AU REPORT February 22, 1999

Self Defense
An AU residence hall staff member, left, practices self-defense skills against an instructor in full protective gear in AU's first Rape Aggression Defense class. The class is taught by specially certified members of the AU Department of Public Safety and is offered to female students, faculty and staff. Taught in three four-hour sessions, the class is free, but availability is limited to the first 30 women who sign up. For more information, contact Tara McCallum of the AUPD at 844-4158.

Project to answer questions concerning faculty workload

What do professors do? Auburn will soon begin a trial run of a worksheet designed to answer that question in detail. The worksheet, which will begin a year-long test spring quarter, is part of a faculty workload policy developed over the past year by a faculty committee .

The policy sets up a system in which faculty identify the amount of time they spend teaching, preparing for class, advising students, conducting research, or participating in outreach or public service projects or in other academic activities.

Interim Provost William Walker said the university is developing the policy to get ahead of the state's implementation of a 1996 law mandating faculty workload measurements at all public colleges and universities in Alabama. That law instructed the Alabama Commission on Higher Education to develop a faculty workload policy for all higher education institutions in the state.

"The policy we will be testing is an attempt by this institution to try to define the situation before it gets defined for us," Walker said.
Auburn's proposed policy was sent to the administration by the University Senate in January for a trial run and is the third stage in the document's evolution.

Shortly after the Legislature passed the mandating legislation in 1996, Auburn's deans proposed that the university implement its own policy rather than wait for one to be imposed by ACHE.

That proposal was sent to the University Senate, where a committee drafted a plan. The faculty representative body sent that plan back to the drawing board last fall, and the revised plan quickly won Senate support for a trial run.

Committee chair Mary Boudreaux of Veterinary Medicine said the panel recognized that no single policy would fit everyone. The trial period will provide an opportunity to identify and try to correct problems before a final worksheet and policy are developed, she said.

The policy's drafters had their doubts about how any single plan could fit all, but the committee drew from plans already in force at peer institutions, she said, adding that the committee tried to consider all contingencies.

Boudreaux noted that most states in the Southeast already have faculty workload policies for their colleges and universities. Although ACHE has been slow to develop its plan, Boudreaux said most faculty senators wanted to at least see if Auburn could have a functioning plan in place before one is imposed externally.

The policy Auburn will be testing with the start of spring quarter on March 29 provides for faculty to track their activities on worksheets with the goal of providing a common unit of measure for diverse activities. A full teaching load would be defined as 12 credit hours, plus accompanying class preparation, followup and student advising time. Other activities related to research and outreach would also be tracked.

Walker said the trial period will provide time to work out any bugs in the system so that a more-refined policy can then be implemented permanently.

A faculty workload policy will provide a means of recognizing faculty for accomplishments and service that often go unseen and unrewarded, he said. "I feel strongly that faculty should get credit for the full range of duties they perform," Walker added. "I am hopeful that this approach will provide the means to do so."

For more on the Faculty Workload Policy, see AU Senate, 1-21-99

Clinton at AU via satellite
Auburn students took notes last week as President Clinton talked about the future of Social Security and its effects on college students live via satellite from the White House East Room. AU was one of 43 universities that hosted the satellite conference.

OASIS committee to set priorities, develop ideas

A team of faculty and administrators has been appointed by Auburn University Provost William Walker to study and develop ideas on how the new OASIS program can better serve the university.

Nick Backscheider is the project manager of OASIS and head of the OASIS Management Team, which is composed of nine other faculty members from various departments on campus.

"The people on this team were chosen because they represent a wide range of views at Auburn," Backscheider said. "OASIS is a university asset, and it needs to be managed so that it serves all departments on campus."

The management team has been asked to set priorities for OASIS during the first eight to 10 months of its existence at Auburn. The first few months are critical because problems usually occur during this time.

"Change is not an easy thing," said Backscheider. "We have had problems with OASIS. There were several features built-in to the old system over the past 20 years that were customary to Auburn. We will recover most of those features, as well as gain others the old system did not have."

One of the major priorities of the group has been to establish a data system that enables anyone to retrieve information they need easily. In the past, if faculty members within a college wanted special statistics or reports, they had to contact the registrar's office. With the new system, anyone on campus will be able to access the information quickly.

The team is striving to maintain the system's high level of operational success within tasks such as registration and financial aid.

