AU, UA form alliance for funding
Options narrow for budget response
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AU REPORT |
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| Headlines AU, UA form alliance for funding Options narrow for budget response |
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"The renowned rivalry between the two flagship institutions of higher education in this state, the University of Alabama and Auburn University, exists on football fields, basketball courts and baseball diamonds," AU Interim President William Walker said at a news conference in Montgomery.
"But we have a shared commitment to the economic future of our state," he added. "Our only rival in that game is an uneducated work force that chokes the development of our state."
Walker and UA President Andrew Sorensen called upon Alabamians who support Alabama and Auburn athletic teams to join their plea for fair, equitable funding for education.
'Whether your blood runs orange and blue, crimson and white, or another set of collegiate colors, I think we can all agree that supporting higher education is a most worthwhile cause," Sorensen said. "We are putting in a special plea for higher education as we face the threat of bearing a disproportionate share of the state's funding problems. More importantly, we support adequate funding for all of education in Alabama from pre school to post-doctoral education."
The two university presidents noted that Alabama's institutions of higher education provide an excellent return on the state's investment. Their contributions range from aiding industry recruitment and job creation to conducting medical research that saves lives to providing top quality education.
UA head football coach Dennis Franchione and AU head football coach Tommy Tuberville joined their presidents in announcing the Alabama Auburn Alliance at the Montgomery news conference. "This alliance is not about football, and we coaches usually leave the funding and legislative matters to our presidents, but if our presence here today helps mobilize Auburn and Alabama supporters around the state, it is most certainly worth our time," Tuberville said.
Due to fan support, the athletic programs at both UA and AU are self sustaining and use no state dollars. Fans support the athletic programs through ticket sales and private donations.
Noting that he is new to Alabama, Franchione said he has been overwhelmed with the state's support of football but has been surprised at the lack of support for education. "I like to tell our recruits about the wonderful academic programs at the University of Alabama -- programs that I hope will be around for a long time to come. Our faculty want our universities to be the best public universities in the country. That can't happen without fair and stable funding for education," Franchione said.
Tuberville said he understands the needs of both K-12 and higher education first-hand because his son is a second grader. "It's within this state's reach, and certainly its responsibility, to give all our students what they need," he said.
Under the banner of the Alabama-Auburn Alliance, representatives of the two universities plan to travel around the state in coming weeks, meeting with alumni and civic groups to carry the message of equitable and adequate funding to a broader audience.
Options narrow for response to cut in funding
Gov. Don Siegelman warned the AU Board of Trustees on April 6 not to include tuition increases as an option to offset an expected reduction in state funding next fall. Siegelman's warning came in a surprise meeting with trustees prior to the board's regular business session.
Siegelman, who is the head of boards of trustees of AU and other public universities in Alabama, made his first appearance before the AU board, calling the board's executive committee into session to warn that he will call for the resignation of any member of any university board who votes for a tuition increase to offset a reduction in state funding. The governor cannot fire members of the Auburn board outright but could use extensive powers of his office and the board chairmanship to punish institutions or members of boards that defy him.
Tuition increases at the Auburn and Montgomery campuses are among several options under consideration as the university prepares for reduced state funding in the budget year starting Oct. 1. Other options include various approaches to spending cuts. An early retirement incentive has been taken off the table unless the budget cut is significantly more than anticipated.
The governor left open the possibility that the board may proceed with the third year of its five-year plan to move AU closer to the regional tuition average by increasing rates up to five percent a year. However, any budget planning, whether or not tuition increases are included, will have to await action in the Legislature, where the House was to consider a compromise plan for the education budget this week.
The compromise between K-12 and higher education forces offers to treat both branches of education equally in next year's budget. Additionally, with state income projections changing daily, the reduction was pegged late in the week at 3.5 percent, far smaller than previous projections of 6 percent to 12 percent.
The board's budget committee on Thursday considered bringing before the board a resolution to limit the maximum tuition increase to 9.5 percent, with the likelihood that the actual increase would be smaller. The committee members had expressed a desire to reassure students and parents that a 40 percent increase, which had been cited in a worst-case scenario, was not under consideration.
Board members agreed Friday, following the governor's visit, that they do not want to scare away students and parents with talk of large tuition increases, but some trustees objected to having the option of a moderate increase removed. Among those objecting, Trustee Jimmy Rane of Abbeville said he did not want to see the university backed into a corner, with most options being taken off the table.
