AU REPORTMay 7, 2001
Headlines State funding uncertainties remain Two graduations set for May 12

Auburn University will award an estimated 2,308 academic degrees at two commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 12 at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Depending on the final numbers, AU's spring 2001 class could be its largest ever, eclipsing the record 2,240 degrees awarded last spring, according to the AU Registrar's office.

Because of the size of the class, Auburn will have commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in an effort to more easily and comfortably accommodate families and friends of the graduates.

Students in the colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences and Mathematics and the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences will receive their degrees in the 10 a.m. ceremony. Students in the colleges of Agriculture, Business, Human Sciences and Architecture, Design and Construction and the School of Nursing will receive degrees in the 2 p.m. ceremony.

AU will present an honorary degree to Harold A. Franklin, who in 1964 was the first African-American student to attend AU.

Franklin

The honorary degree will complete a 37-year journey for the now-retired educator, whose admission to graduate study at Auburn marked the end of racial segregation of the university.

Franklin will participate in both ceremonies. He was selected for the honorary degree by the AU Board of Trustees at the request of the university's faculty senate, the Auburn Black Student Caucus, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the AU president's office and others.

Although the Alabama State University graduate's admission to Auburn under court order was accomplished peacefully, without the rancor that greeted integration of other major Southern institutions in the early 1960s, Franklin was admitted under heavy guard and was kept isolated from other students in campus housing. He sought a master's degree in history and political science but eventually left without graduating and later earned a master's degree in history from the University of Denver.

He cited the isolation and a dispute with faculty over his choice of a thesis topic as his reasons for leaving Auburn, but since then he has returned to campus several times for speaking engagements.

Franklin taught and held administrative posts at Alabama State, North Carolina A&T University, Tuskegee University and Talladega College from 1965 until retiring from education in 1992.

Of the degrees AU will award, 1,965 are bachelor's degrees, 294 are master's degrees, four are doctorates and two are specialists degrees.
AU's College of Business will award the most undergraduate degrees with 500, followed by the College of Liberal Arts with 398 and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering with 294.

Other activities set for AU's graduation weekend include the Reserve Officers Training Corps commissioning ceremony at Langdon Hall at 6 p.m., on Friday, May 11, and the School of Nursing's pinning ceremony set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 12, at Auburn United Methodist Church.

The School of Pharmacy and the College of Veterinary Medicine traditionally hold commencement ceremonies separate from the main ceremonies. Those ceremonies are set for Tuesday, May 8, in the Student Activities Center. The Pharmacy ceremony begins at 1 p.m. and Veterinary Medicine at 6 p.m.

Uncertainties in state's funding continue in session's final days

State funding for Auburn, both for the remaining months of this fiscal year and the 2001-02 budget year, remains uncertain as the Alabama Legislature heads into the final days of its annual session.

The Alabama Senate is scheduled to consider the education budget this week. Changes in the House-passed $4.2 billion budget could send it to a conference committee of select House and Senate members for a final version that would go back to both chambers.

The version passed by the House contains $207 million for the AU System, of which $135 million would be for operations and maintenance on the main campus. That amount is approximately 3 percent less than the amount allocated for this year before proration.

An agreement between K-12 public schools and higher education which enabled the budget to move from the House to the Senate remains tenuous, says Buddy Mitchell, executive director of governmental affairs at AU.

"It could go either way at this stage," Mitchell said. "The less time you have, the more chance you have for a flameout on the budget. If it goes down in flames, it wouldn't be the first time."

The education budget has to be approved by midnight on May 21, the final day of the current session, or Gov. Don Siegelman will be forced to call the Legislature back into special session to pass one. The state's budget year starts Oct. 1.

The only certainties so far are that state education funding will be cut for the remaining months of this budget year and in the coming year. The Alabama Supreme Court has indicated that it will wait until after the legislative session to act on a lawsuit by higher education seeking a ruling to direct the governor to apply equally the state's 6.2 percent proration or cut in education funding. If the court rules in favor of higher education, K-12 public schools and higher education, including Auburn, will still face a 6.2 percent cut in state funding for the 2000-01 budget year. A ruling in favor of the governor will mean a cut of about 11.8 percent.

