Investing in Students

Retired Professor Fulfills Lifelong Dream to Create Lasting Legacy

Professor Emeritus James Darrell devoted his entire professional career to Georgia Southern University. From 1970 until 2006, he was a popular figure in the Department of Geology and Geography. Although he has been retired for 15 years, he remains one of the University’s strongest supporters.

“Georgia Southern has been my life,” he said. “I met my wife here and it was her life as well. I met her in the hallway of the Herty Building, and we were married for 41 years.”

Now, Darrell plans to honor his late wife while helping Georgia Southern students pursue their dreams. Professor Emerita Susan Darrell was a Georgia Southern alumna. She taught high school home economics for seven years before returning to her alma mater to join the home economics faculty. Throughout her career, she touched the lives of many students and provided them with the tools and knowledge they needed to build strong relationships and families. When she passed in 2020, her husband wanted to ensure that their shared love for Georgia Southern would live on to the benefit of generations of students. He committed to a hybrid of gift giving that not only ensures their legacy but also will make a significant difference in the lives of students and the Georgia Southern community. His initial gift of a $60,000 van is already making an impact in the department where he taught thousands of students. Faculty and students are using the vehicle for research and projects in the Coastal Plain, to travel to conferences and seminars and for other educational experiences.

Darrell said he wanted to make the gifts, “because I love the department and I had the resources to do something that I had always wanted to do. My whole mission at Georgia Southern was what can I do to impact students. Now they have a van, so they don’t have to scrounge around for a vehicle when they go on field trips. They have their own.”

During his career, Darrell cultivated strong connections with his students and with his colleagues. Always willing to take on one more class and one more challenge, he was critical to the ongoing development of the department and was present for the “birth” of the University Museum. In support of his colleagues, Georgia Southern Professors Richard Petkewich and Gale Bishop, Darrell led geology majors through several key projects that advanced the study of geology at Georgia Southern. He played a critical role in delivering educational programming for schoolchildren from across the region. He was often willing to pitch in to help his colleagues, whether that meant shouldering additional courses or co-delivering curriculum for education majors. At one point, he teamed up with a colleague in the College of Education to teach middle grade science methods. Through it all, his central focus as a classroom teacher was always on his students, always remembering their names, providing them with personalized attention and continuing relationships long after their graduation. He recalled a student that took three of his courses. In the environmental geology course, they discussed hurricanes.Seven years later when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, that student contacted him.

He explained, “I got an email from her that said, ‘Dr. D. this is Deb. I remember you saying it was not a matter of if a hurricane was going to hit the coastal area, it was a matter of when.This is the when.’ When you ask, what kind of impact did I have on my students? How would you describe that? For me, I was on cloud nine that she remembered the lecture and took the time for that email.”

Darrell’s impact will also be felt in other ways at Georgia Southern. His planned gift of 75% of his estate will be split between the Georgia Southern Museum and the Botanic Garden. It will also endow the Jim and Susan Darrell Environmental Sciences Scholarship for geology students.

“Georgia Southern is in my blood,” he said. “Primarily, there are two guys that are still there that I worked with (Professors Kelly Vance and James Reichard) and I respect them, and I want to make sure that that department thrives and continues because I firmly believe in science and I firmly believe in their mission.”