"I came to the board to help make Auburn University better, not to preside over its demise," Rane said. "We are not being given the resources. If we don't have the money and we don't raise tuition, the only thing left is to cut. It is not fair and shouldn't be tolerated."
Rane advocated tax reform as a way to increase state revenues for education. Board member Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe said supporters of tax reform would have to band together to overcome opposition from entrenched groups that benefit from tax exemptions which are unfair to others.
The university is confronted by budget problems for the current year as
well as next year. An $8 million reserve fund accumulated over several
years will help ease the impact of proration, which will lead to state
funding cuts of either 6.8 percent or 11.8 percent this year for higher
education, depending on a pending decision of the Alabama Supreme Court.
Under current conditions, use of the reserve fund combined with other
administrative actions would offset 75 percent of the funding loss, and
individual academic units would have to reduce their current operating
budgets by 2 percent to get through the year.
However, with continued uncertainty over the economy, Interim President William Walker said the university will probably need to hold back part of the reserve to prepare for the possibility of a second straight year of proration in 2002. Departments may have to reduce their budgets by a larger amount than they were expecting this year, but Walker said risk of going into another year of proration could be too great to ignore. "If we get prorated late in the year next year, we could be faced with a situation where we would have to pay out large sums that we may not have."
Board approves search process for president
The Board of Trustees on Friday authorized creation of a 16-member committee, with 15 votes, from major AU constituencies to begin the search for a new president of the university.
The board adopted Trustee Jack Miller's recommendations, which call for
three faculty members from Auburn and one from Auburn University at
Montgomery to be selected by the Rules Committee of the University
Senate of each institution. The remaining 12 members will be selected by
Board President Pro Tem Jimmy Samford.
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Other members of the search committee will include two student representatives (but one vote) from AU and one from AUM; two alumni from AU and one from AUM; one representative from the administration or deans; plus one representative from the Administrative and Professional Assembly and one from the Staff Council.
Miller said he considers it essential that the search be designed and conducted to demonstrate that the university can and should come together in selection of a new president. The person selected will become the 16th president of Auburn University since the institution's founding in 1856, succeeding William Muse, who was removed by the board in February after he was hired as the chancellor of East Carolina University, effective Aug. 1.
Search procedures adopted by the board include a stipulation that no president can be selected by the board unless he or she goes through the search committee process and is one of the candidates recommended by that committee. If no candidate is selected, the process will begin again.
Other key procedures include:
* Consultation to begin immediately with university stakeholder groups.
* The search committee shall select an experienced and nationally
recognized university presidential search firm, whose role shall be
advisory.
* The committee's search process will begin after the faculty members
have been selected.
* All candidates on the short list will be invited but not required to
participate in an open forum with faculty members.
* All statements, such as the charge and leadership statements, will be
approved by the committee.
* A web site will be maintained throughout the process to keep all
university stakeholders informed about the search process.
Miller urged tolerance from Auburn constituencies when search committee members make mistakes. "I appeal to all rational men and women to recognize that our common humanity makes this result inevitable," he said. "The absence of perfection does not indicate the absence of good will."
Walker, Glover endorse faculty seat on board
Interim AU President William Walker and Trustee Charles Glover on Friday requested faculty representation on the Board of Trustees similar to that granted students, who have non-voting representatives on the board from Auburn and AUM.
The request from Walker was among several suggestions for improving
relations between the board and the faculty that he made at the start of
the Board of Trustees meeting. Glover made his recommendation in a
special presentation during the meeting at which he issued a personal
apology to the faculty and to former President William Muse for not being
as publicly supportive of both as he had intended.
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The board did not take action on the requests, but Glover said he would like to see action on the matter at the board's June 4 meeting.
Walker, who, since being named interim president in February, has tried to mediate conflicts between board members and the faculty, said board action to bring faculty more directly into its deliberations would help restore trust and improve communications between the board and the faculty. "At the heart of Auburn's future lies the issue of trust," Walker said. "If we communicate with one another on the basis of mutual respect and trust, we can all emerge strengthened."
Walker also suggested that the board align each member with AU's colleges and schools and the Student Government Association on a rotating basis in order for the members to get to know the concerns of student leaders and faculty in those areas and for those students and faculty to get to know the concerns of the trustees on a more in-depth and personal basis.
