AU REPORT March 8, 1999

A helping hand
President William Muse displays a memento of his seven years at Auburn -- a fake hand that a student slipped to him during a recent graduation. Former University Senate Chair Gary Swanson, right, was among well-wishers at a March 3 reception recognizing his seventh anniversary at the university. Among others celebrating the occasion were AU Trustee John Denson, Auburn Mayor Bill Ham and Opelika Mayor Barbara Patton.

New governor includes more funds for AU in budget proposal

A 5.78 percent increase for Auburn University in Gov. Don Siegelman's education budget proposal for 1999-2000 has AU officials optimistic about support for higher education from the governor's office over the next four years.

"Gov. Siegelman has indicated for some time that he intends to support higher education, including Auburn University," said AU President William Muse. "His budget proposal is a clear signal that he intends to follow through with that intention. We greatly appreciate this show of support from the governor."

Although the budget proposal must clear both houses of the Alabama Legislature -- including the Senate, which is locked in a bitter fight for control between two competing groups -- Buddy Mitchell, AU's executive director of governmental affairs, said the governor's budget proposal usually sets the tone for the final product.

For instance, Mitchell noted, former Gov. Fob James' attempts to reallocate higher education funding to grades K-12 resulted in a large cut in higher education funding the first year of the James administration, followed by two years of level funding at the reduced level.

Compared to that start four years ago, Siegelman's first budget is "like the difference between night and day," said Mitchell. "We are excited about this budget and are hopeful that things are turning around in state government support for Auburn.

"This is beneficial for the state of Alabama, as well," Mitchell added. "If we can get a substantial increase through the Legislature, Alabama can start overcoming the competitive advantage that our neighboring states have gained over the past few years, when they were increasing funds for research universities and Alabama was cutting back."

The governor's budget proposal would allocate $196.2 million for the AU system, up from the current budget of $185.6 million. Of those funds, nearly $127.8 million would go for operations and maintenance of the main campus, $22.9 million for the Agricultural Experiment Station, $25.5 million for the Cooperative Extension System and $18.3 million for AUM.
Another $1.75 million would go to the Alabama Technology Network, which includes AU and other universities, through AU's budget.

Mitchell noted that neither the education and general fund budgets nor other legislation can be passed until the Alabama Senate resolves the political deadlock that emerged on the opening day of this year's session. The new budget year starts Oct. 1.

For more on State Government and Auburn, see Governmental Affairs

Deans to coordinate priority areas in new five-year plan

Seven Auburn deans have been named by Provost William Walker as coordinators for development of strategic plans for priority areas at AU. The areas are targeted for extra funding over the next five years.

The programs were identified as university priorities by President William Muse in November and approved in January by the Board of Trustees as part of a plan to upgrade the national standing of selected program areas.

As coordinators, the deans will appoint planning committees to develop strategic plans for the priority areas.

John Pritchett, associate vice president and dean of the Graduate School, said the designation of coordinators will enable interested faculty to participate in the overall process even when those faculty members are outside the colleges and schools normally associated with the priority areas.

The priority areas are fisheries and allied aquacultures, poultry science, biological sciences, detection and food safety, transportation, information technology and forestry and wildlife science.

Agriculture Dean Luther Waters is coordinator for priority programs in fisheries and allied aquacultures and in poultry science, both of which are departments in the College of Agriculture.

Sciences and Mathematics Dean Stewart Schneller is lead coordinator for the biological sciences. Faculty in related fields in each of three colleges will contact the dean of their college: Waters in Agriculture, June Henton in Human Sciences and Timothy Boosinger in Veterinary Medicine. Faculty in other schools and colleges seeking additional support for biological sciences programs should contact Schneller.

Interim Engineering Dean Larry Benefield is lead coordinator for projects involving detection and food safety. Henton, Waters and Boosinger are coordinators for projects in their schools. Benefield will be the contact person for faculty involved in detection and food safety projects in other schools and colleges.

Benefield is also coordinator for projects in the priority areas of transportation and information technology.

Forestry Dean Richard Brinker is coordinator for programs involving forestry and wildlife science.

"It is apparent that faculty expertise in any of the priority areas may extend well beyond a particular school or college," said Pritchett. "We want to extend an opportunity to all interested individuals to be involved in both the planning for and participation in programs for which they have expertise, regardless of their specific academic unit."

In each of the priority areas, the coordinating dean or deans will appoint a planning committee offorover the next five years.
Under guidelines furnished by the Provost's Office, the strategic plan for
each priority area must:

* Clearly define specific steps to achieve national recognition over five years.

* Provide benchmarking to determine current status and identification of necessary changes or improvements.

* Include clearly articulated goals, including enhancement of research, graduate education and, where appropriate, outreach.

* Have well-defined, measurable objectives and must identify responsible individuals.

* Include annual assessment activities.

* Clearly demonstrate leveraging of significant levels of other internal and/or external funds and resources.

* Provide for benchmarking in the final year to determine attainment of specified goals.

For each priority area, the planning committee must also identify four to eight persons for peer review of the programs.

Under the plan approved by the Board of Trustees, AU will initially make available $1 million for distribution on a continuing basis to priority program areas. This amount will increase to $5 million in continuing funds by the fifth year. Another $500,000 will be available each year for one-time funding of selected priority programs.

Priority programs with ties to the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and/or Alabama Cooperative Extension System will also be eligible for reallocations of funds within those divisions.

