AUBURN UNIVERSITY

CONVOCATION

APRIL 28, 2003

WILLIAM F. WALKER

PRESIDENT

I am delighted to see everyone here today. I appreciate each and every one of you taking time from very busy schedules to be here. I am honored that we have in attendance representatives of all the constituencies that this administration is privileged to serve – students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the Board of Trustees. Thank you all for being here.

The purpose of this occasion is to present my views concerning the future of our university. Please understand that I neither expect nor desire that every person here will agree with everything I say. I do hope however, that what I have to say will provoke thoughtful and collegial discussion by everyone who is truly interested in the future of both the state of Alabama and Auburn University.

Before beginning my remarks I would like to note that in preparing for this presentation, I availed myself of some very useful research provided by University Archivist Dr. Dwayne Cox. I found those materials to be particularly useful as I attempted to establish a basis for some of the ideas and feelings that appear to permeate this institution. I am indebted to Dr. Cox for providing that information.

I also appreciate the work of a number of people in conceptualizing and planning this convocation of the university community. In particular, I want to thank John Hachtel, Bob Lowry, Dr. Barbara Struempler, and Pat Wingfield for all their help and support in making this event a reality.

VISION MUST BE ADAPTABLE TO CHANGE

From my perspective, this occasion is a unique opportunity to share with Auburn people a vision for the future of our university. It is important to note that a vision is not static. It should be dynamic and continually evolving. My vision is grounded in membership in the academic community spanning 35-plus years and specifically in my 15-year association with Auburn University. I have learned a lot in all those years and I continue to learn.

But one of the things I have learned that has most influenced my thinking about the future is that change is a constant occurrence. Whether we are talking about technology, politics, economics, medicine, warfare or the academy is irrelevant.

History teaches us that change will take place. We can try to ignore it, or we can embrace it and utilize it to our advantage. I have attempted to embrace it in formulating a vision for a great university in the 21st century.

Clearly, any serious attempt to describe where we are headed as a university must take into consideration who we are today as an institution of higher education; and that leads us to consider how we got to where we are.

AUBURN HAS HAD A TURBULENT FINANCIAL PAST

I want to take a moment to pay tribute to all those previous leaders whose inspiration and leadership have taken Auburn to where it is today; the finest university in the state of Alabama - a university with a budget of more than a half-billion dollars and an enrollment of more than 23,000 students.

It is impossible to work in the president’s office each day and not be aware of the fact that Auburn University rests solidly upon the foundation of enduring values laid by those who have come before me in the 147-year history of this venerable institution.

They include former faculty, presidents and alumni such as Isaac Tichenor; William LeRoy Broun; Charles Thach; Braxton Comer; Homer Swingle; Ralph Draughon; George Petrie; John Jenkins Wilmore; James E. Greene; Katherine Cater; Joel Eaves; Shug Jordan … The list could go on and on.

Just about everyone is aware that Auburn has had a turbulent past. What many may not be aware of is that this is not a recent development. This institution was born in conflict! In 1871 – just a few years removed from the devastation of war – local community leaders fought and won a very heated political battle to acquire the coveted designation as Alabama’s land-grant college. The competition was intense; from Florence in the North to Greenville in the South, to Tuscaloosa which was the home of the University of Alabama. But the board of the East Alabama Male College agreed to deed all the properties of that institution to the state upon condition that the land-grant college of the state would be here in Auburn. To the chagrin of all the others, the state agreed and Alabama Polytechnic Institute, API, was created.

In apparent retaliation, API suffered mightily. It went through eleven consecutive years without receiving a penny of support from the state of Alabama. It survived solely on tuition and modest annual interest payments on the land-grant endowment. At one point, President Tichenor complained that the University of Alabama actually reduced its tuition and lowered its graduation standards to the point that Auburn could not continue to compete without at least adopting comparable fees. He felt it was an obvious attempt to force API to close its doors.

Things became so desperate financially, in fact, that Dr. Tichenor finally convinced the Legislature to impose a tax on fertilizer sales in Alabama, with a portion of the revenues earmarked for API. Unfortunately, that tax did not generate much money for the institution. However, API managed to hang on and survive some very lean years.

