Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Thank You to Mrs. Tennie Owen Wiatt

Tennie Owen Wiatt was born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1910. She attended the Mississippi State College for Women, and later came to Auburn to study architecture where she met her future husband, J. Streeter Wiatt, also a student of architecture. In her second year, Tennie double majored in architecture and English. She received excellent grades and won a number of medals in architecture, Streeter Wiatt also did well, and both graduated in the early 1930s, marrying soon after. After having served in World War II (at the Quartermaster Corps in Washington, D.C. for three years and on Cape Cod for one year), they returned to Montgomery and set up offices together under the name J. Streeter Wiatt, Architects. Under its later name, Wiatt, Watson & Cole, the firm designed several buildings on Auburn's campus.

After 55 years of marriage and working with his wife, Streeter died in 1994 without having left any instructions about finances. Tennie and her son Streeter, Jr. (and his wife) decided to finance scholarships to the Auburn University Foundation honoring the deceased's parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Edward Wiatt. The latter had served as chair of Modern Languages (now the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures) and professor of German at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn University) from 1900 until his death in 1918; and his wife, Mrs. Betty Wright Wiatt, served in the admissions office from 1900-1940. John W. Wiatt was a native of Virginia (b. 1859) and studied at Richmond College, Johns Hopkins as well as two years abroad, at the University of Leipzig and at Strassburg.

The John Edward Wiatt Endowment for Excellence in Foreign Languages and Literatures provides support for special elements and initiatives of the department's program, the cornerstone being the new Multimedia Language Learning Center. Funds provided by the endowment enable the department to purchase state-of-the- art equipment and upgrade the Language Learning Center, thus keeping abreast of technological advances. Technology evolves rapidly and the Wiatt Endowment will help to ensure the department's ability to keep pace. It is projected that a complete turn-over of equipment in five years and of facilities in ten will be typical. The endowment also provides the department with the financial resources to enrich the existing program and pursue new teaching initiatives in foreign languages and literatures.