The impact of either funding cut will be compounded because the cuts are for the full year but the amount of time remaining in the year is dwindling. However, AU Interim AU President William Walker has noted that the bulk of the proration cuts will met by reserves accumulated through recent years of cost-cutting to establish a proration reserve and by administrative actions. However, only part of the $8 million proration reserve would be used; Walker has warned that the university needs to hold back part of the reserve to offset a possible second round of
proration in 2002.

State funding accounts for 40 percent of Auburn's total budget, with most of the remainder coming from tuition, contracts and grants, federal funds and auxiliary services. The Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet on June 4 to consider a budget for the coming year, but final action could depend on the timing of legislative action.

Family Fun Day celebrated Wednesday

Auburn's fifth annual "Family Fun Day" for university employees and their families will be Wednesday, May 9, along Biggio Drive south of Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

From 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., adults and children will compete for prizes, play games, listen to music and participate in related activities. Biggio Drive will be closed to traffic for the event.

The event features booths with games, affording the opportunity for kids and adults to win prizes donated by area merchants.

Albert Snipes, chair of the Family Fun Day committee, says volunteers are needed to help staff the booths and to assist in the distribution of food and snacks at the event. Snipes, manager of employee relations for AU Human Resources, said anyone interested in helping should contact Kerry Ransel at 844-1757.

Approximately 4,000 people attended Family Fun Day in each of its first four years.

Rallying for resignations
Judith Sheppard of Journalism speaks to the media and participants Thursday in a Samford Park rally sponsored by the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Other speakers included AU alumnus Owen Brown, at center foreground, former CEO of Sun Microsystems. Participants in the rally and a 5-K run, humorously prorated by organizers to four kilometers, called for the resignation of the AU Board of Trustees. The AAUP chapter has also passed a resolution seeking ouster of the Board.

Panel files complaint with AU's regional accrediting agency

A formal complaint against the AU Board of Trustees has been filed with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools by the Joint Assessment Committee, an ad hoc committee of the University Senate.

The complaint -- in the form of a four-page letter -- was signed by Jim Bradley, chair of the University Senate; Yvonne Kozlowski, past chair of the senate; Andy Hornsby, a member of the Auburn Alumni Board of Directors; Debra Carey, past chair of the Staff Council; Ellyn Hix, chair of the Administrative & Professional Assembly; and Brandon Riddick-Seals, president of the Student Government Association.

The letter -- dated April 24 -- notes that over the past 12 weeks, nine groups of university stakeholders, including faculty, students, staff, administrative and professional personnel and alumni have adopted resolutions of "no confidence" in the Board of Trustees.

The letter cites 10 "possible violations" of SACS Criteria for Accreditation, including alleged lack of institutional control of athletics, alleged undermining of the president's authority, alleged undue political influence of one board member in the nomination of other trustees, alleged illegal meetings of the board, alleged private business relationships between board members and the dismissal of former President William Muse.

"It is the hope of the JAC that your objective investigation of the above and other past and recent events related to university governance will help make clearer the path which this university must follow in order to heal itself and prepare for its re-accreditation by SACS in the near future," the letter added.

Interim President William Walker and Board of Trustees President Pro Tempore W. James Samford Jr., responded to the letter.

"I have been advised that an ad hoc committee of the University Senate has filed a written complaint with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools alleging possible violations of SACS' accreditation criteria," said Walker. "My understanding of the process is that SACS will conduct an initial review of the concerns identified by the complainant and that the university will subsequently have an opportunity to file an appropriate response. The university will cooperate fully with SACS during this process.

"Auburn University is a fully accredited member of SACS and remains fully committed to insuring that its programs and services comply in full with the criteria for accreditation. Therefore, each of the events identified in the complaint will receive my full and immediate attention."
Samford added: "I have received a copy of a written complaint to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools filed by the Joint Assessment Committee, an ad hoc committee of the Auburn University Senate. The complaint alleges 'possible violations' of SACS accreditation criteria."

