-week photo tour of his ancestral country of Slovenia in May.

Charles C. Thomas

’65 of Montgomery is the pharmacy direc-tor for the Alabama Department of Public Health. He recently was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame.

J. Patrick O’Brien

’67, president of West Texas A&M Univer-sity in Canyon, Texas, was selected to serve a second term as chair of the NCAA Division II President’s Council.

J. Michael Ferniany

’68 directed the opera “Rigoletto” for the Casa Italiana Opera Co. in Los Angeles. He also wrote, and will direct and perform in, the the-ater production “Who Can Stop The Moon?”

Bill Barrick ’68, executive director of Bellingrath Gardens & Home, received the Gov-ernor’s Award in August during the Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism. He is a founding member of the South Mobile County Tourism Authority.

Lester Killebrew ’68 of Abbeville, chair-man of the board of SunSouth, a John Deere dealership with 16 loca-tions, has been elected to the board of directors of Federated Insurance Companies. He also serves as chairman and CEO of Henry Farm Center Inc./ValCom Wireless & CCS Tech-nology Centers.

David Kahn ’69, a Montgomery real estate agent, was named Realtor Emeritus, Certified Residential Specialist Emeritus and Certified Residential Broker Emeritus by the National Association of Realtors in recognition of his 44 years of service in the field.

MARRIED Pamela Gail Vaughan

Anderson ’65 to Julian

Scott Penrod ’68 on March 3. They live in Birmingham.

’70–’79 Ed Reynolds ’70

of Miramar Beach, Fla., was appointed to the board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) by acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca

Blank. The creation of FirstNet will allow for a new broadband net-work that enables first responders and public safety officials to com-municate within and across jurisdictions.

Daniel Perry Meigs III

’72 was elected mayor pro tempore for the city of Georgetown, Texas.

Marian Beck Phillips

’72 was named interim assistant superintendent of the Oak Ridge, Tenn., school system.

Richard Lea Shaw ’72

was promoted to vice president of the archi-tectural department at Whitman, Requardt & Associates in Baltimore.

Donald M. Ball ’73 of Auburn, a retired forage specialist for the Ala-bama Cooperative Ex-tension System, received the National Association of County Agricul-tural Agents’ Service to American & World Agriculture Award dur-ing the group’s meeting in Charleston, S.C.

Cheryl Morgan ’74 of Birmingham recently served as a panel judge for the Chattanooga Urban Design Chal-lenge. She is the director of the Urban Studio in Auburn’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction.

Judy Carleton Kirkpat-

rick ’75 retired in June as a kindergarten teacher with the Birmingham City Schools after 34

On board The Auburn Alumni Association elected two officers and four new board members during its annual meeting Nov. 3:

TIMOTHY A. MARTIN ’78 of North-port is director of pharmacy for DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. He is a past president of the Tuscaloosa/Pickens County Auburn Club and a member of sev-

eral Auburn donor societies as well as the Harrison School of Pharmacy Dean’s Advisory Council.

DAVID OBERMAN ’80 of Birmingham is a director with Merrill Lynch. He is a member of the Greater Birming-ham Auburn Club, the College of Business Advisory Council and the Samford Society. He also served as

Dallas co-chair for the university’s “It Begins at Au-burn” comprehensive fundraising campaign in 2007.

PAULA DONAHOE STEIGERWALD ’76 is president and CEO of Huntsville Bo-tanical Garden. She is a member of the Huntsville/Madison County Auburn Club and served as a volunteer for Auburn’s Huntsville/North Alabama

regional fundraising campaign in 2006-07.

MARK H. THOMAS ’95 of Bluffton, S.C., is vice president of strategic development for CareCore National health care specialty benefit man-agement company. He is a member of the Savannah Auburn Club and

the George Petrie Society, and received the Auburn Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2011.

WILLIAM B. “BILL” STONE II ’85 of Signal Mountain, Tenn., was elected president of the association. He is vice president of business de-velopment for Mayer Electric Supply Co. Inc.

WILLIAM JACKSON “JACK” FITE ’85 of Decatur was elected vice presi-dent of the association. He is president and CEO of Fite Build-ing Co. Inc.



Class Notes

years of service. She and husband Al also celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary.

David A. Barksdale ’76 was named senior vice president and general manager of the Atlanta office of Batson-Cook Co., a commercial con-struction firm.

Paul Entrekin ’76 of Pensacola, Fla., wrote Mr. MiG and the Real Story of the First MiGs in America (Xlibris Corp., 2012).

Howard C. Frontz III

’76 of Montezuma, Ga., traveled to North Korea and China in April to participate in perfor-mances by the Sons of Jubal men’s choir and orchestra. He serves as music minister for the First Baptist Church of Montezuma.

Gordon Isbell III ’76, a Gadsden dentist, was elected national co-chairman of the American Dental Political Action Com-mittee board.

LaBella Stewart Alvis

’77, an attorney in the Birmingham office of Christian & Small, was recommended as a can-didate for Fellowship in the International Acad-emy of Trial Lawyers.

Philip A. Bradberry

’77 recently celebrated 25 years of service as an agent for State Farm In-surance Co. He and wife Denise Dorris Bradberry

’78 live in Tuscaloosa.

D. Matthew Stuart ’77 serves as structural division manager for Philadelphia-based Pennoni Associates engineering firm. He recently was granted the designation of Manage-ment Engineer by the American Council of Engineering Companies.

Jacquelyn Lufkin Stu-

art ’77 of Bay Minette, an associate justice on the Alabama Supreme Court, received Gam-ma Phi Beta’s Carna-tion Award for career achievement during the sorority’s 75th biennial convention in June.

Cynthia “Cindy” Ether-

edge Barganier ’79 owns Cindy E. Barganier Inte-riors in Pike Road and writes for the “Interi-ors” section of Sonoma Christian Home, a California-based online magazine.

Ginger Carter Miller ’79, a mass communication professor at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Ga., was named one of the top 50 journalism professors in the U.S. by journalismdegree.org.

Michael O’Brien

’79, an Auburn den-tist, was inducted into the International Den-tistry Hall of Fame.

’80–’89Myra Hunter ’80, senior communications special-ist for American Cast Iron Pipe Co. in Bir-mingham, and her team received a Medallion Award from the Public

Relations Council of Alabama in the category of website development.

John Orrison ’80 was named director of operations planning for the Massachu-setts Bay Commuter Railroad. He formerly directed the devel-opment of network plans for Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s daily merchandise train service.

George E. Spofford IV

’82 joined the Tampa, Fla., law office of GrayRobinson as a shareholder. He has more than 27 years of construction law experience.

Ron Lawson ’83 was promoted to vice president of market-ing for Dallas-based Republic Group insur-ance companies.

Suzanne Schuessler

Salters ’83 retired from the Boaz City School System as a science teacher after 27 years of service.

Brian Casey ’84, a partner in the Atlanta office of Locke Lord law firm, was elected to serve a two-year term as secretary of the Life Insurance Settlement Association.

Alec Harvey ’84, features editor for The Birmingham News, was named national president of the Society for Features Journalism.