Glover called upon his fellow trustees to grant faculty a seat at the table as a step toward reconciliation. "I believe and have believed for some time that a member of the faculty can help the board in making some difficult decisions," he said. "Our relationship with the faculty at the present time is less than one of trust. And trust is mandatory if our students are to benefit from their education at Auburn.
"I believe that our faculty has continued in this time of turmoil to teach well," Glover added. "And, I know that they need to be allowed to give us information and advise us in ways we cannot possibly know without their representation at this table.
"But the faculty, too, must help close the cultural chasm between its members and the board," he said. "This requires faculty members to recognize the board's responsibility to govern and to welcome responsible strategic oversight of the faculty's guarded prerogatives. This partnership must be developed and nurtured with care."
Alumni Association expresses lack of confidence in board
The Auburn Alumni Association Board of Directors voted no-confidence in the AU Board of Trustees on March 26.
The 14-3 vote by conference call followed a nationwide newsletter solicitation in which 52,000 alumni were asked for input. Of the 1,419 responses, 93 percent were critical of the Board of Trustees. The vote by alumni leaders followed similar votes by the Student Government Association, the University Senate, general faculty, Staff Council, Administrative and Professional Assembly and other representative groups.
The Alumni Association resolution, like those before it, accused the board of attempting to micromanage the university. Alumni leaders and individual trustees found themselves in opposition with each other last fall in a contested election that was later settled through compromise.
Since February, alumni leaders have joined faculty, staff and other groups in protesting the sudden replacement of former President William Muse following the announcement that Muse had accepted the chancellorship of East Carolina University, effective Aug. 1.
The anger of alumni leaders was further stoked by a letter from Athletic Director David Housel to local alumni club presidents in which Housel said he would not send coaches to clubs at which members were criticizing the Board of Trustees or others connected with Auburn. Housel later said he wanted to keep coaches out of the line of fire at such meetings, but some alumni leaders objected to the letter's tone and timing.
Neither the Alumni Association resolution nor the ones from other AU groups are binding on the Board of Trustees, which draws its authority from the Alabama Constitution, but alumni leaders said they wanted to formally express the displeasure of AU alumni nationally with the trustees.
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Library joins online sharing system
AU's library is one of 13 research libraries across the Southeast participating in Kudzu, an online shared catalog system that will connect more than 180,000 students and faculty in those institutions to more than 23 million volumes.
The new system allows users to browse the participating catalogs using a single search interface, and to submit interlibrary loan requests. Using existing systems at each participating site, most documents can be delivered within two days, said Linda Thornton, chair of access services for AU Libraries.
"All Kudzu participants have agreed to provide expedited delivery of books," she said. "Most participants are using second-day FedEx delivery. "This is our first step toward the rapid delivery that our interlibrary loan patrons want," she added.
"We are thrilled to see this vision become a reality," said Paul Gherman, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries' Board President and University Librarian at Vanderbilt University.
Additional ASERL member libraries will likely join the system in the future. "This is one of the largest shared catalog systems in the region, and something for which we can truly be proud," added Gherman.
The initial system utilizes specialized software running on a server based at Vanderbilt's library. Other related systems and services are being considered for future phases of the system. Marshall Breeding, Library Technology Officer for Vanderbilt's library system, is leading the technical development.
In addition to Auburn, other institutions participating are: Wake Forest University, Tulane University, the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, the University of Mississippi, Virginia Commonwealth University, Mississippi State University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Vanderbilt University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Louisville.
The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries was organized in 1956 and includes more than 40 research and state libraries in the Southeastern United States, ASERL has successfully fostered a high standard of library excellence through interinstitutional resource sharing and collaborative efforts to provide and maintain quality resources and services for the students, faculty, and citizens of their respective communities.
The Southeastern Library Network, Inc. is a not-for-profit library cooperative providing resource sharing for the educational, cultural and economic advancement of the Southeastern United States -- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia -- and the Caribbean.
Ozley meets with business students
Lee Ozley, an Auburn graduate whose consulting practice was a major player in the acclaimed Harley-Davidson, Inc., turnaround, returns to the AU campus this week for a series of lectures and meetings.