In the 20th century, our formative years were marked by even more severe financial problems and continuing political wars waged in Montgomery and with the University of Alabama. In fact, Auburn really did not emerge from the shadow of the Great Depression until after World War II when the G.I. Bill helped boost enrollment and pump new life into the institution. In the years following the war, enrollment jumped from about 1,700 to more than 7,200 full-time students, and it has pretty much been on an upward swing since.

But even today, we remain the victim of political machinations in the appropriation of state education dollars by the Alabama Legislature. While Auburn offers more costly programs such as veterinary medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, architecture and engineering, other institutions continue to receive greater funding per student from the state. Appropriations are based on history, and not on any recognized funding formulas such as those used in other states.

Our elected officials just cannot bring themselves to appropriate money on any basis other than precedents and politics. It is sad but true that over the years, governors and legislatures have come and gone. They have catered to special interest groups that have kept our state from progressing and competing … and have generally presided over a culture of political cowardice, backroom dealings and fiscal corruption. The victims are the citizens of the state of Alabama.

It is against this background and history that Auburn has struggled over its entire 147-year existence.

‘AUBURN FAMILY’ KEY TO UNIVERSITY

Our university would not be where it is today – ranked as the best in this state and among the top 50 in the nation – if it were not for Auburn people. Auburn is all about people. That is why we refer to this great assemblage of students, faculty, staff and alumni as the “Auburn Family.” Other institutions may attach the word “family” to their names, but at Auburn we know it does not carry the same meaning. At Auburn, it is something very special.

Clearly, there have been internal as well as external conflicts at Auburn over the past few years – some passionately fought by members of the Auburn Family. But I hold the opinion that these disagreements have served to focus our resolve and strengthen the institution. I am reminded of a scene from a movie that was popular in the 1950s called, “The Third Man” which starred the actor, Orson Wells. In a famous scene his character suggested that in Italy, for years under the Borgias, the society experienced warfare, terror, bloodshed and murder, but that same society also produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. He went on to say that in Switzerland, on the other hand, they had brotherly love and five hundred years of democracy and peace, and produced the cuckoo clock.

If the history of this place teaches us anything, it should be that conflict and disagreement is as much a part of Auburn University as Samford Hall – or rolling Toomer’s Corner. The struggles at Auburn have indeed made us a stronger and better university. Those struggles have been intense precisely because they reflect the depth of our passion for what Auburn is - an institution that is vibrant and dedicated to its mission of education, discovery and outreach.

This great Auburn Family may not always agree on every issue that confronts it, but in the end it almost always comes down on the side that is best for Auburn University. I sincerely appreciate all the support I have received from the Auburn Family during the time I have been associated with the university. But I am most thankful for the support I have received the past two years.

Since I have been serving as president, much has happened at Auburn – some bad, but most, I believe, pretty good. From the beginning, we have approached issues as a team; a team composed of representatives of all the Auburn Family. Working together, we have successfully overcome many hurdles; including continuing budget crises; genuine disagreements over governance issues; a racial incident that embarrassed us but caused us to reexamine and refocus on campus diversity; and, of course, the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

PROGRESS MADE IN VARIETY OF AREAS

We have made significant advances in some of these areas and we are making progress in others. I would just like to note briefly some of the things that have happened in the past two years.

· In the area of governance, faculty members from Auburn University and Auburn University Montgomery now sit with the Board of Trustees. Faculty also serve as members of all board committees and as such make significant contributions to committee deliberations. Members of the Board of Trustees are assigned to each college/school for the purpose of improving understanding and communication between the faculty and the board.

· A $500 million-plus construction program is under way to provide modern teaching and research facilities for students and faculty.

· A major fund raising effort is under way with the goal of beginning to raise the endowment to a level where inadequate state support will no longer constitute a crisis situation.

· The institution has accepted the challenge to make diversity a core value of the university.