For background on the current Priorities Plan, see Nov. 30, 1998 AU Report

Instructional technology conference coming to Auburn

The AU College of Business will host and co-sponsor with the statewide Faculty Development Consortium a conference on instructional technology on March 17-19.

The FDC is composed of eleven Alabama universities and colleges, including Auburn, Birmingham-Southern College, Faulkner University, Huntingdon College, Judson College, University of Montevallo, John Patterson State Technical College, Spring Hill College, Stillman College, Talladega College and Tuskegee University.

The Auburn conference will feature a series of nearly 100 seminars, panel discussions, presentations and field trips to share information and ideas on teaching laboratories and technology.

AU faculty and staff, as well as faculty and staff from the other FDC-member schools, will present most of the programs.

Conference-goers will have the opportunity on March 17-18 to visit seven innovative and recently completed computer classrooms on the Auburn campus.
They include a lecture hall in the College of Liberal Arts, a foreign languages lab, the College of Science and Mathematics' new lab, a computer classroom for the teaching of writing and literature, the new FDC Design Center and adjacent lab, the Department of Communications-Athletic Department's collaborative facility and the assistive technology lab

The conference will open at 9 a.m., on March 17 at the AU Hotel and Conference Center with a session on "Creative Teaching and Instructional Technology."

On March 18-19, the conference will move to AU's Lowder Business Building, home of Auburn's College of Business. There also will be some sessions in Tichenor Hall.

A sampling of some of the seminar topics includes:

Resources for Teachers on the World Wide Web, Funding and Designing Teaching Labs, Instructional Technology and Math Instruction, Implementation of Instructional Technology for Enrichment in Rural K-12, Frontiers in Collaborative Web Sites, Developing Professional Presentations An Electronic Field Trip, IT Literature, and Cultural Engagement, Beyond the Ivy Walls, Networking in the New Millennium, Developing Interactive Courseware, Identifying and Setting Budgeting Priorities for IT, Technology Skills and Distance Learning, Making the Teacher's Job Easier, Designing a Teaching Web Site, Making Web Pages Accessible to the Learning Disabled

The conference will also feature presentations by many of the major players in the electronics and computer industry, including Apple, Dell, Gateway 2000, IBM, Macromedia, Microsoft, Netscape and WorldNet.

For more on the Instructional Technology Conference, see Conference

Spirit of Excellence
Recipients of Spirit of Excellence awards for February from the Department of Human Resources were, clockwise from left, Marjorie Gentry of the School of Forestry, Bruce Holt of University Computing, Joyce Clark of Foreign Languages and Frank Henderson of Facilities.

James Marion named Alabama Agriculture's Man of Year

James Marion, who stepped down in September after 10 years as dean of Auburn's College of Agriculture, has been named Man of the Year in Alabama Agriculture by Progressive Farmer magazine.

Marion, who also gave up his post as director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station to return to the Department of Poultry Science as a professor and researcher, was cited by the magazine for being "instrumental in recognizing the benefits of collaborative research among Alabama's various institutions of higher learning."

He was cited for his collaboration with Alabama A&M University and Tuskegee University on food safety and waste management projects.

Progressive Farmer also praised Marion as an "innovator in fostering public-private partnerships," citing as an example a privately owned cotton gin used for teaching and research at AU's E.V. Smith Research Center.

"There are countless people in the state that could have this honor and be a lot more deserving, but it is really an honor to have them think about me in that way," said Marion. "It is particularly special because Auburn is very close to individuals at Progressive Farmer and Southern Progress Corp. -- from Jack Odle, the editor of Progressive Farmer, to Ed Dickinson, the publisher, all the way up to Don Logan (chairman and chief executive officer of Time-Warner, Southern Progress' parent company).

"It's also special because of the publicity we received about our joint work with Alabama A&M and Tuskegee. As far as I know, Alabama is the only state in the nation with three land-grant universities. We took advantage of that unique position in our work together for support of the agriculture bond issue and we decided to take that a step further in our work with food safety and waste management -- two of the biggest issues facing agriculture in the state today."
AU President William Muse praised Marion's service to Alabama agriculture and Auburn.

"Certainly few have done for agriculture in Alabama and at Auburn what Jim Marion has done over the past decade," Muse said. "We appreciate the fine job he has done and join the people at Progressive Farmer in congratulating him on his accomplishments."

Marion will formally receive his award at a meeting of the Alabama Agribusiness Council in Montgomery on May 5.

Progressive Farmer has presented agriculture Man of the Year awards for the Southeastern states for more than 50 years.

For more from Progressive Farmer, see Progressive Farmer

National Cathedral schedules AU Concert Choir performance

The AU Concert Choir will perform on March 21 at the Washington National Cathedral as part of a "State Day" celebration honoring the state of Alabama.
Alabama will be honored at an 11 a.m. worship service that will recognize the state and contributions made by its citizens, said Dennis Fruitt, director of the National Cathedral Association in Washington, D.C.

The 102-member AU Concert Choir, directed by Music Professor Thomas R. Smith, will give a 25-minute unaccompanied performance prior to the 11 a.m., service.

"We are honored and delighted to have been selected to perform during this service to honor Alabama," said Smith, who for more than 28 years has served as director of choral activities at AU. "Our students are excited about performing in such a beautiful and historic building."

