His transition as dean was not an easy one insofar as its timing came in one of the ‘bust’ cycles of state funding to higher education. Deans across campus were instructed by the central administration to find ways to stretch budgets, and the task fell to Benefield to make savings where he could find them. That he endured in this seminal period of his administration probably made a mark on the balance of his administration.
Unable to access funding from strapped state budgets while keeping tuition and fees accessible to students as well, Benefield turned to fundraising, building an efficient development office that would meet, and then exceed campus and college goals during the fund raising campaign held in the first decade of the new century. The fruits of this campaign would ultimately allow the college to finish construction of the Shelby Center for Engineering Technology by providing more than a third of the funding required to complete its second phase. It would also build on earlier efforts to renovate facilities such as Wilmore Laboratories and Ross Hall.
In addition to the bricks and mortar projects that revitalized Auburn Engineering, Benefield was an astute communicator who shared a message of deliberate and goal-oriented progress in all facets of the college’s operation.
While aware of the critics of such arbiters of national rankings as U.S. News & World Report, he was keenly interested in moving the College of Engineering ahead in both instruction and research. To this end, he saw Auburn’s undergraduate engineering program rise as high as 28th, and graduate program rankings increase by 10 points over eight years, to 40th among public institutions. As well, the faculty’s efforts have placed Auburn in the top 50 in research expenditures in each of the past six years.
Indeed, Benefield always had a vision goal, and he never left it. In moving Auburn up in the national rankings, he was keenly aware that there would always be a cluster of wealthy, private schools that could use a halo effect to populate the upper levels of the rankings — and that other engineering deans were working to move their institutions along as well. It was a tough assignment, but he stuck to it.
“There’s no question that it’s going to be difficult to move into the top 20 engineering programs, but that’s where I want Auburn to be,” Benefield often said. “If we haven’t yet reached that goal in terms of how the ranking agencies see it, I want us to be at least performing at that level. If we perform at that level consistently, we will move up in the eyes of our peers and one day, we will find ourselves there.”
He brought the same focus into fundraising for facilities and programs, moving the College of Engineering’s stated goal of $105 million to a total of $116.7 million during the ‘It Begins at Auburn’ development campaign. Beyond the statistical story, Benefield sees his Auburn journey as one of enriching relationships that have followed him throughout his career at Auburn.
“I certainly have to look at [former civil engineering colleagues] Joe Judkins and Joe Morgan as being influential in molding my academic career. Just as my parents had a lot to do with bringing me to Auburn to learn, they had an outsized part in bringing me back to Auburn to teach,” Benefield has said.
“At the same time, I have to look toward the many relationships that I have made with Auburn alumni,” he adds. “I can’t name them here because I don’t want to leave anyone out. However, I have to mention Sam Ginn, whose influence on the college began just as I was heading into the deanship.”
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