Austin Dobbins, revered professor of Milton and Shakespeare for 35 years, dies at 86 Retired English professor and chairman Austin Charles Dobbins, 86, a formidable teacher who commanded respect in the classroom as he taught Shakespeare and Milton to almost two generations of Samford students, died in Birmingham on Tuesday, May 31. He was 86 and had been in weakening health for years. A memorial service was held at Dawson Baptist Church in Birmingham to remember Dobbins, who taught English at Samford University from 1950 until 1985 and was Chair of the English Department from 1957 to 1979. The son of Dr. Gaines S. Dobbins, a well-known Baptist educator and for many years Dean of the School of Christian Education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Austin Dobbins was a graduate of Mississippi College and earned MA and PhD degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his thirty-five years of teaching at Samford, his special interests were the works of Milton, Shakespeare, and Chaucer, and generations of his students profited from his vast knowledge of English literature. In 1975, the University of Alabama Press published his book,Milton and the Book of Revelation: the Heavenly Cycle, which has been cited in recent years as still one of the outstanding scholarly studies of that poet. Dr. Dobbins was, for a half-century, an active member of Dawson Baptist Church. He is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Mary Willis Dobbins, his daughter Ginger Howell and her husband, Tom, and grandchildren Ashley and Jonathan Howell, all of New Orleans, LA, and his daughter Betsy Fleenor and her husband, Michael, of Birmingham. Memorial donations may be made to the fund that Austin Dobbins established some years ago in honor of his father, the Gaines S. Dobbins English Scholarship, c/o University Relations, Samford University. Wren Johnson born July 6 English Associate Professor Bryan Johnson and his wife, Julie, celebrated the birth of their first child, Wren, 7 lbs. 10 oz., in Birmingham on July 6, 2006. Pictures from our 2006 Awards Banquet Beloved English Professor Martha Brown, now retired, sits with Rachel Hart, the recipient of this year's Purser Scholarship Award. It is named after Martha Brown's grandfather, a Baptist minister, who helped move Howard from Marion to Birmingham (he died at 52 in a yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans).Her father, also a Baptist minister, was a minister at Woodlawn Baptist when Howard had its severe financial problems and helped raise money for the school. Martha was 12 or 13 at the time and remembers donating $3.00. Nine descendents of her grandfather have attended Samford; seven of them graduated. Four of Martha's five children graduated from Samford.   Charles Workman wins Arts & Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award

Dr. Charles Thomas Workman

Professor Charles Workman, who has taught in the Department of English at Samford since 1978 and who served as chair of the department from 1983 to 1991, was named the winner of the prestigious Howard College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award for the 2004-2005 academic year. Workman, a Samford alum himself, has taught his specialties of Romantic poetry, Victorian literature, and World lit classics to hundreds of Samford students and English majors. His affection for the literary works and his kindness and friendliness have made him a favorite of the students. Charles is a 1956 graduate of Howard College. He attended New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for a year and then earned a Master of English from the University of Alabama, and then finally earning the Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature from Tulane University. He taught 7th grade English in Huntsville for a year, then for four years taught at Virginia State where he taught German as well as English grammar and literature, and then began a long and distinguished career here at Samford in 1967. He served as chair of the English Department from 1983 to 1992. He regularly makes presentations at scholarly/professional meetings, and for ten years made annual publications for McGill's Literary Annual. Most of his interest has been in Romantic Literature. Students are attracted to his humor, knowledge, and love of literature. He has inspired countless to appreciate good literature for its inherent aesthetic value. And besides, he built himself a house with his own hands and ingenuity. The Howard College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award Committee consists of former teaching and faculty award winners, both of the college and the university. This year's committee was Myralyn Allgood, Lowell Vann, Larry Davenport, Stephen Chew, Jon Clemmensen, Dennis Jones, Bill Collins, and Nancy Whitt (Chair). Workman is the second recipient of the annual award. Workman was chosen from recommendations made by seniors and by faculty in the Arts and Sciences. The award's objective is to honor a faculty member for her or his outstanding teaching ability and impact upon students. We proudly present Dr. Charles Thomas Workman as this year's winner.

