NOTAAM Newsletter

Summer 2024, Semester Recap

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Updates from the School of Aviation

August 16, 2024

Welcome Back, Auburn School of Aviation Community!

I hope this message finds you ready to soar into a new academic year! First, congratulations to our recent School of Aviation graduates! Your hard work and dedication have paid off, and we are incredibly proud of all you’ve accomplished. To our new and returning students, we are thrilled to have you with us as we embark on another exciting year of learning, growth, and aviation excellence!

This summer has been a busy one for our school. Working with university stakeholders, we established a Professional Flight enrollment cap to improve student enrollment management significantly. We proudly completed our seventh year of racing in the Air Race Classic and celebrated the tenth year of our aviation camps. These programs continue to inspire future aviators, thanks to the tireless efforts of our faculty, staff, students, and supportive alumni. We also supported a new initiative with Southern Union State Community College (SUSCC) to broaden access to STEM education and careers. Auburn University signed a formal partnership with SUSCC to build a hangar for SUSCC’s new Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) School, aiming to address the industry’s aviation mechanic shortage. The new Auburn University Regional Airport contract tower will begin operating on August 19, marking another milestone in Auburn’s journey toward excellence. This summer also brought significant transitions within our faculty, maintenance, and flight teams. These changes reflect our field's dynamic and ever-evolving nature, and we are excited to see the fresh energy and ideas that these new team members will bring.

As we welcome this new season, we also embrace a time of reflection and transition. It’s with a mix of gratitude and deep admiration that we recognize Dr. Witte, who, after an extraordinary 60+ year career in aviation and education, has retired. His contributions have been invaluable, and we are honored that he will continue with us as the School of Aviation’s first Professor Emeritus, a title that speaks to his enduring legacy and the profound impact he has had on our community.

Looking ahead, we are proud to announce that our enrollment this fall has reached a record high, with over 1,100 students joining our ranks. This growth is a testament to the strength and reputation of our program and the passion each of you brings to the world of aviation.

At Auburn, we believe in the power of community, education, and innovation. Together, we will continue to reach new heights. Welcome back, and War Eagle!

Sincerely,

Birdy

James Birdsong, PhD

Delta Air Lines Endowed Assistant Professor

Interim Director, School of Aviation

Thank You, Dr. Jim Witte

For the past three years, the School of Aviation has been lucky to have Dr. Jim Witte serving as its Director. Since the Fall of 2021, Dr. Witte has first-handedly seen the enrollment in our program double, while leading us to become a nationally recognized program.

Starting his aviation career in 1964, Dr. Witte was drafted into the United States Army, where he was a helicopter aviator in the Vietnam War. He served two tours in Vietnam, spent time in Panama, and graduated from the Defense Language Institute in Modern Standard Arabic. While serving in Panama, Dr. Witte met the love of his life, Auburn Graduate School's Dr. Maria Witte, and they have been happily married for over 30 years. Dr. Witte retired from the US Army after 26 years of service as a Lieutenant Colonel.

After his service, Dr. Witte ultimately got his Ph.D. in Adult Education from the University of Southern Florida in 1997. Starting at Auburn University in 1999, Dr. Witte originally taught in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology as a Professor of Adult Education. During his time at the College of Education he received both the Leischuck Outstanding Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Award (2001) and the Leischuck Outstanding Graduate Faculty Teaching Award (2006). At this time on the Plains, Dr. Witte has overseen a combined 542 students of his obtain their Master's and Ph.D.s.

Moving to the Department of Aviation in 2020, Dr. Witte was instrumental in achieving the designation of "School of Aviation" as we continued to grow from approximately 600 students to over 1,000 in his short tenure here. Under his guidance, the War Eagle Flying Team, representing the School of Aviation, was awarded the Loening Trophy for the overall best Collegiate Aviation program for two years in a row. In his tenure, we have seen the introduction of United's Aviate program and the Southwest Destination 225° program, where countless students in the School of Aviation have secured conditional job offers. His vision, tenacity, and devotion will allow the School of Aviation to continue on the momentum he set to continually produce the best pilots in the industry. We thank Dr. Witte for all that he has given our program, and we know he will excel at anything he sets his mind to next.

Striped Wings Aviation Ambassadors: Oshkosh 2024

Student Recruitment Events

Six students in our Striped Wings Ambassador program recently returned home after spending a week recruiting prospective students at EAA Airventure last month. Airventure is a fly-in convention in Wisconsin that sees over 600,000 people and 10,000 airplanes each year. People from all around the world attend this event, and it provides the perfect opportunity for our ambassadors to recruit for Auburn's School of Aviation.

