10/25/04 Contact: David M. Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)
Deedie Dowdle, 334/844-9999 (ddowdle@auburn.edu)

AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NAMES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNERS

AUBURN – 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.

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.

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