One of the major problems the team has tackled is preparing OASIS for the university's transition to semesters in 2000, but Backscheider is confident that Auburn is prepared.

The members of the OASIS Management Team and their areas of concern are: Jack Brown, faculty; Marilyn Garrett, academic advising; Nina Goodman, bursar; Joyce Griffin, enrollment management; Mary Kuntz, semester transition; Sam Lowther, institutional data; Steve McFarland, graduate school; Rebekah Pindzola, deans; and Dennis Rygiel, department heads.

Concerns about OASIS can be addressed to particular team members or Backscheider, who can be reached by email at backksni@mail.auburn.edu.

For more on OASIS, see OASIS for Faculty & Staff or OASIS for Students

Going Up!
Roofing workers at Draughon Library are using this crane to get materials to the top of the four-floor facility. The new roof will help the library end leaks which have become prevalent during recent heavy rains.

Former Clinton speechwriter to speak at AU on March 1

Terry Edmonds, an associate commission of the Social Security Administration and a former speechwriter for President Clinton, will give the 1999 Gordon Sherman lecture at Auburn University on March 1.

Edmonds, association commissioner for the Office of External Affairs, will speak at 5:30 p.m. at Pebble Hill, AU's Center for the Arts and Humanities, on "Domestic Policy Challenges of the 21st Century: Race Relations and Saving Social Security."

A reception will be held beginning at 4:30 p.m. for Edmonds. The lecture is sponsored by AU's Department of Political Science and the Master of Public Administration Program.

In his capacity as associate commissioner, Edmonds oversees the agency's ongoing relationships with the advocate and non-profit community.

Prior to joining the Social Security Administration, Edmonds served as deputy director of speechwriting for Clinton, the first African-American speechwriter for the White House.

Before his White House assignment, Edmonds served as a speechwriter for Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. He is a graduate of Morgan State University.

EE professor still on the job 18 years after retiring

Most days, Martial Honnell will be one of the first professors in the offices of Auburn's Electrical Engineering Department, where he has taught and counseled students since 1958. Most afternoons, he can be found at Auburn's Draughon Library, keeping up to date with the field he helped pioneer.

The primary difference between Honnell and most faculty on campus any day of the week is that he has been retired since 1981. Yet, he is in his office and the library nearly every class day, counseling students, searching professional documents for new developments in electrical engineering and briefing faculty on his findings.

"I'm only 88," he says. "Electrical engineering has just become a part of me; it has been a hobby of mine just about all my life."

Over the past 18 years, he has also continued to teach at least one class a year, most recently last fall, when he taught a course in electromagnetic compatibility.

His file cabinets bulge with articles and reference materials from throughout a career spanning more than five decades. By helping students and faculty keep up with changes in technology, Honnell says he is following habits in his career dating back to the 1930s.

Honnell's absences are so rare, that Department Head David Irwin becomes concerned anytime the professor emeritus is late or fails to show.

"Probably the main benefit of having him here is that the students and faculty members get to ask him questions and discuss topics with him," said Irwin, noting that Honnell has participated in or witnessed most of the history of the field.

Honnell has been involved in the evolution of electrical engineering from his youth as a pioneer in radio technology through his leadership of an Auburn team that developed television transmission capabilities for the early U.S. space program.

He remains atop developments in the field as the department's leading resource person, continually monitoring journals, books and research reports on electrical engineering breakthroughs.

In the early 1960s, Honnell led an Auburn team of faculty and students that developed the original television transmitters for NASA's first ventures into outer space.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration turned to Honnell, who had previously assisted defense research at Redstone Arsenal, when research in industry proved too cumbersome.

"Industry couldn't deliver, so we did it ourselves, he recalled. "We were a small group and able to act so much quicker."

When he came to Auburn in 1958, Honnell already had a noteworthy career in industry and at Georgia Tech, his alma mater. He had become interested in electronics as a child and was building radios at home at age 7 in 1919, before most cities in America had radio stations.

With radio-operator experience in the Merchant Marine, Honnell worked his way through Georgia Tech in the early 1930s. He then alternated between teaching and industry before coming to Auburn in 1958. In recognition of his career contributions to the field, Honnell was inducted into Georgia Tech's Engineering Hall of Fame in 1997.

Irwin said students and other faculty gain both from Honnell's experience with many of the developments in electrical engineering over most of the 20th century and his monitoring of trends leading into the 21st century.