Ozley has been an organizational consultant, coach and adviser to more than 80 organizations in North America and Europe for the past 30 years. Semi-retired, he devotes his time to a small number of select clients and frequently lectures to trade associations, universities and other organizations.
With coauthor Rich Teerlink, Ozley described the 15-year transformation of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company from near bankruptcy to one of the nation's most admired companies in the book More Than A Motorcycle: The Leadership Journey at Harley-Davidson. The book was published last year by the Harvard Business School Press.
During his visit to Auburn, Ozley is scheduled to meet with several groups including Ph.D. students and members of College of Business-based Auburn Technical Assistance Center. In addition, he will also be a guest lecturer in undergraduate management classes.
Ozley received undergraduate degrees in business administration and industrial psychology from AU in 1961 and his graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, where he focused on the work of Abraham Maslow.
Program activities highlight disabilities awareness
AU's Program for Students with Disabilities will mark its 10th anniversary April 16-20 with several Disability Awareness Week activities.
The program will hold an open house on Wednesday, April 18, from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. in Haley Center 1244. The staff will give tours of the new assistive technology lab and descriptions of equipment used in the library will be displayed in the lobby.
On Thursday, April 19, there will be a Disabilities Simulation Race at 3
p.m on the concourse in front of Haley Center.
Teams may sign up for the competition by contacting the Program for
Students With Disabilities before April 12.
On April 20, Doug Wakefield, an information accessibility specialist for the U. S. Access Board, will speak on disability issues at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Dixon Conference Center.
Elections authority to speak April 16
R. Doug Lewis, executive director of Election Center, will present the 2001 Gordon Sherman Lecture in Public Administration at 6 p.m., Monday, April 16.
Lewis will speak at Greystone, a converted historic home at the corner of East Magnolia Avenue and DeBardeleben Street in Auburn. Greystone is across DeBardeleben from AU's Pebble Hill.
Lewis has served since 1994 as executive director of Election Center, which is often cited by political commentators as America's leading professional organization representing elections officials and voter registrars. Its members are government employees whose profession is to serve in voter registration and elections administration.
He has developed and authored the Professional Education Program for elections and registrations officials.
The program in 1995 was named as the best continuing education program in the nation by the National University Continuing Education Association.
The lecture series honors alumnus Gordon M. Sherman, who established the endowment to promote understanding of and interest in public service careers.
Intersection closed for repairs
The intersection of Roosevelt Drive and Donahue Drive, between the stadium and the coliseum, was scheduled to be closed on Monday for improvements to Donahue.
The work, which is scheduled for completion by mid-August, will be
suspended on April 14 for the A-Day football game and related activities.
Donahue will not be passable between Roosevelt and Thach. Other streets
in the area will be for local traffic only. For details and updates, call
844-9583.
AU-licensed car enters race at Talladega
Auburn University will have an entry in NASCAR's Busch Grand National series race at Talladega on April 21, says Susan Smith, director of AU's trademark licensing.
Auburn's logos will be part of the paint scheme on the No. 98 Ford Taurus
driven by Elton Sawyer for
Akins Motorsports.
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The car will be on display on A-Day Saturday, April 14 on the east lawn
in front of Jordan-Hare Stadium. Smith said the car will be filled with Hot
Tamales candy, and the person who comes closest to guessing how many
boxes are in the car will win a chance for tickets to the 2002 Daytona 500
race.
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Atlanta-based Collegiate Licensing Company, along with Starter, Hot Tamales, Zours, and Mike and Ike candy brands of Just Born, Inc., are teamed with Akins Motorsports and Sawyer for the 2001 season. Sawyer's cars will carry 18 different paint schemes this racing season, 14 of which will feature individual CLC Consortium member universities.
"Auburn University has been guaranteed a minimum of $50,000 from the royalties earned on the sale of apparel, novelties and collectibles such as the die-cast miniature cars," said Smith. "There's a potential for the university to earn much more, especially if the car does well in the race."
Smith says apparel is already available in stores and the collectibles will soon be available.
Sawyer is scheduled to compete in 33 races through Nov. 10, with 14 different universities featured throughout the season. Each university will be represented according to the geographic location of the races. Sawyer has finished in the top 10 in the Busch Grand National standings the past four years.
