October 21, 2002
Town Hall diversity meeting set
Event to showcase AU research
Newspaper Hall of Honor to induct two
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October 21, 2002 |
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| Headlines Town Hall diversity meeting set Event to showcase AU research Newspaper Hall of Honor to induct two |
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Town Hall meeting to place campus focus on diversity
A Town Hall meeting, "Discussions on Diversity," is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Telfair Peet Theatre.
The meeting, modeled after an old-fashioned town-hall assembly, will bring together faculty, staff, students and townspeople a few days before the first anniversary of an event that shocked many in the university community. With that backdrop, event organizers have encouraged the university community to come together to discuss the future, rather than the past.
Organizers say the "Town Hall" meeting will enable people throughout the university community to explore ways to make diversity more central to the Auburn experience. Panelists include AU and local officials, students and visiting experts on diversity issues. Kevin L. Clayton, a consultant who helped Russell Corporation establish a national model for inclusion of minorities, will lead the panelists and audience in the discussion.
The assembly is coordinated by the Diversity Leadership Council, which AU established in May. "The Diversity Leadership Council, which includes students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni, has been working since the spring to develop a comprehensive blueprint for diversity across the campus," said interim Provost John Pritchett. "We want to make diversity a core value of this university. We want to make sure that there is a consideration and appreciation of diversity in everything that we do here at Auburn."
The "Town Hall" meeting is the latest effort to get faculty, students and others involved in efforts to build diversity awareness and involvement. Citing other efforts, Pritchett said, "We have an inventory on our web site of every course taught here at Auburn that includes elements of diversity.
"We have completed construction on a centrally located Diversity Center in the Foy Student Union building that will serve as a focal point for a wide range of programming. And, we've brought new energy to our Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs with the hiring of Keenan Grenell," Pritchett added.
AU's survey of its course offerings identified more than 400 courses that incorporate some elements of diversity or tolerance toward differences of race, disability, gender or sexual preference.
Although some diversity programs and activities were in place previously, the efforts gained momentum after racially offensive photographs from two fraternity Halloween parties circulated worldwide on the Internet last year.
Benefits survey shows AU close to regional average
AU faculty and staff benefits for tuition waivers and insurance are closer to those of Auburn's peers than budget planners expected, according to a survey by the university Business Office.
AU also fares well in terms of retirement benefits, ranking among the leaders in terms of benefit formula for the primary retirement packages.
The survey results, which Executive Vice President Don Large recently presented to the Board of Trustees and leaders of employee groups, placed AU in the mid-range for employee benefits at 15 major state universities in the South. Auburn trails in some areas and is above average in others, but in general fares better than expected, Large said.
Past comparisons have focused on employee benefits at colleges and universities in Alabama. Auburn frequently trails in those comparisons, but Large said the broader survey found that AU is more competitive when its employee benefits are compared with those of its peers across the region.
For example, the benefits survey found that employees at half the peer institutions across the South pay a larger share of their health insurance premiums than faculty and staff at Auburn pay. Also, only one institution, the University of Maryland, pays part of the cost for dental insurance.
Auburn is one of only three institutions offering a short-term disability program, and the AU benefit is better than that of the other two institutions. While AU and the University of Florida pay the full premium, Georgia Tech does not provide employer contributions to the program. Also, AU's short-term disability plan lasts for six months, compared to three for the other two programs.
Nine peer institutions have a higher monthly maximum benefit than AU for long-term disability, but only AU and five other institutions pay the premiums for long-term disability coverage.
Seven of the 14 other institutions offer a better life insurance plan in terms of premium paid by the employer and the amount of coverage.
All the institutions except the University of Texas have an employee tuition plan. Auburn is one of only four institutions with a tuition waiver or partial-waiver for spouses and one of five with a similar benefit for dependents.
The retirement program survey found the Alabama Teachers' Retirement System formula used by AU and UA to be among the best in the South in terms of retirement formula. However, the 10-year vesting requirement in Alabama was twice as long as the requirement at most peer institutions in the South, and eight institutions have a higher employee contribution to the state plan.
Faculty and staff salaries influence the size of retirement benefits. While regional comparisons are not available for most staff salaries, average pay for faculty is traditionally about 10 percent below the average for the region. With most of its peers facing budget cutbacks this year, Auburn is increasing salaries in an effort to move them close to regional average. The increases will also eventually lead to higher retirement income.
Only seven institutions, including Auburn, offer a tax deferred annuity, and only four offer the annuity as an optional supplement to a primary retirement plan. Clemson and Oklahoma State require employees to choose between the plans, and Kentucky offers a tax-deferred annuity as the only retirement plan.
However, the tax-deferred annuity benefit is less than at other schools offering the benefit, and AU is the only institution with a vesting period -- five years -- before the university contribution starts.
Universities surveyed were AU, Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Texas.
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Birmingham event to showcase AU research
AU research of special interest to venture capitalists will be showcased during an "Auburn Day" event in Birmingham on Nov. 7.
"Auburn Day" will demonstrate to venture capitalists that Auburn research is ready to move into the marketplace, says Michael Moriarty, AU's vice president for research.
