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Fire on edge of campus
The Soybean Research Building, located on Lem Morrison Drive south of Bodie Hinton Field, was destroyed by fire on Jan. 9. The two-story wood building, which housed cotton and soybean seeds and test equipment, was valued at $140,900, excluding contents. David Weaver, a professor of agronomy and soils, said he lost equipment and some of his research in the blaze. No one was injured in the fire, which authorities said appeared to have been electrical in nature.
Goizueta Foundation pledges funds to promote diversity
Citing a desire to enhance cultural diversity at Auburn, the Goizueta Foundation of Atlanta has pledged $400,000 to AU for endowed scholarships.
Because the Goizueta Foundation primarily supports projects and institutions in Georgia only, the organization's pledge to Auburn is a landmark, said interim AU President William Walker. The gift provides a unique tool to help the university support and recruit Hispanic/Latino students from across the United States, he said.
"This gift commitment is such an extremely positive thing for our university," said Walker. "We are proud to partner with the Goizueta Foundation as staunch advocates of multiculturalism, and are thrilled by the opportunities this gift will provide in our efforts to enhance diversity."
John Bello-Ogunu, assistant provost for Auburn's Office of Multicultural Affairs, added, "Because the Hispanic population is one of the fastest growing in our state and across the nation, the Goizueta Foundation Scholarship will be instrumental in promoting all-inclusive multiculturalism at Auburn University and in recruiting qualified and talented Hispanic/Latino students to our institution."
The Goizueta Foundation was founded in 1992 by Robert C. Goizueta, a native of Cuba and former CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. The Goizueta Foundation's primary focus is to assist organizations that empower individuals and families to improve the quality of their lives through educational opportunities.
Robert Goizueta's son, Javier, is a 1981 graduate of Auburn. Preliminary plans call for AU to award the first scholarship funded by the Goizueta Foundation endowment in spring 2003.
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Spirit of Excellence
Each month AU presents Spirit of Excellence awards to four professional and support staff members for exceptional performance. Recipients for December were, from left, Natalie Royer of Clinical Services, Rebecca Walker of Communication Disorders, Teresa Dormitorio of Poultry Science and Drusila Baker of Facilities.
AU extends Internet2 to Lee County Schools
A partnership between Auburn University and Lee County Schools has opened the way for schools in the county system to bring into their classrooms a new wave of teaching technology that until recently was available only at the nation's research universities.
Through the AU partnership, Lee County Schools last month became one of the first school systems -- and possibly the first -- in the state to use an Internet2 connection, which is 100 times faster than formerly high-end network connections available to Alabama schools.
The school system made its first classroom use of the new technology in early December for an interactive videoconference involving students at three Lee County schools and space exploration experts in Huntsville.
Interim AU Provost John Pritchett said the technology breakthrough is an example of the close links being formed between higher education and school systems in Alabama.
"While some in the political arena would pit K-12 and higher education against each other, the reality is that technology is bringing the two closer together than ever before, and Auburn University is at the forefront of that movement."
A high-end computer web established over the past three years by a national consortium of research universities, Internet2 enables college faculty at different institutions to collaborate on complex research projects. Some Auburn faculty also use Internet2 as a teaching tool through videoconferences that bring authorities from distant universities into AU classrooms for interaction with students.
"Since the mid-1990s, Auburn has been helping Lee County build a network among its schools, and early in that process we added a connection for them to the Alabama Supercompu-ter network through Auburn University," said Bliss Bailey, administrator of the campus network for the AU Office of Information Technology. "Once the mission of Internet2 expanded to permit associate members, adding Lee County Schools was the logical next step."
The Lee County School System in December used the technology partnership with AU to bring two prominent members of the U.S. space program in Huntsville simultaneously over computer-connected monitors into three high schools in the county.
Ed Buckbee, an aerospace industry executive who worked with Werner Von Braun, and former astronaut Owen Garriott, an aerospace scientist and industry executive, met with Earth and Space Science students at Beulah, Loachapoka and Smiths Station high schools through a computer connection from Huntsville.
AU provided the local connection, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville provided the connection in Huntsville.
The class provided the ideal introduction of the remote teaching method because offsite teaching is already part of the distance learning program of Lee County Schools, said Bob Schafer, the school system's coordinator of distance learning and special projects. Nerissa McKinnon teaches the class simultaneously in all three schools from Smiths Station.
"Internet2 has unlimited potential in the schools," said Schafer, "and we plan to make maximum use of it. We are very appreciative to Auburn University for providing this service."