AU President William V. Muse has been invited to attend the celebration, which is being coordinated, in part, by Bettye Benjamen of Lowndesboro, regional chair of the National Cathedral Association.

The National Cathedral State Days program offers a special welcome to people from each of the 50 states, as the states are honored in turn on Sundays throughout the year.

Completed in 1990, Washington National Cathedral is the world's sixth largest cathedral. It stands on Mount Saint Alban, the highest point in Washington, D.C.

For more on the Concert Choir, see Choir

Auburn to graduate 917 at March 19 ceremony

Auburn will award 917 academic degrees at its winter quarter commencement ceremony on March 19 at 2:30 in Beard-Eaves- Memorial Coliseum.

Of the degrees AU will award, 737 are bachelor's, 141 are master's degrees, 37 are doctorates and two are specialists' degrees.

The College of Liberal Arts will award the most undergraduate degrees with 199, followed by the College of Business with 161 and the College of Education with 104.

Other schools and colleges and the number of degrees they will award are the
College of Engineering, 92; College of Science and Mathematics, 52; College of Agriculture, 47; School of Human Sciences, 36; School of Architecture, Design and Construction, 23; School of Pharmacy, 17; and the School of Forestry with six.

Since its founding as East Alabama Male College in 1856, AU has awarded about 175,000 academic degrees.

Saturday graduations set to start next fall quarter

Starting next fall quarter, Auburn will move its graduations to Saturdays from the Fridays and Mondays of recent years.

The change, which has been pending for two years, will be reflected in the university calendar for 1999-2000 in the AU Bulletin in June. AU will hold graduation on Mondays for the summer graduations in 1999 and 2000 and Saturdays for the quarters in between.

Auburn is scheduled to reduce its graduations to two per year -- spring and fall -- when the university implements the semester system in fall 2000.

Although Saturday graduations are standard for institutions on the semester system, Chetan Sankar of the Management Department, a former chair of the University Senate's Calendar Committee, said the upcoming switch to semesters was not a major factor when the committee decided in 1997 to include Saturday graduations in upcoming calendars.

Last year, when the committee submitted its proposal for the 1999-2000 calendar to the University Senate, Saturday graduations were included for the three ceremonies during the regular academic year. That calendar was approved by the Senate and adopted by the AU administration.

"The main reason for the change was to make it easier for parents to attend," said Sankar. "There was a lot of discussion about parents not being able to attend when graduation ceremonies are during the week under the old practice. This could enable more parents to attend."

Sidney N. James of Electrical Engineering, chair of the University Graduation Committee, said the change to Saturday graduations will present few logistical problems, since the university frequently holds Saturday events. One advantage, he said, will be more available parking on the weekends.

For more on the University Calendar, see Calendar

Dean finalists named for College of Liberal Arts

The search for a new dean of the College of Liberal Arts has resumed with three finalists scheduled for interviews in April.

The finalists are John Heilman, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, James Hougland Jr., chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky and Denis Calandra, chair of the Theatre Department at the University of South Florida.

Interview dates are: Hougland, April 14-15; Heilman, April 21; and Calandra, April 25-26. Public interviews with the candidates will be announced later.

Heilman, former associate dean of Liberal Arts, has served first as interim co-dean and later as interim dean of the college since the death of Dean Gordon Bond in 1997. A faculty member in Political Science, Heilman joined the AU faculty in 1973, after receiving his Ph.D. from New York University.

Hougland has held his current post since 1990 and has been a faculty member at the University of Kentucky since 1974. He holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University.

Calandra has been Theatre Department head at the University of South Florida since 1992 and has been a faculty member there since 1978. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska.

Search committee chair Timothy Boosinger, dean of Veterinary Medicine, said the committee expects to conclude its work and make a recommendation to the Provost's Office soon after the interviews. "All three candidates are highly qualified and would serve Auburn University well," Boosinger said. "Hopefully a final decision will be made in May or June."

Executive MBA class heading to Europe

More than two dozen students in Auburn's College of Business will spend a week during spring break in Paris and Prague, but they won't be on holiday.

The students -- members of Auburn's first Executive Track MBA Program -- will be completing one of the residency requirements of the new program.

"The overall guiding theme for this trip is to look at European unification, to understand what's happening in those markets and understand some of the implications that it will have for American businesses," said Daniel Gropper, head of Auburn's MBA Program. "We have a mix of company visits and lectures from experts in Paris and Prague. I think it's going to be a very rewarding experience."

The students, who will depart March 19 for the one-week trip, will be accompanied by Daniel Butler, professor and head of the Department of Marketing and Transportation; Don Flowers, director of the Center for Management and Executive Development; Kim Kuerten, assistant director of the MBA Program; Sharon Oswald, professor of management; and Gropper.

Oswald has worked previously with the Czech Management Center in Prague, one of Europe's leading business schools, and Kuerten has made arrangements with Groupe Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Grenoble, a French graduate school of business. The class will spend four days in Prague and three days in Paris.
Kuerten joined the College of Business' Central European Studies Program last summer to familiarize herself with study abroad programs in advance of the EMBA trip overseas.

"Going to Europe in advance with an established program gave me the opportunity to learn how to coordinate this program for the maximum benefit for our students, and also to select European partners who we can trust to meet our standards," she said.

Gropper said the international exposure is critical to Auburn's efforts to build a first class executive MBA program.