For more on Electrical Engineering at Auburn, see Electrical Engineering Department

Engineering alumnus establishes endowment in memory of parents

Neil S. Grigg, a 1965 civil engineering graduate of Auburn, has established an endowment to provide scholarships in the College of Engineering in memory of his parents, Richard Wilmer Grigg and Eleanor Burns Grigg. The Griggs are members of two Alabama families which have strongly supported Auburn and the engineering profession.

Richard Grigg, a member of the class of 1916 at Auburn, served in the Navy in World War I and worked in Ohio in the steel industry before returning to Alabama in the 1930s to work with Paragon Press.

He married Eleanor Burns in Montgomery in 1935. She served for more than 30 years as the key administrative officer in the Montgomery County Probate Court.

A minimum contribution of $25,000 is required for a scholarship endowment at Auburn University. The scholarship will be used to aid students with a declared major in civil engineering.

"The scholarship in civil engineering enables the family to recognize its close link with the twin pillars of that profession -- constructing the infrastructure and protecting the environment," says Larry Benefield, interim dean of the College of Engineering.

Neil Grigg is a professor and head of the Colorado State University Department of Civil Engineering. He specializes in water resources engineering and management.
"Our family hopes that the Grigg-Burns Scholarship will help Auburn University to provide opportunities for other Alabamians to find fulfillment and make contributions through the profession of civil engineering," said Grigg.

For information about gifts to Auburn, contact a Development officer at AU Development Office

Burdg to moderate panel at summit

Henry Burdg, director of the Auburn Technical Assistance Center and Auburn Industrial Extension Services, will be among the moderators at the 1999 Economic Development Summit in Washington, D.C., in March.

The March 7-9 summit, a joint effort of more than 20 allied economic development organizations, will highlight the importance of increasing job and income growth in the United States by focusing on the effect federal programs have on U.S. jobs.

Burdg will moderate a panel discussion on "Technology-led Economic Development" between Lura Powell and Phillip Singerman.

Powell, director of the Advanced Technology Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, advocates economic growth through the development of new technology.

Singerman, assistant secretary for economic development at the Economic Development Administration, and has been instrumental in developing the concept of technology-led economic development.

Burdg says ATAC was selected for its role at the summit because of its national reputation for technical assistance and economic development activities and its relationship with NIST and EDA.

"We look forward to stronger ties with the Advanced Technology Program to link Alabama’s manufacturers with opportunities to utilize and develop new technologies," he said.

Formed in 1976, ATAC provides business and economic development
assistance to private sector organizations in Alabama.

For more on ATAC and other Business Outreach programs, see Business Outreach

Auburn Symphony to honor black composers

The Auburn University Symphonic Band will perform on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. in the Opelika Performing Arts Center.

A select group of 70 musicians, the Symphonic Band, conducted by Johnnie Vinson, director of band and professor of music at AU, is the premiere performing organization in the AU Band program.

The free concert offers a variety of musical styles including contemporary and traditional works.

The program will begin with "Centennial Spirit" by James Curnow. This work was commissioned by the AU Bands in honor of its centennial anniversary in 1997.

Other selections will include a new American edition of Russian composer Boris Kozhevnikiov's "Symphony No. 5," "Il Guarany," by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes and Alfred Reed's "Alleluia! Laudamus Te."

A special feature of the concert will be a performance of Joseph DeLuca's euphonium solo "Beautiful Colorado." Soloist will be Rick Good, associate director of bands and assistant professor of low brass at AU.

AU Symphonic Band to present concert Feb. 24

The Auburn University Symphonic Band will perform on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. in the Opelika Performing Arts Center.

A select group of 70 musicians, the Symphonic Band, conducted by Johnnie Vinson, director of band and professor of music at AU, is the premiere performing organization in the AU Band program.

The free concert offers a variety of musical styles including contemporary and traditional works.

The program will begin with "Centennial Spirit" by James Curnow. This work was commissioned by the AU Bands in honor of its centennial anniversary in 1997.

Other selections will include a new American edition of Russian composer Boris Kozhevnikiov's "Symphony No. 5," "Il Guarany," by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomes and Alfred Reed's "Alleluia! Laudamus Te."

A special feature of the concert will be a performance of Joseph DeLuca's euphonium solo "Beautiful Colorado." Soloist will be Rick Good, associate director of bands and assistant professor of low brass at AU.