· Communication with university constituencies has been improved with the objective of keeping all members of the Auburn Family fully and accurately informed.

· Auburn continues to be a popular institution as evidenced by the fact that last fall’s enrollment was a record 23,276 with nearly 4,200 new freshmen.

· And one of our greatest accomplishments has been to make progress on the goal of raising faculty salaries to regional averages. Last year, we were able to raise those salaries by more than 10 percent, thus enabling us to improve our position with respect to other regional institutions. Clearly, we must continue to focus on salary issues in order to attract and retain the talented faculty that are the heart of a quality university.

Those are just some of the initiatives that are under way; initiatives that we are continuing to build on day-by-day.

HOW DOES AUBURN SEE ITSELF IN 2003?

So, as we view Auburn in the year 2003, what do we see? And, perhaps more important, who are we as a university? First, we see an institution that has produced more than 221,000 graduates who have distinguished themselves in every field of endeavor imaginable. Scientists, engineers, teachers, physicians, business leaders, military leaders, pharmacists, attorneys, architects, veterinarians, athletes, journalists, farmers and politicians have all earned degrees from our beloved university.

Who are we? We are a university, admittedly a relatively young university in comparison to most European and some American institutions. We have achieved university status through the dedication and tireless energy of faculty, staff, students and trustees who are committed to the notion that anyone who is willing to work should have the opportunity to receive a quality university education.

We are a university conceived in conflict and born into poverty. We have fought every step of the way to become the institution we celebrate today, a highly respected comprehensive land-grant university.

LOOKING TO AUBURN UNIVERSITY’S FUTURE

And now, where are we going? In order to answer that I want to share with you some thoughts on how I believe a good land-grant university can evolve into a truly great land-grant university. Contrary to some beliefs, we are not that far away. Colleagues around the country see us quite differently from the way we may see ourselves. We are already viewed as a good institution; one that has made significant advances despite continued under-funding from the state. In fact, Auburn has been recognized time and time again for keeping costs contained while providing an excellent educational environment.

It is an unfortunate commentary on today’s world that issues involving inadequate resources are no longer unique to Auburn University or to the state of Alabama. Higher education simply is not held in as high regard as it once was in the eyes of the taxpayers across the nation. Those taxpayers now appear to be more interested in healthcare, care for the aged, retirement benefits and prisons. As a result, more and more educational institutions are therefore going to experience the kind of funding problems with which Auburn has been struggling for many years.

If Auburn is to flourish in the face of this adversity, we must provide a vision that will enable it to do so.

VISION FOR THE 21^st CENTURY

Any vision for our future needs to recognize that since its inception, Auburn has been a leader in higher education in the state and region. We must never forget our roots, our history and our basic mission as a land-grant university. This is where we came from, and this is where we should focus.

But Auburn has become much more than an Agricultural & Mechanical College. It has become a comprehensive land-grant university. That is evidenced as I said earlier by the achievements of our graduates in a wide variety of fields.

In his inaugural address as the president of Princeton University in 1902, Woodrow Wilson could just as easily have been talking about Auburn University in 2003. He said “The College should seek to make of those it receives something more than excellent servants of a trade or skilled practitioners of a profession. It should give them elasticity of faculty and breadth of vision, so that they shall have a surplus of mind to expend, not upon their profession only, but upon the broader interests that lie about them.”

That, my friends, is and should be the bedrock of an Auburn University education. It asserts our fundamental commitment to the value of a broad intellectual perspective gained through an excellent curriculum. Our goal is to educate our graduates for more than a career or a profession. It is to educate a person for life.

THE LAND GRANT MISSION, ADVANCING THE STATE

There are some 70 or so universities across the nation that carry the very special designation of land-grant university. The overarching mission of each of these institutions is the same – to advance the state in which it is located through instruction, research and outreach. I sense that we in the academic community have overlooked the reference to location in discussing the land-grant mission. We have found it convenient to think of all land-grant universities as the same. That allows us to dream of being like the University of California Berkeley, the University of Illinois, Michigan State or Texas A&M. But for Auburn University, to dream of excellence through imitation would be a terrible mistake. Outstanding land-grant universities succeed not because of how they compare themselves to others, but because they have advanced their own state’s interests through instruction, research and outreach.

