After Larry Benefield earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1966 from Auburn University, he spent four years as a civil engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force and was awarded the Bronze Star. He returned to Auburn, where he earned his master’s degree in 1972, and then decided to attend Virginia Tech to pursue his Ph.D. under the direction of Dr. Clifford Randall.



Larry served as an instructor in at Virginia Tech during his last year in the Ph.D. program, and upon graduation accepted his first full-time academic position as an assistant professor of civil engineering at Mississippi State University in 1975. He moved to the University of Colorado in 1976 and remained there until 1979.



Dr. Benefield returned to Auburn in 1979 as an associate professor of civil engineering. He took his first administrative position in 1989 as the Interim Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Engineering Experiment Station. In 1992 he was selected as the Associate Dean for Academics and remained in that position until he was named the Interim Dean in September of 1998. In 2000, Dr. Benefield was appointed Dean.



As Auburn’s Dean of Engineering, Dr. Benefield has led the college in some significant accomplishments. Research funding in his college more than tripled in his first three years. During the fall of 2000 he completed the curricula changes and calendar changes associated with converting from a quarter system to a semester system. He established a joint program with the College of Business, called the Business-Engineering-Technology Program, which integrates engineering, business and management practice for engineering and business undergraduates. He established an automotive certificate program in the college, an interdisciplinary program housed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering that allows students to participate in several collegiate automotive competitions. In 2002, he established the first wireless engineering degree program in the nation.



Dr. Benefield was actively involved in the establishment of the Minority Engineering Program at Auburn to recruit and retain underrepresented minorities and women in engineering. During the 2001 fiscal year the college obtained a seven-year, $150,000 annual commitment from BellSouth to fund the minority program. The program also received a $1 million endowment from one of its alumni.



Dr. Benefield has an international reputation for his research and applications work in biological treatment processes and, in particular, biological nutrient removal. He has served as the principal author of three highly regarded texts in the environmental engineering field and has published 41 refereed publications and 77 other publications and technical presentations. Many of the Ph.D. students he has advised have gone on to academic appointments of their own, including Virginia Tech CEE Professor Mark Widdowson. Dr. Benefield holds professional engineering licenses in Virginia, Alabama and Colorado.



He has received a number of honors during his career. Auburn’s Department of Civil Engineering appointed him as the Alumni Professor from 1985 to 1989 and as the Feagin Professor from 1991 to 1992. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Alabama’s Engineering Hall of Fame and a board member and vice chair of the National Center for Asphalt Technology.



An active Virginia Tech alumnus, Larry has also served as a member of the Via Department’s Alumni Advisory Board.



Larry and his wife, Mary, have a son, Bryan, a college sophomore, and a daughter, Brynna, an Auburn alumna who begins graduate school this year. In his spare time, Larry enjoys golf and skeet shooting.