Below is a list of CFWE Graduate Student Awards and Fellowships, with information about the person, family, or institution that has made the funding possible. Complete information and eligibility will be available along with the application through AUSOM.
Robert Lewis Adams Graduate Fellowship Fund
Recognizing the interest of Robert Lewis Adams in hardwood timber technology and wishing to advance knowledge and research in this field, Capital Veneer Works, Inc., established the Robert Lewis Adams Graduate Fellowship Fund. This fund will be used to provide graduate fellowships in the management or utilization of hardwood timber.
Charles Barkley Foundation Annual Fellowships
The Charles Barkley Foundation’s primary purpose is to support education primarily through scholarship funds. Charles Barkley is an American professional basketball player and television personality who is one of the most popular figures in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. The 11-time NBA All Star is one of only four players to record more than 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists in a career. His larger-than-life personality made Barkley one of the game’s greatest characters while his hardnosed style of play made him pound-for-pound and inch-for-inch one of the game’s greatest rebounders.
The purpose of establishing this fellowship is to support Auburn University’s goal of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion among its student body, and to increase diversity in the CFWE graduate enrollment. Preference is given to students who have graduated from an HBCU and those that are first generation college students who reside in a rural county or underserved area.
W. Walter Beshears, Jr., and Rebecca P. Beshears Endowed Graduate Award in Wildlife Sciences
William Walter Beshears, Jr., known as Walt by his friends and colleagues, was born in 1921 and grew up in a rural environment. He served proudly in World War II and returned to attend Alabama Polytechnic Institute, where he earned BS and MS degrees in wildlife biology. Soon after graduating, he began his professional career as a wildlife biologist with the Alabama Game and Fish Division. Walt’s specialty was waterfowl, and his work in that area had an impact not only in Alabama but also regionally and nationally. Walt helped form the fundamental principles that became the foundation for the State Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Agency. In addition to his professional life, Walt was a skilled turkey hunter, an excellent trapper and an outstanding gardener who regularly grew more than his family needed just to share with friends and others who needed it. Walt enjoyed sharing his wealth of knowledge about natural resources, and by doing so, helped the next generation of wildlife biologists be prepared to manage our state’s wildlife resources.
John Miller Bradley III Endowment for Fellowships in Forestry
This endowment was established by John Bradley, Jr., for the purpose of providing a graduate fellowship in the School of Forestry in memory of his son, John Miller Bradley III. In 1950, John M. Bradley III, a young Yale University graduate, partnered with Harry E. Murphy, a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, to create Resource Management Service. From its beginnings as a consulting firm to private landowners, RMS capitalized on changing industry dynamics and proved itself as an important industrial timberland management and acquisitions firm. By advancing the state of the art in timberland investment management, RMS grew into an accomplished global firm with assets under management on four continents—North and South America, Asia and Oceania—while remaining a private, employee-owned company.
Chappelka Family Endowed Fund for Excellence
Dr. Art Chappelka grew up in the small town of Stuart, Florida. His mother was a social worker, and his father was a heavy equipment operator. As the son of two loving, blue-collar parents, he learned the value of hard work and obtaining a quality education, and strived to achieve it. Dr. Chappelka graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Forestry and a M.S. in Forest Pathology. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 1986. Dr. Chappelka was an active faculty member at the Auburn University College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment from 1987-2018, and served as Interim Associate Dean for Research from 2014-2015. During his tenure at Auburn, he taught classes in Urban Forestry, Introduction to Natural Resources, Natural Resource Policy, Chemical Climate Change Effects on Forested Ecosystems and Technology and Culture at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Chappelka served as a major professor for 13 students; five of whom were Ph.D. candidates. In addition, he was a member of approximately 30 graduate committees. Graduate education has always been important to the Chappelka family, and Dr. Chappelka understands the value of these monetary awards and how they help deserving students achieve their goals.
Drummond Company Endowed Fellowship
The Drummond Company Graduate Fellowship is in recognition of the contributions made by the Drummond Company, a major forest landowner in Alabama, in promoting the future of forest resources through research.