The mission of Auburn University therefore, consistent with the Land-Grant Act of 1862 is to advance the state of Alabama through its various programs of instruction, research and outreach. The essence of the land-grant model is that, as an institution, we must be attentive and responsive to the needs of our constituents – the taxpayers and citizens of Alabama. If we are true to that mission, we should be the most important educational entity in this state – and I believe we are. And, if we are true to that mission, and pursue excellence in accomplishing it, we will receive the national and even international recognition to which we, who are members of the academy, aspire.

Auburn is uniquely situated to play a key role in the education and economic well-being of the citizens of this state. We have so much more going for us than other universities in the state, and we therefore have much more to contribute to our fellow citizens and taxpayers. We need all of our creative talent at this university working to pull this state up economically. We must address the problems of the state of Alabama. That is the mission of this land-grant university.

ALL THREE AREAS ARE CENTRAL TO OUR MISSION

In my vision for the future of our university, we accomplish our mission of advancing the state by excelling in instruction, by excelling in research and by excelling in outreach. Not just one, but all three. An option to focus or emphasize one over the others simply does not exist. The state demands quality instruction to provide tomorrow’s educated leaders. The state also requires world-class research in order to build an economic engine for the future. And the need for improved outreach to the citizens and industry of the state is unparalleled in our history.

The instructional portion of Auburn’s three-part mission is considered by some to be the most important. Indeed, some would say it is the only part. That is a mistake. All three parts; instruction, research and outreach, are critical to advancing the state of Alabama in the 21st century. All three are required if we are to fulfill our charge to be the land-grant university in the state of Alabama.

First, our goal should be to provide educational opportunities for our citizens that are second to none. We must produce educated people who are prepared to take leadership roles in business, industry, government, education and society in general. We must continually evaluate the content and quality of each of our undergraduate and graduate curricula to make certain that curricular objectives are being met. We must continually assess the quality and effectiveness of our core curriculum because it is so fundamental to our goal of producing educated people. And we must anticipate changes that will take place in course and curricular content as a result of new and changing demands in the state in particular, and society in general.

Most of the research currently carried out at Auburn is consistent with the notion that it should address needs of importance to the state of Alabama. Our Peaks of Excellence programs, introduced in 1999, reflect this philosophy. I believe it is reasonable to speculate that in the future there will be additional peaks added to the existing seven. Currently, scores of faculty representing five colleges and schools are involved in the Peaks of Excellence program. The current peaks are:

· Cellular and Molecular Biosciences

· Detection and Food Safety

· Fisheries and Aquaculture

· Forest Sustainability

· Information Technology

· Poultry Products Safety and Quality

· Transportation

Each and every one of these peaks is important to the economic future of the state. I believe it is important to continue to invest in them and to develop new peaks as resources become available.

Auburn University faculty have done an excellent job in recent years in increasing their research productivity. Since 1995, expenditures for research have grown at an average annual rate of 17 percent. Expenditures in fiscal year 2002 were approximately $120 million. Our goal is to achieve a level of expenditures for research on the order of $300 million in the next few years.

I believe that the research universities in the state have the capability, working together when appropriate, to become engines for economic development in Alabama. This approach was used to develop the golden triangle in North Carolina and there is no reason why it cannot work for the state of Alabama. Such a goal is entirely consistent with our land-grant charge.

Accordingly, conversations are currently under way with representatives of the University of Alabama system regarding potential areas for collaboration between our several institutions. We will actively encourage faculty from the various schools to work together on addressing issues of interest to them and of importance to the state. Areas such as veterinary and biomedical sciences, information technology, transportation, and molecular and biological sciences are just some of the possible areas where research collaboration between researchers could prove useful.

One of the initiatives that I am most interested in and have discussed previously is the Interstate-85 corridor. I believe it is possible for research done at Auburn to be the basis for a cluster of high-tech industries along the I-85 stretch from Montgomery to the Georgia state line. A research park in proximity to the campus would help this occur. We are already seeing some of the possibilities with the construction of the Hyundai assembly plant near Montgomery.