"There are unique synergies surrounding the passion that fans have for collegiate athletics and motorsports," said David Kirkpatrick, director of CLC's non-apparel marketing. "We believe that this program has a chance to unite that spirit and translate into dynamic opportunities for the universities, promotional partners, licensees and retailers."
A select group of vendors will produce apparel, headgear, collectibles and
novelties as part of the program. The products will be available in
department stores, mass merchants, bookstores and specialty shops.
Revenue generated by the project will not be used for AU's operation and
maintenance, but is earmarked like all licensed product sales for
student scholarships.
Annual royalties from the sale of hundreds of types of merchandise displaying AU-licensed trademarks generate about $700,000 annually. The money is divided equally between academic and athletic scholarships. During the past decade, AU has earned nearly $7 million from royalty fees, says Smith.
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Banner from past has current appeal
A timely banner from the past was revived for display at Haley Center last week.
While cleaning out cabinets in the College of Education, staff members Linda Gresham and Sandra Harris found the banner, which reads "Education in Alabama... We Deserve Better."
The banner was found among old papers and other reports dated 1965.
When Education Dean Richard Kunkel saw the sign, he thought that someone
had prepared the banner for today.
Upon learning that it was an old artifact, Kunkel said, "Well, it appears that God has sent us a message from 36 years ago. That is still correct today." The college hung the banner from the Thach entrance of Haley Center.
AU joins America's Promise alliance
AU Interim President William Walker says Auburn will become a "University of Promise" by making a strong commitment to the area's youth as part of the America's Promise -- Alliance for Youth program.
America's Promise is an alliance of nearly 500 national organizations -- corporations, not-for profits, higher-education and faith-based groups, associations and federal agencies and arts and culture organizations -- dubbed commitment makers that commit to fulfill one or more of five promises to America's youth: caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, marketable skills and opportunities to serve. The organizations agree to expand existing youth programs or create new ones and hold themselves accountable by measuring their progress.
"Auburn is proud to become a partner in the America's Promise program," said Walker. "With the renewed commitment and collaboration of programs already in place at Auburn that share the vision of America's Promise and with certain new initiatives, Auburn has an opportunity and a duty to be a strong, positive influence on the young people in the community."
Walker has appointed a committee to push the effort at Auburn.
Nancy McDaniel, AU's assistant vice president for student life and
coordinator of the University of Promise effort, says the work has already
begun at Auburn.
"We have several ongoing projects and organizations here at Auburn that are perfect fits for our University of Promise initiative," she said. "By strengthening, promoting and increasing the campus-wide awareness of what is already being done at Auburn to fulfill our commitment to youth in the area, we have a very good start on what we want to achieve through this effort."
America's Promise was founded after the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in 1997 in Philadelphia. Former presidents Clinton, Bush, Carter and Ford, along with former first lady Nancy Reagan, challenged the nation to make youth a national priority. Their call to action included a commitment on the part of the nation to fulfill the five promises.
Diverse speakers scheduled for Pebble Hill
An expert on India's government, a Southern historian and a noted economist who is also a talented artist are among presenters being brought to Auburn during April by the Center for the Arts and Humanities.
The programs over the next two weeks will begin at 4 p.m. and will be at Pebble Hill, the home of the Center for the Arts and Humanities. The historic building is at East Magnolia Avenue and DeBardeleben Street six blocks east of campus.
Shyam Bhurtel, an AU graduate who is executive director of the association of local governments in Nepal, will speak Thursday, April 12, on decentralization and community development in Nepal.
On Monday, April 16, Pebble Hill will host a reception to open an exhibition of art work by Bob Ekelund, the Lowder Eminent Scholar in Economics at AU's College of Business.
On Wednesday, April 18, Rice University historian John B. Boles will give a lecture and lead a discussion on "Changing Historical Interpretation of Southern Religion."
Bhurtel received his doctoral degree in history at AU in 1982 and returned to Nepal where he taught American and world history at the Royal Tribhuvan University in Khatmandu for several years.
Ekelund's work -- primarily landscapes of the American Southwest -- will
remain on exhibit through May 14 and can be seen weekdays 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
and 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m.
Boles, the William Hobby Professor of History at Rice, is also the editor of
the Journal of Southern History.