Schafer said Lee County Schools sought a partnership with AU in the past decade as part of Superintendent John Painter's goal of tying together the system's farflung schools through information technology. With Internet2, the system is seeking to give its students a wider perspective on the world,
Schafer added. '"Superintendent Painter has said he wants us to bring the best expertise from anywhere in the country into our classrooms here in Lee County, and that is what we intend to do with this technology."
NCATE reaccredits Auburn's College of Education
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education has notified Auburn that the AU College of Education has been reaccredited for five more years.
The accreditation notice followed an NCATE inspection of the college's faculty, programs and performance. NCATE is the primary accrediting agency for 525 teacher education schools and colleges in the United States. Auburn's College of Education has been continuously accredited by NCATE since 1959.
Frances Kochan, interim dean of the AU College of Education, said the renewal of accreditation confirms that the college meets high performance-oriented standards of teacher education.
"Our college is committed to producing future teachers that are well prepared for their careers," she said. "By using NCATE standards, we ensure that our college is on the cutting edge of best practices and research."
Kochan noted that studies show teacher quality to be the most important factor in K-12 student achievement. Professional accreditation is one way to ensure the public that colleges of education are graduating well-qualified teachers ready for today's classrooms, she said.
To achieve NCATE-accreditation, the AU College of Education must meet rigorous standards set by the profession and members of the public. Teacher candidates must have in-depth knowledge of the subject matter that they plan to teach as well as the skills necessary to convey their knowledge so that students learn.
The college must carefully assess this knowledge and skill to determine that candidates may graduate. The institution must have partnerships with K-12 schools that enable candidates to develop the skills necessary to help students learn. Candidates must be prepared to understand and work with diverse student populations. Faculty must model effective teaching practices. The college must have the resources, including information technology resources, necessary to prepare candidates to meet new standards.
The U.S. Department of Education and the State of Alabama Department of Education recognize NCATE as the professional accrediting body for schools, departments and colleges of education. On-site visits, document review and accreditation decisions are all carried out by professionals from the education community, including teachers, school specialists and teacher educators, as well as members of the public and education policymakers.
Auburn implements new admissions process
Beginning with applications now being received for summer and fall 2002 admission, AU has implemented a new freshman enrollment management plan designed to increase student retention and more efficiently manage enrollment.
The changes in AU's admissions strategy -- reviewed by the AU Board of Trustees, University Senate, Provost Council, High School Advisory Committee and other members of the AU community -- are a move away from a first-come, first-serve approach. John Fletcher, interim vice president for enrollment management services, says that method caused undue confusion among applicants. The early cutoff dates necessitated by that approach, left the university unable to consider some high-quality applicants, he added.
"We have not been able to establish and stick to a firm cutoff date over the last two years," Fletcher said. "Basically, we've opened the application process and accepted students who applied and met our minimum enrollment criteria until we met our enrollment growth goal of one percent per year. Without the knowledge of a firm cutoff date, applicants aren't sure when to apply and when highly qualified students apply after we've closed processing, we lose out on them.
"Auburn has been in the unusual position for the past few years of having more qualified students than we have resources to serve," Fletcher said. "By utilizing the enrollment plan that we've recommended, we believe we'll be able to increase the quality and the diversity and to better manage the number of majors that we enroll each year."
The new plan established an automatic acceptance group and utilizes a review group. The deadline for application is set at Feb. 1, ensuring that all students who apply by that deadline will get consideration for enrollment. If space is still available, applications submitted after the deadline may be considered.
Those admitted automatically will include applicants who meet criteria that, studies have shown, indicate they will be successful at Auburn.
"We know from research that students who enter AU with ACT scores below a certain level are more likely to leave the university than students who score above that," Fletcher said. "Also, of the studies that we've conducted looking at pre-enrollment variables, at Auburn, high school grade-point average has been shown to be the best predictor of retention. We will automatically admit those students who present a combination of test score and high school GPA that is indicative of their being successful here."
Students not meeting the automatic admissions criteria will go into a group to be reviewed in February. Fletcher added that students in the February review group should receive a final decision on their enrollment applications by Feb. 15 and that Auburn encourages those not admitted at the main campus to apply for enrollment at AU's Montgomery campus.
Human Odyssey honors three faculty
The Human Odyssey Program presented awards in December to three former members of the program in recognition of exceptional contributions to undergraduate teaching.
The recipients were Wayne Brewer of Entomology, John Cottier of Anthropology and Alex Dunlop of English. These faculty members, who completed two years of teaching service in the program, were cited for special contributions such as giving invited lectures, writing articles for an anthology of student readings and helping train new faculty members for the program.