Transportation is rapidly becoming a major industry and employer in the state of Alabama. And transportation research is a major activity within this university. As a result, I think we can expect to see some modern transportation-related industries locate within the I-85 area in the not-too-distant future. The possibility of access to Auburn’s faculty, students and facilities will prove to be an attractive opportunity for high-tech industries.

AUBURN’S DUTY IS TO ALL CITIZENS OF ALABAMA

When one considers the mission and goals of this university in terms of outreach and service, it is impossible to do so without talking about what has come to be known as the Black Belt region of the state. If we are to be true to the vision of excellence in outreach to the citizens of the state, we simply cannot divorce this institution from that beleaguered area of Alabama. That is a part of who we are and what we are about – and in some respects where we came from. What is our response going to be to the Alabama Black Belt, one of the poorest areas in this nation?

I say we cannot and will not turn our back on it.

We have made some worthy efforts, albeit fragmented, in that part of the state through programs in Outreach; Cooperative Extension; the West Alabama Learning Coalition; and the widely acclaimed Rural Studio. And, I heartily applaud and admire those works. Certainly, the late Sambo Mockbee and his associates in the Rural Studio program have done a magnificent job of addressing the needs of some of the citizens in that area. But more important, I believe their work has helped open our eyes to the deplorable conditions in that part of the state. A part of our mission is to advance the state through outreach. We must, therefore, do considerably more as a university in west Alabama. I challenge our faculty, our trustees, our students and our alumni to examine this part of Alabama. Many say conditions there, in some cases, are no better than those in third-world countries. You must decide for yourself, but before you do I invite you to take a driving tour of the back roads of Wilcox, Marengo, Hale, Lowndes or Perry counties. See first-hand for yourselves some of the deplorable conditions and misery in that part of our state.

Help us determine how this university can contribute more to improving resources there for education, the economy, housing, infrastructure and quality of life. Obviously, we are not a rich university in terms of finances, but I know we are rich in terms of ideas.

In a major speech that he made 50 years ago, former Auburn President Draughon said, and I quote, “the work of a great educational institution never ends. Auburn must find ways and means to teach . . . new principles to the end that the people of our state and nation may benefit.”

A half-century later, Dr. Draughon’s message still resonates for Auburn and its overall mission as we consider the problems in our state, and how we might help solve some of them.

My vision for this wonderful institution is for it to fulfill what I consider to be its destiny; that is, to become recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in instruction, for excellence in research and for excellence in outreach; all achieved through addressing the needs of the state of Alabama.

I see Auburn University as a diverse community that welcomes differences in appearance, beliefs and behavior because that reflects the tolerant and inclusive nature of who we should be.

Another passage from Dr. Draughon’s speech that is still applicable today concerns the financial support that Auburn receives. As Dr. Draughon put it in 1953, “Few educational institutions have accomplished so much with so little capital.” That situation has been the hallmark of Auburn’s existence over the years. In my opinion, it probably will not change significantly in the future. Therefore, an important part of my vision for this university, perhaps the most important part, is for all of us to work together to secure the resources that will enable our faculty and students to reach their full potentials.

The challenges that lie before us are formidable. The path that got us to where we are now has not been easy, and it will not be easy in the years ahead. But I am convinced that together, we shall succeed. We shall succeed because together, we are the Auburn Family. And as such, we are limited only by our imaginations. Together, we can advance the state of Alabama through our efforts.

We shall succeed as the Auburn Family because we subscribe to a set of core values that guarantee our success. Those core values have been a part of the culture of the Auburn Family since George Petrie inscribed them in 1945. I repeat them now because they are essential to our success; past, present and future:

· I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

· I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.

· I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

· I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports to develop these qualities.

· I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.

· I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.

· I believe in my country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by “doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God.”

· And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I believe in Auburn and love it.

I truly believe that together, we shall succeed.

Thank you.