High school musicians to participate in festival
Auburn will host nearly 400 outstanding high school band students at its eighth annual Honor Band Festival on Feb. 26-28.

Band students from Alabama, Florida, Georgia Tennessee and South Carolina were chosen to attend the festival based on their musical accomplishments and their directors' recommendations.

"This will be an exciting weekend of concerts, clinics and rehearsals," said Johnnie Vinson, AU's director of bands. "Last year's festival was a great success, and we expect the quality of this year's bands to even better."

Students will audition when they arrive at AU, then divided into three bands of about 130 players. Vinson will conduct two of the groups, and Rick Good, associate director of bands, will conduct the third.

Todd Shiver, an AU alumnus and the director of bands at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Ga., will be this year's special guest conductor.

The highlight of the festival will be a concert by AU Symphonic Band on Saturday night. The festival will conclude with a free grand finale concert by the festival's participants on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 1 p.m. in the Student Activities Center.

For more on activities involving the Music Department, see Music

Safety officer issues advisory on responding to fire alarms
Some AU buildings are not equipped to send electronic signals to the Auburn City Fire Department when a fire alarm is triggered and 911 must be called to ensure a fire unit's response.

Debra Sharpe, AU safety officer, says recent alarm activations in the Aerospace Engineering and Lowder Business buildings brought the problem to light.

"I think some people assumed that either a signal automatically went to the fire department or that someone else would make the call to 911 and neither happened," Sharpe said. "If everyone assumes that someone else will make the call, then 911 doesn't get the call and the fire department doesn't respond quickly."

Sharpe said AU Facilities is in the process of installing equipment to send fire-alarm signals electronically to the fire department in every campus building. The buildings which have the highest student occupancy rates will be equipped first.

Sharpe added that AU procedures require all occupants of a building to evacuate immediately when a fire alarm is sounded.

"A person cannot assume an alarm is false just because they do not see fire or smell smoke," Sharpe said. "Many detectors are located in mechanical rooms and attic spaces where a fire may smolder with the occupants of the building unaware of the situation."

Meanwhile, Funchess Hall, built during 1959-60, is getting a badly needed upgrade -- an emergency electrical power system.

A diesel-powered, 275-kilowatt system is planned to be operable by next fall 1999, said Carl Gagliano, Facilities Division electrical engineer.

The system will provide emergency power to about 30 laboratory facilities in Funchess Hall as well as the building's emergency lighting and fire alarm system,

"This has been a critical need for several years," said Rex Gandy, associate dean for research in the College of Sciences and Mathematics. "Many biological experiments require very low temperatures (refrigeration or freezing). If there is a power outage, a lot of specimens and hard work can be lost."

The new system is designed to activate automatically in the event of a power outage.
It automatically shuts off after normal power is restored, Gagliano said.

Funds for the $255,000 project were provided by Facilities Division, the colleges of Sciences and Mathematics, and Agriculture, Office of the Executive Vice President and the Office of the Vice President for Research.

For more on other activities of the Office of Safety and Environmental Health, see Safety

Raju, Sankar recognized for interdisciplinary courseware

AU faculty members P.K. Raju of Mechanical Engineering and Chetan Sankar of the Management Department have received a national award for an interdisciplinary, multimedia courseware they developed.

Raju and Sankar received the 1998 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware for a courseware package titled "Della Steam Plant Case Study." The case study on compact disk introduces students to management decision-making and engineering problem-solving in the context of a real problem at a power company steam plant.

The courseware simulates the environment in which engineers and managers operated when trying to solve a problem that could involve millions of dollars in additional costs for the company. Sankar and Raju said the courseware aids Business and Engineering students in the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

The award is sponsored by John Wiley & Sons publishing company and professional coalitions of the National Science Foundation. At the invitation of the director of the NSF's Division of Undergraduate Education, Sankar and Raju made a presentation last fall to a group of NSF program directors on the concept and contents of the courseware.

The Auburn team's work was partially funded by the National Science Foundation and Auburn's Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management.

For information on related initiatives, see Thomas Walter Center

Spirit of Excellence
Each month AU Human Resources recognizes four AU employees for exceptional service to the university. Spirit of Excellence winners for January were, from left, Lynn Burt, Human Resources; James Bazemore, Telecommunications & ETV; Melody Scott, Building Services; and Debra Enebak, Forestry.

Teeter receives Forestry award for excellence in teaching

Larry Teeter, associate professor of forest economics, has received the School of Forestry's Harold E. Christen Teaching Award for 1999.

