New priorities start Oct. 1
Privatized food service starts
Need cited for graduate assistants
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AU REPORT |
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| Headlines New priorities start Oct. 1 Privatized food service starts Need cited for graduate assistants |
How AU Stacks Up
Projected percentage change in public high school graduates by state
1996-97 to 2008-09
The chart at right shows projected
changes in the enrollment pool for future college freshmen by state,
expressed in percentages, between the academic years 1996-97 and 2008-09.
College freshmen will be drawn from the ranks of students graduating from
high shool in those years. The number of
prospective college freshmen in Alabama is projected to grow modestly, while
Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee will experience rapid
growth in numbers of students reaching college age.
Leadership training
AU launches large-scale staff, supervisor training
Auburn faculty and staff will see some major changes in professional training programs during the coming year, says the coordinator of the new AU Professional Enhancement Program.
The program started Aug. 31-Sept. 2 with three days of leadership seminars for the university's top executive and academic administrators. Those sessions were based on the leadership philosophy espoused by author Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and were presented by a consultant from the Utah-based Franklin-Covey Co.
Over the coming year, programs will be developed and presented for all executives, managers/supervisors and non-supervisory personnel. Sessions will eventually be extended to all faculty who have supervisory responsibilities. The sessions will provide training and development in interpersonal relations, communication, teamwork, planning, problem solving and resource management.
Managers and supervisors will also receive training in leadership, and non-supervisory staff will receive additional training in job-related and other skills to enhance promotional opportunities.
Pat Deery, coordinator of the program for the Department of Human Resources, says the Professional Enhancement Program will make training an integral part of job and career development at Auburn. "We are changing the training culture," Deery said.
Deery outlined the program for the Staff Council on Sept. 15 and says he will also present it to the Administrative and Professional Assembly and the University Senate.
Instead of using training primarily to address problems as in the past, Auburn is developing the training program to help its managers and other employees improve skills that are necessary for better working relationships and job performance. "These are skills that are essential to the health of any organization," said Deery. "We are trying to teach things that people need to know as part of a team at Auburn University."
The major thrust, Deery said, will be on training of managers and supervisors, who will take 108 hours of training over three years. In the same period, executives will take 81 hours of training, and non supervisory personnel will take 30 to 36 hours of sessions.
Executives will take four courses in communication, two courses each in interpersonal skills, leadership and planning, one each in problem solving and teamwork and five in resource management.
Managers and supervisors will take five courses in communication, three each in interpersonal skills and planning, two each in leadership and teamwork, one in problem solving and six resource management.
Non-supervisory personnel will take four courses in communication, three in interpersonal skills, two each in problem solving and planning, and one in teamwork and problem solving. Non-supervisory personnel will also receive more specific training in their job areas.
Both managers/supervisors and non-supervisory personnel will receive instruction in how to train others.
"One goal of the training process will be to create a synergistic atmosphere that empowers employees and builds a team orientation," said Deery. "We want people to value training so much they will seek it out."
Most of the 25-30 instructors will come from faculty and professional staff ranks, with some courses such as the initial Covey-based leadership presentation taught by outside instructors. Later presentations of the "Seven Habits" course will be taught by AU faculty and staff trained as instructors of the program by Franklin-Covey personnel.
New Year marks start of new priorities, budget increases
A series of academic and financial priorities approved earlier this year by the AU Board of Trustees will go into effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.
The priorities that presented the most challenge in development -- those involving mergers or elimination of programs -- are on course and adoption has gone smoothly, said Provost William Walker. "The faculty have done a fantastic job of accepting the challenge and making the process work," he added.
Walker is scheduled to present a detailed analysis of the academic priorities to the Board of Trustees at the board's 10 a.m. Wednesday meeting in the Dixon Conference Center. Also at that meeting, President William Muse and Executive Vice President Don Large will seek final board approval for AU's 1999-2000 operating budget, which is based on administrative and fiscal priorities approved by the board in January and June.
Academic programs that will no longer enroll new students are the Ph.D. in economics, master's degrees in political science, music and instructional design and bachelor's and master's degrees in trade and industrial education. Students in those programs will be allowed to continue their progress toward a degree, but no new students are being accepted for the programs.
In addition, AU is merging criminal justice into criminology and geography into geology and moving aviation management from the College of Engineering to the College of Business.
