CENTER FOR THE ARTS & HUMANITIES IN THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS CELEBRATES NEW NAME

Commemorating the life and work of a beloved first lady of Auburn University, the Auburn University Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts has been named in honor of Caroline Marshall Draughon. A celebration of the naming will take place May 22, 4 p.m. on the lawn of Pebble Hill, the Center's historic home. A reception will follow. The public is invited to attend.

Born in Orrville, Dallas County, Alabama, in 1910, Caroline Marshall Draughon came to Auburn with her husband, Ralph Brown Draughon, in the fall of 1931 when he accepted a position in the Alabama Polytechnic Institute history department.

From 1947, when Dr. Draughon was named acting president of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, until his retirement in 1965 as president of Auburn University, Miss Caroline was a familiar and welcoming figure on campus as first lady. She played a crucial role in linking faculty, students and alumni to the university, establishing a freshman reception, founding the Dames Club for wives of male students after World War II and establishing Campus Club, a service and social organization.

A 1931 graduate of Huntingdon College, she was honored by her alma mater as Alumna of the Year in 1963. The award praised her influence on the thousands of young men and women who have passed through Auburn University since she has been its presidents wife. Other recognitions include the Pam Sheffield Award as an outstanding woman of Auburn and the establishment of the Caroline Draughon Endowed Scholarship Fund commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Campus Club. The parish hall at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church bears her name.

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities was established in 1985 to develop and offer programming in Alabama schools, towns and communities designed to strengthen the bond between the academic community and the general public.

It received its first major National Endowment for the Humanities grant to conduct statewide reading-discussion programs in 1988. Read Alabama! set a national standard for impact and outreach. In the years since, the Center has conducted dozens of statewide series on state and national history, culture, and literature and sponsored hundreds of one-time programs featuring writers, artists, and scholars in schools, libraries, and communities.

For more information on the naming celebration, call 334-844-4946. For more information on the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities, please visit www.auburn.edu/cah.