A question of qiFace it—pain is no fun. Not for us, and not for our pets. And while a lot of humans swear by the pain-relieving effects of those slender needles poking into the skin, the ancient Chinese practice of acu-puncture hasn’t gained much traction in the veterinary community. Chattanooga, Tenn., veterinarian Karen Turner Knarr ’89 is a believer, though. She’s a certified veterinary acupuncturist who thinks “man’s best friend” deserves to feel the same benefits as man himself. “Fifteen years ago I had a painful condition that responded well to acupuncture—it relieved so much of my pain,” recalls Knarr, who owns East Ridge Animal Hospital with husband Robert E. Knarr ’88. “It made me wonder if acupuncture would help animals as well. I see a lot of large dogs that cannot stand up any longer, but everything else is working well internally. I wanted to add acupunc-ture to my conventional practice for another ‘tool’ that could be used to help these pets.” Acupuncture involves the insertion of slim, solid needles into certain points on the body in an effort to correct imbalances in the flow of “qi,” which traditional Chinese medicine identifies as a person’s or animal’s “life force.” About 40 percent of Knarr’s vet-erinary practice is dedicated to alternative medicine—with the idea that acupuncture may “help jump start our pets’ own healing pro-cesses,” particularly when side effects make traditional drug ther-apy an undesirable option, Knarr says. Acupuncture may be used to treat small and large animals suffering from arthritis, traumatic nerve injuries, allergic dermatitis, diarrhea, respiratory problems and even certain reproductive issues, according to the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society. Some pet owners swear by it. “Acupuncture has been very well received in this community,” she notes. “I was the first veterinarian in Chattanooga to offer acu-puncture, and now there are two other certified veterinary acupunc-turists in the area. I believe it really can offer so much to our beloved pets.”—Landrum Isaacson

SNAPSHOT

Give a piece of Auburn tradition this holiday season. The award-winning Echoes Strong and Clear makes the

perfect gift for any member of the Auburn Family. Or you may consider a variety of campus images, past and

present, that can be ordered on photographic paper, canvas, or greeting cards.

Make your purchase at www.auburn.edu/photo or call 334-844-4560.

GIVE THE GIFT OF AUBURN

Echoes Strongand Clear

Auburn University then and now, portrayed in photographs

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www.auburn.edu

Produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing at Auburn University

Imagine engaging in a mock battle on the lawn of

Comer Hall, attending mandatory Sunday services in

the University Chapel, typing term papers on a manual

typewriter, searching for information in a card catalog,

or hanging out with friends at your university-provided

tugboat residence. No? Perhaps you’re more likely to

read about global peacekeeping efforts on your iPad,

listen to a podcast of that Sunday service or class when

you have to miss it, search for information on your laptop

while lounging in a hammock in Samford Park, and hang

out with friends on Facebook via your cellphone.

Many of Auburn University’s 270,000 graduates since

1859 have done some variation of one of these things.

Echoes Strong and Clear is a photographic

compilation that shows Auburn University’s historical

transformation its earliest days to today. You will often see

an image that is startlingly similar to another taken one

hundred years or more before it.

The task of progressing from a small, 19th-century

church college to become a nationally prominent land-

grant institution was not without obstacles. New fields

of research and new ways of teaching were explored

only to be replaced by still newer opportunities. The

faculty and staff attempted to preserve the best of the

college’s original liberal arts program while cultivating an

academic environment suitable for preparing students for

the emerging scientific professions. Three name changes

occurred in the 1800s before what was almost always

known as Auburn actually became Auburn University, with

its land-grant designation, in 1960. All the while the appeal

of the institution steadily grew it from an original enrollment

of 80 to today’s more than 25,000,

From an inspired idea in 1856 through a national

championship celebration in 2011, the stunning images in

Echoes Strong and Clear will give you a sense of what it

was like for those who went before, during, or after your

time here.

Yes, the images will show that Auburn has

changed dramatically, yet they also strive to capture

what has remained constant – the tradition, spirit and

belief in Auburn that connects all generations of the

Auburn Family.

On the rolling plains of Dixie

’Neath the sun-kissed sky.

Proudly stands our Alma Mater

Banners high.

To thy name we’ll sing thy praise,

From hearts that love so true,

And pledge to thee our

Loyalty the ages through.

We hail thee, Auburn, and we vow

To work for thy just fame,

And hold in memory as we do now

Thy cherished name.

Hear thy student voices swelling,

Echoes strong and clear,

Adding laurels to thy fame

Enshrined so dear.

From thy hallowed halls we’ll part,

And bid thee sad adieu,

Thy sacred trust we’ll bear with us

The ages through.

We hail thee, Auburn, and we vow,

To work for thy just fame,

And hold in memory as we do now

Thy cherished name.

— Composed by Bill Wood ’24

Word revision by Emma’ O’Rear Foy, 1960

Front cover: Samford Hall at dusk

Back cover: Auburn’s historic Main Gate featuring

the Toomer’s Oaks at the corner of College

Street and Magnolia Avenue.

THE ALMA MATER

Auburn University cover wrap June 16.indd 1 10/4/12 1:30 PM

Echoes Strong and Clear ships within two days. Please allow two to three weeks for delivery of custom images.

AuburnMagazine_Photo Services Ad_1012.indd 1 10/12/12 11:20 AM



Class Notes

Jeff Sibley ’84 was named head of the hor-ticulture department in Auburn’s College of Agriculture. He joined the department as a research assistant in 1994 and was named the university’s Barbara and Charles Bohmann Endowed Professor of Horticulture in 2010.

Lori Leath Smith ’84 was named director of public relations and mar-keting for Seaside Com-munity Development Corp. in Seaside, Fla.

Vicki Birchfield Danz

’87 of Atlanta, an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Af-fairs at Georgia Tech, received France’s Na-tional Order of Merit Medal in May.

Thomas M. Gattis ’88 was named chair of industrial design at Co-lumbus College of Art & Design in Ohio.

William “Bill” Hamrick

III ’88 of Carrollton, Ga., was appointed by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to serve as a su-perior court judge for the Coweta Judicial Circuit.

Michelle Guidry

Hickie ’88 is featured in Military Fly Moms: Sharing Memories, Building Legacies, Inspiring Hope (Tan-nenbaum Publishing, 2012), a collection of stories about women who have been military aviators and mothers.

Mike Scialdone ’88 of Colorado Springs, Co., was named CEO of the University of Colo-rado Health’s Memorial Health System.

Fred Arthur ’89 of Vestavia Hills joined Hancock Fabrics Inc. as corporate manager of merchandise planning. He and wife Ashley

Moon Arthur ’89 have three children, Avery, Davis and Mary Kath-erine.

Elizabeth M. Hiltbold

Schwartz ’89 is an assis-tant professor of biologi-cal sciences in Auburn’s College of Sciences and Mathematics.

BORN A daughter, Patricia

Billie Young, to Patrick

Holman ’83 and Grania

Gothard Holman ’92 of Marietta, Ga., on June 20. She joins five siblings.

A daughter, Katelyn Grace, to Lynwood

Hamilton Jr. ’88 and wife Caroline of Hurst, Texas, on Oct. 4, 2011. She joins brother Caleb Andrew.

’90–’99Gregory M. Lein ’91 of Montgomery was named director of the Alabama State Parks division of the Alabama Depart-ment of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Pam Mason ’92, who serves as Alabama Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservationist

for Elmore, Tallapoosa and Coosa counties, received an honorary state FFA degree from the Alabama Future Farmers of America As-sociation during its state convention in July.

Anna Funderburk

Buckner ’93 was elect-ed national vice presi-dent of Chi Omega fraternity’s Supreme Governing Council. She is a partner in the Birmingham law firm of Cabaniss, John-ston, Gardner, Dumas & O’Neal, where she practices in the area of trusts and estates.

Amanda Murphy Foster

’95 was promoted to partner in Pricewater-houseCooper’s Atlanta assurance practice. She is a certified public accountant.

David Carl Ison ’95, an assistant professor of aviation at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont., received the University Aviation Association’s Sorenson Award for outstanding achievement.