The university, meanwhile, is preparing to implement the new funding priorities. Those priorities include increasing salaries, increasing spending on deferred maintenance for facilities, increasing departmental budgets and increasing spending on campuswide priorities and programs designated "Peaks of Excellence."
The proposed budget, using guidelines approved by the Board of Trustees in
June, sets aside funds for a 2 percent across-the-board salary/wage
increase and a 3 percent pool for merit and equity pay increases. Funding
to reduce a backlog of deferred maintenance is also among AU priorities.
Another feature of the new budget will be $1 million in extra funding for
four campuswide priorities and up to seven academic programs which are
the first to be designated for extra support under the university's new
"Peaks of Excellence" program. The campuswide priorities are the core
curriculum, instructional technology, library resources and campus
diversity enhancement.
"Peaks of Excellence" programs immediately eligible for extra funding based on their strategic plans are biological sciences, detection and food safety, transportation, information technology and forestry and wildlife sciences. Two others -- poultry sciences and fisheries and allied aquacultures -- have until January to finish and gain approval of their strategic plans.
The budget and academic priorities are tied to a set of multi-year goals developed over two years by faculty committees, the administration and a special commission and the trustees. Those goals include raising faculty salaries to the regional average and employee groups to the average for their peer groups; reducing a backlog of deferred maintenance; and establishing a process for identifying and funding programs capable of becoming models for the nation.
Walker said the process of setting goals and priorities has made the university stronger and left it in good shape for the future. "The biggest challenge is to keep our eye on the goals and avoid the temptation to substitute other goals," he added.
Davis, Hammond named to new posts
C. Grant Davis Jr. has been named secretary to the AU Board of Trustees,
subject to confirmation by the board at its 10 a.m. Wednesday meeting in
Dixon Conference Center.
Davis,at left, assumed the duties, pending board approval, on Sept. 1, following the promotion of Lynne Hammond, at right, to executive assistant to AU President William Muse.
Hammond previously served as assistant to the president and secretary to the board.
Davis, formerly assistant vice president for Student Life in the Division of Student Affairs, had been a member of the Student Affairs staff since 1978. He holds bachelors and master's degrees from AU in vocational and adult education.
W.J. Samford Jr., president pro tempore of the Board of Trustees, says the administrative reorganization reestablishes the Office of Secretary to the Board as it existed before 1992. "For the past seven years, the secretary to the board, Dr. Gerald Leischuck, and more recently, Ms. Lynne Hammond, has also served as assistant to the president," he noted.
The reorganization will enable the university to provide fulltime administrative support for the board, Samford said.
Muse said the reorganization and Hammond's move to his staff will permit him "to obtain the administrative support that I need as president"
"Ms. Hammond will have broader responsibilities in the day-to-day operations of the Office of the President," Muse added.
Hammond, who has been a university employee for 23 years, holds a B.S. degree in management and an M.S. degree in human resource management from Auburn.
Organizational changes enabling the changes were approved by the Board of Trustees on Aug. 20.
Former trustee James Tatum dies in Huntsville.
James T. Tatum Jr., who resigned from the AU Board of Trustees in
January, died Sept. 8 in his hometown of Huntsville.
The 68-year-old attorney, had served on the Board of Trustees for 16
years before resigning for health reasons.
"Jim Tatum was an excellent trustee and a good friend," said AU President
William Muse. "He loved Auburn and always did what was best for the
university."
W. James Samford Jr., president pro tem of the Board of Trustees added: "Jim Tatum championed many noteworthy and enduring university achievements, including academic program improvement, physical facilities and campus appearance, faculty and staff recognition and compensation, fiscal stability, student services, board by-laws and policy statements and AUM development."
The Board of Trustees in June adopted a resolution awarding Tatum an honorary doctor of science degree from AU. The degree will be presented posthumously at the fall quarter commencement.
Tatum, who represented the old 8th Congressional District on the Board of Trustees, was appointed to the board in 1983 by then-Gov. George C. Wallace.
A senior partner in the Huntsville firm of Berry, Ables, Tatum, Little and Baxter, Tatum graduated from Auburn in 1953 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He received a law degree from the University of Alabama in 1962.
Tatum's term on the board expired in 1995, but an Alabama Supreme Court ruling permitted him to remain on the board until his successor was appointed and confirmed by the Alabama Senate.
Gov. Don Siegelman has not appointed Tatum's successor.