"Everyone talks about the internationalization of business -- that's something we built into the (EMBA) curriculum," said Gropper. "Even though this is the one course that focuses on the international trip, in several other courses we've talked about some of the economic issues in this area -- how our central bank and Europe's central bank do things that influence each other. We pick that up in classes even before we go.

"(Finance professors) Jim Barth and John Jahara are doing a global financial market course in the summer that will pick up on some of the things we see in Europe," Gropper added. "So it's something that's really integrated throughout our curriculum."

The Executive Track MBA Program, which accepted its first students in September 1998, provides fulltime working professionals with at least eight years experience the opportunity to earn a fully accredited MBA degree in 18 months without taking time off from their jobs.

The EMBA is a combination of the established on-campus and video outreach programs. During the 18-month of coursework that includes video-based and Internet classes, the EMBA students must complete four one-week residences on the Auburn campus. The fifth residence is completed in Europe.
During the on-campus residences, students take on an intensive study of one subject, centered around instructional time, special lectures and teamwork. In the video-taped portion of the coursework, on-campus classes are taped and mailed to the EMBA students.

Auburn is a proven leader in accredited distance education degree programs. Since 1990, more than 200 people have earned master's degrees through the university's Graduate Outreach Program.

For more on the Executive MBA Program, see EMBA

Urban forestry
Senior forestry student Lea Anna Melton examines live oak under direction of Mobile forester Ron Jackson, center, and AU Assistant Professor Brenda Allen, foreground.

Forestry class tries to save historic live oaks

When 22nd century visitors to Mobile Bay admire the spreading, stately oaks at the Marriott Grand Hotel, some of the credit for the majestic view will go to a group of today's Auburn University students.

The students are members of an urban forestry class which recently evaluated the health of stately oaks on the grounds of the historic resort and convention center. Brenda Allen, an assistant professor in the AU School of Forestry, said her class of advanced forestry students undertook the study as part of the school's efforts to involve students in projects to preserve and renew some of the state's most valuable natural resources.

Ron Jackson, urban forester for the City of Mobile, and Cleve Formwalt, owner of a Mobile-area tree service company, joined Allen in leading the students through an examination of trees deemed the most critical to continuation of the hotel's image as a live-oak mecca. The professionals will incorporate the students' evaluations as part of a comprehesive study of the approximately 70 live oaks, many of which have stood for well over a century, on the seven-plus acres around the hotel.

Sam Sealy, director of grounds for the Grand Hotel, said the recommendations will be used in development of a long-term maintenance plan for the grounds. Observing the urban forestry class at work, Sealy said, "We are looking for solid recommendations on maintaining these trees. The students and professionals are providing us with information we can use to help protect the health of the trees."

Under the direction of the professional team, the forestry students evaluated the oaks for quality of trunks, roots, branch structure, leaf density, broken limbs and other indicators of a tree's health. Their evaluations will include recommendations on the best way to alleviate problems that can shorten the life of the trees.

The students and their mentors identified problems, such as soil compaction and girdling roots -- roots which encircle the base of a tree, cutting off the flow of nutrients -- that can shorten the life of the historic live oaks. The instructors also offered suggestions for prolonging the life of magnolias and palms on the hotel's grounds.

"This provides a valuable teaching experience for our students, who have already learned the theory in class and are ready for its application," said Allen, who is the AU Forestry School's leading authority on urban forestry.

"The evaluations at the Grand Hotel are typical of the work that urban foresters do on in their profession," she added. "This type experience allows the students to put into practice what they have learned, and at the same time they are getting involved in the effort to preserve an important part of our state's natural heritage."

Allen noted that the majestic oak trees surrounding the Grand Hotel are an internationally recognized symbol of Alabama as well as the hotel.

Jeremy Waites, a senior in forestry from Talladega, said the on-site evaluation of the stately trees reminded him that forestry involves more than commercial production of pines. "This is something I may have to deal with in the future, so I'm glad to get the opportunity to evaluate the needs of in trees in a more urban environment."

Waites noted that steps can be taken to extend the life of several of the huge trees, but he added, "They will not have to replace these anytime soon."

Urban forestry is an emerging field of forestry that in increasing in importance as cities, towns and resorts recognize the importance of maintaining trees within their boundaries, Allen said.

The urban forestry group is the second AU class this year to use the hotel grounds as a teaching and outreach laboratory. In January, a landscape architecture class led by Auburn faculty member Brian LaHaie examined the hotel's entry drive and presented landscaping recommendations.
LaHaie described landscape architecture and urban forestry as allied professions.

"Real-world" projects comprise about one-third of the studio projects in the landscape architecture curriculum, LaHaie said. "A project like this reinforces the design principles we teach and makes them real in the students' eyes," he added.

The landscape architecture associate professor said the students developed plans which made use of the trees along the entry drive, recommended alternatives for lighting, walkways and the entryway and made more prominent use of color in the drive leading to the hotel.
The landscape architecture students presented the hotel with several alternatives from which to choose in developing its landscape plans, he noted. "Sometimes all it takes is helping a client to see with fresh eyes," LaHaie said.

The Grand Hotel invited the classes to evaluate its trees and grounds through a partnership involving the Alabama Forestry Commission, the Alabama Urban Forestry Association, the AU School of Forestry, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the USDA Forest Service. The partnership's activities include on-site teaching and outreach activities of the School of Forestry and support for an annual conference on urban forestry.