Allison McAllister

Knotts ’95 of Raleigh, N.C., was promoted to program lead for hemo-philia patient services at Biogen Idec biotechnol-ogy firm.

Steve Murray ’95 of Montgomery was named director of the board of trustees for the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Auburn University alumni living in Mississippi now may benefit Habitat for Humanity’s Metro Jackson chapter simply by buying an Auburn license plate in the state. With more than 700 residents sporting Auburn tags annually, proceeds from vanity plate sales in Mississippi are expected to fund the building of a Habitat home in less than two years. Central Mississippi Auburn Club president Witt Ruffin ’04 and former president Tony Taylor worked with state legislative of-ficials to ensure that $44 per tag sold will go to Habitat for Human-ity—founded by late Auburn alumnus Millard Fuller ’57—instead of Mississippi’s general fund. Officials expect to raise more than $32,000 annually for Habitat through Auburn vanity tag sales. “Can you imagine how proud this would make Mr. Fuller if he were still with us today?” asked Madison, Miss., resident Stacy James ’01, an engineer for Nissan North America. “We are excited about the impact we are having in Mississippi.” In other club news: •TheGainesville,Ga.-basedLANIERLAND AUBURN CLUB as-sisted Eagle Ranch children’s home (founded by Auburn graduate Eddie Staub ’78) with preparations for its annual open house by landscaping the grounds and covering the swimming pool during the second annual Auburn Alumni in Action community service week in October. EMERALD COAST AUBURN CLUB members as-sisted the Junior League of the Emerald Coast in a clothing drive for underprivileged children, while the MOBILE AUBURN CLUB do-nated toiletries and other items to Penelope House family violence center. In all, more than 20 Auburn clubs from Portland, Ore., to Tampa, Fla—as well as staff from Auburn’s Office of Alumni Af-fairs—gave blood, donated food and clothing, planted flowers, and participated in other activities on behalf of various charities. •Morethan80people—including33Auburnstudents—at-tended a freshmen send-off brunch hosted by the HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY AUBURN CLUB at the Providence Clubhouse in Huntsville. •NearlytwodozenincomingAuburnfreshmen,alongwiththeir parents and other current students’ families, gathered for a dinner hosted by the DALLAS/FORT WORTH AUBURN CLUB.

Good deeds, indeed!



Charles T. Taylor ’95

was named dean of the College of Pharmacy at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Root-stown, Ohio.

Jerlando F.L. Jackson

’97 was named Vilas Professor of Higher Education at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received the American Educational Research Association’s 2012 Dr. Carlos J. Vallejo Memorial Award for Exemplary Scholarship.

Rhett C. Partin ’97 joined the West Point, Ga., office of Batson-Cook construction com-pany as vice president of business development. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and serves on the board of trustees for Leader-ship Georgia.

Amy Caroline Scruggs

’97 earned national board certification in early adolescence English language. She is employed by Hoover City Schools.

Brooke Ulrickson Allen

’99, an attorney in the Fort Worth, Texas, office of Brown, Dean, Wiseman, Proctor, Hart & Howell, re-ceived the Texas Young Lawyers Association President’s Award.

MARRIED Karin Malea Smith

’91 to Terry Jay Richey on April 21. They live in Birmingham.

Kelli Franklin ’96

to Ron Peters ’97 on Aug. 25. They live in Columbus, Ga.

BORN A son, Avery Chase,

to Adrian Bouchillon ’94 and Kathryn Yarbrough

Bouchillon ’98 of Mable-ton, Ga., on July 11.

A son, Ellis John-ston, to Elizabeth

Carboni Green ’96 and husband Jonathan of Decatur on Sept 4.

A daughter, Olivia Anne, to Tara Schan-

eville Swanlaw ’96 and husband Sean of Tampa, Fla., on Oct 1. She joins brothers Austin and Nick.

A daughter, Bridgette Catherine, to William F. Tait III

’96 and wife Nicole of Southaven, Miss., on Aug. 8. She joins sister Hannah Grace.

A boy, Benjamin Scott, to Scott Tippins

’96 and Abby Bowden

Tippins ’98 of Auburn on Oct. 24, 2011. He joins sister Ella Grace and brother James.

A son, Walter Phillip, to Allison Chaffin Griffin

’98 of Athens on Jan. 12.

A son, Cameron Philip, to Summer Burris

Janssen ’98 and hus-band Terry of Scotts-dale, Ariz., on Aug. 30.

A daughter, Baylee Grace, to C. Kevin Miller

’98 and wife Mandy of Rainsville on Sept. 13.

A son, Thomas Radford III, to Thomas Radford Haze-

lip Jr. ’99 and Melanie

Davenhall Hazelip ’99 of Winter Springs, Fla., on April 19. He joins sister Georgia.

A son, Shepard Lee, to William Neil Wilder ’99

and Katie McCormack

Wilder ’00 of Auburn on Aug. 9.

’00-’09Felicia A. Long ’00, an attorney in the Montgomery office of Haskell Slaughter law firm, was elected to the board of directors of the Junior League of Montgomery.

Allison Batts ’01 joined the Birmingham law of-fice of Hand Arendall as an associate in the firm’s business section.

Mark D. Freeman ’01 joined the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech as an assistant professor of community practice in the Depart-ment of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.

Brian Hamm ’01 was promoted to senior manager in the financial reporting and assur-ance practice at Bennett Thrasher accounting firm in Atlanta.

Michael Joffrion ’03

served as North Caroli-na state director for U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s campaign.

Jason W. Johnson ’03, an associate professor of theriogenology at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, was selected as one of 10 veterinarians participat-ing in the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Future Leaders Program.

Leonardo Maurelli ’03 was appointed chef at Railyard Brewing Co. in Montgomery. He was the Alabama Restaurant Association’s 2011 Chef of the Year.

James P. Watkins ’03 joined the Birmingham office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings law firm as an associate.

Terri Moses MacGregor

’04 helps design, build and install solar systems in developing countries. She has completed 14 mission trips.

Richard K. Vann Jr. ’04

joined the Birmingham office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings law firm as an associate.

Kimberly MacDonald

’05 teaches fourth grade in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She previously taught in the Hoover City Schools.

Jeff Chastain ’06 was promoted to business development leader at Machen, McChesney & Chastain accounting firm in Auburn.

R. Williams Gardner ’06

joined the Indianapo-lis office of Barnes & Thornburg law firm as

an associate in the envi-ronmental department.

Melissa Franson Lavio-

lette ’06 of Indianapolis was named environmen-tal affairs director for the International Design Association.

Niki Doyal ’07 of Birmingham was named director of digital operations for Alabama Media Group.

Josh Grant ’07 joined Southway Crane and Rigging in Macon, Ga., as a controller.

Alison Douillard

Hawthorne ’07 was elected president of the Alabama State Bar Young Lawyers section. She is an associate in the Montgomery office of Beasley Allen law firm.

Brian C. Richardson ’07

joined the Birmingham law office of Hand Aren-dall as an associate.

J. Christopher Selman

’07 joined the Birming-ham law office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as an associate.

David Buescher ’08 of Houston received the National Association of Industrial Office Profes-sionals’ Rising Star Award. He is a broker representative for Stream Realty.

Denetra N. Hartzog ’08

joined the Birmingham law office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as an associate.

Jesse J. Moreno ’09

completed his U.S Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.

Katie Mae Williams ’09

was promoted to senior accountant in the Atlanta office of Draffin & Tucker ac-counting firm.

MARRIED Crystal Denise Bond

’01 to Steven Lawrence

Moore ’09 on Sept 8. They live in Auburn.