Forestry Dean Richard Brinker said the award recognizes Teeter, who is widely known for his research, as one of the school's top teaching faculty, as well.

"Dr. Teeter has dedicated a great investment of his time and scholarly energy into his teaching program, and the results are obvious in the knowledge levels of his former students," said Brinker.

"He has used his research expertise to build a broad teaching program that includes Forest Management, Forest Policy, and Geographic Information Systems," Brinker added. "Dedication to the learning experience of the students has been paramount to him. He truly represents the sincere, dedicated professor that desires to make a strong, positive impact on his students."

Teeter helped initiate the school's "hands-on" global informations systems course in 1991 and now teaches undergraduate sections of the course each spring. Students from a wide variety of departments also take the course. He also teaches courses in forest management and forest economics.

For more on the School of Forestry, see Forestry

Five faculty appointed to professorships in College of Business
Five new named professorships have been awarded in AU's College of Business, according to Dean Wayne Alderman. They are:

* Privett Professorship to Lorraine Gardiner, an associate professor in the Department of Management.
* Charles McKenzie Taylor Jr., Professorship to Charles Price, a professor in the School of Accountancy.
* Torchmark Professorship to Michael LaTour, a professor of marketing in the Department of Marketing and Transportation.
* Torchmark Professorship to Richard Tabor, a professor in the School of Accountancy.
* J.W. Woodruff Sr., Endowed Professorship to Charles Snyder, professor of management in the Department of Management.

Gardiner, who joined the AU faculty in 1988, has a bachelor's degree from Hollins College and a Ph.D. in management science from the University of Georgia. Her research interests include applied quantitative methods and multiple criteria decision methodology.

Gardiner, who was a visiting researcher at the University of Paris Dauphine in 1996, has received the Association of Graduate Business Students' teaching award four times in seven years.

The Privett Professorships -- established through a gift from Col. George Phillips Privett -- were designed to support superior business faculty and to strengthen and enhance the business program.

Price, a member of the Auburn faculty since 1987, has the BSBA and the MBA from AU and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He implemented the Master's in Accountancy-Taxation program in AU's School of Accountancy. A member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Alabama Society of CPAs, the American Accounting Association and the American Taxation Association, Price has experience in the private sector with Touche Ross in Birmingham. His research interests are in the areas of environmental cleanup costs, treatment of damage awards and multimedia applications in federal tax research.

The Taylor Professorship was established through a gift from C. Mack Taylor as an aid to accounting education and research.

LaTour received his bachelor of business administration degree and the MBA from Boise State University. He completed his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Mississippi in 1986, graduating with honors. He previously was on the faculty at Old Dominion University before coming to AU in 1991. LaTour recently received the only annual statewide award given to a business professor at a four-year institution by the Alabama Association of Higher Education in Business for his research, teaching and outreach. Prior to joining the Auburn faculty in 1985, Tabor spent five years on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin.

Tabor received his B.S. in accounting and the MBA from the University of Tennessee, and earned his Ph.D. in 1980 from the University of Florida.
He has served as chair of the University Teaching Effectiveness Committee and director of the School of Accountancy. Tabor also has served on such professional committees as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Accounting Education Executive Committee, Information Retrieval Committee and Curriculum and Instruction Subcommittee. Tabor, who has lectured abroad at universities in Japan and Russia, has been published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, the Journal of Accountancy and the Journal of Information Systems.

The Torchmark Professorships were established by Torchmark Corporation to support superior business faculty and to strengthen and enhance the business program.

Snyder, who has been at Auburn since 1978, holds a BFA from the University of Georgia, an M.S. in economics from South Dakota State University, an MBA from Ohio State University and the Ph.D. in management from University of Nebraska. He has been a consultant to such companies as AT&T, BellSouth, South Central Bell, TRW and Coors. Synder's research interests include knowledge management, information resource management, expert systems, computer integrated manufacturing, system analysis and design and telecommunications management.

The Woodruff Professorship honors the memory of James Waldo Woodruff Sr.

He also teaches courses in forest management and forest economics.

For more on the College of Business, see Business

Coastal economies reap benefits of AU project

An AU project designed to help the economies of coastal Alabama areas that rely heavily on commercial and sport fishing is yielding impressive results.