"When I first joined the Striped Wings and learned about the opportunity to attend Oshkosh, it instantly became a goal of mine. With this past July being my first time attending the airshow, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to represent Auburn Aviation alongside five of my peers. Over the span of the event, we were able to share our experiences with hundreds of attendees, all while enjoying everything EAA AirVenture had to offer. The time I spent meeting prospective students, past alumni, and other professionals in the industry proved to me that the Auburn family spans nationwide, and I am thankful to be a part of such a renowned program.

- Nathan Donaldson

Senior, Professional Flight

Over the week long event, the Striped Wings were able to meet with hundreds of prospective students, as well as network within the industry. We would like to extend a very gracious thank you to Propel by Delta for hosting our ambassadors, as well as all of our industry partners who were able to stop by the booth.

This upcoming semester, the Striped Wings are planning to conduct their largest volume of tours to date, continuing their mission to recruit the best students for our Professional Flight and Aviation Management degrees.

Congratulations, Summer 2024 Grads!

A job well done and a big WAR EAGLE to our Summer 2024 School of Aviation graduates! We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors!

Six Auburn Aviators raced in this year's Air Race Classic.

Auburn University has had a presence in the Air Race Classic for the last seven years. The Air Race Classic (ARC) is an annual transcontinental air race for female pilots, and is a multi-day competition spanning over 10 legs and 2,400 miles. The route this year took teams from Carbondale, Illinois, to Loveland, Colorado.

The Auburn School of Aviation was able to send three teams to compete in representation of Auburn University. They left the Plains of Auburn and started their journey up north to begin the race. The route took a total of three days to complete, and all of our teams finished in Colorado on Friday, June 21. They were greeted by their Auburn coaches Daphne Walker and Dr. Rebecca "Coyote" Baughman. The awards banquet was held the weekend following the race to recognize the top teams and award recipients. The School of Aviation is very proud of how well our three teams performed. Their top prizes are as follows:

6th place Collegiate - Team 65, Page Zuccaro & April Heppner
9th place Collegiate - Team 63, Maggie Peacock & Anna Kate Gruwell
13th place Collegiate - Team 64, Tommy Pugh & Riley Moss
Fastest Leg Prize (Legs 3 & 7) - Team 65, Page Zuccaro & April Heppner

Congratulations to the 2024 War Eagle Women for safely competing in the Air Race Classic and be on the lookout for more Auburn Aviators competing in future races!

Student Spotlight: Emily Brutko

Emily Brutko is a Senior in Professional Flight from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Having just completed Auburn's standardization process, Emily will join the School of Aviation as one of our newest CFIs for the Fall. Her inspiration to start flying came from her dad, who is a private pilot, and would take her flying as a kid. Now, she is excited to be able to help other students fall in love with aviation while going through Auburn's program.

Emily has had a very busy couple of years on the Plains. As the Director of Philanthropy for the 99s, she was able to raise more than $3,000 for Challenge Air. This organization allows kids with special needs to fly in an airplane for the first time, and thanks to Emily's efforts, close to 10 kids will be able to have this experience. Emily has also hosted Pilot-for-a-Day, where local kids from the Auburn-Opelika area were able to come to Auburn Aviation and live a day in the life of our students.

Emily has not stopped there when it comes to her professional accomplishments. She most recently won the "#1 Flight Instructor Award" recognized by the National Intercollegiate Flying Association. She credits her award to her love for psychology behind teaching, something that will help her excel as she starts instructing in the fall.

"I chose Auburn for the opportunity it provided to earn both a professional flight degree with all my ratings and have a college experience at the same time. Auburn allowed me the opportunity to make life long friends and participate in things outside of aviation and I'm forever thankful for that experience."

As Emily wraps up her final semester at Auburn, she wants to continue to be involved in her other student organizations. Emily currently is a member of Alpha Eta Rho, the War Eagle Flying Team, and a Striped Wing Aviation Ambassador. While doing this, she wants to continue to take advantage of all the opportunities that Auburn presents to its students while instructing towards her R-ATP minimums.

Auburn Aviation Summer Camps

The School of Aviation hosted dozens of aspiring pilots over the summer thanks to the efforts of Dr. James Birdsong, Dr. Daniel Siao, and Auburn Youth Programs. During the months of June and July, two sessions of camp were held by Auburn Youth Programs, where high school students had the opportunity to stay on the Plains of Auburn for the week. During the aviation-filled week, these students had the opportunity to visit the airport, fly our CE-172 and A320 simulators, experience a discovery flight over the campus, visit Delta Air Lines Museum and the Atlanta Airport, as well as visit ATL ARTCC.

We want to extend a thank you to all the industry partners who hosted our future aviators. We are so excited to see what is in store for this next generation of pilots.