James Henderson Dukes Memorial Endowment for Fellowships in Forestry
This memorial endowment is established by the family of the late James Henderson Dukes, Jr., for the purpose of providing a fellowship to a graduate student in the College of Forestry pursuing a degree program related to the biological sciences. Jimmy Dukes was born in 1958 and graduated from the School of Forestry in 1981 with both undergraduate and master’s degrees in forestry management. Jimmy’s major professor, Dean Gjerstad, said, “Jimmy was an achiever. He was an exceptional student who excelled in Auburn University’s Honors Program. Jimmy was on the Dean’s List eight quarters and graduated with an undergraduate grade-point average of 3.9 and a graduate grade-point average of 4.0.” Following graduation, Jimmy attended Oregon State to work on a doctoral degree. Jimmy’s life was taken due to an automobile accident while driving one of the antique cars that he loved.
James Floyd Goggans Endowed Fellowship in Forest Biology
The James Floyd Goggans Graduate Fellowship was established to honor the memory of James Floyd Goggans by his wife, Mrs. Mallette P. Goggans, in 1984. To be eligible, a student must be a graduate student in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment and must be conducting research in forest biology.
KyKenKee Fellowship
KyKenKee, Inc. is a family-owned business located in the heart of Alabama. This award was created in 2011 to recognize an outstanding graduate student working in the area of hardwood research. By providing support for graduate education, KyKenKee is ensuring success for our next generation of forestry professionals.
The George Crenshaw Moore Endowed Fund for Graduate Fellowship in Wildlife Game Management
The George Crenshaw Moore Graduate Fellowship was created in 1995 by Paul and Judy Leonard to honor her dad, George C. Moore. The fellowship honors Moore, whose lifelong career in game management recognized the need for continued research in the management of Alabama’s game species. To be eligible, a student must be a graduate student in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment and must be conducting research in game management.
Harry Murphy Dean’s Enhancement Fund for Excellence in the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment
This award was created by Harry Murphy through a gift from his estate. Murphy was a forestry graduate of Pennsylvania State University and a WWII veteran. When he took his first job as a forester with the Tennessee Valley Authority in Sheffield, Alabama, he never knew that it would change the forestry consulting industry in the South. In 1952, Murphy partnered with John Bradley, who owned a small forestry consulting firm. With Murphy serving as vice president and John Bradley serving as president, the once small forestry consulting firm grew to be Resource Management Services. Today, RMS has an international reputation as an outstanding forestry consulting firm and is one of the largest, if not the largest, such firms in the United States. Many of the leaders at RMS can trace their roots back to Auburn University’s forestry program. More than 40 foresters who have graduated from Auburn have worked at RMS.
The Chuck Sharp/Ducks Unlimited Annual Fund for Excellence
The Chuck Sharp/Ducks Unlimited Annual Fund for Excellence will recognize, through a scholarship, a graduate or undergraduate student whose studies focus on waterfowl or wetland ecology management. Chuck Sharp was a 1981 wildlife sciences graduate. He served as a wildlife biologist with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for more than 29 years. He worked closely with Ducks Unlimited and other partners to accomplish the goals and objectives of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. “Chuck was priceless among wildlife professionals. He was extremely dependable and steady, and his presence in any setting always instilled a great degree of comfort and confidence. Chuck had a can-do attitude and common-sense approach to everything,” stated Jerry Holden, Ducks Unlimited director of conservation programs.
Lyle C. Tom Endowed Graduate Award
The Lyle C. Tom Fellowship was created in 2005 to encourage graduate work in the field of forestry. Tom was born in Monroe, Mich. He received a Bachelor of Science in forest management in 1952 from the University of Michigan and a Master of Forestry in 1953. Tom served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a 1st Lieutenant from 1953-55. His professional forestry career began in 1956 with Bowater Paper Company, and he later retired from International Paper Company. Following his career with International Paper Company, he became a private forestry consultant and was a 50-year member of the Society of American Foresters. Tom was a registered forester in the states of Alabama and Mississippi, a member of the Alabama Forestry Association, and a past chairman of the Alabama Forestry Council.
The Westervelt Company Fellowship
As the largest forest industry company headquartered in Alabama, Westervelt recognizes the critical role that our college plays in preparing students to manage forest and wildlife resources. The College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment is pleased to have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with Westervelt for many years. Our strong relationship dates back to 1949 and has endured and flourished for more than 60 years. This partnership began when Westervelt, realizing the importance of investing in forestry education, developed the college’s first endowed scholarship. That scholarship, the Gulf States Paper Corporation Endowed Scholarship in Forestry, now carries a current market value of $320,000 and has been used throughout the years to educate dozens of forestry students.
