Dixie Mahurin has worked at WKU for over three decades. She taught mathematics before transitioning to academic advising. Growing up in Hopkinsville, Ky., Mrs. Dixie, as her students call her, remembers classmates dropping out of school to go to Vietnam, being the only woman in her mathematics classes and witnessing the American political climate cleave. From fashion to politics, there isn’t much Mrs. Dixie doesn’t have an opinion on. Her colleagues say her eccentricity makes the office as fun as it is. Mrs. Dixie’s passion for her students’ success can be felt in her words and seen in her actions. One example is the names of straight A students scrawled in chalk on her office wall. “Maintenance had a fit,” Mrs. Dixie said. “It isn’t a chalkboard. It won’t come off, but I just couldn’t stand that black wall.”