8.1MB - College of Education - Auburn University

Lifetime Achievement Award
About the Lifetime
Achievement Award
The Auburn Alumni Association’s
Lifetime Achievement
Award honors recipients for
outstanding achievements in
their professional lives and
recognizes their integrity and
stature. Other College of
Education graduates to earn
the award since it was first
presented in 2001 include:
2010
Robert Kenneth Johns ’57
former president/COO of
Sea-Land, founder/CEO of
The Hampshire Management
Group
2007
Earl H. (Buddy) Weaver ’62
former interim VP for alumni
and development at Auburn
University, past president of
Auburn Alumni Association
2001
James Ralph “Shug’’
Jordan ’32
former Auburn head
football coach
Wayne T. Smith watches as Vice
President Joe Biden announces a deal
with hospital associations to help pay
for healthcare reform in July 2009.
(UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg)
healthcare industry after serving as a captain in
the U.S. Army Medical Services Corp, served with
Humana, Inc., in a variety of capacities during a
23-year career with the company. He rose through
the ranks, becoming president, chief operating
officer and a member of the board of directors.
Committed to Helping
While healthcare leaders and customers know
Smith for his business expertise, College of
Education faculty and students know him for his
selflessness. Smith and his wife, Cheryl, also a 1968
graduate of the college, have given back to their
alma mater in numerous ways.
Smith was among the original
members of the college’s National
Advisory Council, earned the college’s
outstanding alumnus award
in 1995 and served as the college’s
inaugural Keystone Leader-in-
Residence in 2003. He has been
instrumental in supporting
academic and scholastic
achievement for students
and faculty through his past efforts as chair
of the college’s “It Begins at Auburn” Campaign
Committee and his current work on
the Auburn University Foundation Board.
Dr. Frances Kochan, who came to know
the Smiths during her time as dean, said
he’s the ideal recipient of the Lifetime
Achievement Award.
“He’s a creative thinker,” Kochan said. “He’s
a visionary leader, and he’s a person who gives
generously of his time, his energy, his talents and
his resources without any expectation of getting
anything back.”
Kochan is one of 14 current and former faculty
members who have held the title of Wayne T.
Smith distinguished professor. The professorship
was established in 1996, and is one of two
such professorships created through the generosity
of the Humana Foundation and in honor of
Smith, who saw a need for the college to have a
Smith served as chair of the college’s
“It Begins at Auburn’’ Campaign Committee.
mechanism for recruiting, rewarding and retaining
talented faculty.
“He’s a creative thinker. He’s a visionary
leader, and he’s a person who gives generously
of his time, his energy, his talents and his
resources without any expectation of getting
anything back.”
Dr. Frances Kochan
Wayne T. Smith distinguished professor
The Smith legacy also extends to students.
Since 1994, the college has presented The Humana
Foundation Endowed Scholarship in his honor.
More than 125 undergraduates have received the
scholarship since its inception, including seven in
2010.
“It’s made such a difference in who we are and
how we’re perceived by others,” Kochan said of the
professorships and scholarships. “His legacy is not
only in the giving, but in the touching of lives with
his scholarships and the opening of hearts and
pocketbooks of other people who thought, ‘Well, I
should do the same thing.’”
©2011, Harry Butler, Nashville
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