"The current strength of Auburn University is a reflection of the combined contributions of the faculty, students, staff, alumni and trustees. I sincerely hope that the perceived differences among these constituent groups pertaining to governance will be addressed through open discussion. The Board of Trustees will ensure that the university cooperates fully with SACS throughout this process and looks forward to an early resolution of this matter. I am confident that this process will lead to a determination that the university remains in full compliance with the SACS accreditation criteria."

Smith Hall to reopen this month; Math Annex faces demolition

Historic O.D. Smith Hall, across College Street from Samford Hall, is scheduled to begin receiving new tenants during May after several months of renovation.

The
Facilities Division has scheduled moves into the renovated building by AU Outreach occupants of Mell Hall and the dean's office of Sciences and Mathematics in Extension Cottage. The university is planning a new laboratory science building on the site of Extension Cottage and nearby Saunders Hall.

Also this month, the Math Annex building across from Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled to be demolished. That building has been labeled a fire hazard since a fire in 1996 destroyed a similar structure next door. The site will be used for a parking lot.

The Facilities Division has also announced several paving projects for the summer, in addition to the work at Donahue and Roosevelt between the stadium and coliseum.

Other street improvements, which will affect traffic flow and parking, include the "A" parking lot at Haley Center, the parking lot on the north side of Quad Drive, reconstruction of Hemlock Drive between Samford and Thach avenues and parking lots at Comer Hall, Animal Sciences, and Leach Science Center. Other scheduled asphalt work includes Roosevelt between Mell and Donahue, Samford between Mell and Duncan, Donahue between Magnolia and Roosevelt and Hemlock between Magnolia and Thach.

Employees of the Year
Four professional and support staff members literally hauled in big checks as employees of the year for 2001 in a Human Resources ceremony on May 2. From left are Gary Roberts of Mechanical Engineering, Ben Thomas of the Athletic Department, John Filmore of Poultry Science and Nita Williams, who accepted the award for her husband, James Williams of Air Force ROTC. The checks were for $500, less taxes.

DeMent, two students win Sullivan Awards

Betty DeMent, AU's vice president for alumni and development, has won the 2001 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, which recognizes excellence in character, service to humanity, scholarship or other activities.

DeMent

Other 2001 winners were Lindsey Boney IV of Mobile, a senior majoring in history and former president of the AU Student Government Association; and Adrienne Cone of Forstson, Ga., a senior in nutrition science/pre medicine.

AU gives the awards annually to one faculty, staff member or alumnus and to two students -- one male and one female.

Auburn is one of several Southern universities presenting the award, which is sponsored by the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation to recognize those who perform "conspicuous and meritorious service of any nature to humanity" and possess "high qualities which ennoble and beautify living and bind man to man in mutual love and helpfulness."

DeMent was cited in a nomination letter for "doing the right thing for the right reason" and working "tirelessly to present Auburn University in the best possible light."

DeMent has been responsible for all alumni and development operations since 1995, including the leadership of "Campaign Auburn: The Next Generation" which raised more than $200 million for AU. Her responsibilities also include service as chief administrative officer of the Auburn Alumni Association and executive vice president of the AU Foundation.

Her professional commitments include serving as a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Foundation board of trustees, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District III board of directors, and Class VII of Leadership Alabama. She is a frequent presenter at CASE training conferences in the field of alumni and development.

In 1998, she was chairperson of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Convention and is a former president of the Alumni Directors of the Southeastern Conference. She is also a former member of the CASE Commission of Alumni Relations and the board of directors of the Council of Alumni Association Executives. She earned her B.S. in 1971 and her M.S. in 1979, both in education, at AU.

First Pharm.D. class graduating in Pharmacy

The Auburn School of Pharmacy will graduate its first doctor of pharmacy class in a 1 p.m. commencement ceremony on Tuesday, May 8, in the AU Student Activities Center.

Since the school's founding in 1885, pharmacy students at AU have received bachelor's degrees. But, with the move from the bachelor of science to the Pharm.D., the 85 students who will graduate Tuesday -- as well as future students in AU's School of Pharmacy -- will leave Auburn better prepared to succeed in what is an ever-changing field, says Paul Jungnickel, associate dean for academic and student affairs in the pharmacy school.

