Larry Wit: An Auburn Icon Retires continued
affairs. His responsibilities include coordinating COSAM’s academic
programs, teaching classes, assisting with student organizations like
the pre-pharmacy club, and working closely with COSAM students
and the COSAM student advisors.
“I interact with students on a daily basis,” Wit said. “They come to
me, and I give them advice, guidance, encouragement, assurance, and,
sometimes, a kick in the pants.”
Wit said the three most common pieces of advice he gives are: you
will never achieve anything until you try; failure is not always the end
of everything but is often the beginning of something new, so learn
from the experience and move on; and to be successful, in addition to
knowing lots of things, you have to know how to treat people.
In addition to advising countless students in the past 20 years, Wit
was also instrumental in creating the COSAM Leaders, an exemplary
group of students who serve the college as its official ambassadors.
“A student, Jenny Evans Swindall, actually discussed the idea of
creating the COSAM Leaders with Stewart Schneller, who was dean
of COSAM at the time,” Wit explained. “Schneller discussed the idea
with me and we made it happen. The first class of COSAM Leaders
was in the 1999 –
2000 school year.”
The COSAM
Leaders are
selected by an
interview process.
Once chosen,
they assist with
a number of
COSAM events
from the Dean’s
Scholarship
Golf Classic
to COSAMsponsored
graduation
receptions. As the
leaders continue
to work together
14
Journey/2012
throughout the school year, long-lasting friendships are often made.
In 2009, a 10-year reunion was held and more than 60 former leaders
were in attendance. Wit also says he knows of four marriages that
have occurred as a result of couples meeting one another as COSAM
Leaders.
However, Wit’s influence is not reserved solely for the Office
of Academic Affairs. In his classroom he tends to make a lasting
impression as well. The class he is most well-known for teaching
is Mammalian Physiology. For 30 years, students preparing for
professional schools after graduation from Auburn have taken this
required class from Wit as he educates them on the core principles
of medical physiology. His teaching methods and class content have
brought critical acclaim to both Auburn’s biomedical sciences students
and the university’s premedical program.
“The physiology course at Auburn was more thorough and more
strenuous than the physiology course in medical school,” said Wit’s
former student Fleming Brooks ’89, who is now a physician. “Wit just
has a tremendous approach to imparting information and picking out
what’s important.”
COSAM’s pre-health professions advisor, Beverley Childress,
agrees: “Interacting with Dr. Wit is an integral part o