uhlin—a senior from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, studying Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts—will eventually apply what she’s learned in the program to her career. But Ruhlin is different in that she’s already taken what she learned from the classroom all the way to the Mayo Clinic after she set a chain of events in motion that led to the discovery of her father’s brain tumor.

In class, Ruhlin learned about parts of the ear, the importance of hearing aids and tumors like acoustic neuromas that can cause hearing loss. Meanwhile, her father, Joe, had struggled with worsening hearing loss for years—only talking on the phone on one side, not hearing anything said near his left ear—so Ruhlin urged him to set up an appointment with an audiologist.

“Once I started taking these classes, it put it more into perspective,” Rachel Ruhlin said. “My professor would talk about how many people have hearing loss, and if you don’t get hearing aids, your hearing will just get worse and worse. Finally, I texted my dad and I said, ‘We have to go.’ I didn’t really give him an option.”

Though their Auburn journeys are different, the father and son share this above all: giving back to Auburn.

ripp Haston was all set up to attend SMU in Dallas, Texas, when he first visited Auburn. Only a month before graduating high school, Tripp’s uncle convinced him to visit the Plains. His uncle, along with his grandfather, were Auburn graduates.

Once Tripp saw the campus, he said he fell in love with Auburn and his decision to attend was the best he ever made.

untin graduated from Auburn in 1991 with a degree in political science and minors in everything that interested him since childhood: English, speech communications, geography and wildlife science. By bringing that interdisciplinary approach to environmental issues, Buntin blends art, science and community planning to encourage people to find beauty in our natural and built environments.

“There is beauty out there. We just need to dedicate ourselves to finding it or creating it,” Buntin said. “To create beauty in a world where there’s so much pain and harshness, so much injustice, is essential. How does someone find beauty? Start by taking a closer look around you.”

mbus began as a campus writer for the Plainsman in January 2020. She was drawn to the paper after working for her high school’s yearbook in Beulah, Alabama, and sought more storytelling opportunities during her college career.

“I love talking to people. I love getting to know them and feature stories allow me to get to know them very well – their hopes, dreams, fears – it’s so human. I want to be able to tell those stories in a mindful way,” Ambus said. “When COVID hit, it was the only thing that kept me connected with other people. Everyone, if they have the chance to write for the Plainsman, should. Journalism is such a powerful tool in understanding where people come from.”

The Auburn Plainsman is an award-winning, editorially independent newspaper run entirely by students. Any Auburn student can apply and write for the Plainsman. Alumni of the newsroom include national reporters, novelists and Pulitzer Prize and Hearst Award-winning journalists.

ournalism alumna Andria Moore ’16 thrives on a challenge. From the cutthroat entertainment industry to the California startup scene, Moore shows how a College of Liberal Arts degree helps you follow your passion and define success along the way.

Moore grew up in Auburn, and despite knowing the city her whole life, experienced a new world on the campus of Auburn University.

During her freshman year, Moore took a career placement test that indicated journalism would be a career she could thrive in. Sports journalism wasn’t her style and politics never quite fit. But after taking a magazine feature writing course and writing profiles for the Auburn Plainsman, her lifelong love of pop culture and talking to people culminated in her ultimate decision to pursue entertainment journalism.

“I would steal my dad’s laptop and watch all these celebrity interviews—usually the Harry Potter cast—with MTV, or the Today Show, or Oprah,” Moore said. “So, it was like all of the interests I had before, when I was younger, just meshed into this ‘ah-ha’ moment. I thought, ‘This is what I could do for my career. This is really powerful; this is something that I could really see myself doing the rest of my life.’”

udiology is a clinical health care field focused on diagnosing and treating hearing and balance disorders to restore health and communication barriers in those impacted. At the heart of our profession is a deep care and concern for the needs and rights of the patients we get to serve. Communication is a universal right, and hearing serves as the gateway to connect us to each other. People with hearing loss, if untreated, can face significant communicative, emotional, physical and social barriers.