Stacey Leigh Carfi ’01 to Andrew Alexander Stec on April 21. Stacey is a financial analyst for Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. in Charleston, S.C.

Kelly Easterling

’03 to John Murphree

’00 on July 14. They live in Hoover, where he is a math teacher at Spain Park High School, and she teaches third grade at Greystone Elementary.

Shana Marie Rotton

’03 to Joseph Bryan Moore on April 28. They live in Montgomery.

Jason Bradley Trim ’04 to Lauren Conklin on Dec. 10. They live in McCalla.

Matt Wilson ’04 to Christy Marie Halstead on Aug. 11. They live in Troy.

James David Brady

’05 to Calley Rebecca Carter on Jan. 28. They live in Auburn.

Halted in IndonesiaBest friends Caitlin King ’11 of Atlanta and Brittany Fletcher ’09 of Chicago were eliminated in an October episode of the CBS reality competition “The Amazing Race” after their pedicab driver took a wrong turn on the streets of Bangil, Indo-nesia, putting them in last place among the remaining field of nine teams. “We felt like we were one of the strongest teams there, especially for being an all-girl team,” Fletcher said in a post-race interview. “We would definitely do it again.

G i n n S o c i e t y

2012 AU Mag ad.indd All Pages 10/11/12 2:51 PM



Chester Warren Marshall

’05 to Lauren Brittney Spencer on March 17. They live in Pike Road.

Philip Putnam ’05 to Amy Victoria Prudhom-me on Oct. 6. They live in Montgomery.

Katherine Brevard

Mears ’06 to James Ross Beshear on Sept. 29. They live in New York City.

Ashley Marigrace

McIntyre ’06 to Chad Cameron Smith on Aug 18. They live in Kingsport, Tenn.

Megan Lynn Moore ’06 to Thomas Wilson Stribling

’06 on April 26. They live in Denver.

Whitney Lynn Wilberger

’06 to George Ingram Voltz on July 21. They live in Birmingham.

Laura Ellene Crisler

’07 to William Albert Gresham on Oct. 30. They live in Norfolk, Va.

Benjamin Stanford Jack-

son ’07 to Frances L. Smith on April 28. They live in Dallas.

Ashley Brooke Jones ’07 to Christopher Douglas Griffin on July 31. They live in Selma.

Laura Allison Lucas ’07 to Paul Benjamin Leaver

’05 on July 10. They live in Birmingham.

Courtney Covey An-

derson ’08 to Greg Wolf

’11 on Sept. 8. They live in Birmingham.

Amy Louise Klinner

’08 to Gareth Sterling Connett Bridge on Oct. 13. They live in Houston.

Lois Irene Krolikowski

’08 to Joshua Allen Cok-

er ’08 on June 16. They live in Birmingham.

Brent Anthony Martina

’08 to Julie Lauren Stew-art on June 9. They live in Birmingham.

Emily Amari ’09 to Neil

Caudle ’11 on June 2. They live in Homewood.

Taylor Scott Brannan

’09 to Megan Ferguson on June 16. They live in Richmond, Va.

Campbell Brown ’09 to Jordan Marshall ’09 on April 21. They live in Birmingham.

Sara Elizabeth LaPorte

’09 to Robert Hardman Pickett on Dec. 17. They live in Troy.

Gregory J. Saunders ’09 to Larke Roney on Nov. 19, 2011. They live in Houston.

David Owen Smith ’09 to Andrea Galen Talley on March 10. They live in Natchez, Miss.

BORN A daughter, Emily

Grace, to Russell Clay-

ton ’00 and wife Alicia of Fletcher, N.C., on June 14.

A son, Grant Davis, to Jeff Holoman ’00 and wife Katie of Decatur, Ga., on Dec. 23.

A son, Karter Lee, to Kevin L. Phillips ’00 and Kristy Mountain

Phillips ’00 of Gads-den on July 29.

A daughter, Vivian Adele, to Chris Parker

’01 and Christie Bryant

Parker ’05 of Auburn on June 12. She joins sister Lillian Scott.

A daughter, Sara Elizabeth, to Jona-

than D. Simpson ’01 and wife Courtney of Shalimar, Fla., on Aug. 20.

A daughter, Harper Ellen, to Patrick Bright

’02 and Anna Hoff Bright

’02 of Charlotte, N.C., on July 12.

A daughter, Elizabeth Aubrey, to Nathan

Bentley Outlaw ’03 and Michele Huff Outlaw ’01 of Auburn on March 23.

A son, Lucas Charles, to William A. Rios ’03 and wife Emily of Smyrna, Ga., on July 16.

A son, David Louis, to Jason Louis Sims ’03 and Lisa Butler Sims ’04

of Nashville, Tenn., on Sept 30.

A son, Tyler Andrew, to Natalie McCarthy

Seahorn ’04 and hus-band Steven of Spring-ville on July 16. He joins brothers Brandon and Carter.

A son, William “Liam” Grey, to Christie

Simpson Eng ’06 and husband Chris of Hunts-ville on Aug. 14.

Class Notes

Sam Bracken was the product of rape. At 5, an older boy doused his left arm with lighter fluid and set him afire—then his mom married the boy’s father. By age 9, Sam was addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was abused. Molested. Surrounded by violence. When Sam was 16, he packed an orange duffel bag and left home to live with a friend’s family. By then he’d discovered football and, eventually, graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA. Brack-en received a full athletic scholarship from Georgia Tech in 1985 and went on to marry, raise four children and become a missionary. He now works as an executive for Utah-based FranklinCovey. Enter Marietta, Ga., writer Echo Montgomery Garrett ’82 and her husband, photographer Kevin Garrett ’81. The couple—who had been considering forming a foundation to help at-risk teenag-ers in foster care—heard Bracken’s story and teamed up with him to write a book, My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change. The self-published volume became the first of its kind to win Outstanding Book of the Year in the young adult and chil-dren’s category from the American Society of Journalists and Au-thors last year. Since then, the Garretts have formed a related nonprofit orga-nization to help kids like the one Bracken once was. Their Atlanta-based foundation, funded by corporate and private sponsors, offers a 12-week after-school program in which professional “life coach-es” provide teens with mentoring, training and ongoing moral sup-port. Upon completing the program, participants receive a laptop computer along with an orange duffel bag—the symbol of a future filled with opportunity and hope. “The real work happens after they graduate,” Echo Garrett says. “The coaches keep in touch and advocate for them through-out their next steps in life.” Meanwhile, Random House came calling: The book publish-ing giant rereleased My Orange Duffel Bag in June and issued a companion book, My Roadmap: A Personal Guide to Balance, Power and Purpose, also written by Bracken and Echo Garrett. “Seeing teens who weren’t even going to graduate high school before we met them now getting accepted into colleges of their choice has made this whole experience worth the ride,” Garrett says.—Landrum Isaacson

Bag full of hopeSNAPSHOT



A son, Bradlee Malenn, to Jeremy

Nelms ’06 and Eliza-

beth Smith Nelms ’08 of Tallahassee, Fla., on Sept 9, 2011.

A son, Brannon Davis, to Patricia Meigs

’07 of Guntersville on Dec. 14.

A son, Austin Alexander Jr., to Melissa Manly

Bonds ’08 and husband Austin of Vestavia Hills on April 15.

A son, Bennett Nicholas, to Nicholas L. “Nick”

Hall ’08 and Ansley

Elder Hall ’07 of Opelika on March 21.

A daughter, Lydia Joy, to Justin P. Spencer ’09 and Ellen Kelsey Spen-

cer ’09 of Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on June 19.

’10Patrick Thomas Car-

penter is a software development engineer for Amazon.com in Seattle.