"For pharmacists to assume roles in pharmaceutical care and assure that patients receiving drug therapy receive optimum outcomes, a different approach to education is required," Jungnickel said.

"We are now training pharmacists to take care of patients rather than be dispensers of medications," he added. "As pharmacy re-engineers itself as a profession, much of the dispensing activities will be performed by robotics or technicians. Pharmacists will supervise these activities, but they will not be the main things that pharmacists do."

One of the students who will graduate Tuesday, Mandy Buchin of Headland, says the shift of the pharmacist's role to include more contact with patients was one of the more appealing aspects of the degree program.

"I'm very patient-oriented, very clinically oriented, so that aspect of what the Pharm.D. degree prepares you for is something that I appreciate," she said. "I want to play as much of a role in the drug therapy and disease state management of the patient as the law will allow -- not only prescribing drugs, but also looking at symptoms, sharing with the physician in diagnoses and drug-therapy decisions and managing that therapy for the patient's ultimate benefit."

Buchin added. "When you're required to do 10 months of clinical rotations as opposed to the 10 weeks that the bachelor's degree required, I think some of the intimidation that might be associated with patient interaction is taken out of it."

What Auburn-trained pharmacists will do, according to School of Pharmacy Dean Lee Evans, is work more closely with patients and their physicians, playing a proactive role in seeing drug therapy through to a successful result.

"What we are seeing now and what we'll continue to see more of in the future is pharmacists who are counseling patients, working more closely with physicians to monitor drug therapy -- even being involved in deciding on treatment options and following through with the patient to see that the therapy selected is the right one," Evans said. "We're seeing them involved in more of a team approach with other providers to ensure positive outcomes of treatment and care.

"Pharmacists are beginning to evaluate the use of very expensive drugs, comparing their effectiveness on a case-by-case basis with drugs that cost less and may prove just as, if not more effective," he said.

The change in AU's pharmacy degree program was driven by new accreditation standards for pharmacy schools developed by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education, the national pharmacy school accreditation body, which require accredited schools to offer the six-year Pharm.D. as their only degree.

Faculty design, help build school playground

More than 100 volunteers are expected to spend Saturday, May 12, at a local elementary school campus building a playground that was designed by an AU faculty member.

The playground -- to be erected at Cary Woods Elementary School in Auburn -- was designed by Linda Ruth, an assistant professor in the Department of Building Science.

Ruth was hired by the school's Parent-Teacher Association because of her previous work, including the design of Hickory Dickory Park as well as other school and church play areas in Auburn.

Susie Thomas, an assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice and president of the Cary Woods PTA, said Ruth's designs are unique because they include educational areas within the play areas.

"This special play area is also a learning environment," said Thomas. "We had brainstorming sessions with students and brainstorming sessions with faculty to make sure we were going to build something the children would want to play on as well as something that would be an extension of the classroom for the teachers."

The playground will include areas where children can play games using mathematics skills, science skills and history skills. "There will be a map of the U.S. on a concrete walkway that teachers can use to teach geography skills, a sand box for measuring to be used by first graders and older children will have a bank shot basketball area where they will have to figure out the trajectory to shoot the basketball into the hoop."

Ruth, who specializes in architecture of children's environments, says she ensures her design incorporates all the ways children play. "It takes into account that first graders play and learn differently than fifth graders," she said. "It will take the curriculum of the school and pull it out into the playground."

Included in the play area is a stage for dramatic play, a small scale replica of the Alabama Capitol, an open field and a sidewalk area for sidewalk games. There will also be an observation area for teachers to see the entire play area as well as a classroom gazebo so teachers can actually teach in the play structure.

The project began more than a year ago after Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, secured $50,000 in state funding for local elementary schools' playground construction.

Meeting with employee groups
Interim President William Walker last week met with the Staff Council, at left, and the Administrative and Professional Assembly, at right, to brief the employee groups on financial problems facing the university due to the state's education budget crisis. Walker also used the occasions to respond to questions about conflicts between the Board of Trustees and various constituencies, including the employee groups. He has also issued reports by campuswide e-mail and posted reports on a web site.



