Willie D. Larkin, chair of the University Faculty and Senate at AU, received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award at Lee County’s 2005 Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast last week. Larkin, the first African American to hold the top faculty leadership post at Auburn, is a leadership and organizational specialist for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and an assistant professor in AU's College of Education.

Away from campus, the AU faculty leader is known throughout the region as an author and motivational speaker. He also serves as the chair of the East Alabama Task Force for Battered Women and is a board member of the Alabama Communities of Excellence program.
Larkin is president and a charter member of the recently established 100 Black Men of Greater Auburn/Opelika Inc. He is also a member of the local Toast Masters, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. and other community organizations. A native of Troy, Larkin is a past recipient of the Kellogg National Fellowship award.

This article was printed in Vol. 38 No. 2 of AU Report on January 24, 2005.