Elizabeth Brooke

Whitlock teaches third grade at Wright’s Mill Road Elementary School in Auburn. She and fiancé Jerrod Dun-

can ’12 plan to wed in December.

MARRIED Kelli M. Christian to By-

ron A. Patterson on May 5. They live in Atlanta.

Ellen C. Clark to James

Bennett Jr. ’09 on May 26. They live in Birmingham.

Jessica Alice Dresher to John Sheffield Owens Hall on Dec. 17. The couple works for Cam-pus Crusade for Christ International.

Jonathan David Eiland to Marjorie Frances Yes-sick on July 28. They live in Hoover.

Kimberly Hardin to Robert Edward Mitchell III on March 24. They live in Prattville.

Leah Joyce Impastato to Nolan Alan Willisson on June 16. They live in Fairhope.

Lindsey Lippincott to James T. Murphy III ’11 on Aug. 18. They live in Albertville.

Leah Dianne Nave to Joseph Ryan Gotthelf

on Aug. 11. They live in Auburn.

Gabrielle Alexandra

Street to Stewart Michael Neely on Oct. 13. They live in Charlotte, N.C.

’11Amy E. Barton received a master’s degree in ad-vertising and public rela-tions from the University of Alabama. She is an intern for the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce.

Cydney Clanton quali-fied to play in the U.S. Women’s Open July 5-8 in Kohler, Wisc.

Nathan Douthit is a student at the Medical School for

International Health in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center. He plans to study in Is-rael for the first three years of the program.

Bradley Stephen Jones of Columbus is a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

MARRIED Brittni Lea Bryant to Casey Shawn Sloan on May 5. They live in Auburn.

Lauren Ingram Lett to Michael Andrew Motley on Aug. 11. They live in Greenville, S.C.

Matthew Edward Mizzell

to Jenny Emma Meri-wether Harris on June 9. They live in Houston.

Michael Thomas Plum-

mer to Laura Catherine Jones on Dec. 31. They live in Charleston, S.C.

Jordan Lee Spencer to Samuel Peyton Hill on Aug. 18. They live in Canton, Ga.

’12Lauren Weathers joined Nashville-based public affairs firm Hall Strategies.

Haley Wilson quali-fied to play in the U.S. Women’s Open July 5-8 in Kohler, Wisc.

MARRIED Melissa Caroline Mc-

Crary to James Alan

Renfro II ’11 on Sept.8. They live in Birmingham.

Julia Blair Snell to Gregory Wayne Gilliland

’09 on Jan. 7. They live in Huntsville.

Ryan Jay Whatley to Anne-Marie Urrutia on Sept 15. They live in Knoxville, Tenn.

In Memoriam

Earnest Hugh Bass

’43 of Lucama, N.C., died June 14. A U.S. Army Veterinary Corps veteran of World War II, he practiced veterinary medicine for 34 years.

Leonard Hender-

son White Jr. ’43 of Birmingham died June 15. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he held degrees in mechanical engineering and naval architecture. He worked for several manufactur-ing companies, including Birmingham Fabricating

Co., Birmingham Bolt Co. and WhiteFab Inc.

Dudley W. Cheape Jr.

’44 of Augusta, Ga., died Sept 2. He was a chemical engineer with Chemstrand Corp.

William H. Lyons Jr.

’44 of Jacksonville, Fla., died June 14. He was a division man-ager of engineering for Southern Bell.

Francis Glenn Vick-

ers ’44 of Granite Shoals, Texas, died Sept 22. A U.S. Army veteran, he was a retired U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture veterinarian.

Cole J. Young Jr. ’44 of Concord, N.C., died June 3. A U.S. Army veteran, he practiced

Cub Corner

Sweet surprise!For a fun holiday project, gather your Auburn family in the kitchen to bake a batch of delicious ginger cookies. Our recipe comes from There’s a Tiger in the Kitchen, a collection of more than 1,000 recipes from Auburn University’s Panhel-lenic Council. For extra Auburn spirit, adorn cookies with orange and blue icing (available at grocery and hobby stores).

Directions

1. Cream sugar, shortening and egg until creamy. Add molasses, beat well. 2. Sift together dry ingredients. Mix dry ingredients into creamed mixture. 3. Roll dough into sheets and cut into shapes using cooking cutters dipped in granulated sugar.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp ginger

1 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 Tsp salt

1/2 Tbsp cloves

3/4 cup shortening

1 egg

Prepared icing

5. Decorate cookies using icing and candy pieces.



In Memoriam

veterinarian medicine in Decatur for 45 years.

Winston Burton ’46

of Jonesboro, Ark., died Sept 19. He was a preacher.

Jack Hill Nolan ’46

of Birmingham died Sept. 25. He was a dentist.

Carolyn McElroy Chris-

topher ’47 of Bessemer died Sept 17. She was a golfer and an early sus-taining member of the Muscle Shoals District Service League.

Joyce C. Walker ’48 died Sept 6. She was a real estate agent for 35 years as well as a published author.

Grover C. Cider ’49 of Locust Fork died on Aug. 10. A veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, he was a high school agri-science teacher.

Jackson Hamrick ’49 of Fort Worth, Texas, died June 19. He retired as quality control manager for West Point Foundry & Machine

The Auburn Alumni Association in September honored four fac-ulty members as Alumni Professors in recognition of their research, publishing and teaching accomplishments: D. Allen Davis, associ-ate professor of fisheries and allied aquaculture; Henry Kinnucan, professor of agricultural economics and rural sociology; Margaret Ross, associate professor of educational foundations, leadership and technology; and Herbert Jack Rotfeld, professor of market-ing. Alumni Professors each serve a five-year term and receive a $3,500 annual stipend from the alumni association. Also honored were three Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award recipients: Robert S. Boyd, professor of biological sciences; Shelly McKee, as-sociate professor of poultry science; and Karla Peavy Simmons ’92, assistant professor of consumer and design sciences. Mathematics and statistics professor Gary Gruenhage was named Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer. Kinesiology associate professor Jared Russell received the association’s Minority Achievement Award.

Top teachers, researchers honored

Co. in West Point, Ga., after 49 years of service.

Robert “Bob” Lawrence

’49 of Greenville, S.C., died July 4. A U.S. Army Air Corps vet-eran of World War II, he pastored churches in Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and South Carolina.

John Mangels Jr. ’49 of St. Augustine, Fla., died Sept. 17. A World War II veteran, he retired as vice president of engineering for Swisher International Inc.

Edgar A. Pullen ’49 of Charlotte, N.C., died Sept. 27. A World War II veteran, he retired as manager of long-range planning for Southern Bell after 35 years.

Alexandria “Xan”

Lollar Rogers ’49 of Richmond, Va., died July 1. An avid bridge player, she was a member of the Coun-try Club of Virginia, Tuckahoe Woman’s Club and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Council.

John Whitner Simpson

’49 of Atlanta died on Sept 2. He worked for Georgia Power for 35 years.

James Madison Hun-

nicutt ’50 of Bethesda, Md., died Sept 6.

Jack Looney ’50 of Tar-rant City died Sept 13. He worked in the paper industry.

Joseph Phillip Pridgen

Sr. ’50 of Bay Minette died July 2. A World War II veteran, he retired from the Farmers Home Administration after 36 years of service.

Carl Joseph Saia ’50 of Birmingham died Sept 19. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he managed tire companies and his fam-ily’s shoe store, Carl’s Bootery in Ensley.

Max Clark Adams ’51 of Montgomery died Aug. 17. A U.S. Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, he retired in 1986 as base architect at Maxwell Air Force Base.

