Hardy Edwards, a professor in the Poultry Sciences department, holds a picture of himself taken just months before he began teaching at the University in 1957. Edwards, 76, has been teaching at the University longer than any other University professor and says he has no plans to retire. “I still enjoy working,” he said. “That's obviously why I’m still here.” (Chuck Thomson - The Red & Black)

University professor Hardy Edwards Jr. remembers a time when the Ramsey Center was a dairy farm and the Hodgson School of Music was a poultry farm.

“All that was chickens,” he said.

Edwards, a poultry science and animal nutrition professor, has worked at the University since Nov. 1, 1957, which makes his employment time the longest of any faculty or staff member still at the University, according to employee records manager Dickie Riggs.

During his 48-year career, Edwards said he considered leaving Athens only once, when a vice president from a large company tried to “woo him” away.

“I just decided I was happy,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed it.”

Edwards, 76, said he remembers a different time in Athens, when the campus was ultra-conservative. Ladies had to wear raincoats over their gym shorts on campus, he said.

ABOUT EDWARDS
Hardy Edwards Jr.,
a poultry science and animal nutrition professor, and the longest-serving University employee
- Has been working at the University since 1957, making his career 48 years long
- Was at the University during its integration in the 1960’s
- Between the years of 1957-1972, he traveled to Europe every year with his wife
- He holds four patents related to poultry research

Recalling the landscape, he said he remembered when the Psychology-Journalism Plaza was the basketball arena.

Edwards said he went to almost every football game between 1957-1979 before deciding to give up his seat so others would have a chance to go.

Pictures of former graduate students and doctoral candidates Edwards has mentored crowd the top of a bookcase in his office.

“My students go out and they’re very successful, so it makes you feel good,” Edwards said.

Anastassia Liem, a graduate student from Indonesia earning a degree in poultry nutrition, said she likes Edwards’ sense of humor, experience and patience. She is applying in the fall to continue working with him on her doctoral degree.

“He’s one of the nicest (professors) you’ll ever get,” she said. “He knows how to handle graduate students like they’re supposed to be treated.”

Edwards said he was born in Ruston, La., in 1929 and earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture at Southwestern Louisiana Institute at a time when 85 percent of the students there spoke French.

The rest of the story


By ANNA FRY
RedandBlack.com