Associate Professor Bryan Johnson marries Julie Emory on April 2, 2005
Bryan Johnson and Julie Emory were married on April 2, 2005, at St. Joseph's On-the-Mountain Episcopal Church in Mentone, Alabama. Below are Samford friends who helped celebrate the wedding: (left) David Chapman, Dean of Howard College of Arts and Sciences, is flanked by Dana Basinger, Director of Office of Freshman Life, and her husband, Jim (right) Deborah Gibson and Steven Epley enjoy the mountain view.
(left below) Professor Janice Lasseter and English major Suzanne Walker (right below) Edna and Charles Workman
(left below) Lauren Floyd and Suzanne Walker (right below) Rosemary Fisk, Jane Hiles, Kathy Parnell, Nancy Whitt, Edna and Charles Workman

Moellering hosts author of The Kite Runner In March 2005, Katie Hubbard Moellering, SU English '96, Adult Services Department Head of Emmet O'Neal Library in Mountain Brook, hosted Khaled Hosseini, Afghan author of The Kite Runner. Moellering is pictured above with Hosseini, left, and her husband, Doug, in middle. Joining the overflow crowd were Professor Roderick Davis of Samford and his students. Moellering also received a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation for a series of summer programs for adults. Dr. Steven Epley from Samford is leading the programs, which read and study Beowulf, the Canterbury Tales, and The Winter's Tale. At the first meeting, 41 people came to the library to discuss Beowulf!

Department News & Personals Christina Andrews writes that she has been accepted into the PhD program (in contemporary British literature) at the University of St. Andrews. She begins in September. She says she'll be studying Ian McEwan and literary theory (phenomenology specifically). She has just finished her M.Litte dissertation at the University of Aberdeen. Her husband, Jake, will continue with his PhD at the University of Aberdeen. He'll be commuting, since they'll live in St. Andrews where they found a house last week. Jonathan Daniel Hill (below) was born to Chris and Weslee Hill, both Samford grads, on October 20, 2004. Chris completed his Ph.D. in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 2005 and accepted a tenure-track position at the University of Tennessee Martin, starting in August 2005.

Betsy Stokes and her husband, Chuck, moved to Austin, Texas in August 2005 where Chuck is in graduate school. From 2002-2005, they were resident assistants on the Samford campus. Here their daughter, Claire Ellen, jumps into her Dad's arms. Charles Leonard is working on a Ph.D. in performance art at Northwestern University outside of Chicago, after getting an MFA in California and continuing his acting career. Philip Mellen, who is finishing his residency in Mississippi after completing medical school at the University of Mississippi, visits his alma mater in April.

Stay-at-home Grads Besides the three English professors who hold Samford English degrees (Charles Workman, Roderick Davis, and Rosemary Fisk), here are three other former English majors who have come back to Samford to play prominent roles on campus
Linda Fincher Wood, '62, Office Manager and Sciencenter Facilitator, Biology
"There is no doubt that Linda Wood is the smartest person in the Biology Department," said Associate Professor of Biology Elizabeth Dobbins when told that Wood had won a campus-wide Earth Day quiz on Famous Flower Poets and Poems.
Billy Ivey, '96 Alumni Relations Officer
Billy Ivey, an advertising and direct marketing professional from Nashville, Tenn., joined Samford on March 17, 2004, as Alumni Relations Officer at Samford University. Ivey, a 1996 Samford graduate, will coordinate programming and networking for the Samford Alumni and Parents Associations and work with volunteers to establish local and regional Samford clubs around the U.S. He will join Samford March 17. "Billy Ivey brings strong professional credentials and creative energy to this position, as well as an immense commitment to Samford," said Philip Poole, Samford executive director of University Communications. Ivey has worked with an advertising and direct marketing firm in Nashville and agencies with nationally-recognized clients in Birmingham and Atlanta. As a Samford student, he was active in the international studies program, student ministries and Sigma Chi fraternity.
Brian Pitts Spiritual Formation Coordinator in Samford Student Ministries
Panama City, Florida Tyndall Air Force Base, Operating Rm 4 Education B.A. English, Samford University M.Div., Beeson Divinity Years Worked at Samford 1 Must See Movie "Big Fish" Must Read Books Killer Angels or An Arrow Pointing to Heaven: The Story of Rich Mullins Must Eat in Birmingham Bert's on the Bluff Hobbies video editing, playing music (recently picked up the mandolin!) and making funny noises with my son Cooper Mitch celebrates 82! Retired Professor of English Samuel Mitchell celebrated his 82nd birthday on February 9, 2005, with a crowd of friends, including another retired Samford professor, Harold Hunt, and Hunt's wife, Barbara. Other current Samford faculty members attending were, back row from left: Rod Davis (English); Jon Clemmensen (Journalism and Mass Communications); Hunt; Rosemary Fisk (English), and Nancy Whitt, front row right.