Ritz-Carlton vice chairman lectures in Human Sciences
Horst Schulze, vice chairman of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Co., presents the 2001 Mildred Brown Davis Lecture in the College of Human Sciences on Tuesday, April 17, one of several events scheduled that day to recognize the importance of global understanding.
April 17 has been designated as Human Sciences Day for Global Understanding, and a panel discussion of AU human sciences faculty and students led by Steve Du Mont, chairman of Du Mont & Associates, an international consulting firm, and a member of the college's International Board of Advisors, will be held at noon.
During Schulze's 7 p.m. lecture at the Dixon Conference Center auditorium, Glenda Steele Harris, wife of Alabama Power Co. executive Elmer Harris and a leader in community issues, will be honored by the college as it's 2001 Outstanding Alumna.
"We are so pleased to honor Glenda Steele Harris as the College of Human Sciences' 2001 Outstanding Alumna. Her vision, leadership, and commitment to service on behalf of numerous charitable and civic organizations have been instrumental in improving the quality of life for Alabama's children and families," said June Henton, dean of AU's College of Human Sciences.
Schulz, a member of the college's Dean's Development Board, joined the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. in 1983 as vice president for operations. He was appointed executive vice president for operations in 1987 and was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 1988.
Before joining Ritz-Carlton, Schulze spent nine years with Hyatt Hotels Corporation as a corporate vice president. He came to the U.S. from Europe where he began his career in the hotel industry.
This is the third year Human Sciences has sponsored events for global understanding day. The noon discussion, to be held in 144 Spidle Hall, will feature a discussion on "Pursuit of Scholarship Around the Globe" by Human Sciences faculty Michael Solomon, Alex Vazsonyi and Peggy Hsieh, along with students Ellen Magnus, Tad Pheiffer and Karen Bartoszuk.
Harris, a native of Alexander City, graduated from AU in 1961 with a degree in home economics. Harris' commitment to developing strong Alabama communities led her to establish the Alabama Power Service Organization, a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation of Alabama Power Co. volunteers and their families.
Magazine editor to present public lecture
Southern Accents magazine vice president and editor Mark Mayfield will speak on "21st Century Design" at 11 a.m. April 25, in the Dixon Conference Center auditorium.
Mayfield's presentation is sponsored by the Grisham-Trentham Lectureship in the College of Human Sciences.
Mayfield, who is also acting editor for Southern Progress' new magazine Hot Dots, is a 1978 graduate of the University of Alabama. He was editor of the student newspaper, The Crimson White, during his senior year, and, following graduation, he was a reporter for The Birmingham News and later managing editor of the Daily Mountain Eagle in Jasper.
He was a reporter for United Press International in Atlanta for two years and was Atlanta bureau chief for USA Today. In 1993, Mayfield was named editor-in-chief of Arts & Antiques magazine in New York and two years later became executive editor of Southern Accents magazine.
Southern Accents is published by Southern Progress Corp., which also publishes Southern Living, Cooking Light, Progressive Farmer, Coastal Living and Weight Watchers magazines, as well as Oxmoor House books. The Birmingham based subsidiary of Time Inc., is a leading source of lifestyle information.
In its 15th year, the lecture series is sponsored by AU's Department of Consumer Affairs, and is coordinated by Michael Solomon, Human Sciences professor of consumer behavior.
The Grisham-Trentham Lectureship was established by retired consumer affairs Professor Gary Trentham to expose students to internationally respected fashion experts. The lectureship is named for Trentham, who taught at AU for 23 years, and sponsored by Betty Grisham of Huntsville and her late husband, Charles, an Auburn graduate.
Speaker to discuss cloning issues
A nationally prominent animal science professor will speak on cloning and its applications during two presentations April 17 in Overton Auditorium at AU's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Neal First of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will present "Cloning and its Applications in the New Millennium: Differentiating Between Reality and Science Fiction" at 11 a.m., and then a 4 p.m. seminar, "Hello Dolly and Beyond: The Use of Cloning to Understand Differentiation Biology."
First is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council's Institute for Laboratory Animal Research committee, and the National Advisory Board on Ethics in Reproduction. He is the L.E. Casida Professor of Reproductive Biology and Animal Technology in the Department of Animal Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin Madison.
Reception honors English Department authors
A reception for 15 Department of English faculty will be held Wednesday, April 11, at Pebble Hill.