For more on Auburn Forestry, see Forestry

For more on Landscape Architecture, see Landscape

Israeli microbiologist to discuss vaccines and disease

Herve Bercovier, a microbiologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will speak at the AU College of Veterinary Medicine on March 23-24.

Bercovier will discuss fish vaccine and a DNA history of tuberculosis during his two-day visit to Auburn.

On March 23, Bercovier's topic will be:"Is Tuberculosis an Emerging or Re-Emerging Disease? (Perusing the Past to Predict the Future)." The presentation is aimed at a general audience.

On March 24, Bercovier will speak on "Koch's Postulates in the 20th Century: From Disease to Vaccines." The seminar will be a technical presentation of Bercovier's research data.

Both presentations will be at 10:30 a.m., at Greene Hall, Room 120.

Bercovier is a professor and the director of the Institute of Microbiology at Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. He is a graduate of the Veterinary College of Maisons Alfort in France and was a tenured researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris before joining Hebrew University.

Bercovier has served on the international subcommittees on the Taxonomy Haemophilus, Pasteurella, Actinobacillus, Franciscella, Yersinia, and Legionella. His research interests include studies of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (Johnes disease), brucellosis and fish vaccines.

Bercovier's lectures are part of the College of Veterinary Medicine's Joy Goodwin lecture series.

AU Outreach honored for 'Do Something' grants

AU Outreach has received an award of excellence from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education for its faculty-competitive "Do Something!" grant program.

The award was bestowed in the Institutional Relations category at the CASE District III (Southeast)Conference in February in Charlotte, N.C.

"This CASE award provides another opportunity to recognize our faculty and to thank them for their spirited participation in this outreach initiative," said David Wilson, vice president for University Outreach.

Wilson conceived the grant program and funded the project through his office.
According to the CASE competition guidelines, Institutional Relations programs should be "...comprehensive in nature and... created to support a specific initiative or achieve an institutional objective."

The "Do Something!" faculty-competitive grants made more than $100,000 available to fund projects in West Alabama. Interdisciplinary proposals were encouraged and collaboration with individuals, agencies, organizations and businesses in West Alabama was required.

The objective of the "Do Something!" grants is to enhance economic, educational, health care and leadership opportunities in West Alabama and increase faculty involvement in outreach. More than 80 faculty attended the spring "Do Something! grant workshop, and 16 proposals involving 63 faculty from 55 disciplines were submitted.

"It is important to recognize the creativity of our faculty and their ability to establish effective local collaborations as evidenced by these projects," said Wilson.

The five projects selected for funding were:

* Gaining Access to Pharmacy Services -- A Medication Assistance and Education program in rural Hale County, $25,000 grant, principal investigators Debbie Byrd and Charles Taylor.

* Grow Your Own Jobs -- A program to convert an unused cafeteria into a food processing plant in Marengo County, $21,500 grant, principal investigator Robin Fellers.

* Leadership Sumter County -- A project to create a leadership development program for adult community leaders, $10,000 grant, principal investigators Frances Kochan, Bill and Lane Sauser.

* West Alabama Aquaculture Honors Program -- A project to support a summer camp at AU to introduce 25 rising high school juniors and seniors from the region to natural resource-based job and career opportunities, $20,000 grant, principal investigators Len Vining and Greg Whitis.

* West Alabama Entrepreneurship and Leadership Program -- A project to build an entrepreneurial approach to economic development in the region through partnerships with public and private organizations, to create an Academy of Entrepreneurship and a chamber of commerce in Hale County, $25,000 grant, principal investigators Keenan Grenell and Cal Clark.

"University Outreach is gratified that CASE has recognized Auburn's efforts in the Black Belt of Alabama by selecting the 'Do Something!' grant program," said Wilson.

"AU has a specific outreach objective of applying our faculty expertise to the long standing, intractable problems of the Black Belt," he added. "The response of our faculty far exceeded our expectations and five projects are now active in the region."
In addition to Wilson and faculty involved in the grants, Maury Matthews, director of outreach planning and development, and Thina Biblis, grants administrator, both from the Office of the Vice President were commended on the certificate along with Ralph Foster and Diane Clifton from the Office of Outreach Information.

For more on Outreach programs to assist West Alabama, see Outreach

Conference focuses on aiding youths with disabilities

The state's 35,000 high school students with disabilities will be the focus of the ninth annual Alabama Transition Conference at AU this week.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Special Education in the College of Education will host the conference Wedndesay-Friday at the AU Hotel and Conference Center.

Approximately 800 participants from throughout the state will represent special education, career technical education, vocational rehabilitation and mental/health fields and the business commun ity. Joining them will be more than 40 high school students with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities.

Frank Rusch of the University of Illinois-Champaign will be keynote speaker. Philip Browning, heade of AU's Department of Rehabilitation and Special Education, described Rusch as a leader in his field.

"This conference has now become a tradition for professionals who are invested in the welfare of Alabama's youth and young adults with disabilities," said Browing. He noted that a highpoint of the conference will be celebration of Alabama's designation as one of only two states recognized as exemplary by the National Transition Alliance.

For details on conference times and sessions, call 844-5943.

For more on Rehabilitation and Special Education, see Transitions

Training offered for users of new financial records system

Auburn's Financial Records System Accounting software will be converted to a new, 3.0 version on April 8.

