Donor Spotlight: Dr. Gerald and Emily Leischuck

College of Education Donor Support Spotlight

Dr. Gerald Leischuck and Mrs. Emily Leischuck

 

New Education Building Room name:

Dr. Gerald and Emily Leischuck Meeting Room

 

Named after:

Dr. Gerald Leischuck and his late wife, Emily Leischuck

 

Their story: Gerald S. Leischuck ’64 and the late Emily Reaves Leischuck ’64 of Auburn, Alabama, first crossed paths on Auburn’s campus in 1963 while pursuing graduate degrees in the College of Education. Their shared dedication to Auburn’s educational mission is evident in their combined 51 years of dedicated service to Auburn as well as their generous philanthropic activities.

Gerald and Emily have provided decades of leadership and service to enrich Auburn University, and they have tirelessly served as volunteers and advocates for the College of Education and other areas of the university. The couple shared a love of fostering learning and instruction and have made efforts to improve education through their careers, engagement, and philanthropy.

Gerald and Emily were named as 2024 recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Alumni Awards, which recognizes alumni for outstanding achievements in their professional lives, personal integrity and stature and service to the university. It was the first time the award was bestowed to two individuals and upon someone in absentia. Established in 2001, LAA recipients are selected by a committee of Auburn administrators, trustees, faculty and alumni, and the award is the highest given by the association. 

Gerald began his Auburn career as a research associate in the Office of Institutional Research in 1964. He later joined the Office of Planning and Analysis and to serve as executive assistant to the president and secretary of the Board of Trustees. He was recognized as the College of Education’s 1988 Distinguished Alumnus, and in 2000 he received the Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, his second doctorate degree from Auburn. Emily taught and held counseling positions at Auburn-area public schools before returning to Auburn University in 1974 as a panhellenic advisor in the Office of the Dean of Women. She later spent 13 years in the office of the president, serving as assistant to the president and board of trustees. In 1988, Auburn named a campus residence hall in her honor. 

A dedicated servant leader as well, Emily was active in numerous civic and community activities, but none as dear to her as the Lee County Humane Society, where she served on the board of directors for more than a decade. After they retired, Gerald and Emily vowed to continue their support of higher education. As a memorial to their parents, they established the Leischuck-Reaves Endowment Fund for Scholarships — as well as the Gerald and Emily Leischuck Annual Teaching Awards Program in the College of Education — to bring not only great students to the Plains but recognize great faculty as well. Their generosity even extends beyond Auburn, as they have provided scholarship endowments at Birmingham-Southern College, Huntingdon College and the University of Northern Colorado. While Emily unfortunately passed in 2013, the couple’s legacy lives on in the new students who enroll at Auburn and other universities every fall. Additionally, two of the limited number of named professorships in the College of Education bear the Leischuck name.

 

The room’s area of focus:

The overall focus is to create a multipurpose space that enhances communication, collaboration, and educational experiences

 

Q&As: 

What was behind your decision to name a room in the College of Education's new building?

The College of Education had such a significant and sustaining role in preparing Emily and me for our professional future that we felt it important, whenever appropriate, to give back for all that we received. Upon learning that the college would be receiving a new building, it naturally followed that I would welcome the opportunity to assist in its development. It is an honor that a room in the building carries the Leischuck name. 

 

What makes you most excited about the College of Education's new building?

The new building will be an enduring symbol of the college’s importance to Auburn University, the state and nationally. It is exciting that our faculty and students will be working in a state-of-the-art environment worthy of the importance that teacher education plays in the development of future teachers and educational leaders. 

 

There's so much to love about Auburn and its College of Education.  What do you love most?

I am enamored most by the Auburn culture characterized by Auburn men and women everywhere. The warm greeting and unending support I received when I arrived on campus in 1962 are indelibly embedded in my heart and soul. That humane spirit is unique and thrives to this day.  

 

What do you hope future generations will know about you and the importance of the room that bears your namesake?

 It would be a huge honor if the future remembered me as someone who was nurtured by caring Auburn faculty, enjoyed an amazing campus career, and was committed to assisting others to benefit in a like manner.