Children with untreated hearing loss are particularly at risk for delayed development because hearing plays a vital role in a child’s language development and academic success.

seminal moment in United States civil rights history that came to be known as “Bloody Sunday” occurred when a group of approximately 600 marchers led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams were confronted by Alabama State Troopers armed with tear gas and metal batons as they began a march for equality toward Montgomery. Footage from that attack appeared on national television and served as a catalyst for Americans to rally behind the civil rights movement, and Auburn University faculty and students are doing their part to learn all they can about that fateful day.

useum staff, members of the public and Auburn art students were invited to the May 12 dedication ceremony of the local agriculture mural and the history of east Alabama mural, painted by regional artist Chris Johnson, which is on display on the Avenue A side of the museum.

The mural painted by nationally recognized artist and Auburn studio art professor Wendy DesChene and her students, which stands at 35×13 feet, celebrates local agricultural history and features imagery of historic equipment, advertising, local agricultural pioneers, the east Alabama landscape, farmers and farm culture. The class also made a point of showcasing diversity, including portraying the role of women in agricultural history and influential figures such as agricultural pioneer George Washington Carver and horticulturalist and agricultural professor Booker T. Whatley.

The Department of Music’s state-of-the-art recording studio will open in 2023. The Nashville-worthy facility will be outfitted with the latest audio technology and designed by Steven Durr Designs, who have worked with Garth Brooks, Lenny Kravitz and Blake Shelton, among others.

“Auburn’s Department of Music is smaller than most SEC schools. However, we go above and beyond to give our students what they need to succeed,” Department of Music Chair Rick Good said. “This recording studio will be second to none and connect us with not only Nashville, the biggest city in the music industry, but also Atlanta, only 100 miles to our east.”

he Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, is a cultural and historical landmark that has hosted iconic performances in the heart of the South for nearly a century.

But beyond plays, concerts and films, Atlanta’s most iconic stage has also performed the city’s identity, according to research by Auburn University Theatre Professor Chase Bringardner.

Bringardner’s current project details how the Fox Theatre tells the stories of the history and evolution of Atlanta, and how its cultural capital continues to shape the city’s identity at the intersection of stage and place.

“In essence, the larger question is: How does the Fox Theatre as a venue stage the history of Atlanta?” Bringardner said. “The relationship I examine in the book is between the city and that space, and the way Atlanta gets performed on that stage at certain points in history. What was being performed in the space changes over time, and that reveals the ways in which the theater itself was thinking about, who is Atlanta? Who could Atlanta be? Or, moreover, who is the Atlanta that we’re specifically trying to appeal to?”

ow are interstates and the civil rights movement connected? What are the “flavors” of the English language? What happens when a fast-paced work environment becomes a high-stress management problem?

Host Brandon Etheredge ’18, director of multimedia services for the College of Liberal Arts, helps answer these questions and more in the “Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know” podcast. This entertaining, educational listen features expert faculty from the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University who discuss their research.

“Across disciplines, our faculty produce pioneering research with broad application and groundbreaking results that improve people’s lives,” Etheredge said. “Thanks to the variety of our schools and departments, each episode of the podcast details new and innovative ways the College of Liberal Arts contributes to positive change.”

elissa Adams, former director of student services and longtime academic advisor, has been chosen to strategically lead the office of student services to align with Auburn’s strategic plan and Auburn’s Quality Enhancement Plan, AUBURNACHIEVE, to elevate the Auburn experience and further student outcomes. As assistant dean for student services, Adams will facilitate the development of student support programs from recruitment to career services.

“This new position allows for greater collaboration between all student services areas and academic departments within the College of Liberal Arts to enhance the student experience,” Adams said. “Through student services, students have resources accessible to them at every stage of their academic journey. Our goal is for our students to have an exceptional experience while at Auburn in the College of Liberal Arts and find success upon graduation.”