William F. Walker (December 1, 1937 – August 7, 2007) was the President of Auburn University from 2001 to 2004.Wire Eagle
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Biography

William F. Walker was born on December 1, 1937, in

Sherman, Texas Sherman is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and it is part of the Texoma region ...

.Auburn resignation
/ref> He graduated with a B.A. and an M.A. in aerospace engineering from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. He later got his Ph.D. in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. From 1965 to 1988, he taught at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

. He then became Dean of the College of Engineering at Auburn University. He endorsed Governor

Bob Riley Robert Renfroe Riley (born October 3, 1944) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 52nd governor of Alabama from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented Alabama's 3rd district in the U. ...

. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 2007.

William F. Walker Teaching Awards

The Fred and Mary Lou Birdsong Teaching Awards were renamed as the William F. Walker Teaching Awards in 2001. The award is presented annually to an outstanding member of the Engineering faculty at Auburn.

References

1937 births 2007 deaths People from Sherman, Texas Cockrell School of Engineering alumni Oklahoma State University alumni Rice University faculty Presidents of Auburn University Deaths from cancer in the United States 20th-century American academics {{US-academic-stub