Joe Neal Butler Jr. ’51 of Brentwood, Tenn., died July 6. He was an entrepreneur and mem-ber of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.

William Richard “Dick”

Dickson ’51 of Madison died July 6. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he served on the Huntsville city planning commission from 1956 to 1970, including five years as chairman. He was an architect.

Jane Espy ’51 of Ab-beville died Sept 10. She retired from the Henry County School System after 40 years of teaching.

Robert Huel “Bob”

Harris Sr. ’51 of Decatur died Aug. 2. A U.S. Army veteran, he was a partner in the law firm of Harris, Caddell &

Shanks. He also served as an Alabama state senator from 1966 to 1974 and was a member of the Auburn University board of trustees from 1972 to 1982.

Leslie Elliott Allen ’52 of Birmingham died Sept. 1. He retired as a colonel with the Alabama National Guard after 31 years of service.

Ulysses “Kent” Bartlett

’52 of Panama City, Fla., died Sept 23. A U.S Army veteran, he worked as a mechanical engineer in civil service for the U.S. Navy.

James David Ran-

dall Jr. ’52 of Valrico, Fla., died July 13. A Korean War veteran, he was a teacher, prin-cipal and educational administrator; had served as president of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Com-merce; and was a life member of the Florida Congress of Parents and Teachers and the Reserve Officers’ As-sociation.

Elgie Russell Hudgins

’53 of Conyers, Ga., died Sept 16. A graphic artist, he worked in the printing and packaging industries.

James Martin Smith III

’53 of Mobile died Sept 23. He was an architect.

Robert N. “Bobby” Hall

’54 of Ashford died July 1. He was a retired U.S. Air Force veteran and farmer.



William R. “Bill”

Parish ’54 of Aiken, S.C., died June 19. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving in the chemical corps in Panama.

Rebecca Thompson

Cleveland ’55 of Boerne, Texas, died July 16. She was a member of Oak Hills Church.

Charles A. Pistole ’55 of Trinity, Fla., died July 7. He retired from the U.S. Trea-sury Department.

Bailey Montgomery

Talbot IV ’55 of Troy died Sept. 23. He retired from the U.S. Army as colonel of infantry after 30 years of military service.

Robert Howell Tweedy

III ’55 of Decatur died July 8. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he worked in transportation and purchasing for 3M.

Clifton G. “Spar-

key” Allen Jr. ’56 of Columbus, Ga., died July 8. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he was a member of Sigma Al-pha Epsilon fraternity and Kiwanis Club.

Raymond Lee Law-

rence ’56 of Hunts-ville died April 20. A Korean War veteran, he spent most of his career with the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal, where he eventually led the simulation division and helped train astronaut

Buzz Aldrin for the first lunar landing. He also served as chief avionics engineer for Skylab until retiring from NASA in 1984 and was a founding member and former president of the Huntsville-Madison County Auburn Club.

R.T. Lee Jr. ’56 of Bir-mingham died Sept 23. He owned and operated restaurants and real estate companies, later working for Birming-ham-based Outdoor Investment Co.

William C. McMillon ’56 of Carrollton, Ga., died Sept 18. A veteran of the U.S Air Force, he was a retired U.S. Social Security Administration manager.

William Raymond “Bill”

Register ’56 died Sept 7. He retired as president of Air and Hydraulics Engineering Inc.

Leigh A. Rickard ’57

of Florence died July 5. He worked for John Deere in North Caro-lina, South Carolina and Alabama.

William Josh Faircloth

’58 of Ellenwood died June 9.

Roy Thomas Bouler Jr.

’59 of Alpine died Sept 8. A member of Sigma Pi fraternity, he taught high school history and speech in Panama City, Fla., and also worked for Crown Textile Co. in Talladega and the Ala-bama State Department of Rehabilitation.

Sandra Peek Harper

’59 of Birmingham died June 15. She was an educator for 35 years, teaching English in Ala-bama and Arizona.

Rebecca Anne “Becky”

Arnold Ray ’59 of Americus, Ga., died July 2. She was a past president of the Ameri-cus Junior Service League, a past board member of the Ameri-can Cancer Society, and an officer of the Americus Town Com-mittee of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia.

Elwood Larry Stephens

’59 of San Antonio, Texas, died Sept 8. He retired as a colonel in the U.S. Army.

William Morgan

Adams Jr. ’60 of Johns Creek, Ga., died Aug. 9. An electrical engineer, he worked on a number of aerospace programs, including the Polaris missile and Apollo com-mand module projects. He later earned a master’s degree from Georgia State University and built a career in the pulp-and-paper industry.

Fred Larry Avant ’61 of Tuskegee died Sept 12. He served in the U.S. Air Force for six years and in civil service for the National Guard from 1978 to 1991.

Douglas Hines Barclay

’61 of Huntsville died June 28. He retired from the U.S. Army

In college, Marc Hodulich ’02 and Dave Maloney ’01 enjoyed a friendly rivalry as All-Academic Southeastern Conference team-mates on the Auburn Tigers track and field team. A few years later, after both began working in New York City, the athletes began pairing off on Wall Street—where they organized a decathlon designed to determine who among their financial-wiz-ard friends could claim bragging rights for physical superiority. The event became so popular that Hodulich and Maloney, a national account manager for Granite telecommunications company, figured they could put the competitors’ cockiness to use for a good cause: cancer research. The annual RBC Decathlon now boasts about 150 investment bankers and financiers competing in a variety of events ranging from foot races to pull ups. To make it interesting, donors may wa-ger on the participants’ performance. “Both our mothers are two-time breast cancer survivors, and we thought that this kind of grouping of guys would be a great way to raise money,” says Atlanta-based Hodulich, an associate with Towers Watson business consulting firm. “We enjoyed competing against each other and seeing not only who was the best athlete, but also who could meet their personal goals. That morphed into performance-based donating, or what we call ‘charity betting.’” The decathlon, which this year netted more than $1.25 million toward pediatric cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Can-cer Center, has drawn the attention of national media from Sports Illustrated to The Wall Street Journal. This year’s top Wall Street jock was former Penn State safety Mark Rubin, who was waived by the St. Louis Rams before joining London-based Barclays PLC banking and financial services firm. RBC Capital Markets, the decathlon’s title sponsor, donated more than $390,000 for cancer research. Meanwhile, Hodulich and Maloney have started CharityBets, a company that helps individuals raise money for various causes by meeting and exceeding certain physical performance goals. “What Dave and I are most excited about, going forward, is how applicable this is to professional athletes, to individuals and to people like you and me—who may just go on a fun run,” Hodulich says. “Why ask for donations when you can earn them?”

Wall Street muscle aids cancer research

SNAPSHOT

No smokingA new Auburn University no-smoking policy requires individuals to remain at least 25 feet away from all campus buildings while smoking—particularly around doors, windows, loading docks and ventilation systems. The policy went into effect in August as part of a move to create a cleaner, healthier environment on cam-pus and reduce secondhand smoke.



In Memoriam

after 28 years of service and later started his own company. He also helped build homes for Habitat for Humanity and served as a Rotary Club president and dis-trict governor.

Robert Nelson Moseley

’61 of Florala died July 8. He was an educator for 42 years.

William Wayne Cor-

less Sr. ’62 of Auburn died June 10. He taught in Auburn’s ROTC program from 1968 to 1972 and retired from the U.S. Air Force after 20 years of service.

Myron Douglass Brown

’62 of Stanley, Kan., died June 27. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force Veterinary Corps, he worked as an industrial veterinarian for 39 years.