James Bradley of Biological Sciences is director of the program.
Achievements
William Sauser, associate dean, Business and Engineering Outreach, and a professor of Management at Auburn, has been elected to a one-year term as chair of the Alabama Board of Examiners in Psychology, the agency which regulates the practice of psychology in Alabama. A licensed psychologist himself, Sauser is also a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and a former president of the Alabama Psychological Association. Sauser is beginning the fourth year of his five-year gubernatorial appointment on the board.
Marie Kraska, a professor in Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology, received the National Distinguished Service Award from Iota Lambda Sigma, a professional honorary society recognizing excellence in education, in December in New Orleans at the Annual Grand Chapter meeting. Kraska has held numerous leadership positions in Iota Lambda Sigma and currently serves as the president of the state chapter.
Jamie S. Carney, an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Counseling Psychology, College of Education, was recently elected to the presidency of the national counseling honor society, Chi Sigma Iota.
Gary Mullen, a professor in Entomology and Plant Pathology, is the recipient of the "Acarologist Award" recognizing his leadership, teaching, and other contributions in promoting acarology, the study of mites. He received the award for "Dedicated Service to Acarology" at the 25thAnniversary Celebration of the International Journal of Acarology, in November at West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va. He has served as president of the Acarological Society of America and two terms as a member of the ASA Board of Directors.
The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources has named Darwin Liverance an honorary life member of the association. Liverance retired last April as AU's assistant vice president for human resources, a position he had held since 1987.
OIT offers computer training classes for AU faculty, staff
The Office of Information Technology will offer a series of computer training classes for faculty and staff during spring semester. Classes available through March are: Excel 2000 Introduction, Jan. 28-29; Excel 2000 Intermediate, Feb. 12-13; Excel 2000 Advanced (new); Feb. 19-20; PowerPoint 2000 Introduction (new), Feb. 26-27; Access 2000 Introduction, March 12-13; and Access 2000 Intermediate, March 19-20.
See the at OIT web site to register for computer classes. Also check the web site periodically for additional classes.
Campus Roundup
BC/BS representative on campus AU's Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative will be on campus in Ingram 212 from 10-11:45 a.m. on Feb. 12 and March 12 to meet with faculty and staff who have questions or need assistance concerning their BC/BS insurance coverage. No appointment is necessary
Chamber music concert set The AU Chamber Music Society will present the Jose White String Quartet from Mexico 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18, in Goodwin Recital Hall. The quartet will perform selections from Beethoven and Brahms and Cuban dances. Tickets are $15 at the door and are free to students. Call 821-0032 or 826-2797 for information.
Analysis: Survey shows what people don't know about AU By Roy Summerford, Editor
An image survey can sometimes shed new light on old problems. Such was the case with a survey conducted during 2001 by the Center for Governmental Services on behalf of University Relations and the Office of the Vice President for Outreach.
The survey confirmed many of the results of a similar study in 1999, but this one brought some of the communication challenges facing Auburn into sharper focus. For instance, it showed that heavy media coverage of internal conflict at Auburn has had no noticeable impact on the Alabama public's strong positive feelings toward this university.
While the good news about Auburn seems drowned out by bad news at times in the media, only the good news seems to have sticking power in the public's consciousness.
The survey demonstrates that the people of Alabama consider AU one of the best institutions in the South and the nation. Only a small number remain unconvinced of that or even lack an opinion on it. Therefore, there is less need to heavily promote that image.
Promotional resources can, instead, be directed to other objectives. One such objective becomes apparent as a result of the survey. The study found that most people in the state are unaware of just how noncompetitive funding for AU is in comparison with its peers across the South. Auburn trails the Southeast average by 28 percent and ranks 19th of 21 peer institutions in the latest Southern Regional Education Board report.
However, those polled either openly admit they do not know or express the opinion that Auburn is funded as well as or better than its peers. This presents the university with the challenge of convincing the people of Alabama that 1.) Auburn really is losing ground to its competitors, and 2.) they should be very concerned.
Any strategy to accomplish this goal will have to overcome some major obstacles. One problem is that people simply filter out any message that might suggest the need for higher taxes. It does no good to simply say that Auburn needs more money -- even Bill Gates would say he needs more money. A related problem is that most people do not want to hear bad news and are suspicious of anyone who points out problems. To do so is to risk being dismissed as a chronic complainer.
