The Auburn Alumni Association has presented its 2005
Lifetime Achievement Awards to Edmund C. Dyas, a Mobile orthopedic
surgeon, architect Batey M. Gresham of Nashville, Albert James
Smith, retired founder of Power Systems Engineering Inc.,
of Houston and E. Travis York, Jr. of Gainesville, Fla., chancellor
emeritus of the University of Florida.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor given
by the Auburn Alumni Association. It was established in
2001 to recognize extraordinary accomplishments by members
of the Auburn family. Presentation of the awards will occur
March 4, 2006, at a banquet at The Hotel at Auburn University
and Dixon Conference Center.
Dyas, a 1961 AU graduate, played football for legendary
AU coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan. He earned All-America
honors while maintaining an A average academically as a
pre-med student.
Dyas turned down offers to play professional football and
instead attended medical school at Tulane University and
a residency at Duke University’s medical center. After
serving as chief of orthopedics at the U.S. Marines’
Camp Lejuene, N.C., he returned to his hometown and established
a thriving practice and recognition as one of the most outstanding
surgeons in the region, according to Laura Megginson, who
worked in operating rooms with Dyas for 17 years.
Dyas and his wife, Diane, have four children, all of whom
are Auburn graduates.
Gresham, who graduated from Auburn in 1957, co-founded
Gresham, Smith and Partners, a Nashville architectural firm
that employs more than 700 people in 14 cities. His projects
have included the Nashville International Airport, the Alabama
Power Company headquarters in Birmingham and the Nashville
City Center Building.
The firm also has worked on projects for the National Council
of Christians and Jews and the King Faisal Medical City
in Riyadh. Gresham also was personally involved in the design
of AU’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art.
Six years ago, Gresham and his wife, Ann, established the
first endowed professorship in the 90-year history of the
AU College of Architecture, Design & Construction.
Smith came to AU after serving in the U.S. Navy during
World War II. After his graduation from AU in 1947, he began
his career as an engineer for Westinghouse and left the
company after 20 years to form Power Systems Engineering
Inc.
By the time Smith sold the business, he’d helped build
an industry by designing, building and operating privately
owned power plants. He also was an outspoken advocate of
utility deregulation and helped establish federal policy
governing the industry.
Called “a modern day Medici” by Atlanta investment
banker C. Noel Wadsworth, Smith also has been a major benefactor
of the arts in Houston and, more significantly, in Auburn.
He has provided about $7 million in funding for the construction
and operation of AU’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of
Fine Art.
A native of Valley Head, Ala., York graduated from Auburn
in 1942. After serving in World War II, he returned to Auburn
to earn a master’s degree and later earned a Ph.D.
at Cornell University.
In 1959, following high-visibility jobs in North Carolina
and Washington, D.C., he returned to Alabama and in 1959
became the youngest director of the Alabama Extension Service.
He moved to the University of Florida as provost in 1963
and later became vice president of agriculture and chancellor
of the University System of Florida before his retirement
in 1980.
“These people demonstrate what Auburn is all about,”
said Andy Hornsby, chairman of the Auburn Alumni Association’s
board of directors. “Their careers and achievements
took them down many paths, but they all built their foundations
at Auburn, and they all know the way back home.”
Former recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards include
Don Logan, chairman, Media & Communications Group, Time
Warner Inc.; Ralph Brown Draughon, president of Auburn University
from the late 1940s until his retirement in 1965; Katharine
Cooper Cater, longtime AU dean at the university credited
with expanding the presence and prominence of women at the
university; and Jordan, longtime AU coach who helped elevate
the university’s athletic teams to national prominence.
“The honorees all represent the highest ideals of
Auburn,” said Debbie Shaw, AU interim vice president
for alumni affairs. “Not only have their lives touched
people around the world, their generosity and continuous
participation in the Auburn family circle provides us with
great role models for future generations.”
Recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards are selected
by a committee of Auburn administrators, trustees, faculty
and alumni. Nominations for the 2006 Lifetime Achievement
Awards will be accepted through March 31 and may be mailed
to Karen L. Sharpless, Office of Alumni Affairs, 317 S.
College St., Auburn University, Ala., 36849. For more information,
visit www.aualum.org
or e-mail sharpkl@auburn.edu.
