Who was your favorite professor or staff member when you were a student at Auburn?
By Kate Asbury Larkin ’21
![theBigQ-01](https://alumni.auburn.edu/files/2023/07/theBigQ-01.png)
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
![Big_Question_SimmsandLogue](https://alumni.auburn.edu/files/2023/07/Big_Question_SimmsandLogue.jpg)
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
![Big_Question_Bridgett_King](https://alumni.auburn.edu/files/2023/07/Big_Question_Bridgett_King.jpg)
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
![Big_Question_David_Dyer](https://alumni.auburn.edu/files/2023/07/Big_Question_David_Dyer.jpg)
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
![Big_Question_Frank_Arrant](https://alumni.auburn.edu/files/2023/07/Big_Question_Frank_Arrant.jpg)
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
Rowdy Gaines Reflects on Winning Gold
Forty years ago, Rowdy Gaines ’81 won three gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
People and Plants: The Secret Behind Keeping SEC College Campuses Beautiful
Across the SEC and the country, Auburn graduates are overseeing some of the biggest and most scenic college campuses. But it takes more than a green thumb to keep these iconic places inviting for students, staff and thousands of annual visitors.
Wildest Dreams
Author and New York Times writer Margaret Renkl looks for answers to societal ills in the harmony between humans and nature.
Rowdy Gaines Reflects on Winning Gold
Forty years ago, Rowdy Gaines ’81 won three gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
People and Plants: The Secret Behind Keeping SEC College Campuses Beautiful
Across the SEC and the country, Auburn graduates are overseeing some of the biggest and most scenic college campuses. But it takes more than a green thumb to keep these iconic places inviting for students, staff and thousands of annual visitors.
Wildest Dreams
Author and New York Times writer Margaret Renkl looks for answers to societal ills in the harmony between humans and nature.