AU's Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture's Coastal Alabama Seafood Harvest project is paying dividends in the fight to provide ample baits for fisherman without disturbing vital habitats, replenish dwindling supplies of red snapper and select areas to establish oyster beds that produce safer oysters for the consumer.

"We met with community and agency leaders in South Alabama to identify major areas of concern that would help the fishing industries," said David Rouse, an AU fisheries professor and coordinator of the CASH project. "We selected projects that would help the communities' economies and lead to some meaningful and significant results within a reasonable length of time."

For 20 years, Gulf of Mexico-area scientists tried to raise red snapper in carefully controlled settings, only to see the fry die within days. Finally, the Marine Resources Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources turned to AU and its expertise in fish hatcheries for help.

Kevin Boots, an AU graduate student working under the direction of AU professor Ron Phelps, became the first person to successfully rear red snapper in a hatchery setting. Boots and Phelps used a more natural approach, raising the snappers in outdoor tanks enriched to produce a variety of food for the fry. They are currently refining the technique so that other labs may duplicate the process.

The Auburn-raised juvenile snapper have been released into the Gulf and scientists have begun to work toward identifying them and tracking them. More fish will be raised, tagged, released and tracked.

The next step in the AU project is an attempt to abandon the use of hormones to induce fish to spawn and rely more on the natural instincts of the fish.

Auburn's success in the red snapper project may lead to farming of red snapper, which would assure a good supply of the highly desirable fish. That would reduce commercial pressure on the species, leaving more in the wild for sport fishermen to enjoy and providing a possible boon to the Alabama economy.

"From the juvenile stage on up, snapper are a desirable aquaculture species," Phelps said. "They can take artificial diet well and convert it reasonably well. They're innately curious and they handle well, so they have a lot of potential for aquaculture (fish-farming) once we get the basic techniques down.

"If we use the sea bream of southern Europe as a reference point, they started in the 70s trying to get larvae to survive and now it's a multimillion dollar industry in the 90s. The same could happen with the red snapper."

For years, the state's oyster industry has been plagued by poor water quality in oyster-bed areas. AU fisheries staff are seeking ways to return oystering to its status as a viable occupation.

"We're working with the Marine Resources Division to develop new oyster reefs and re-establish old reefs in parts of Mobile Bay where they've declined," said Rouse. "We're looking at off-bottom culture techniques and producing triploid oysters that would be a better product year round rather than being watery during the three or four months during the spawn."

Triploid oysters contain an extra set of genes which naturally keeps them from spawning.

One of the most important parts of the oyster project has been assessing the current conditions of Mobile Bay's oysters and assuring their safety. Outdated models used to predict high levels of coliform bacteria called for all the bay's oyster beds to be closed when rain-swollen freshwater tributaries emptied in the bay.

But, after three years of study, AU has found that some of the areas that are home to oyster beds -- particularly along the eastern shore of the bay -- may not be as susceptible to the problems caused by heavy river flows.

AU's work with off-bottom culture techniques is also promising. Auburn is demonstrating how raising oysters suspended from rafts increase the amount of food available to the shellfish and make them safe from asphyxiation and other ill effects caused by low dissolved-oxygen levels more prevalent along the bay's floor. Use of these carefully managed oyster farms also would enable the oysters to be cleaned regularly and moved to safe waters when necessary.

In collaboration with Don Frierson of Alabama Sea Farms, AU has helped successfully grow bait shrimp and minnows in ponds. In addition to providing an ample, quality supply of bait for fisherman, pond-raised bait means that habitats are not disturbed and animals that provide the food base for game fish are not removed.

"You're able to control your own destiny because you're able to spawn the stock yourself," Frierson said. "It makes for an especially hardy bait that the dealers love to handle. People were just clamoring for every one we could raise."

For more on Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures programs, see Fisheries

English professor wins Turner Award for year's best essay
Jim McKelly, an associate professor of English at Auburn University, has been awarded the 1998 Darwin T. Turner Award for the Year's Best Essay.

McKelly's essay was a piece on Spike Lee's movie "Do the Right Thing" in
African American Review, a national journal of African American culture.

The award was presented at the division meeting of the Black Literature
and Culture at the Modern Language Association of America National Conference in San Francisco.

In addition, McKelly is working on another article on Lee's work on his "Malcolm X film", and has published a piece in Screen magazine on the Hughes Brothers' film "Menace II Society."