"Our purpose is to showcase some of our researchers' developments, and to provide a forum where they can present their work to potential investors," Moriarty said. "The research being presented are technologies that are ready to move from the laboratory into a program of commercial development."
The event will be staged at the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama facility in Birmingham, and is being sponsored by AU, EDPA and the Entrepreneurial Center of Birmingham.
Among AU research being featured are:
* Drug targeting systems developed by Henry Baker, Nancy Cox, Valery Petrenko, Ratiana Samovlova and Bruce Smith of the Scott-Ritchey Research Center and Vitaly Vodyanoy of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology.
* A new wound healing technology developed by Mary Cupp and Ed Cupp of Entomology and Steven Swaim of Scott-Ritchey.
* A microfibrous materials technology developed by Bruce Tatarchuk of Chemical Engineering and licensed to IntraMicron Inc.
* A multipurpose purification and decontamination process, developed by David Worley of Chemistry and licensed to Vanson Halosource Inc.
* Handwriting recognition technology developed by William Confer and Richard Chapman of Computer Science and Software Engineering.
A biodegradable fishing lure developed by Jean Weese and Leonard Bell of Nutrition and Food Science and Rusty Wright of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures and licensed to Salvaco Enterprises LLC.
Moriarty said, "Our hope is that this not only serves to attract interest in the research developments being presented, but also, that it heightens the awareness in the commercial sector of the important commercial potential that comprises Auburn's comprehensive research program."
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Connell earns All-Star award from association
Lenda Jo Connell, an associate professor of consumer affairs in the College of Human Sciences, was recently named the Bobbin Educator of the Year International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference in New York.
Connell was the only educator to receive one of 10 All-Star Awards for 2002 from Bobbin magazine, the leading business and technology publication for the apparel and soft goods industry.
The coordinator of the Apparel Product Development program in the Department of Consumer Affairs at Auburn, Connell was recognized for her contributions to the textile and apparel industry and for her contributions to higher education.
Connell has focused her research on increasing industry competitiveness through strategies such as the nation's First Apparel Sourcing Fair, creating the prototype for the National Sourcing Database, mass customization and improved fit for women's apparel through use of 3-D body scanning.
Noe wins history award for book on battle of Civil War
Kenneth W. Noe, Draughon Professor of History at Auburn, has received the 2002 Seaborg Award for Civil War Non-Fiction from the George Tyler Moore Center in West Virginia.
The Auburn historian won the award for his book "Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle," which details a significant yet historically neglected Civil War battle. The selection for the 2002 prize came from nominations covering the publishing years 1999-2001.
Noe received a $5,000 award at the Perryville, Ky., battlefield during a reenactment commemorating the 140th anniversary of the battle.
An AU faculty member since 2000, Noe taught previously at West Georgia College, and he was an archivist at the Illinois Historical Survey while earning his doctorate at the University of Illinois.
The Seaborg Award is an annual prize that recognizes an outstanding nonfiction book that advances knowledge about the Civil War era of American history. The Seaborg Award is designed to encourage the publication of Civil War history of unique perspective and superior quality.
The George Tyler Moore Center is part of the History Department at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, W. V., and administers the prize for the Seaborg family.
Hall of Honor to induct newspapermen
Two newspapermen who made their marks as publishers of weekly newspapers in South Alabama will be inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor on Nov. 9.
The Alabama Press Association will posthumously induct Ernest Mason "Sparky" Howell and E.R. "Bob" Morrissette into the Newspaper Hall of Honor at a 10 a.m. ceremony in the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor Room of Draughon Library. Plaques honoring Howell and Morrissette will go on a wall alongside those of the previous 89 recipients since 1960.
For more than two decades starting in the late 1940s, Howell was the owner and publisher of The Onlooker in Foley in Baldwin County.
Howell became managing partner in The Onlooker in 1949, later purchasing it outright. He sold the paper in 1968, although he stayed on and managed it until his death in 1970. Howell was instrumental in several key community projects that had long-term positive effects for the area during his tenure at the paper. He was president of the APA in 1964.
"As a publisher, he never expected a member of this staff to do something that he would not do. He worked at practically every aspect of this operation from the selling of advertising to the running of the printing press," said a 1970 editorial in The Onlooker. "Over the years, Sparky has made numerous friends and we simply do not know of a single enemy. His unselfishness and his dedication to his work left him with little reason or little time to complain or criticize others."
Morrissette, who died in 1996, spent more than three decades as a reporter, editor and publisher at Alabama newspapers.
After serving in the Army during World War II, Morrissette earned a journalism degree from the University of Alabama. He began his career in 1948 as a reporter at The Monroe Journal and the Jasper Mountain Eagle, and went on to the Baldwin Times as editor and manager from 1948-59.
In 1959, he bought the Atmore Advance and was its editor and publisher. He was a noted civic leader in Escambia County over the next two decades. Morrissette sold the weekly newspaper in 1979 and was appointed executive assistant for southwestern Alabama for U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin.
A barbecue for members of Alabama news media on the east Cater Hall lawn will follow the APA ceremony. The Media Day event is cosponsored by AU's Office of University Relations and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
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