Magazine ranks Auburn among top 50 public universities
U.S. News and World Report magazine has ranked Auburn 38th overall among the nation's top 50 public universities in its annual rankings for 1999-2000.
AU improved its ranking from 40th in the magazine's 1998-1999 issue. Auburn is the only college or university in Alabama listed among the magazine's overall top 50 public universities for 1999-2000. The University of California at Berkeley is ranked No. 1 nationally.
"This is another milestone in Auburn's continued rise to national
prominence," said AU President William Muse. "It's an example of the
emphasis on excellence at Auburn that is demonstrated daily by our
students, faculty and staff, with the backing of loyal alumni and other
supporters."
The magazine reviewed more than 1,400 U.S. colleges and universities before selecting its top 50.
The only Southeastern Conference-member universities ranked ahead of Auburn in the top 50 are the University of Florida and the University of Georgia.
In addition, Auburn's undergraduate engineering program is rated No. 62 in the country. Only the University of Florida and Vanderbilt University ranked ahead of Auburn among SEC-member institutions, and AU is the only Alabama school to make the list.
Auburn's College of Business was also rated No. 60, while the University of Alabama's business programs were ranked No. 45.
The U.S. News rankings appear in a special section of the magazine
and in its "America's Best Colleges" guidebook on financing college.
This is the seventh consecutive year that U.S. News has ranked
Auburn nationally.
U.S. News said it rates colleges and universities to provide an objective guide by which students and their parents can compare schools. The magazine rates a university's quality by academic reputation, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rates and alumni giving. In assigning its best values rankings, it used ratio of quality to price, percentage of undergraduates whose financial aid needs are being met and percentage of a school's total cost covered by averaged need-based grants to undergraduates.
Economics Department placed in upper ranks internationally
The Department of Economics and one of its professors has been recognized in an international ranking published in the Journal of Applied Econometrics.
The Economics Department -- part of AU's College of Business -- was ranked No. 123 in the world by the Journal of Applied Econometrics. Meanwhile, AU Economics Professor Steven B. Caudill made the publication's "Applied Econometricians Hall of Fame" list, rated 58th in the world.
AU's Economics Department was ranked just behind Emory University (No. 117), but ahead of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa (No. 143). Auburn was also rated ahead of such international powerhouses as INSEAD in France (No. 141) and the London Business School (No. 146).
The study was published in Volume 14 of the 1999 Journal of Applied Econometrics.
Hotel starts new era with emphasis on Dixons
The former AU Hotel and Conference Center has adopted a more complete name to signify that the hotel and the Dixon Conference Center are now under university ownership.
Until its recent purchase, Auburn leased the conference center from the
private owners of the hotel. The new name, AU Hotel and Dixon Conference
Center, puts renewed emphasis on the role of the Dixon family in
bringing both facilities to Auburn, noted hotel manager John Wild.
The conference center was named for Charles and Thelma Dixon when the hotel and conference center were built in 1989. The couple from Andalusia were major contributors to Auburn during their lifetimes, and, following the death of her husband, Thelma Dixon provided financing which made possible the construction of the hotel and conference center.
The joint ownership of both properties enables the hotel to join the conference center in honoring the Dixons, said Wild. "The more complete name, AU Hotel and Dixon Conference Center, is a signal that we are now a part of the university," he said. "By using the Dixon name in a more prominent manner, we join the conference center in recognizing the role that the Dixon family had in bringing this all about."
A plaque at the conference center entrance identifies the facility as the Charles and Thelma Dixon Conference Center, but the name has not been displayed outside on the hotel's signs. Wild said the hotel is working with the Facilities Division to develop a new roadside sign. The larger, granite sign will be more difficult to change, but Wild says planners are seeking a way to do so.
Wild said the hotel will also be changing the name on stationery, uniform patches and other materials as these items are reordered.
Previewing new food lines
Among those preparing food for last week's preview of new food lines at
Terrell Dining were, from left, Fred Yancey, Patrick McIntyre and Billy
Yancey.
New era in food service starts at Auburn
Sodexho Marriott Services, which contracted in April with the university to provide food services, renovated most dining areas and started some new ones over the summer. Terrell Dining closed during summer quarter for a complete overhaul, and War Eagle Food Court and other areas closed for makeovers at the end of summer quarter.