Community honors students from Auburn's Rural Studio

More than 40 Auburn students who studied and worked at the College of Architecture, Design and Construction's Rural Studio in West Alabama were honored in a Hale County ceremony on May 4-5.

The students -- 33 sophomores and 12 fifth-year thesis students -- were recognized by West Alabama residents and AU faculty for their work during the year. As part of the two-day event, students and faculty showcased their work at the Morrisette House in the Newbern home of the Rural Studio.

AU architecture professors Samuel Mockbee and D.K. Ruth co-founded the Rural Studio in 1993, which brings students from the College of Architecture, Design and Construction to the Rural Studio's base in Newbern, a town about 160 miles from campus. The West Alabama county is one of the poorest in the United States, with more than 1,400 substandard dwellings.

Each semester, second-year architecture students move to Newbern and build a home for a family in need or tackle another needed local project.
This year's home, the Shannon Dudley house, was dedicated on Saturday.
The Dudley house, located five miles west of Greensboro at the intersection of county roads 28 and 35, is the fifth charity house built by the Rural Studio.

Fifth-year thesis students remain in Hale County for the entire academic year. These students find the funding, resources and clients for their projects, and then design and build their idea, either alone or in small groups.

Mockbee wins award in home state for work

Samuel Mockbee, a professor of architecture at Auburn, has been named one of eight recipients of the 2001 Mississippi Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts.

Mockbee, co-founder of AU's Rural Studio in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. The awards were announced by the Mississippi Arts Commission, which coordinates the awards program.

A recipient of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award, Mockbee also was one of five architects nationally honored last fall by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum at a White House Ceremony.

AU's nationally recognized Rural Studio provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to design and build homes and community buildings for needy families in West Alabama, one of the poorest regions in the United States.

Grant program unites researchers on projects

The College of Sciences and Mathematics has announced a new grant program -- Promoting Research in Sciences and Mathematics -- designed to encourage faculty members and students in various disciplines within the college to combine their expertise and research talents.

Marie Wooten, COSAM's associate dean for research, says the program was developed as a tool to enhance Auburn's and COSAM's research profile in this area. In the past, she said, a clear and well defined line existed between biology and physics but that line is no longer present.

"In the cutting edge of technology today the boundaries in science aren't as tightly defined as they used to be," she said. "People (now) recognize that to solve a larger problem takes more than one discipline."

Funding for the grant was raised by COSAM Dean Stewart Schneller through alumni and friends of the college. The idea is to bring together students and faculty from various disciplines within the College of Sciences and Mathematics to work together on research.

Wooten said many universities have programs in place and developed a track record regarding interdisciplinary research. She said a track record is crucial in gaining outside or government funding.

"You've got to demonstrate that you have that key foundation," Wooten said. "(PRISM) is sort of a test bed or seed program to put in place the cornerstone to seek further funding."

The first PRISM grant has been awarded to Physics Department Head Joe Perez and a team of six members representing the physics, mathematics and chemistry departments.

Perez and his group plan to purchase a Beowolf Cluster, "a group of personal computers made into a larger machine used for parallel processing."

Perez said the computer system will be available for faculty and students. "It will enhance the computation ability of students and faculty in the College of Sciences and Mathematics so that they can learn better and be more competitive," he said.

Perez said there are two research projects planned using the new high powered computer system, the first of which is a computational project between physics and math. The second will research molecular scatter and will involve physics and chemistry.

Perez said the new computer system will bring Auburn to the forefront of research. "Parallel processing is the future of high-end computing," he said.

Spirit of Excellence winners
AU Human Resources has announced Spirit of Excellence winners for March and April. The awards recognize professional and support staff for superior performance, and the winners become finalists for Employee of the Year Awards. Spirit of Excellence Award recipients for March, above, from left, are Beth Yarbrough of Sciences and Mathematics, Gary Roberts of Mechanical Engineering, Mary Turner of Human Resources and, not pictured, Georgia Oliver of Facilities. Winners for April are shown below. They are, from left, seated, Chinita Karr of Facilities, Elizabeth Dodd of AU Libraries, and standing, Melvin Owens of Public Safety and Willie Hill of Poultry Science.