His other work has appeared in a wide variety of journals, including Profession,
Midwest Quarterly, CEA Critic, Arizona Quarterly, American Literature, Western American Literature and has been included in the books Pictures of a Generation on Hold and On Humor: the Best of American Literature.

For more on the English Department, see English

Campus Views
(Campus Views columns represent the opinions of the writer regarding issues affecting the university. In this column, President Emeritus James E. Martin responds to an earlier Campus Views column by a former chair of the University Senate.)

AU policy was followed in the Curran employment offer

By James E. Martin, President Emeritus

I normally refrain from responding to articles involving expressions of views and opinions. However, when an article involves gross errors of fact relating to my actions, I feel compelled to respond in an attempt to correct these errors. The article, "Blame process, not people, for problems," which appeared in the Campus Views section of the AU Report, Jan. 25, 1999, is the article to which I am referring.

The article states that Rev. Charles Curran was "dismissed" from his position as Goodwin-Philpott Eminent Scholar in Religion. It states that "Professor Curran had been recruited for what had been represented to him as a permanent tenured position as an Eminent Scholar," and that "after the offer was given, President Martin rescinded the offer." This occurred, supposedly, because the president was "coerced to renege" on the "original offer to Rev. Curran." The article maintains that a current trustee "who was on the board then, admitted that he and several other board members brought about Auburn's broken agreement." The statement that at the time the "board members denied involvement in Curran's firing," again, clearly implies that Rev. Curran was "fired."

Auburn University Employment Policy at the time required (among other things) the president's approval on all appointments involving tenure. Tenure decisions were never delegated to others during my term as president. No offer granting tenure was ever approved for Rev. Curran! The only offer approved for him was a written offer which, among other things, (1) established the level of compensation, (2) limited his employment to approximately nine months, (3) stated that the appointment was without tenure and (4) required his signature acknowledging acceptance of these conditions prior to employment.

Rev. Curran's signature accepting the conditions of the offer was received approximately three months before his appointment began. Thereafter, his appointment and employment was strictly in keeping with university policy, the Faculty Handbook and the conditions stated in the written offer to which he agreed. If any other offers involving tenure were made to him, they were made without my knowledge and contrary to the policy involving administrative clearances and approvals from the president, and perhaps others.

University policy also provides all employees, who think they may have a grievance, with avenues to challenge the university and/or the administrator whom they think reneged on or rescinded the conditions of their employment. None of these avenues, which are readily available to every employee, were ever utilized in this case. There simply were no bases upon which to challenge the employment procedures, processed or policies utilized.

To summarize, the documented facts surrounding the employment of Rev. Curran did not involve "the dismissal," the "coercion by the Board of Trustees," the "rescinding" or the "reneging" on any offer approved by the president, "Auburn's breaking an agreement" or the "firing" of Rev. Curran! The misstatements of fact in this article related to my actions were used, in part, to support an argument to "blame the process." One can only guess as to the number of additional errors of fact that may be included in this article, the biases underlying these errors of fact and, thus, the validity and soundness of the views expressed therein. To deserve serious consideration, a proponent of an argument should, at the very least, be factual.

In every great university, constructive criticism and recommendations for improvement are always appropriate and typically welcomed, The more constructive criticisms and recommendations usually are based upon fact. Casting "blame" on either the AU processes and/or its people, based upon misstatements of fact, such as those contained in this article, can be a very unproductive exercise.

In closing, let me extend best wishes to the entire Auburn family -- the faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni, Trustees and its many other friends and supporters. Auburn University is an outstanding institution with great traditions, strengths and a bright future. It is fully capable of making progress in its ability to serve people and it can, and I am sure will, deal appropriately, and well, with any current and all future problems it may encounter. War Eagle!

Unsung Hero
Patricia Tarver, Building Services, Facilities

This week's Unsung Hero is Patricia Tarver, custodian I, Building Services, Facilities Division. She has 2 years of service to Auburn. She was asked:

I get the greatest satisfaction in my job when . . . "when someone comes by and says what a great job you are doing."

In my job area, quality is measured by . . . "cleanness of my building and meeting the needs of students and staff in my building."

If I could change one thing about Auburn (or my job), it would be . . . "so that the students and myself will not have to walk in the cold and rain."

I've always wondered why . . . no answer

When people come to this campus, I want them to . . . "enjoy their visit to a clean campus and building."

In my spare time, I like to . . . "I like to go to church, go fishing, cooking and sitting around the house with my family."