The dining and snack areas, scheduled to reopen for the start of fall quarter this week, include a new feature. The new Starbucks coffee shop in the basement of Draughon Library will join the existing Starbucks outlet in the north side mall of Terrell and a new Starbucks in the redesigned War Eagle Food Court.
New namebrand food options at both food courts will include Chick-fil-A and Godfather's Pizza.
The new management provided a preview of changes at Terrell for a limited campus audience last week. While the most visible changes will be in signage, Gary Zaleski, general manager for Sodexho Marriott's Auburn operations, said one notable feature will be on-site preparation of the food in front of the customers.
Zaleski said privatization of AU food services has gone smoothly leading up to the unveiling of the new services this week. "We think and certainly hope the customers will be very pleased with the changes we are bringing to the campus dining experience," he added.
In addition to expanded options at Terrell Dining and War Eagle Food Court, patrons will see more options at Take Ten in the Haley Center Basement, a mobile sandwich cart outside Haley, Godfather's Pizza at the Caroline Draughon Village Annex, and a move of the Dow Deli, now Lupton Deli, to Lupton Hall. Sodexho Marriott has also assumed management of the coffeeshop across from the AU Bookstore in Haley Center.
Spirit of Excellence
AU employees recognized as Spirit of Excellence winners for August,
based on exceptional performance, were, clockwise from left, Stacy Grant,
Lloyd Albert, Patricia Ann Tarver and Cathy Ramey.
Faculty cite strong need for graduate assistants
While national economic planners voice fears of a shortage in the U.S. labor pool, Auburn University faculty in a wide range of disciplines are trying to head off a labor and brainpower shortage.
A strong national economy and budget cuts at Auburn University in recent years are taking a toll on an often overlooked but vital part of the university's academic health, say faculty in several AU disciplines.
The number of graduate students holding part-time positions as teaching or research assistants declined from 1,433 in fall quarter 1995 to 1,242 in fall 1998.
Graduate School officials say the decline in assistantships, part of the budget-cutting process in several schools and colleges at Auburn, is one of several factors in a decline of graduate students during this period as enrollment fell by 3,120 to 2,633. Other factors include tuition waivers offered by competing institutions and a smaller pool of graduate students nationwide because of a strong economy.
Although academic programs have been able to handle the cuts so far, Graduate School officials say Auburn must reverse the pattern in coming years if it is to remain academically competitive. While seeking to increase the number of graduate assistantships and tuition waivers for graduate assistants, officials and faculty are stressing the importance of graduate assistants for academic programs.
"Graduate assistants are not simply workers," said Stephen McFarland, associate dean of AU's Graduate School. "They are producers and consumers of our product, and that product is knowledge."
Faculty in the colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts, Sciences and Mathematics, Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine -- among the heaviest users of graduate assistants -- say they would be unable to teach their classes or conduct research at the current level without graduate assistants.
"I don't know how we could possibly offer the core curriculum without
graduate assistants," said McFarland, who is also a history professor.
In a pattern cited by others, Joe Perez, head of the Physics Department,
said graduate teaching assistants help with logistics and individual
assistance while professors teach large classes. The assistants also
meet with small groups of students in sessions for review and
elaboration, and they guide students through lab sessions, he added.
The Physics Department's 22 faculty would be unable to teach the approximately 1,000 undergraduates taking courses in that science each quarter without the help of graduate assistants, said Perez. "It is not a timesaver for us because we are still teaching the courses and supervising the teaching assistants, but it helps us do a better job," he added.
Students seem to learn better because of the extra attention they get from the teaching assistants, Perez said.
"Auburn could not be a research and teaching institution without graduate assistants," said Marie Wooten, a professor of zoology and wildlife science. Wooten said she would not have time to conduct research and stay current in her field without graduate assistants.
Wooten said assistants enable graduate students to learn while performing duties usually associated with an apprenticeship. As a result, a synergy often exists in which faculty and graduate assistants both learn by working together, she added.
Joe Morgan, an associate professor of civil engineering, noted that most labs are taught by graduate assistants under faculty direction. Morgan said he and other faculty also work with graduate assistants on many research projects.
"I don't know how we would get by without them," Morgan said, adding that most universities utilize graduate assistants. "It would require a much higher level of funding without graduate assistants, or else we would have to scale back our activity quite a bit."
