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The Big Question

Who was your favorite professor or staff member when you were a student at Auburn?

By Kate Asbury Larkin ’21

Who was your favorite professor or staff member when you were a student at Auburn?

Sorry, but I had four favorites: U.S. Army Captain (later Colonel) John Warren, Mrs. Rosemary McGhar, both in Army ROTC, Dr. Harry Philpott, Auburn’s president when I started, and most importantly, his secretary (my mother): Mary McCarty.

Bob McCarty ’82
College of Architecture, Design and Construction

Dr. Kicklighter. I loved his class. I remember one quarter during finals all of campus lost power due to a squirrel getting in the main transformer. Instead of rescheduling our final, Dr. Kicklighter marched all of us out of Haley Center and into the stadium to take our final. We took our final in the bleachers with the grounds crew mowing the field and “Brown Eyed Girl” playing somewhere on campus for all to hear.

Beth Carson Sydell ’99
Harbert College of Business

Two elderly men in business attire.

Jack Simms and Mickey Logue

Jack Simms, journalism department. Believed in me as a female sportswriter in 1978 (I graduated in March that year) and provided encouragement and constructive criticism during my rookie years at the Opelika-Auburn News. Mickey Logue is a close second as a journalism mentor.

Pat McArthur Booker ’78
College of Liberal Arts

Dr. James Brown, a.k.a. “Mr. Pop Quiz Man.” No one will ever forget sitting in Langdon Hall for his classes!

Mandy C. Speirs ’05
College of Liberal Arts

Hands down, Dr. Hardy, Ag Law! What other professor takes their students to a Braves game and to get a hotdog at The Varsity? He was amazing!!

Brandi Jones ’99
College of Agriculture

Dr. Mary Ann Potter in the College of Human Sciences. She focused on what life would be like once we were working in the field of interior design, she encouraged us to join professional societies and she kept up with us after we graduated.

Susan Bell Pendleton ’76
College of Human Sciences

Dr. Kicklighter. I loved his class. I remember one quarter during finals all of campus lost power due to a squirrel getting in the main transformer. Instead of rescheduling our final, Dr. Kicklighter marched all of us out of Haley Center and into the stadium to take our final. We took our final in the bleachers with the grounds crew mowing the field and “Brown Eyed Girl” playing somewhere on campus for all to hear.

Beth Carson Sydell ’99
Harbert College of Business

Captain Callan, aviation management courses, an ace Navy pilot and a man that cared that you understood and learned and that your life turned out well. I was also his work-study student helping him organize lectures. A good man.

Andrea Crawford ’86
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Bodie Hinton, AU band director and head of the music department. He loved his band members and students and memorized their names. He taught more than music and marching through his encouragement for us to be our best. I always remember how he believed in me.

W. Larry Hunt ’70
Harbert College of Business

Dr. A. J. Hill in accounting and Jude Robinson in math. This was in the early ’60s. Mr. Robinson wrote on the board with his right hand and erased with his left as he wrote. Note taking was fun! Dr. Hill was just a fabulous teacher in every way. Those were the days of accounting with machines with handles.

Kitty Fairleigh Allen ’63
College of Education

Dr. Donald Graves. He absolutely loved teaching and it showed. Every day. As a first-year teacher, I tried to model my teaching persona after him.

Jeanne Lazzari ’88
College of Education

A smiling woman wearing pearl earrings.

Dr. Bridgett A. King

Dr. Bridgett A. King taught each of her students to be in command of every room they enter. She reminded us that our history is also our present moment, so to live every day to make an impact.

Bre’a Felise Hilliard ’15
College of Liberal Arts

Smiling man in business attire.

Dr. David Dyer

Dr. Dyer, he taught us that mechanical engineering could be hot, dirty and dangerous.

Scott Worley ’91
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Smiling older man in glasses and business attire.

Dr. Frank Arant

Dr. Arant, head of the zoology department. I had worked for three years for the department when he pulled me out of class in the spring of ’72. I was petrified I had done something wrong.

Dr. Arant: Reames, why haven’t you applied to graduate school?
Me: I don’t have the money.
Dr. Arant: Today is the last day to apply to take the GRE. Take it and we’ll see about the money.
Me: But Dr. Arrant, I don’t have the $45 for the application.

Dr. Arant gave me the $45 and I left a Miss Alabama preliminary to take the test. Won the pageant and received a full fellowship for graduate school due to my scores. Thank you Dr. Arant from a snake-handling, bug-catching, mammal-loving beauty queen.

Eugenia Reames Hale ’72
College of Agriculture

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Higher Ed, Higher Calling

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Sydney Freeman Jr.’s love of people led him to a prestigious U.N. fellowship and a life dedicated to helping others.

Six Degrees of Separation

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After Senior Lecturer Joseph Fetsch ’14 earned his first Auburn degree a decade ago, he kept going. Now he’s working on his sixth.