Campus faces loss of 'endearing' student

By: Daniel Bortz

Posted: 10/30/08

Alec Waggoner's death Sunday morning marked the loss of a charismatic individual to the Syracuse University community.

Waggoner, 23, was a first-year graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences. He died after he was hit by an SUV while riding a bike in Thornden Park at 11:15 p.m.

Though SU students are feeling the effects of losing a third community member, the Earth Sciences Department has been hit the hardest by Waggoner's death.

"Everyone here is just extremely saddened and shocked by this loss," said Jeff Karson, department chair of earth sciences.

The SU community is still recovering from the deaths of two students earlier in the semester - Jordan Schaffer, a freshman who committed suicide Sept. 10 and Matt Wanetik, a junior political science and international relations major who died studying abroad in Strasbourg, France, on Oct. 3.

Paul Fitzgerald, an Earth sciences professor, recalled the qualities he loved about Waggoner.

"He was one of those students who had a magnetic personality and he also had a delightful, irreverent sense of humor that was developed beyond his years," he said.

Fitzgerald added that Waggoner's keen intellect, passion for his field and genuine desire to help other people made him someone you'd want to be around.

"He had a lot of energy," Fitzgerald said. "He was incredibly alive. He was the sort of person who every time you saw him, he would brighten up your day."

Fitzgerald first met Waggoner when he came to apply for the Earth sciences graduate program last spring. Though that was more than six months ago, Fitzgerald said he remembered why the review board chose Waggoner among other applicants.

"He was very bright and he pretty much had his choice of institutions across the United States," he said. "He could have gone anywhere."

Waggoner graduated a top student from the University of Kansas. He chose to attend SU because he formed a bond with the graduate students on his first visit to campus.

Though he only had a bachelor's degree, Waggoner worked with five Earth sciences professors in Papua, New Guinea last January on an important research project. It involved the study of rocks in the area, and Waggoner used various techniques to date the rocks.

The project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, is led by Suzanne Baldwin, an Earth sciences professor and Waggoner's academic adviser.

Baldwin said in her brief time spent with Waggoner, she saw he possessed great potential to be a top analyst, both in the field and in the lab.

"Alec was an incredibly gifted graduate student, with an endearing personality and a very bright career ahead of him," Baldwin said in an e-mail. "He'll also be remembered for his big smile and the twinkle in his eyes."

Waggoner's funeral will be held Friday in his hometown of Beloit, Kan. Fitzgerald said he and fellow Earth sciences faculty plan to attend the service. The Earth Sciences Department also plans to hold its own memorial service for Waggoner at SU within the next few weeks, Fitzgerald said.

Department Chair Karson and Fitzgerald agreed that Waggoner made a valuable contribution to the Earth sciences program, as well as to the entire SU community.

Outside the Earth Sciences Department, SU students from other programs said they too feel damaged by Waggoner's loss.

"Alec's death makes me feel more cautious for my surroundings," said Millie Fung, a sophomore marketing and psychology major. Fung said she did not know who Waggoner was before he died.

"The fact is it can happen to anybody at any time," she said.

Karson said students can take away an important lesson from this tragedy.

"Every day is a gift, and you have to treat life that way," he said. "Bad things happen to good people, and you have to take care of your own life and take care of the people around you. You just don't know what's going to happen day by day."

dsbortz@syr.edu