Imagine the amount of students who pass you by in four years in college. You can bet Cecil Eubanks has seen more.Eubanks is a political science professor who has taught undergraduate and graduate students at the University for more than 40 years. Eubanks came to the University in 1968 and served as the chair of the political science department from 1990 to 2000 with a one-year hiatus. In 1992, Eubanks was selected to be an Alumni Professor, a special honor awarded by the Alumni Association to professors notable in the area of teaching, he said.Because of his dedication to teaching at the University for four decades, political science graduate students have worked hard this past year trying to raise money for The Cecil L. Eubanks Award for Graduate Student Advancement, a scholarship named after their esteemed professor.”[The scholarship] made me feel honored and pleased that they chose that way of remembering me,” Eubanks said. “It’s a very nice and appropriate gesture for a teacher.”In April 2008, the faculty, staff and graduate students of the political science department threw a surprise party in the LSU Faculty Club to honor Eubanks for his 40th year at the University and to announce the creation of The Cecil L. Eubanks Award for Graduate Student Advancement.”The best gift we could give him was to create an endowed scholarship named after him,” said Thomas Laehn, political science doctoral student. “The desire to create the scholarship grew out of the desire to honor his 40 years of teaching.”The LSU Political Science Graduate Student Association is aiming to raise $20,000 to permanently endow the award.”LSU requires that we raise $20,000 to make it a permanent scholarship,” Laehn said. “We want to make this a lasting honor.”The Eubanks Award is intended for political science graduate students who specifically want to teach. The award will be distributed annually to a small number of graduate students so they can attend teaching conferences and workshops.”There’s no better way to honor a man who has dedicated his life to teaching than by ensuring that our department is producing great teachers,” Laehn said. “All of the conferences and workshops are very expensive. A scholarship that gives students the funding to fly and register for these events will train them to be better teachers. “Two aspects behind Eubanks’ dedication to the University is the beautiful campus and his interaction with students.”I enjoy teaching very much,” Eubanks said. “I love the students, I love the University and I love the idea of a university. It’s such an incredible creation of human beings. This institution to which people come and we teach and we conserve these grand ideas and push the frontiers of knowledge further, it’s just an incredible opportunity.”Drew Thompson, political science doctoral student, studies under Eubanks directly. Thompson said Eubanks is “in his element” when he teaches in front of undergraduate students.”He has lectures, but he also engages the class in discussions,” said Paula Fredin, political science exchange student from England. “He’s a very good professor, very intellectual and philosophical.” Laehn said anyone can make a contribution to The Cecil L. Eubanks Award for Graduate Student Advancement by sending a check to the LSU Foundation with the account number (107-40-F008) in the memo line. The account number ensures that the check goes directly to the Eubanks Award and not a general fund. Contributors can also bring the check with a note for Laehn to the political science department on the second floor of Stubbs Hall.—-Contact Mary Walker Baus [email protected]