03/25/2010

College of Ag Gains 10 Endowed Professorships

AUBURN, Ala. — In the fall of 2008, Auburn University President Jay Gogue unveiled an ambitious, year-long initiative in which 81 new endowed professorships would be established campus-wide as tools to attract exceptional teachers and researchers to Auburn and to reward and retain the outstanding faculty already here. Seven of those professorships were to be in the College of Agriculture.

By the time the campaign wrapped up Sept. 30, 2009, steadfast College of Ag alumni and supporters had endowed, not seven, but 10 new professorships in the college, including seven in the Department of Horticulture, two in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and one college-wide. Mark Wilton and Wes Cumbie, the college’s development officers, credit horticulture and entomology and plant pathology faculty members with helping secure the professorships in their departments.

Endowed professorships are the most esteemed faculty honors afforded by Auburn and are awarded to faculty who are outstanding scholars, educators and researchers in their fields of study and who are passionate about stimulating young minds. Faculty who are named to professorships receive prestige, recognition and—the real morale-boosters—salary enhancements.

Establishing a professorship at Auburn normally requires a gift of $300,000, but for those that were created during Gogue’s initiative, the university agreed to add $7,500 annually in perpetuity to their earnings. Subsequently, donors were allowed to set up these professorships with gifts of $150,000.

The 10 new endowed professorships in the College of Agriculture include:

The Joseph Kloepper Endowed Professorship in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, which Becker Underwood Inc., an international developer of bio-agronomic and specialty products, established to honor Kloepper, a veteran College of Ag plant pathologist. Kloepper pioneered research on the use of beneficial soil bacteria to promote plant growth and provide biological disease control, and preference for the Kloepper Professorship will be given to a faculty member who teaches and conducts research in that area.

The Endowed Professorship in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, established by the department as a whole to support superior faculty who strengthen and enhance either or both of the fields of study.

The Ronald L. Shumack Endowed Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, established to honor Shumack for his more than three decades of service to the agriculture and nursery industries in Alabama as a horticulture specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and as a teacher and researcher in the College of Ag and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. Shumack served as head of the horticulture department from 1989 to 1994 and then served as interim College of Ag dean and AAES director. He retired in 1999.

The William A. Jr. and Cecelia Dozier Endowed Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, which recognizes Dozier’s lasting contributions to the department and to the state’s horticulture industry during his 39 years as a faculty member at Auburn. Through the years, his extensive research program has focused on tree fruits, including peaches, apples and, in recent years, kiwifruit and satsuma mandarins. Dozier also served as department chair from 1992 to 2000. He and Mrs. Dozier, who were married in 1964, owned and operated a nursery near Auburn for many years. The Dozier Professorship is in honor of Dozier and in memory of Mrs. Dozier, who died in 2008. It will support a faculty member who has a strong commitment to the horticulture industry and to Department of Horticulture students.

The Dwight and Ruth Ann Nunn Bond Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, which the Bonds established to support a superior faculty member who has a strong commitment to the pecan industry and is responsive to its needs. The Bonds both are Alabama Polytechnic Institute alums, Mrs. Bond graduating in home economics and Bond in poultry science. He enjoyed a long, successful career with ConAgra Foods Inc. before retiring in 1995. The Bonds retired to Mrs. Nunn’s childhood home in the Loachapoka community near Auburn.

The Thomas H. Dodd Jr. Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, created by gifts from family and friends of Dodd, a lifelong nurseryman who died in 2009. Dodd studied horticulture at what now is Auburn University in the 1930s before returning to his hometown of Semmes to work at the family’s Tom Dodd Nurseries. The nursery, which began in 1920, remains one of the largest in the Southeast. The Dodd Professorship will be awarded to a faculty member who teaches and conducts research on nursery crop management and production, particularly in the area of native plants.

The Jimmy and Chris Pursell Endowed Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, established by the Sylacauga couple specifically to support an exceptional faculty member who teaches and coordinates civic-oriented service-learning and public-gardens programs in the department. Pursell earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Auburn in 1952 and has had a highly successful career in the specialty fertilizer industry. Today, he is chairman of Pursell Family Corporation and of FarmLinks LLC, an 18-hole public-access golf course in Talladega County’s Fayetteville community that is the only research and demonstration golf course in the nation. The Pursells have demonstrated a commitment to Auburn’s horticulture department for many years, and the Pursell Professorship will be highly instrumental in establishing at Auburn the nation’s premier graduate program in public horticulture.

The Barbara and Charles Bohmann Endowed Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, named for a couple whose voluntary efforts on behalf of the Garden Club of Alabama Inc.’s scholarship program have helped dozens of students study horticulture at Auburn. Mrs. Bohmann, who retired in 1997 as president and CEO of the Auburn University Federal Credit Union, was long active in garden clubs in Montgomery and Auburn and in the state organization and with her husband was committed to growing the Garden Club of Alabama Scholarship Endowment. The Bohmann Professor will be the liaison between the Garden Club of Alabama Inc. and the horticulture department.

The Harry G. Ponder Endowed Professorship in the Department of Horticulture, established as a tribute to Ponder for his role as a faculty member for 30-plus years in building the Department of Horticulture into one of the most respected programs in the nation. It was Ponder who launched the department’s invaluable internship program and, shortly thereafter, a job-placement service that has been phenomenally successful. The Ponder Professorship will be awarded specifically to a faculty member whose primary assignment for at least three years has been teaching or administration.

The Mike and Leann Rowe Endowed Professorship in the College of Agriculture, which the Rowes established with proceeds from a sale of real estate. Rowe is a College of Ag alumnus, graduating in 1978 with a degree in ag business. The Rowes live in Lutz, Fla., located near Tampa. The Rowe Professorship will be awarded to a tenured associate professor or full professor who has demonstrated a strong commitment to students and who provides high-quality instruction, research and service.

College of Agriculture Dean Richard Guthrie, or his successor, will name the endowed professors, with the professorships to begin Oct. 1, 2010.

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Contact: Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu

OFFICE OF AG COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING
Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
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AgComm@auburn.edu