Despite the rhetoric of globalization, most people in Alabama -- and virtually every other locale -- think in local terms. The point of reference for the typical Alabamian is not Georgia Tech or the University of Florida but rather the public schools and community college in his or her hometown.
Auburn competes with other states' flagship institutions for students, research grants and prestige -- not simply athletics. Our graduates compete for jobs against the graduates of those institutions -- not against the graduates of local high schools or community colleges.
Most Alabamians, however, do not at present see the need to make Auburn's facilities and faculty salaries more competitive with those of our neighbors in Georgia, Florida or Mississippi. After all, they say, university buildings are better than those of the schools in their community and average pay is higher for faculty than for local teachers. The Alabama Education Association even used that argument last year in an unsuccessful effort to shift its share of budget proration to higher education. A challenge facing the university, therefore, is to convince the state's citizens that their own future depends on Auburn's future.
A still greater challenge is that the general public does not decide education funding -- legislators do. Legislators listen to more organized, specific interests, and they follow historical patterns in allocating funds to universities. Auburn alumni, especially within Alabama, are a more viable force than the general public for influencing legislative opinion to depart from historical patterns. Alumni are also the greatest potential source of new revenue to the university through private giving.
However, the survey shows that Auburn alumni in the state are as blind to Auburn's lack of funding competitiveness as is the general population of Alabama. In fact, a higher percentage of Auburn alumni (19.7 percent) than non-alumni (18.8 percent) in the survey incorrectly thought that Auburn receives more state funding than its competitors in the Southeast receive. That has implications for both state funding and private fundraising. If Auburn is to convince legislators and the people of Alabama that the university really does need more money in order to be more competitive, we first have to convince our own alumni of that.
(To see either a summary or the full version of the CGS survey, check the Special Reports web site on the AU home page.)
Campus Views
Penaskovic: Please halt lawsuit against SACS
By Richard Penaskovic, Professor, Department of Philosophy
The Southern Association of Colleges and Universities is one of six accrediting agencies in the United States. Around 800 colleges and universities belong to SACS, including Auburn University, which became a member way back in 1922. Regular visitations began in the years 1962-64.
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There's an irony in all of this. On July 20, Dr. Walker issued a press release saying that SACS would send a visitation team in October and would welcome the planned visit. Then, less than two weeks later, Walker, acting supposedly on his own, decided to sue SACS. Why the sudden turnabout? Many faculty do not believe that an interim president would initiate such drastic action, a lawsuit, on his own without running it by board members and attorneys Miller and Samford along with Mr. Lowder.
Many faculty see the lawsuit as intimidation, i.e., as a way of discouraging people on campus from speaking freely to SACS because it would eliminate confidentiality for individuals who might be able to provide SACS with sensitive information about the working of some Board of Trustee members out of established procedures of university governance to accomplish their desires. The lawsuit, then, is designed to deflect attention away from governance issues such as the distribution of power in this university. The lawsuit also has as its intended consequence to intimidate SACS and to extract concessions from it before the actual visit.
Lawsuits are ways of destroying relationships. Married couples that are facing marital difficulties do not immediately consult a lawyer. Rather, they try to work things out by going to a marriage counselor. A court of law is the last resort for marital difficulties. A lawsuit creates more problems than it solves. It does absolutely nothing to solve problems and in the case of Auburn University involves huge amounts of money going down the drain.
I, for one, would rather have this money go into faculty salaries instead of making attorneys rich. We have some of the brightest people in the nation on our faculty, including lawyers on our staff, yet why do we find it necessary to spend $1,405,461 on outside consultants and lawyers.
The above does not include the work done by Sasaki master planners, the services of Peter Degnan who prepared AU's response to the SACS complaint, a cost that no one at this university claims to know, nor does it include legal fees for Dr. Walker's lawsuit against SACS, for which, you guessed it, no one claims to know the cost, or if they do know, they are mum about it.
It's hard for me as a lowly faculty member to imagine anyone hiring a lawyer without asking what the lawyer charges for the service. For all of these reasons, I say drop the lawsuit now before even more money is thrown away. Instead, squirrel the money away for next year, when we again face proration that may require us to cut staff and faculty positions.
Return to AU Report Index.
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AU Report
Editor: Roy Summerford. Contributing editors: Bob Lowry, Janet McCoy, David Granger and Roy Roberson. The AU Report is the faculty/staff newsletter of Auburn University and is published by the Office of University Relations at Auburn University. Direct correspondence to AU Report, 23 Samford Hall, Auburn University, Ala. 36849-5109. Telephone 334/844-9999. Electronic mail: summero@auburn.edu |