The reception, which will be from 3 to 5 p.m., will honor those English faculty members who have published books between 1996 and 2000. It is open to the public.
The honorees include: Professor and West Point Stevens Eminent Scholar Paula Backscheider, Assistant Professor Jonathan Bolton, Professor George Crandell and Professor Don Cunningham.
Other honorees include Associate Professor Jeremy Downes, Associate Professor Tim Dykstal, Hargis Professor of American Literature Bert Hitchcock, Instructor Peter Huggins, Mosley Professor emeritus Taylor Littleton, Professor Patrick Morrow, Associate Professor Tom Nunnally, Associate Professor Constance Relihan, Associate Professor Robin Sabino, Associate Professor Elizabeth Smith, Hollifield Professor of English Literature Miller Solomon and Alumni-Writer-in-Residence Judy Troy.
AU Theatre to present 'Three Sisters'
The final performance of the AU Theatre for the 2000-01 season will be Anton Chekhov's classic play "Three Sisters."
Performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. April 24-28, with an additional matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 28. Tickets are $10 for students, $12 for seniors and AU faculty/staff and $14 for the general public. For reservations or more information call 844-4154.
Completing the theme of this year's season, the presentation will honor retiring department head Patricia McAdams. The reception for McAdams, who has taught at AU since 1991, will be held following the April 27 performance
The production is under the direction of Assistant Professor Daydrie Hague, who will also host a pre-show seminar on Tuesday, April 24, at 6 p.m. She will lead a panel of AU faculty discussing the play.
"Three Sisters" has been cited by many theatre critics as Chekhov's masterpiece. In this translation by playwright Lanford Wilson, the play examines the gap between hope and fulfillment in the lives of the Prozorov family and their friends.
"Three Sisters" takes place in a provincial Russian town where the Prozorov sisters and their brother Andrei were raised. Olga, the oldest, is a high school teacher; Masha is unhappily married to a teacher in the same school; and Irina and Andrei have dreams of moving back to Moscow.
Hague, who joined the AU faculty last fall after being an adjunct faculty member, said the production is a true collaboration of many units on campus.
The play, which marks her directorial debut at AU, is not new to Hague,
having previously performed the play in New York. "I do have experience
with the play, having experience processing it and having some sort of
sense of how an audience will respond to it.
"However, as director, instead of having knowledge of one actor's
performance, I need a clear idea of everyone's character," she added.
Pulitzer Prize winner to speak on April 16
A public lecture by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner E.O. Wilson has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. Monday, April 16, in the Dixon Conference Center auditorium
Wilson, the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, canceled an earlier Littleton-Franklin Lecture because of inclement weather. A native Alabamian, Wilson won Pulitzers for On Human Nature and The Ants. In addition, he has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and is a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences.
Wilson has won many scientific awards, including the National Medal of Science and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His bestselling book, The Diversity of Life, made him a leader in the environmental movement and an advisor on preservation legislation at the highest levels of the U.S. government. He is a pioneer in the field of socio biology and one of the most sought after science lecturers in the world.
The Littleton-Franklin Lecture Series has been sponsored since 1968 by the John and Mary Franklin Foundation of Atlanta.
Gray to present Kosolapoff Award Lecture
Harry B. Gray, the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, will present the annual G.W. Kosolapoff Award Lecture at 8 p.m., April 17, in Chemistry Building room 151.
The lecture is titled, "Clean Fuel from Solar Photochemistry." An additional lecture, "Electron Tunneling Through Water and Proteins" will be presented in room 134 at 3:45 p.m on April 18.
Gray was selected to receive this Award by the Auburn Section of the American Chemical Society. The Award and Lecture was established 16 years ago to honor G.W. Kosolapoff, an internationally known chemist who was prominent in the early history of the Chemistry Department at Auburn.
Campus Views: Attacks against higher education are
misleading
By Interim President William F. Walker
Several Alabama newspapers recently printed an opinion piece written by
a city school superintendent who claimed that state colleges and
universities receive state appropriations per student of roughly $22,000,
while K-12 only receive about $4,300 per student.
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The article specifically said that even though Auburn University doesn't have a medical school, it receives $18,000 per student.