"This conversion will bring about a campuswide change in the screens you look at for financial information," said Diane Thaxton of Information Systems Support. "Some of the AIMS screens will eventually be going away and will not be updated to work with the new version of the software."

Thaxton said classes will be offered March 9-19, and March 30-31 for users of the accounting software. "This class should help AU employees know where and how to get the valuable financial information the software contains," she added.

Each class will consist of a hands-on lab type session lasting approximately 1.5 hours.

"It is the responsibility of each department to make sure that employees needing this information are signed up and attend these sessions," she said. "These sessions should help those in the departments who need to know financial information to carry out their daily responsibilities."

"Most classes are limited to 20 people per session and will only be taught for this short time period. It is very important that employees schedule attendance at one of the sessions," she added.

Registration is available via the WWW at www.auburn.edu/frs. Direct questions regarding the FRS implementation Thaxton at 844-5661 (e-mail thaxtdi@auburn.edu) or Violet Lett of Accounts Payable at 844-4612 (e mail lettvio@auburn.edu).

Empowerment lecture set for 'brown bag' luncheon

Auburn Outreach will sponsor a brown bag lunch on Wednesday with AU Political Science Associate Professor Keenan Grenell speaking on the topic of economic empowerment.

Grenell is active in promoting economic empowerment and coordinates AU's annual African American Entrepreneurship Summit.

The brown bag lunch program will be in Foy Union 202 at noon and is open to campus and community participation. The event is free, but participants are urged to bring their lunch.

AU Outreach plans to offer the brown bag lunch programs, dedicated to different subjects, on a continuing basis.

The purpose of the brown bag lunch program, says organizers Mark Williams, outreach graduate assistant, and Millard Johnson, outreach doctoral candidate, is to give the Auburn community an opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions on various ongoing topics.

Speaker outlines success of Graduate Opportunity Program

Recipients of AU's President's Graduate Opportunity Program fellowship recently heard a message of encouragement from a successful graduate of the program.

Speaking in Foy Student Union to the 15 current fellowship recipients, the Rev. Dr. Johnny Green, pastor of the White Street Missionary Baptist Church in Auburn and director of economic development with Fulton County Atlanta Housing Authority in Atlanta, said the program offers its participants a unique advantage.

Minority fellowships such as the Graduate Opportunity Program are needed, and are important aspects in efforts to break down race and gender barriers, said Greene, a former Auburn athlete who earned a Ph.D. in political science from AU in 1998.

"This assistance provides an opportunity for many who otherwise could not afford to attend college and pursue graduate studies," he said. "The Graduate Opportunity Program is part of a national effort to contribute to graduate opportunities for minorities and it has an important role in helping to progress beyond racial and gender boundaries."

The Graduate Opportunity Program is designed to recruit African American doctoral students and research. It includes a $10,000 fellowship and a stipend of at least $5,000 provided by the department, college or school in which the recipient is enrolled. Both the fellowship and the stipend are renewable for up to four years of doctoral study.

Recipients of the fellowship already possess earned degrees from an accredited institution and meet graduate school requirements for the departments in which they are pursuing doctoral studies. To maintain the fellowship, a recipient must maintain a 3.0 cumulative grade point average each term. fellowship already possess earned degrees from an accredited institution and meet graduate school requirements for the departments in which they are pursuing doctoral studies. To maintain the fellowship, a recipient must maintain a 3.0 cumulative grade point average each term.

"Auburn could have chosen the low road and not offered the fellowships, but it chose the moral road and now is on the leading edge in encouraging educational diversity," Green said. "Those of you here today as fellows deserve to be here. This is a wonderful program, and although the next few years will require hard work on your part, the rewards upon successful completion are worthwhile."

Green said the road to successful completion requires hard work but the rewards are worth the effort.

Green attended AU on an athletic scholarship. Before earning his Ph.D. from Auburn, he earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1985 and a master's in public administration and public policy from Auburn University at Montgomery in 1993.

In addition to the Graduate Opportunity Program fellowship, Green received the prestigious HUD fellowship through the Community Renaissance Fellows Program, sponsored by Yale University.

Current Graduate Opportunity Program Fellows at AU, their hometowns and degree programs include:

Fourth Year: Pamela D. Adams, Birmingham, Plant Pathology; Leigh K. Hawkins, Natchez, Miss.; Horticulture.

Third Year: Sylvia D. Baker-Blair, Quincy, Fla.; Psychology; Lynn E. Ballard, Tuskeegee, Political Science; Angela LaFaye Henderson, Havana, Fla., Psychology; Kelly Malone, Auburn, Chemistry.

Second Year: Kara L. Lawson, Gainesville, Fla., History; James T. Walker, Reston, Va, Counseling and Counseling Psychology; Amanda Diggs, Banks, Pharmacy Care Systems.

First Year: Michael Granado, Houston, Mathematics; Mark E. Marshall, Decatur, Ga.; Education Foundations, Leadership and
Technology; Teresa Lynn Jones, Pearl, Miss., Counseling and Counseling Psychology; Anthony D. Salandy, Auburn, Human Development and Family Studies; Kristie Jones, Detroit, Chemical Engineering; Sheree Jones Finley, Montgomery, Zoology and Wildlife Sciences.

