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The Auburn Plainsman

Auburn alumna and sculptor, Joanna Campbell Blake, passes away from a crash in Italy

By Emmy Leberte | News Writer | May 26

Joanna Campbell Blake passed away Sunday, May 22nd in a motorcycle crash in Italy while celebrating her 39th birthday. Blake was a Mobile native and had graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting in 1999. Over the years Blake has completed numerous figurative sculptors that stand in the Schermernom Symphony in Nashville, Tennessee and the National War World II memorial in Washington, D.C., where she was currently living. “She worked so hard on everything,” Giantti, friend and colleague at Kaskey Studio Inc., told WUSA9, “We’re really going to miss her for the rest of our life.” Blake worked with the former chair of the art department, Gary Wagnor, to complete many projects around the Auburn University Campus over the years. She had created a 30-foot-long terracotta panels for the College of Science and Mathematics buildings as well as sculpting 13 scientists at the entrance of the University’s Chemistry and Biology buildings. In an alumni spotlight interview, Blake talks about all the panels she sculpted around campus that represent a different college within Auburn for the Pedestrian Portal Project. “The first set we created was for the Pharmacy School and since then we’ve designed and sculpted panels for the Education, Liberal Arts, COSAM, Agriculture, Architecture, and Engineering departments,” Blake said in the spotlight interview.

The Auburn Plainsman

An owner's emotional farewell to Mike and Ed's BBQ

By Ciara Council | News Writer | May 25

J.P Lemay, the former owner of Mike and Ed's sells the business after 16 years of owning and 30 years of working there. Her last day was May 3 after training the new owner. John Hammer took on the franchise in March and is currently learning more about the business and hoping to keep the business successful. Lemay hopes the good name stands.

The Auburn Plainsman

Student counseling services

By Chip Brownlee | News Editor | May 24

Last year, as issues related to mental health continued to surface on Auburn's campus and Student Counseling Services came under fire for long waits and unpublicized resources, University administration and the student government began to explore how to improve the University's resources for students' mental health needs. The SGA and the University administration commissioned a Task Force on Student Mental Health to determine how the University could better provide and publicize for resources and support on campus. The report released earlier this year found the University was ranked near the bottom when compared to schools of similar size. "It is important to note that the Task Force found that Auburn University currently ranks at or near the bottom with regard to the number of mental health counselors," the report stated.

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