Archives:

Paula Hovater pays tribute to her Samford professors

2001 English grads pursue teaching, law,
publishing careers, and yes, farming

Sushi and Grits: Samford's John Green in Japan

Department News & Personals

• Samford Professors Benefit Students for a Lifetime    During the turbulent 1960s, while society was unraveling throughout the United States, Paula Hovater found a safe haven in her home state Alabama.    As a focused high school student, she acquired enough hours to skip her senior year at Russellville High School. After spending a year and a half at Auburn University, she transferred to Samford's protective and nurturing environment.   "It was such a contrast from a large, state-school environment," says Hovater (Ho VAH ter), now an Atlanta public relations executive working with The Carter Center and on other public issues. "I can't say enough about the personal attention I received, especially from my professors.     "Samford can envelop you," she says. "The religion courses taught by Dr. Walker motivated me to be a better Bible student. Dr. Lemeron took the time to help me with his challenging accounting class. Thank goodness for Mrs. Wynelle Jacks, who taught typing. I could not do the writing today without her basic keyboard class. Dr. Wheeler Hawley gave me a one-on-one French class so that I could graduate on time. Dr. (Ray) Atchison permitted me to bring my one-year-old son to English class the day I was without a babysitter. I have never known such a dedicated faculty of English professors-Dr. Dobbins and Dr. King particularly. I'll always be grateful to each one who helped make a difference in my life."     Today, Hovater is quite clearly working with the world's decision-makers, celebrating Jimmy Carter's Nobel Peace Prize last October and assisting with a host of other public projects in Atlanta. She works on Carter's more localized and personalized issues and projects, such as the Carters' annual Winter Weekend, where an auction is held to raise money for the non-profit projects of The Carter Center.     At times in her career, the projects have led her back to Alabama. For example, in 1992, organizers in Oakville (Lawrence County) asked her to help them publicize the opening of Jesse Owens Park. She went to the Atlanta Olympic Committee and advocated that the Olympic Torch should pass through the park in Oakville. The committee found merit in the idea, and a few years later, 5,000 people were there along with the national media to celebrate Jesse Owens.     Hovater says she relies every day on the intensive writing training she received at Samford.     "This is the number one thing I do," she says, "writing a convincing press release or cover letter, and then being politely persistent. There are countless PR folks trying to tell his or her story. In media relations, you must convince an editor or writer that your subject is interesting and important to readers. A good writer, in turn, creates a story that is more vivid and appealing than your press release."     She describes herself as "pitch person," selling story ideas to media outlets, ranging from CNN to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, whose managing editor recently sent her an email congratulating her on a successful project.     Hovater delayed beginning a career, which didn't start until she was 28 years old and her youngest son was five years old.. Before coming to Atlanta, she worked as a freelancer for Texas Instruments, wrote newsletters, worked in event management, and eventually followed her "corporate husband," Rod, a business major at Samford and now a retired IBM executive, to Honolulu, where she got a crash course in the public relations field from one of the top agencies, Ogilvy & Mather.     "I had to make a style change in business," she says. "I had to learn business writing, which I saw as the opposite of writing poetry and flowery prose. But in many ways they are the same. The writing style must be clear, concise, and convincing. I help sell ideas with convincing words. Those Samford professors still assist me with every word!" Sushi & Grits? John Green finds stars shine brightly at Tanabata     Left: Green in front of the Todaiji (Buddhist) Temple in Nara, Japan (Editor's note: The Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia sponsored John Green, Samford English '91, an English/ESOL and French teacher at Douglas County High School, as an International Educator to Japan. After participating in the program last summer, he wrote this essay in the form of a newsletter to tell his friends and family about his experience in Japan). Half of teaching is learning. --Japanese proverb This newsletter finds me in two time zones. My wristwatch tells me it's 7:00 a.m., but my biological clock is saying it's 9:00 p.m. This chronological dissidence results from a trip to Japan. My most recent voyage actually began last October when some of my ESOL students invited me to the Georgia Japanese Language School. During this open house, I learned of an International Educator to Japan Award sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia. A few essays and one interview later, the Chamber presented me with the scholarship to study and tour in Japan. My two-week stay in the land of the rising sun began and ended in Tokyo where JETRO (the Japanese External Trade Organization) hosted forty-five educators from the United States and the United Kingdom. In the capital, we participated in symposia on Japan's educational system. In my opinion, the most intriguing discussion concerned the schooling options for Japanese living overseas and the challenges and opportunities of repatriated Japanese children. In addition to learning about Japan's schools and industry, the group of international educators experienced its history and culture by touring the country. My favorite sites in Tokyo were a Shinto shrine, where I saw a wedding in progress, and the Edo Tokyo Museum. The Nijo (Shogun) Castle with its squeaky, "whippoorwill" floors remains my favorite attraction in Kyoto. In Nara, I enjoyed visiting the Todaiji (Buddhist) Temple and the adjoining deer parks. Also in Nara, we celebrated Tanabata, the Festival of Stars. According to Japanese legend, two lovers, represented by stars, meet in the Celestial River (i.e. the Milky Way) only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. To celebrate this long awaited reunion, the Japanese write wishes on thin, colored papers and suspend them from bamboo trees adorned with origami. Some days later, a priest throws the branches into a river where they eventually wind themselves to the sea. At one school, a choir taught us a traditional Tanabata chorus. The group of educators with whom I traveled visited many schools. We observed classrooms at all grade levels in public and private institutions. Such visits usually began with green tea and conversation in the principal's office. We would then tour the school or present demonstration lessons. As a language teacher, I was most interested in how Japanese teach the kanji ideograms and kana syllabary and instruct English as a foreign language. It seems to me that Japanese educators are less concerned about lawsuits than are their American cohorts. For example, many schools in Japan have swimming pools and do not require that parents, teachers, and administrators sign off on ever decision. What I shall remember most fondly of my sojourn in Japan was my home stay in Shizuoka Prefecture. My comprehensive guidebook hardly mentioned this state making the region all the more attractive. To me, Shizuoka represents all that is Japan, from the rice paddies and eel ponds to the car factories and garbage recycling plant. I stayed with the Ebihara family of Kosai City. They lived in Peachtree City, Georgia from 1995 to 2000. The father worked as an engineer and supervisor at a Yamaha plant in Newan. The older of their two daughters attended public schools in Fayette County. I immediately bonded with the Ebiharas. We shared our joys and irritations about living in each other's country. The Ebiharas and I could open up in such a way without judging the other's culture or becoming defensive of our own. On my request, Mr. Ebihara took me to a pachinko parlor where I spent 500 yen (sounds like a lot, doesn't it?) and inhaled a lifetime of allotment of second-hand smoke. As a family, we played cards, walked on the beach, and ate a unique mélange of sushi and grits. I admit to becoming teary eyed when bidding my host family farewell. My last few days in Tokyo were spent in Odaiba, the new waterfront district developed on land recovered from Tokyo Bay. I was fascinated by the architecture