Ann Lyle Jeffrey ’62 of Thomasville died July 4. She retired as a secretary for Thomasville United Methodist Church.

Carl Hubert Jones ’62 of Cape Coral, Fla., died Sept 5. He worked for AC Electric Co. of Mo-bile and International Paper Co.

Mark Carroll Espy

Sr. ’65 of Headland died Oct. 16. He retired in 1986 as president and CEO of Head-land National Bank, remaining as chairman of the board. He also served on the board of the Auburn Alumni Association from 1993 to 1996 and was active

in a number of other groups.

John C. Dunn ’66 of Mims, Fla., died June 6. He owned and operated Dunn Animal Hospital for more than 30 years.

Thomas E. Warren III ’67

of Dallas died July 5. He worked as a landscape architect, arborist, oil-man, entrepreneur and energy manager.

Brent Allen Wheeler ’68 of Opelika died Sept. 19. He was a forensic scientist and adminis-trator for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.

James Floyd Burnette

’69 of Arlington, Texas, died June 28. He was a pilot for Dresser Indus-tries and NetJets.

William H. Marsh III

’69 of Hunstville died Aug 16. He worked for Chrysler Group for 30 years and volunteered as a Boy Scout leader.

John Rickey Byrd ’70 of Newton died June 23. He served in the Ala-bama National Guard, completed his doctoral degree in agricultural education at Ohio State University and worked for many years as a real estate agent.

Johnny Earl Huggins ’70

of Auburn died Oct. 5. He was employed by GKN Westland Aero-space in Tallassee.

Walter Pryor White ’70 of Five Points died Sept 14.

He was a land surveyor and timber salesman.

Barbara Lenore Pea-

cock Fields ’71 of Co-lumbus, Ga., died June 14. She was a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the National Society Colonial Dames XVII.

Frank P. Latimer Jr. ’71

of Amelia Island, Fla., died Sept 15. He owned an interior design firm.

John B. Ryan ’71 of Bay Minette died Sept 24. He taught history and was a published author.

Robert Milton “Buddy”

Holmes ’72 of Dothan died June 29. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he was an architect.

Sharpe Winstone John-

son ’72 of Jasper died July 9. He was a family practitioner for Lloyd Nolan Clinics in Pleas-ant Grove.

Andrew Frederick

“Drew” Giesen III ’75

of Defiance, Mo., died July 12. A well-known animal scientist, he worked for Novus Inter-national Inc. and was a member of several trade organizations.

Norman H. Rahn III

’75 of Gadsden died July 18. He was a radiologist.

George Ellsworth Tor-

moen ’77 of Merritt Is-land, Fla., died Sept 14.

Henry Hanly Funderburk Jr. ’53, who served as Auburn University Montgomery’s first chancellor and Auburn University’s 12th president, died Aug. 4 at age 81. A career higher-education administrator, Funderburk was vice president of Auburn Mont-gomery when the school held its first classes in 1969, later accept-ing a position as its inaugural chancellor. His three years as president of Auburn’s main campus, how-ever, were plagued by controversy. Former Alabama Gov. Fob James named Funderburk president of Auburn in 1980 during a period of financial difficulties. Charged with returning Auburn to financial stability, Funderburk instituted a number of “belt-tighten-ing” moves, according to a history of the period by Auburn librar-ian and associate dean Marcia Boosinger. Funderburk also spearheaded an ultimately successful $62 mil-lion fundraising campaign and began a number of building projects. But from the outset Funderburk clashed with Auburn faculty over issues ranging from setting limits on out-of-state student enrollment to the relationship between the Auburn and AUM campuses. By 1982, the University Senate—a group of faculty elected to participate in the formulation of campus policy—issued a “vote of no confidence” in Funderburk, which was overturned by Auburn’s board. After several upper administrators resigned in 1981 and 1982, Auburn’s faculty body renewed its effort to oust the embat-tled president. Still, with the support of the governor, Funderburk remained in the position until February 1983, when Auburn trust-ees agreed to a plan to create an Auburn University system, with separate chancellors running the Auburn and Auburn Montgomery campuses. Faculty and students opposed the decision. With newly elected Gov. George Wallace in office, Funderburk resigned and the chancellor system was abandoned. Funderburk went on to become the eighth president of Eastern Kentucky University, where he served for 14 years, from 1984 until 1998. There he was credited with expanding Kentuckians’ ability to obtain higher education by overseeing the opening of regional cam-puses around the state; growing the university’s enrollment despite tough budget constraints; and leading the construction of a pair of new buildings and a library expansion. Funderburk earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Au-burn in agricultural science and botany, and a doctoral degree from Louisiana State University in plant physiology. He is survived by wife Helen Hanson Funderburk ’56, son Kenneth Funderburk ’81 and daughter Debra Funderburk Cox ’76, all of Montgomery.

Funderburk remembered



He retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force after 32 years of service.

Phillip Monroe Mor-

gan ’78 of Seale died July 8. He worked for D.P. Jones Electric Co. and Chloride Battery.

Karen Elizabeth Swaf-

ford ’78 of Hartselle died Sept 19.

Milton Tate ’78 of Atlanta died Sept 16. He worked for Regions Bank.

James R. Bricken ’79 of Evergreen died July 2. He was a veterinarian.

Edward W. “Bill”

Burkhalter ’79 of Win-chester, Tenn., died June 17. He was a member of Winchester Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Kaye Stokely Wilson

’81 of Muscle Shoals died Aug. 19. She was a teacher and elementary school librarian.

Frances T. Dean ’82 of Montgomery died July 4.

Mark A. Teague ’82

of Owens Cross Roads died July 7. He enjoyed aviation, astronomy and gardening.

Allison Lowery Busby

’83 of Auburn died Sept. 22. She served as music director and pianist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Auburn for 16 years and co-owned an Irish-dance school in Opelika.

Elizabeth A. Armistead

’84 of Montgomery

died Aug. 7. A U.S. Air Force veteran, she served as assistant managing director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and later taught high school English.

Rebecca Lamb Conkle

’88 of Blairsville, Ga., died Aug. 31.

Don Hershall Hall ’90 of Cumming, Ga., died Sept 13. He was an internet-software security engineer.

Betty Michele Smith ’92 of Birmingham died Sept. 25. She was an animal lover and social-justice advocate.

Anne Marie Bolin ’95 of Stafford, Va., died Aug. 16. She owned a cupcake shop.

Dena Marie Guy ’95 of Puyallup, Wash., died Sept 24.

William Redding Solo-

mon ’99 of Birmingham died Sept 22. He was an attorney with the law firm of Shealy, Crum & Pike.

Ashley Noelle Moore ’01 died Sept 4. She was a veterinarian.

Shashi Kamala Becker

’05 of Arlington, Va., died July 1. She was an engineer with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Lara Faye Kwapien ’09 of Opelika died Sept 11. She was an X-ray techni-cian and an accom-plished equestrian.

Faculty and Friends

Joseph Malcom Bagwell of Huntsville died Sept. 22. He was a student trainer for the Auburn Tigers football team.

Clinton Allen Baker of Auburn died Sept 26. He had served as head of the marketing and transportation department in Auburn’s College of Business.

Julian Luigi Dusi of Au-burn died Aug. 28. He was a biological sciences professor at Auburn.

Donald Phillip Gwarjan-

ski of Birmingham died Aug. 18. He was a senior majoring in supply chain management at Auburn.

Sandra Bridges Newkirk of Opelika died Aug. 15. An associate profes-sor, advisor and intra-murals coordinator for Auburn’s physical education department, she served as the uni-versity’s first women’s volleyball coach and first women’s athletics director.

