News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-5056 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE JUNE 27, 2006

BRIDGES TAKES ABAC PRESIDENT’S POSITION SATURDAY

TIFTON-- Dr. David Bridges has some great memories of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College from his days as a student.

Now with his first official day as the ABAC president set for Saturday, the 48-year-old Parrott native is ready to make some new memories.

“I’m excited about coming back to ABAC as president,” Bridges, the first alumnus ever to serve as president, said.  “It was a great place when I was a student, and it’s a great place now.”

Bridges said it was easy to pick out his fondest memory of ABAC.

“I met my wife, Kim, in Rosalyn Donaldson’s English Literature class,” Bridges, a 1978 ABAC agricultural sciences graduate, said.  “That has to count as my best ABAC memory.”

That ABAC romance has blossomed into 26 years of marriage.  Kim is from nearby Ocilla.  Both the Bridges’ children, Rees and Morgan, also attended ABAC.

Kim now teaches biology, biochemistry, and botany at Tift County High School.  Rees just graduated with his engineering degree from Auburn University.  He lives in Birmingham, Ala., with his wife, Lindsay, who starts law school in August.   Morgan is a sophomore pre-vet major at Auburn.

After his ABAC graduation, the 10^th president in the history of the college earned a bachelor’s degree (1980) and a master’s degree (1983) in agronomy from Auburn as well as a Ph.D. in agronomy (weed science) from Texas A&M University in 1987.

That’s a lot of long hours in classrooms but to this day, he can call the name of every ABAC faculty member he ever had for a class.

“Oh sure,” Bridges said.  “I can even tell you that Wayne Cooper showed me how to hit my first golf ball in an ABAC physical education class.  Fred Reuter taught me to square dance.

“My all time favorite ABAC instructor was Sonny Burt.  I still stop by to see him when I’m in Cordele.”

Bridges’ research and teaching career began when he was hired by the University of Georgia as an assistant professor by the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences in 1987.   He advanced through the ranks to become the Assistant Dean of the Tifton Campus of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2001.

That’s what brought him back to Tifton.  He never really considered the ABAC presidency until Mike Vollmer left the job to become Commissioner of the Department of Technical and Adult Education in Georgia in 2004.

“That was really when I first thought about it,” Bridges said.  “I had no lifelong dream to be a college president.”

When Bridges wants to “get away from it all,” he retreats to his farm in Terrell County.   He also likes to hunt and play the piano.

And now he’s excited about the challenge ahead.

“ABAC has so many positives right now,” Bridges said.  “The State College status, the new Health Sciences Building, the 100^th birthday….I’m ready to get started.”

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