For more on Minority Advancement Programs, see Minority

Campus Roundup
Scanning available for winter finals
Faculty using computer scanning during final exams for winter quarter can get the exams scanned at Test Scoring Services in Tichenor 120. Scanning services will be available Saturday, March 13, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and the following Monday Thursday from 7:45-11:45 a.m. and 12:45-4:45 p.m. For information, contact Bruce Holt at 844-9904.

Registration starts for Secretaries Day
Auburn will celebrate Secretaries Day with a luncheon on April 15 at the AU Hotel and Conference Center. Entertainment will feature a performance by the AU Music Department's Steel Drums Ensemble directed by Troy Breaux. Also scheduled will be a comedy skit from SST Communications on "Breaking the Codes: Effective Communication Skills." For reservations, contact Judy Edwards at Human Resources, 844-4145.

Filing deadline nears for accounts
Participants in flexible spending accounts have until March 30 to file for and receive reimbursement for 1998 expenses covered by those accounts. According to the AU Office of Payroll and Employee Benefits, employees who participated in the dependent care plan during 1998 are required to provide the Internal Revenue Service with very specific information concerning their day care provider when filing a tax return. The funds tax sheltered for 1998 will be reported in Box 10 of the 1998 W-2. As the instructions for Box 10 indicate, Schedule 2 of Form 1040A, or 2331 if filing a Form 1040, must be completed. Failure to do so could result in the IRS taxing this amount that has been tax-sheltered. The forms are available from the federal government. Direct questions about the taxes or forms to the IRS or your tax advisor.

Deans and directors list on web only
AU's deans and directors list is available on the World Wide Web but, as a cost savings and efficiency/updating measure, is no longer being printed for distribution. The web address is www.auburn.edu/administration/president/dddh

BC/BS representative visits scheduled
AU's Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative will be on campus the second Tuesday of each month through June from 10 a.m.-noon in the Payroll and Benefits Office at Ingram 212 to answer questions from AU faculty and staff about health insurance coverage and other Blue Cross/Blue Shield benefits. No appointment is necessary.

Campus Views
Editor's Note: Campus Views are columns of opinion contributed by faculty and staff and express the views of the writer.

Popular teaching 'solution'does not work in most classrooms
By Herbert Rotfeld, Marketing & Transportation

Faculty everywhere report increasing demands on their time. It seems that every university is increasing expectations for faculty research, with detailed administrative pressure counting journal article output per year. While programs are expected to develop students' oral communications skills and writing abilities, class size and faculty teaching loads are increased to cover courses while budgets are cut.

A popular teaching "solution" to some of these pressures is to assign group projects and presentations. While lessening grading time per student, group assignments possess an added claim of developing students' abilities "to work in groups," or so the arguments go. In addition, when a class has a written term paper assignment, it becomes easier for a teacher to defend near-exclusive use of multiple-choice or other objective exams.

In reality, the way most faculty run the projects teaches writing, speaking and the ability to work in groups the way talking with an exotic bird teaches ornithology.
Group assignments lead to social loafing

A basic problem of group assignments is social loafing: people do not devote as much time to a task when their contribution is part of a larger group. Some teachers try to combat this by having students file "shaft your neighbor" interpersonal evaluation forms, seldom admitting that they can only assess members' perceptions of equity and the friendships developed by the project experience. And if everyone does equal but lower quality work, the class-wide performance standards for work on substantive material goes down.

Student groups are egalitarian in structure while business groups are power-based and hierarchical, making student groups more like roommates than business co workers. The cleanliness of an apartment is inversely related to the number of people responsible for keeping it clean, limited only by the messiest state anyone might be willing to tolerate. Similarly, overall work quality will often fall to the level which the best students in each group are willing to tolerate. The best writers in each group will do most of the writing, protecting their grades from damage by their less talented co-workers.

Yet the projects' frequent failure to teach writing, speaking and group-work skills is more basic, the ineluctable result of the philosophy of many business educators.
A gifted con artist, Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Wilson's "Music Man" convinces the people of River City that the solution to perceived threats to their youths' virtue lies in a student band. Instead of going to the new pool hall, they'll play instruments and wear uniforms, both of which he'd obtain and sell. Since no one in town knows how to play all these different instruments, he'll teach everyone using his Think System: think of a tune and you can play it.

In teaching approaches seemingly devised by Professor Hill, group projects are many but few faculty assigning them give attention to improving student speaking, writing or group interactions. The classes do not teach these things except by contagion and therein lies the real problem.

"This is not a speech or English course," is the often-heard faculty refrain (except, of course, in the Communication or English departments). The group members make a presentation, but except for (maybe) some critical comments on that single output, little time is done working on speaking skills. When the writing is done, most business faculty will often restrict feedback to the substantive ideas and not the writing.

While the students have the "experience" of a group, actual education on working in groups was not part of the course, leaving that for the organization behavior department.

'Education by contagion' efforts are widespread
Such claims of education by contagion are not restricted to business classes or group projects. In the July/August 1998 issue of Change magazine, Philip Altbach and Patti Peterson ascribed the fictitious of claims to internationalization of U.S. higher education.

Beyond problems of faculty and students who do not learn a second language or never travel overseas, contacts with other countries often misuse or lose the opportunity to broaden U.S. student perspectives. There are too many "international experience" classes in which students get credit to travel to other countries and only keep a diary of places visited, while accompanying faculty go to meetings with local executives and conduct the intellectual equivalent of making a balloon animal.

