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                Auburn University - University Relations
                            (334) 844-9999
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8/25/95                 Janet McCoy (mccoyjl@mail.auburn.edu)

** G R A D U A T I O N   F E A T U R E **

NEAR QUADRIPLEGIC TO EARN DOCTORAL DEGREE FROM AUBURN

      AUBURN -- Many graduates compare the earning of a doctoral degree 
to reaching the top of Mount Everest, but it will be one more item on a 
lengthy list of accomplishments for Becky Adcock.
      Adcock, who will receive a Ph.D. in clinical psychology on 
Wednesday, Aug. 30, from Auburn University, is an incomplete 
quadriplegic. She has limited use of her arms because of a spinal cord 
injury she suffered in 1983.
      But her determination to succeed against any odd has put her in a 
select category.
      Adcock, a second year medical student at the University of 
Oklahoma when the accident occurred, was at a loss as to what to do in 
her career until she talked to a psychologist who was helping her adjust 
to her disability.
      "The psychologist who worked with me in rehab talked me into 
considering psychology and gave me the opportunity to work with him in 
the teaching school while I was taking some courses in psychology," she said.
      Adcock says she chose AU even before visiting the campus because 
of its respected clinical psychology program. "I've been lucky because 
I've had good intuition over the phone," she says.
      Adcock, who earned a master's degree from AU 1991, is working as 
a psychologist in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine/Psychology at 
Harborview Hospital, affiliated with the University of Washington Medical 
School in Seattle. She is helping others who suffer from similar injuries.
       Because of the distance, Adcock will not return to the AU campus 
for graduation. 
      "I really feel bad that I can't be there but I just felt that the 
trip back to Auburn would be too much for me," she said.
      Adcock says she has always been interested in behavioral medicine 
and had considered it as a career after she received her medical degree. 
"I've always been interested in the psychological aspects a person has to 
deal with when injured," she says.
      Adcock says while being one of only a handful of AU students who 
had physical disabilities she received the assistance she needed.
      "It was a good experience," she said. "At first, the faculty were 
not quite sure how to respond to me when I asked for specific things. It 
was a two-way street. I was learning how to ask for things myself, so in 
a way it was a learning process for both me and Auburn.
      "In the beginning I would only take one class each quarter and 
even then I was trying to do too much. The faculty always told me to work 
at my own pace and to let them know what I needed." 
      Psychology professor Barry Burkhart, who supported Adcock's 
admission to AU's program and became one of her fans, says her story is 
inspirational.
       "She's a wonderful woman and she will make Auburn proud," he 
says. "One of the benefits of working with a diverse person is that it 
always make you aware of more than you knew before you did. The courage 
I've seen in Becky, the strength she has is just remarkable and I think 
I've gained as much as she has."
      Adcock's major professor, Chris Newland, says she was an 
excellent student.      "In the classroom, Becky is one of the best 
students to come through our program and her research easily ranks in the 
top tier of programs in the seven years I've been here," said Newland.
      Adcock and Newland, an associate professor and experimental 
psychologist, worked together because of their common interest in her 
area of research -- drugs and behavior.
      "Becky came to see me during her second year here and said as a 
former medical student, she was interested in how drugs affect people's 
behavior and I had conducted research to study how caffeine affects a 
person's behavior," he said. "Since there is very little know about how 
caffeine use affect's a person, Becky decided to study the issue for her 
doctoral degree. Her research was outstanding."
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aug94:AU-adcock
      CONTACT: Burkhart, 334/844-6476; Newland, 334/844-6479; and 
Adcock, 206/223-2507.