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Lessons from Abroad

Like many Auburn engineers, David will tell you his college experience laid the ground work for his career.

“Auburn taught me how to work with people,” he recalls. “I was on the wrestling team, in academic societies and played intramural sports. These experiences helped me grow not only as an engineer, but also as a person. My four years of ROTC experience, two of which were on ROTC scholarship, helped me understand when to take orders and when to lead — that knowledge was invaluable in my work at Eastman both in the U.S.A. and overseas.”

David also became keenly aware of today’s pressing need for good engineers.

“My 33 years in the chemical industry made the need for quality engineers very apparent,” he recalls. “I realized that we need more top students going into engineering to meet the upcoming needs.”

This view is one that is shared among many engineering alumni, and is a major focus of Auburn Engineering’s strategic plan. As the college works to produce engineers who can impact the future and contribute to the global workforce, it needs resources to recruit students who can succeed in a challenging and rigorous curriculum.

This need gave David an opportunity to help the college recruit top students. This summer, Auburn University completed a campaign to increase its scholarship endowment in an effort to compete with other universities for the nation’s brightest students, and David and Theresa were ready to offer support.

“It all began for me at Auburn,” says David, “and we wanted to provide opportunities for future students.”

In the summer of 2010, David and Theresa established an endowed scholarship in chemical engineering that can be paired with the university’s Spirit of Auburn and Academic Scholarships, which are awarded to exceptional students. These funds create a more competitive scholarship award and enable the college to attract students who get offers from many institutions.

The Brubakers created the scholarship in memory of their first grandchild, Adrian Marcus Rodric, who passed away as an infant in 2003.

“He was a fighter,” said David. “He was born early and lived for seven weeks. We wanted to do something to honor his life.”

The endowed scholarship will help create four-year renewable scholarships for incoming freshmen based on academic achievement, and will provide a means for the Brubakers and the College of Engineering to partner in preparing tomorrow’s leading engineers. Currently, there are four chemical engineering students receiving funding from the endowment.

“We are giving back to Auburn through this scholarship, not for our sake, but in memory of Adrian, and for future generations of engineers,” says David. “Auburn gives you character, and we need more engineers who are prepared to make a difference in our world.”

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