Students want jobs and employers want the students to be trained. Yet the training employers want is really in writing, speaking and thinking; the abilities to think and write clearly are more important than any textbook's checklists.
Effective teaching demands extra effort

One can't deny that modern faculty time pressures are real. Years ago, my journalism colleague at another university had very large classes, assigned individual term papers and used only essay exams. Her students waited weeks for her detailed feedback on their writing, but she saw no other way to do the job.
Meanwhile, the final chapter on her dissertation seemed to take forever to deposit and I know not of her research activity.

The unfortunate problem is that many faculty feel free to claim that they teach important skills because the students engaged in a certain activity in the class, not because they "taught" anything.

Campus Views
Editor's Note: Campus Views are columns of opinion contributed by faculty and staff and express the views of the writer.

Faculty, Martin see Curran case differently
By Glenn Howze and Conner Bailey, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology

It should come as no surprise to President-Emeritus James E. Martin that many faculty members disagree with much of his Feb. 22, article "Former President Sets Record Straight on Issue." The facts in thiså case, as carefully outlined by the faculty nine years ago and reviewed by Professor Barry Burkhart in his Jan. 8 column, stand in stark contrast both to the assertions in Martin's column and those he made at the time of the Curran controversy.

What are the facts? Below are items from a chronology compiled by the University Senate at the time of the controversy.

1. The Goodwin-Philpott Eminent Scholar's Chair was advertised in The Chronicle of Higher Education and elsewhere as a tenured full professorship. The rank and tenure conditions stated in the advertisements were identical to those for other eminent scholars and for key academic administrators (including Presidents).

2. The search committee selected the top three candidates for on-campus interviews. One of the candidates was Professor Charles Curran who visited Auburn March 13 15, 1990 for an interview.

3. On March 28 at a meeting of key administrators, including President Martin, Professor Curran was presented as the top candidate for the position.

4. At a meeting of the Administrative Council on April 2, Dr. Martin approved the hiring of Professor Curran. Following the meeting, Liberal Arts Dean Mary Richards called Professor Curran to extend an offer, which was followed with a written offer mailed on April 4 that stated "Upon the recommendation of the tenured faculty in the Department of Religion, the University Promotion and Tenure Committee, and President Martin, you will receive a tenured professorship..."

5. At a Board of Trustees retreat on April 7, some Trustees expressed concern about the appointment of Professor Curran. President Martin was unaware that a formal
offer had been extended and indicated that he would look into the matter. Burkhart's article stated that Board members had coerced the President not to grant tenure to Professor Curran. Burkhart noted that this coercion had been denied at the time by members of the Board but admitted in a recent newspaper story.

6. On April 11, Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Henry and President Emeritus Philpott called Professor Curran urging him to accept the offer.

7. On or about April 14, Vice President Henry was informed by a representative of the President that there were problems with the Curran appointment.

8. On April 16, Professor Curran called Dean Richards to accept the Eminent Scholar offer. The Dean informed him that there might be problems with the offer. His letter of acceptance arrived April 19.

9. On April 19 Vice President Henry was informed that the President had decided not to grant tenure to Professor Curran. In essence, President Martin reneged on an offer that had already been made and accepted.

10. On April 25, Professor Curran was informed that his case would go forward to the Tenure and Promotion Committee. On April 30, the Committee recommended tenure for Curran. Note that the President had already made it known eleven days earlier that he was not going to grant tenure to Professor Curran. Martin rejected the recommendation of the Committee and refused to provide the committee with reasons for the denial. However, he did note that his reasons were not based either on scholarship or moral turpitude.

11. A second offer was sent to Professor Curran for a temporary, untenured appointment as a Visiting Eminent Scholar. Curran, who had withdrawn his name from consideration for other positions once accepting the Auburn offer, had no choice but to accept the temporary post. With the second offer, the offer of a tenured professorship was rescinded. This effectively represented a dismissal of Curran.

These facts contradict President Martin's attempt at revisionist history. The faculty censured President Martin over his handling of the Curran case in 1990 and we feel certain that it would do so again today. The faculty understand it is the right of a president to grant or withhold tenure, but presidents are bound to follow certain procedures. President Martin violated existing procedures by announcing a decision on tenure before the Promotion and Tenure Committee had even reviewed the case, and by refusing to provide the Committee with the required written justification for his actions. Did he think we would forget?

(Glenn Howze is chair of the Auburn University Senate.)

Unsung Hero
Albert Colley, technician, Telecommunications and ETV

This week's Unsung Hero is Albert Colley, telecommunications technician with Telecommunications/ETV. He has been at Auburn for more than 25 years. He was asked:

I get the greatest satisfaction in my job when... "everything is running so smoothly that people take the services for granted, as if they are a natural occurrence."

In my job area, quality is measured by... "the services operating at their best with little or no lost time, good pictures on everyone's TV and dependable communication on all the two-way radios, etc."

If I could change one thing about Auburn (or my job), it would be... "to get more open lines of communication between management and the staff. Maybe then the system could operate more harmoniously with what is expected and what is reality."

I've always wondered why... "our state cannot seem to get politics out of education and get politicians to work toward enhancing educational opportunities for the people of Alabama."

When people come to this campus, I want them to... "see the area as it is, a continuously growing and improving system (although some growth is not an obvious improvement)."

In my spare time, I like to... "listen to music, watch a NASCAR race, and play with my cat (named Psycho)."