of some of this area's landmark edifices, such as the Japanese Television Building, but was repulsed by the series of malls that line the water. (Commercialism run amuck has that effect on me.) On the eve of my departure, I was restless. The waters of Tokyo Bay called out to me. I strolled on the boardwalk past a replica of the Statue of Liberty and into a Seven Eleven where I bought some rice snacks and a drink. (I never said commercialism wasn't convenient.) Parking myself on a bench, I studied the skyline before me. My eyes focused on the Tokyo Tower then followed the smooth silhouette of the Rainbow Bridge. A train snaked its way between this double-decker suspension bridge that links Odaiba to downtown Tokyo. I thought of the bridges that I had built with the Japanese living in their homeland and with those living in Douglas County. In the placid waters of Tokyo Bay, a reflection of the full moon shimmered. A piece of floating debris briefly disturbed its surface. Was it bamboo laden with origami stars? Whose wishes did it carry? Would those wishes ever be granted? The Tanabata song I had learned just a week earlier reverberated in my ears: Bamboo tree dancing under the eaves. The stars are shining, silver and gold sprinkles of paper. Colorful papers, I wrote on them. The stars are shining down from the sky. Suspended between the two firmaments, I gazed at the upper moon. Slightly to its east, I noted two stars slowly drifting apart. They must have been Altair and Vega, the star-crossed lovers of Japanese mythology. Their annual rendez-vous was finished. Even this distant terrestrial seemed to feel their longing. After more reflection, I realized that these ethereal beings, in their predictable paths across the heavens, were the lucky ones. They know that every 7 July they will meet again. We cannot be so certain. For example, I may never see again my gracious sponsors from JETRO, my dear host family, or my fellow international educators to Japan. Perhaps the Japanese are taught this truth from an early age. Let your kindness leave a lasting impression, your earthly paths may never cross again. I, for one, will never forget the hospitality and generosity shown to me by my Japanese hosts. My journey may never include another trip to Japan, but Japanese students will occasionally enroll in my future ESOL courses. In this way, Tanabata stars will always twinkle somewhere in my night sky. Our 2001 grads: What they did with their English majors Carrie Allyson Beavers, Newnan, Georgia--works at Alston & Byrdilaw firm in Atlanta, will enter law school at Mercer School of Law in the fall of 2002 Bonnie Lee Branum, Atmore, Alabama--enrolled in the University of Alabama School of Law in August 2001 Amanda Lynn Dorman, Phenix City, Alabama--married Casey on July 14, 2001 and enrolled in Tulane University School of Law in August 2001 Adam Shea Gober, Morris, Alabama--enrolled in Cumberland School of Law in August 2001 John Kevin Harkey, Jr., Fayetteville, Georgia--enrolled in Wake Forest University graduate school in English in August 2001 John McCoy Kilgore, Birmingham, Alabama--in Germany for a year of working in an agricultural cooperative Carole Marisa Lee, White House, Tennessee--married Thad Combs on June 2, 2001, and will enter law school at the University of Tennessee School of Law this fall. Gina Marie Marshall, Powell, Alabama--She and her daughter, Danae, live in Birmingham. She is associate editor, editorial assistant, and website manager for a variety of magazines within the Grand View Media Group. Jamie Lynn McDaniel, Heflin, Alabama--enrolled in graduate school in English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio Kathryn Irene Moody, Palm Harbor, Florida--enrolled in University of Florida in graduate school in French Brandon Myhand, Jasper, Alabama Clark Bradford Reisinger, Jr., Longwood, Florida Amy Leah Speights, Carson, Mississippi--will enroll in the graduate school at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she received a stipend and will be a research assistant her first year, in addition to taking classes for the Master's degree. Joi Soo Tribble, Hoover, Alabama--will enroll in graduate school at St. John's University in New Mexico in January Lisa Wethman (graduated December 2000)--entered the University of New Mexico's graduate school in English.