Global forestry issues examined in conference

Auburn's Forest Policy Center recently pulled together 200 forestry experts from 20 nations for an international conference on global issues in forestry.

The policy center in AU's School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences held the conference, "Global Initiatives and Public Policies: First International Conference on Private Forestry in the 21st Century," in Atlanta to focus on issues of special importance to private owners of forest land.

One of the principal speakers, Jagmohan Maini, coordinator and head of the United Nations Forum on Forests, discussed movement toward legally binding conventions and agreements that could affect the practice of forestry in a global context.

Another speaker, Clark S. Binkley, chief investment officer for Hancock Timber Resource Group, advocated expanding reliance on intensively managed plantations to reduce harvests in native and natural forests.

Other speakers included George H. Weyerhaeuser, senior vice president for research at Weyerhaeuser Company, who gave a historical perspective on the changing nature of forest policy in America and its role in the development of a 150-year-old forest products firm, and Birger Solberg, director of forest policy at the Agricultural University of Norway, who presented a European perspective on forestry issues.
AU's Forest Policy Center was established in 2000 and has worked to develop a program of research, education, and outreach that highlights the connections between local, regional, and global environmental policy initiatives and private forestry.

Campus Views: Communication means, attitudes are changing

By Roy Summerford, Editor, AU Report

A study this spring by students in a communication survey class has revealed a number of interesting findings, including a rapid increase in use of e-mail and the Internet by faculty and staff as they try to keep up with events on campus.

Summerford

The survey, an update of one conducted by the AU Report in the fall of 1996, found that 20 percent of faculty and staff now use e-mail and the Internet, primarily e-mail, as their primary source of campus news. That was small compared to the 54 percent who list print media as their primary source of campus news. However, less than five years ago, only 3 percent of respondents cited the e-mail and Internet, and 64 percent cited print media.

Among electronic media, e-mail was nearly 10 times more popular than web sites -- 48 percent vs. 5 percent. Part of the surge in popularity of e mail can probably be traced to Interim President William Walker, who has demonstrated the effectiveness of this type of communication to keep the campus informed about complex and fast-breaking developments in the state's handling of proration and budget problems that affect Auburn. The latest survey revealed that 58 percent of faculty and staff want to receive more news by e-mail. (Due to low usage of e-mail at the time, that question was not asked in the previous survey.)

While the use of e-mail for news dissemination will likely increase for faculty, professional staff and secretaries, its ability to reach all groups is limited because many support staff do not have access to computers on their jobs. Print media such as the AU Report are likely to remain part of the mix as long as they remain the preferred means of campus communication for faculty and staff and as long as they remain the only means of communicating campus news to a large segment of the campus population.

The rapid growth in popularity of e-mail was one of several interesting findings of the study. Of special interest, however, was the fact that the study was conducted by undergraduates rather than graduate students, faculty or outside consultants. Five seniors from Michele Peden's 0400 level class in the Department of Communication conducted the study as a class assignment. While the class project may not reach the rigorous standards for publication in academic journals, the students' survey provides much useful information and could easily be mistaken for the work of a professional consulting firm.

The students -- Ann Kicker, Rachel Matter, Bianca Rankin, Amanda Rich and Charlotte Thompson -- will leave campus soon for public relations agencies and related occupations where they will conduct similar studies for their clients and employers. Peden, a nontenure track instructor, is also leaving Auburn for a position with a public relations firm in Nashville. All have the potential to go far in their chosen field.

The purpose of both the 1996 study and the current one was two-fold. One goal was to obtain data to assist in decisions about content and priorities for the AU Report. The second was to gain a better understanding of the various means of and general attitudes about internal communication on campus.

The current study did not pursue one major goal of the 1996 study. The earlier study examined differences in the attitudes of faculty, staff and administrators, finding, for instance, that administrators were significantly less interested in news about working conditions and parking issues than were either the faculty or staff but administrators were significantly more interested than the other groups in news about appointments.

