-------------------- N E W S  R E L E A S E  --------------------

            Auburn University - University Relations
                         (334) 844-9999
----------------------------------------------------------------

4/7/95                Roy Summerford 

LONGTIME AU PROFESSOR LEAVES MAJOR ENDOWMENT FOR STUDENTS
     AUBURN -- The late Frank Selman Arant, who influenced
generations of professors and students at Auburn University during
his 49-year career in the College of Agriculture, has left a
$465,000 bequest to the university.
     Auburn received the bequest for a scholarship/fellowship
endowment in the Entomology Department from the estate of Arant,
who died in November 1992. The endowment will enable outstanding
undergraduate and graduate students to pursue their education, says
department head Wayne Brewer.
     "Outstanding students -- especially outstanding graduate
students -- have a big impact on a department because they enhance
the departmentŐs reputation while they are in school and long after
they leave," said Brewer. "The better students you have, the better
overall program you will have. Dr. Arant understood the
relationship between high quality students and programs, and he
took steps to strengthen the department through the bequest."
     Agriculture Dean James Marion said Arant, who retired in 1975,
was a legendary member of the collegeŐs faculty because of the
reputation the department earned during his long tenure as a
professor and department head.
     "Dr. Arant set an example for service that continues to stand
two decades after his retirement," Marion said. "Through his
endowment, he has also set an example for caring that will endure
for generations."
     Although his scientific field was entomology -- the study of
insects -- ArantŐs main interest was in seeing that talented people
entered the field and continued its progress, said retired
Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures Department Head Wayne Shell, a
faculty member under Arant. 
     Shell, who taught under Arant from 1959-1970, when entomology,
fisheries, zoology and wildlife were in the same department, said
Arant believed that young people should get an education. That
belief came naturally, Shell said, from a father who struggled to
send seven of his eight children to college in the 1920s and 1930s
with the limited income from a small Butler County farm.
     "Times were extremely hard back then, but ArantŐs father was
one of the most innovative small farmers of his time, turning from
cotton to truck farming and peddling his produce in town to raise
money to send all those kids to college," Shell said. "That kind of
attitude carried over to Arant, who was an obvious individual to
take on responsibility."
     Arant earned a B.S. in entomology from Auburn in 1926, stayed
on as a graduate assistant and earned his masterŐs degree three
years later. He continued to teach in the department, leaving only
to earn his Ph.D. in entomology from Iowa State University in 1937
and to serve in the Army during World War II.
     Although he taught many students early in his career, Arant
made his biggest impact during 26 years as a department head, Shell
said.
      "It was a strong department when he took over, and he did
everything he could to keep it going strong," said Shell. "The
department was noted for producing first-rate graduates. They were
in demand all over the South."
     Shell described Arant as "first and foremost an entomologist,"
adding, "He was also very fair with the zoological, wildlife and
fisheries faculty who were in the department back then. He was a
brilliant person with rural Alabama roots."
     Arant and his wife Margaret, who died in 1988, had no children
and lived modestly on his salary and, in later years on his
retirement income.
      "When you consider the kind of salaries in those years, it is
unusual for a person to be able to leave that much, but he was
accumulating money for entomology students," said Shell. "They were
his family."
     The Arant gift is an example of how a faculty member can have
a lasting impact on students long after retirement, says George
Freeman, director of Campaign Auburn, the universityŐs $175 million
comprehensive fund-raising campaign. The university has launched
the Auburn Family Campaign, through which faculty and staff are
pledging financial support for scholarships, graduate fellowships
and a library endowment. 
# # # 
april95:arant