AUBURN RESIDENT RECEIVES AU’S PAMELA WELLS SHEFFIELD AWARD

AUBURN – Auburn University benefactor Carol Clark Laster of Auburn is the recipient of the 2005 Pamela Wells Sheffield Award for service and commitment to Auburn University.

A retired Birmingham junior high science teacher, Laster is a supporter of Auburn University’s athletics teams, its Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center and the AU Marching Band. She has donated at least $1 million to the university – $500,000 to the Raptor Center and $500,000 for renovations of AU’s baseball facilities and AU Marching Band scholarship endowments.

“I wanted to do something for Auburn and do something that would always be here,” she said.

In addition to donating to the Raptor Center, Laster, who recently moved to Auburn with her husband Russell, a 1951 AU grad, also spends a lot of her spare time there, where she can combine her love for birds with her love of education.

She also is a huge fan of Auburn athletics, exhibiting the same tenacity in her support of AU teams that she exhibited in her battle with cancer. She received her final chemotherapy treatment last month, and gives the Auburn family a lot of credit for helping her through the tough times of her illness.

“The love and care we have had, especially since my illness, it just amazes me all over again about the Auburn people,” Laster said.

Though she didn’t graduate from Auburn, Laster says the love she developed for AU during her two years as a student here stuck with her over time.

“It just felt like home – and still does,” she said.

The Pamela Wells Sheffield Award, sponsored by the AU president’s office and athletics department and coordinated by the Office of Alumni Affairs, recognizes Auburn women who show extraordinary service and commitment to the university and the Auburn family.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Kathleen Johnston.)

# # #

oct05:AU-lastersheffield