The Dr. Louise Bauck Endowment for Environmental Studies was recently established to honor the memory and legacy of longtime faculty member Dr. Louise Astrid Brouwer Bauck, who died in July 2019 following a terminal stomach cancer diagnosis.
Bauck was a faculty member in biology from 2005-2012 and served as chair of the Department of Math & Science from 2008-2010. After moving to Nebraska, she continued to support Brenau’s programs by teaching online and accompanying study abroad trips to the Yucatan from 2013-2018. She was the 2008 Tri-Delta Professor of the Year, 2009 Brenau Adviser of the Year and 2010 Outstanding Professor of the Year.
The Bauck Endowment, made possible by Bauck’s husband, Stewart, and his company Neogen Corp., will support students in the environmental studies program — the academic discipline she helped build to prominence at Brenau.
Assistant Professor of Biology Jessi Barker Shrout says Bauck was not only a dedicated faculty member but “a personal inspiration to me for over a decade.”
“From the day I started at Brenau in 2008, I was struck by her dynamic personality and amazing teaching ability,” Shrout says. “I realized quickly that I needed to learn all I possibly could from this extraordinary educator. Ever since that initial meeting, I viewed Louise as an incredible professional and personal mentor. Even following her untimely passing, she has remained the single most influential person in the development of my career.”
Bauck earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and a Doctor or Veterinary Medicine and Master of Veterinary Science with a specialization in avian medicine — a field that would ultimately lead to her acknowledgement as a global leader in the practice of avian medicine — from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan.
Her passion for biology, conservation, research and travel was unparalleled and evident in her every action, Shrout says.
“I witnessed this passion firsthand and on multiple occasions, traveling with her as co-instructor to our biology field courses in Hawaii and the Yucatan,” Shrout says. “On these once-in-a-lifetime field studies, she got students up at dawn, kept them going all day studying biology, ecology, biodiversity and conservation, and then brought them back exhausted, yet satisfied, at the end of the day. Any student who had the opportunity to be led by Dr. Bauck on a field course was forever changed by the experience.”
The new endowment can be used to support students pursuing biological field study courses at Brenau through full or partial scholarships to individual students or via the offsetting of the cost of the experience for all students.
“The study and preservation of the natural world and its many wonders was the lifelong passion of Louise, and the time she spent at Brenau University was one of the most enjoyable of her career,” says Dr. Stewart Bauck, her husband of 38 years. “The friendships – both personal and professional – formed during and after her time there were an enduring source of joy and pride for her. In honor of that, the family is delighted to be able to provide support for Brenau University, the Environmental Studies program and worthy faculty such as Professor Shrout.”
The endowment also may be used to support current or future properties owned or used by Brenau for field studies and environmental studies purposes. Currently, that includes the on-campus Bamboo Forest and Biological Field Station and the university’s northeast Georgia property, Leo’s Trove.
If you wish to support the Bauck Endowment Fund, email Matt Thomas at mthomas@brenau.edu or go to giving.brenau.edu. Please indicate the gift is to support the Bauck Endowment in the “Additional notes for gift” box. Brenau University is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization (EIN: 58-0566143), thus all gifts are charitable and tax deductible.
“Few professors can bring biology to life in the way Louise did,” Shrout says. “She inspired a whole flock of Brenau alumnae who will continue to spread her wisdom far and wide, as will the students who benefit from this endowment.”
