Known as the "Green Dean" or "Silver Fox," the late Robert Etheridge, former vice president of student affairs, permanently left his mark on Miami's campus with the dedication of the new Etheridge Residence Hall in his honor.
On Thursday, Nov. 7, there was a ceremony in Etheridge Hall to commemorate Etheridge's life and accomplishments.
"I was so proud of everything that was said," Etheridge's widowed wife Veda Etheridge, said.
Close colleagues, family members and friends spoke at the dedication, not only praising the new building but its namesake. Etheridge died in 2010, but his family and many close acquaintances attended along with current students and staff.
"I'm sorry for all the students that didn't get to know him because he was the students' friend," Mrs. Etheridge said.
Etheridge Hall houses 232 students and is the newest addition to Miami's LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) residence halls. By student request, the hall is revolutionary in design and contains eight "houses" where 30 men and women live in double occupancy rooms. Each house is equipped with separate and shared bathrooms, a great room, kitchen, study room and large flat screen TV.
"Dr. Etheridge would approve of the [design of] Etheridge Hall because he was among those who encouraged having coed halls," Mary Evans, who worked with Etheridge for 25-years, said.
Etheridge worked hard to create residence hall programs that connected living and learning, Evans said. In the time Etheridge worked for the university, he saw the student body increase from 6,000 to 16,000 and begin to integrate men and women's facilities. In fact, Etheridge was the one who made dining halls coed and worked to make residence halls coed as well.
Besides coed dining halls, Etheridge took initiative on recreational, intramural and club sports as well as establishing a women's center, minority student center, women's health center and parent's club. He also led Miami in becoming one of two public universities to adopt the Evan Scholars Program.
"He made dreams become a reality," Gilbert Siegel, former associate vice president to Etheridge said. "He was very much committed to excellence."
He strived for excellence not only in Miami's student body and academics, but in environmental progressivism as well. Dubbed the "Green Dean" for his visible efforts to make campus environmentally friendly, Etheridge could be seen riding his bike frequently.
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Bobbe Burke is a 1970 alumna who worked as a student with Etheridge.
"He would visit residence halls and places where students worked often," Burke said.
Etheridge introduced ideas like multiple pathways and sidewalks so as to give bikers and walkers a means to travel in direct routes without disturbing the greenery, according to Siegel.
Despite all Etheridge accomplished for the university, his personal relationships stand as a testament to his greatest passion.
"He would be perfectly wiling to sit down and talk with students," Siegel said. "He was very hospitable but at the same time he made them think."
Etheridge felt as though the students were his own family, Mrs. Etheridge said. One graduation day in particular, Etheridge joked with the Vice President of Alumni:
"I have never seen the exact moment where my damned students turned into your wonderful alumni."
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