Anne D. Sewell of Bremen, Ga., died Sept 16. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Bremen and a former Sunday school teacher.

Lisa Krueger Stone of Signal Mountain, Tenn., died July 23. A pianist and database program-mer, she was the wife of Auburn Alumni Asso-ciation president William

B. “Bill” Stone ’85.

Smart kids choose AuburnMore in-state high school students who scored at least 28 out of 36 on the ACT exam last year said they’d choose to attend Auburn University over the University of Alabama, accord-ing to a report published by the Mobile Press-Register. Of the nearly 40,000 test-takers, about 18 percent of the top-scoring teens listed Auburn among their preferred schools.

Nearly 300 alumni and friends of the Au-burn Alumni Associa-tion have purchased brick and stone pavers along the campus’ new Alumni Walk, generat-ing about $100,000 in support of student scholarships. Officials broke ground on the walk, located in front of the Auburn Alumni Cen-ter at 317 South Col-lege St., in June. When complete, the project is expect-ed to raise as much as $400,000 in scholar-ship monies designat-ed for eligible children of life members of the association. Pav-ers are still available for installation beginning in January, says alumni outreach coordinator Kate Larkin. “From pavers honoring future Auburn graduates to those memorializing graduates who have gone on, purchasers have been creative and sentimental in their wording,” Larkin says. “We hope alumni will consider giving pavers as holiday gifts this season and add them to their own wish lists.” The Alumni Walk project allows alumni and friends of Au-burn University to buy personalized pavers commemorating a graduation date; celebrating a baby’s birth, retirement, engage-ment or wedding; honoring or memorializing a loved one; or recognizing a club, sorority, fraternity, business or other orga-nization. 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. Each paver may be etched with an inscription of the donor’s choosing, and pur-chases are tax deductible. Donors who purchase a paver as a gift may opt to receive a recognition certificate themselves or have a certificate sent directly to the recipient. Officials have described the project as one of the most am-bitious scholarship fundraising projects ever undertaken by the alumni association. Proceeds benefit the association’s endowed scholarship program. Endowed scholarships are awarded com-petitively each spring at $1,500 for one year based on available funding. To order, see www.aualum.org/scholarships, or contact Janet Bryant at [email protected] or 334-844-1150. Holiday gift orders must be received by Dec. 10.

Alumni Walk pavers still available



I’m a historian by trade and a preacher by avocation. Wearing either professional hat, I come to the same conclusion: All liv-ing things die. What counts is memory. As the historical/theo-logical saying goes, “As long as anyone alive remembers a per-son or thing, it continues to live in memory.” Alive or dead, there is one memory of the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner that will live as long as I do and probably as long as my grandson does. If I remember accurately, the year was 2007, and the opponent was Kansas State. It was a typically humid, miserable September evening made worse by a thunderstorm that blew in just before the game. Six-year-old Dallas was in town without his dad, a proud Auburn University graduate and software designer who couldn’t get away from his job in Seattle. It was Dallas’ first live Auburn football game, and I planned the full Auburn experience. We parked near College Street north of the railroad tracks. That way, after the game ended, we could walk from the stadium to Toomer’s Corner, where he could roll the oak trees, then we could continue north on College Street to our car. It never occurred to me that Auburn might lose. But as the game took a perilous turn and we trailed most of the evening, I began to suggest that we might want to leave early to beat the traffic. (I hadn’t bothered to tell Dallas that we don’t roll the trees when Auburn loses, a vital detail grandfathers some-times keep from innocent children.) Fortified by a wad of cotton candy, a bag of popcorn and a large soft drink (grandfathers often also ignore nutrition when alone with their grandsons), Dallas was by then on a sugar high and in no mood to discuss a losing option. So we remained, Auburn mounted a patented comeback, and we won. That began a long streak of victories for the Seattle whiz kid that included three more home games, two Atlanta bowl games, one Southeastern Conference matchup and a national championship game. Not until five years later did Dallas wit-ness in person an Auburn defeat. In fact, the family joke be-came a proposal I whimsically contemplated sending to Au-burn’s coaching staff: They should send the team jet to pick Dallas up in Seattle and fly him to every Auburn game, be-cause he had never seen them lose (a sort of Seattle good luck charm on two legs). Anyway, it was not so much the victory that night that I will always remember. It was the aftermath. After the game, we walked hurriedly to Toomer’s Corner, where the oaks were

already covered with tissue paper, clinging, wet, sometimes sagging off the trees. Dallas could only reach the bottom rolls that bounced off the wet limbs and leaves but managed to scurry between the forest of big folks’ legs until he carried a full armload of soggy tissue clinging to nearly every inch of his body. Little more than a huge grin and sparkling black eyes distinguished the little boy from an Egyptian mummy. Shreds of paper clung to his hair, stuck out from his shoes and trailed him down the pavement. Fans wandering down College Street and meeting us as we strolled hand-in-hand toward the car could not contain a smile, pointing to the cute kid encased in wet toilet tissue, sometimes even snapping his photograph. When he called his father in Seattle after we arrived home, he strolled from room to room, never stopping his pacing or rapid-fire recital of every moment of the evening (whether from the victory, the excitement of rolling the oaks or the sugar high, I cannot say). When Dallas returned to Seattle, his mother, Kelley, told me that crinkly, dirty toilet tissue from the oak trees took up most of the space in his carry-on. Upon reaching his house, he packed it away in the upper drawer of his dresser among his other childhood treasures. When I decided to describe this magical evening with my grandson, I called him to fact-check my memory and to ask if he still had the tissue in his dresser drawer. “Yep,” came the reply, still right where he put it that eve-ning. For Dallas and me, the oak trees will someday be gone. But that memory? Never!

The Last Word

Ode to the oaksBY J. WAYNE FLYNT

A fourth generation Alabamian, Wayne Flynt taught history at Auburn from 1977 until his retirement in 2005 and has written 11 books—most recently the memoir Keeping the Faith: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives (University of Alabama Press, 2011). His research focuses on Southern culture, Alabama politics, Southern religion, education reform and poverty.

O F F I C E O F D E V E L O P M E N T

The Auburn FAmily ThAnks The SamfordSociety For iTs supporT

The Samford Society, named in honor of Samford Hall namesake William James Samford, recognizes Auburn University donors whose cumulative lifetime contributions range between $25,000 and $100,000. Auburn proudly bestows Samford’s distinguished name on its generous donors whose contributions are a tribute to his pioneering spirit of championing higher education.

The Samford Society held its biennial recognition program and reception in the Auburn Arena on Sept. 14, 2012, at which time, the society

• included more than 4,100 Auburn University alumni and friends.

• welcomed 839 individuals as new members.

• congratulated 113 individuals whose continued support of Auburn University qualified them for membership and future induction into Auburn’s 1856 Society.

Contributions to Auburn University by Samford Society members support high-quality faculty and instruction, enhance academic and student programs, and increase scholarship and fellowship opportunities.

For more information about the Samford Society or Auburn University’s other giving societies, please contact Donor Relations by emailing [email protected], calling 334.844.1322, or visiting https://develop.auburn.edu/recognition/societies.html.

“When I received my scholarships, I knew there was a kind and generous spirit from whom it came….Thank you for inspiring me to think of my own ways to give back to Auburn University, and for helping someone like me achieve her goals and continue to set future goals at my dream college.”

- Scholarship recipient and Auburn freshman Ella Turner, from her remarks to Samford Society members.

A list of the newest members of the Samford Society is online at

https://develop.auburn.edu/recognition/societies.htmlalong with photos of the September 14 event

and a complete listing of Samford Society members.

An Auburn Family Tradition Since 1946

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