Apparently the writer arrived at this figure by taking AU's total enrollment at its main campus and Montgomery campus and dividing it into the total AU system budget, which includes the main campus, AUM, the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
And the overall budget figure used by the author apparently wasn't just restricted to state funds. It appears that it also included restricted funds, auxiliaries, student-paid tuition and fee revenues, student paid-housing revenues, textbooks sales, etc.
A popular description for the sort of calculation done by the writer would today generously be called "fuzzy math." That's because there are no students in the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station or the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
If the writer had done her homework on Auburn, she would also have learned that while AU doesn't have a medical school, it does have schools and departments in veterinary medicine, engineering, pharmacy, fisheries, plant pathology, poultry science, biological sciences, forestry, and agriculture all expensive to equip, operate and maintain.
Most of these programs have a direct connection to some of the most vital components of Alabama's economy.
But most importantly, in response to the earlier op-ed piece, state spending per student at Auburn is a mere $5,202 per year -- not the $18,000 the writer erroneously cited in her article. That compares to more than $10,326 received by the University of Georgia, $8,147 at Florida State University, $6,790 at the University of South Carolina, $6,759 at the University of Arkansas and $6,499 at the University of Tennessee.
Of the Auburn system's nearly $500 million annual budget, the state appropriated less than $157 million (before proration) for the main campus and for AUM. Federal appropriations (usually designated for specific research projects); private gifts (customarily earmarked for scholarships) and tuition and fees make up the bulk of the remainder of AU's budget.
Still, the simple truth is that basic economics tells us that it costs more to educate a college student than a second-grader. If we're trying to advance the state economically, we need to acknowledge that chemistry, biophysics and engineering laboratories are expensive. It's a cost of doing business in higher education.
It is a disservice for an educator at any level in Alabama to attempt to pit K-12 against higher education, but it's especially wrong when that educator peddles material through the news media that is just plain wrong.
We need to be looking for solutions that will benefit all of education and all of Alabama -- not casting blame and looking for scapegoats among ourselves.
The time is now for K-12 and higher education to join hands and end the bickering over the pitiful amount of revenue raised by an antiquated tax system that is kept in place by an equally antiquated state constitution.
Hopefully, the leadership in Montgomery will begin to look beyond the next election and view the big picture in Alabama. Poll after poll shows that Alabamians value education and would support a new constitution and a revised tax system that would make our schools less dependent on the ups and downs of the economy.
The future of Alabama is in their hands. Let's not continue to fight over scraps.
Unsung Hero: Dale Holland, Human Resources
This week's Unsung Hero is Jan Dale Holland, assistant II in the Office of
Human Resources, where she has been employed for the past nine and one
half years, the past eight in her current job. She was asked:
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What is the most rewarding part of your job? "The most rewarding part of my job is meeting future employees of Auburn University and enjoying the ones we already have in place!"
What is the most challenging part of your job? "The most challenging part of my job is helping people with very diverse educational and economic backgrounds."
If you were not doing this job, what would you most like to do? "If I were not doing this job I'd like to sing and speak professionally."
What makes Auburn special? "Auburn's sense of community is what makes Auburn special. Auburn people pull together as a team and offer a supportive work environment."
What was your first impression of Auburn University? " As an entering freshman Auburn University appeared to be 'Big' and impersonal."
How has that impression changed? " It has changed dramatically. Auburn University is like my personal family now."
What words best describe Auburn as a work environment, learning environment or just a place to be? "Auburn as a workplace offers great opportunity for advancement, professionally, academically, and personally. It's a great place to work and a lot of fun."
What do you like to do when not at work? " When I'm not at work, I enjoy my family, church, friends, music and literature."
What person or persons do you most admire and why? " I most admire someone whose faith sustains them throughout their lifetime."
What is your favorite line from the Auburn Creed and why? "My favorite
line from the Auburn Creed is 'I believe in my country, because it is a land
of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve my
country by doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with my God.' It
is my favorite line because it prioritizes what's important in life."
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AU Report
Editor: Roy Summerford. Contributing editors: Bob Lowry, Janet McCoy and David Granger. University Relations Executive Director: Pete Pepinsky. The AU Report is the faculty/staff newsletter of Auburn University and is published by the Office of University Relations at Auburn University. Direct correspondence to AU Report, 23 Samford Hall, Auburn University, Ala. 36849-5109. Telephone 334/844-9999. Electronic mail: summero@auburn.edu |