Last week, retiring CEAS Dean Michael Atkins headed to Emory, Texas, a fully stocked workshop, a John Deere 650 diesel tractor, and a lake full of fish. His new home is situated on Lake Fork, one of the nation’s premiere bass fishing lakes. “I look at this as an adventure,” he said.
Michael Atkins
After 34 years as WMU professor, IME chair, and CEAS dean, Atkins was celebrated and roasted at official retirement parties on and off campus. “I’m overwhelmed, I feel truly honored, I appreciate all you have done, and I want to thank you all,” he said.
The fifth-generation Texan told well-wishers that they would be missed but that he would not miss “the budget-crunching.”
Atkins came to WMU in 1971 as an assistant professor in the department of industrial education, which no longer exists. He and his wife, Ellen, who is also a Texan, planned to stay for five to eight years.
In 1998 he became the IME department chair. He assumed the position as assistant dean for external relations and facilities in 2001 and moved into the CEAS dean’s office in 2002.
Atkins led the CEAS move from Kohrman Hall to the new Parkview Campus, and IME Chair Paul Engelmann praised Atkins for making the Parkview Campus a reality. “We would not have the facilities that we have today without Michael’s effort,” Engelmann said.
In honor of his retirement, Atkins was presented with a Delta woodworking jointer that he said would complete his new workshop.
Professor Fred Sitkins led the “roasting” by handing out fake letters from Atkins granting 25-percent pay raises to everyone and presenting Atkins with a Kohrman Hall relic antique tapping head attachment for making threaded holes.
In presenting one humorous gift to Atkins, Engelmann connected Atkins’ love of fishing with a small body of water located behind the new Parkview Campus.
“We’ve been searching for something fitting to give Michael,” Engelmann said. “We don’t have the millions it takes to name a building, so instead the university will be dedicating the ‘Michael B. Atkins Pond.’”
Michael and Ellen Atkins - headed for Texas
According to Ellen Atkins, a recently retired Heritage Christian Academy principal, Emory is a “little town with about 750 people – a wide place in the road.” Their retirement plans call for farming “a little vegetable garden and a wildflower field so we don’t have to mow much,” she said.
Atkins said that after getting settled, he may teach at Texas A & M Commerce, which is located about 30 minutes away. His formal education was in Texas: a bachelor’s degree at then East Texas State and a master’s and an Ed. D. at Texas A & M, College Station.
Atkins praised his WMU experience. “I’ve had opportunities I never dreamed of or aspired to,” he said. “I would hope that everyone who comes through this college has the same level of gratification that I have received.”
Posts