While it would be worthwhile to see how attitudes have changed over the past four and one-half years, the current study did not delve into those matters for two reasons: Too many administrative positions are currently held by interim or acting appointments for a survey to provide long-term information about that group. In addition, such a study would be too complex and too time consuming for the undergraduates to undertake in the limited time available.

As expected, most respondents said they try to keep up with campus news. However, only 31 percent said they think other faculty and staff do so. That still represented a marked increase from 1996, when less than 23 percent felt that faculty and staff, in general, kept up with campus news.

The bi-weekly AU Report is still the primary means of campus news of special interest among faculty and staff. The percentage has dropped to 43 from 52 in 1996 as faculty and staff have turned to other media for more frequent and/or more thorough coverage of fast-breaking news about campus conflicts. However, 44 percent of respondents say that matters they care about are featured in the AU Report, and only 13 percent disagreed with that statement. Accuracy and relevance were cited as the two most important attributes that faculty and staff seek when receiving campus news, and those were cited in the same order by the largest number of respondents as the greatest strengths of the AU Report.

As expected, timeliness was cited as the publication's greatest weakness. As shown in other responses, e-mail and the Internet may provide means to fill gaps in the production cycle.

Times of stress often result in a marked decrease in trust in official publications and in administrations. However there appears to be little falloff in either category over the past four and one-half years. While 31 percent said they do not think the administration tries to keep the faculty and staff informed, 37 percent said they think it does. The numbers are about the same as in 1996, when 38 percent of the respondents said they thought administration tried to keep faculty and staff informed and 29 disagreed.

In terms of AU Report coverage, faculty and staff were asked to rate the importance of certain types of campus news. The question assumes but does not guarantee that people will read or even seek news they deem important. This approach differs from traditional reader surveys. However, the purpose is to give priority to types of news that people consider important rather than simply trying to satisfy reader preferences.

The top five types of news coverage cited were: Legislative issues affecting AU; working conditions; Board of Trustees; administration; and higher education issues. Legislative issues jumped from near the bottom to the top of the list, and Board of Trustees news, now in the top five, was not even on the radar in the fall of 1996. Both priorities in news interest reflect the faculty and staff's increasing awareness of the impact that legislative and board decisions have on their lives.

Of the 20 options offered, the bottom five, in descending order were: Diversity issues; people features; Outreach news; Unsung Hero columns; and child care information. Other low-ranked items include visiting speakers, technology news, research news, parking issues, alumni gifts and conference announcements. For the people involved, news about these activities is very important, but for the campus as a whole, it is not.

The lower ranked items are unlikely to make page one, but they may not be eliminated from news coverage. The students conducting this survey did not segment the audience and were, thus, unable to detect items that were popular with certain groups of readers but not others. For instance in the 1996 survey, Unsung Hero columns were ranked very low by faculty but were considered very important by staff. There is nothing to indicate that this sharp difference has changed.

Unsung Hero: Elizabeth Foote, custodian, Facilities Division

Elizabeth Foote, a custodian in Samford Hall, is this week's Unsung Hero. She has been at AU for 10 years. She was asked:

Foote

What do you do in your current job? "Dusting, mopping, cleaning, the usual."

What is the most rewarding part of your job? "The people that I work with and the way they treat me."

What is the most challenging part of your job? "Meeting the needs of students, the secretaries, the doctors and the variety of people who are in Samford Hall."

If you were not doing this job, what would you most like to do? "Nursing assistant."

What was your first impression of Auburn University? "All the different people and the students."

How has that impression changed? "In Samford Hall, a more public space, today I meet a lot of special people coming in and out."

What words best describe Auburn as a work environment, learning environment or just a place to be? "A place to work and a place to learn . . . you can learn a lot from being here and I like working at Auburn."

What makes Auburn special? "My job and the people -- my co-workers."
What do you like to do when not at work? "Enjoying my grandkids, my sewing, my 89 year old mother and my family."

What person or persons do you most admire and why? "My mom -- I love and respect her a whole lot. She'll be 90 years old on the 14th of June."

What is your favorite line from the Auburn Creed and why? "'I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men...' if you are going to respect somebody, then they have to keep your confidences...respect to the fullest is earned and mutual."

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