Lauren Wolfe, head of the Pathobiology Department, said graduate residents are just as vital to faculty in Veterinary Medicine as in other disciplines. Since the college's graduate students already have veterinary degrees, they bring a high level of additional expertise and stimulate faculty as well as younger students to pursue new ideas.
"There's a more scholarly environment because of their presence," Wolfe said.
Interim heads appointed for airport, conference center
The Dixon Conference Center and Auburn University Aviation are starting fall quarter with interim directors, following retirement announcements by their former directors during the summer.
Jack Lawton has been named interim director of the Dixon Conference Center, succeeding Bill Compton, and Todd Storey has been named interim executive director of AU Aviation, including the Auburn-Opelika Robert G. Pitts Airport, succeeding Jim Hendrick.
Both Lawton and Storey will provide leadership for their respective units during a period of transition. Jim Ferguson, AU's vice president for administrative services, said Lawton and Storey will serve in the positions at least through the formal reviews of the management structure for both units.
Blue ribbon commissions of university and local government officials are assessing management alternatives for both units.
Since the Auburn University Hotel opened in 1989, it has been under private ownership and management, while the university has separately leased and managed the conference center. The AU Board of Trustees on June 7 authorized the purchase of the hotel by the university.
Lawton, who holds a bachelor of science degree and an MBA from Auburn, has served for the past five years as assistant director and lead information technology specialist for the Dixon Conference Center. He served from 1991-94 as user services specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. He previously served four years in the Army and worked for Florida Seed Co. for two years.
"I am confident that Jack will provide very able leadership to the Dixon Conference Center during a period of transition," said Ferguson. "He has some pretty big shoes to fill since Bill Compton had been the one and only director since the facility opened, but I know Jack is up to the challenge."
Storey, meanwhile, takes over interim management of AU Aviation at a time when work is about to begin on a runway extension and other major improvements are being planned for the airport.
Storey, who holds a bachelor's degree in aviation management from AU, has served for the past 10 years as chief air transportation pilot at the airport. In that position, he supervised training and assignments of pilots and monitored performance and maintenance of aircraft. He has been a member of the airport staff since 1983 and has served as a flight instructor, contract pilot, pilot and chief pilot.
Two other interim appointments at the airport include Ron Pilz, who moves into Storey's position as chief air transportation pilot, and Tammie Harper, who has been named interim manager of airport administration and operations. Harper succeeds Patsy Vincent, who retired at the end of August.
Pilz has served since 1993 as senior air transportation pilot. Pilz, who
holds a bachelor's degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,
previously served 16 years as an Army aviator and officer.
Harper, who previously served as administrator of accounts, has been with
the university since 1992 following nine years experience in accounting in
private businesses and industries.
"I am extremely pleased that Todd, Ron and Tammie were willing to assume these new responsibilities during the interim period," Ferguson said. "They are all very loyal and dedicated employees who have served Auburn University Aviation with distinction for many years."
Camp War Eagle '99 attracts nearly 3,500 incoming freshmen
When Auburn begins fall classes on Tuesday, most freshmen will have a head start because they attended the Camp War Eagle freshman orientation program.
Nearly 3,500 students attended one of the eight sessions of Camp War Eagle between June and August. And Nancy McDaniel, director of the Student Success Center, says this summer's camps were the most successful ever.
"I attribute the success of this year's Camp War Eagle to the dedication of the staff, the participation of representatives of every unit across this campus and to our working hard to assure that every student and parent that attended was provided with accurate information, personal attention and a total experience emphasizing the importance of academic and personal success at Auburn," McDaniel said. "The 38 students who were involved as camp counselors set a high standard of excellence in their work throughout the summer. Certainly, they played a large part in its success, too."
Mark Armstrong, director of Camp War Eagle, said evaluations completed by each student at the end of their three-day sessions illustrated the success of this year's program.
"The Camp War Eagle evaluations for 1999 were the best we've had in the five years we've hosted this program on campus," he said. "The marks were high across the board and the credit should be shared by everyone across campus involved in the program."
Camp War Eagle is designed to better prepare incoming freshmen for life at AU through a structured program emphasizing academic and personal success. Students meet faculty, talk with academic advisors, and register for fall quarter classes. The students can talk with representatives about various student activities on campus and are indoctrinated with the Auburn Spirit at a pep rally and a session called Auburn Mania, where students divide into small groups to participate in various contests.
Each of the students also participated in small group discussions sessions called "Tiger Talks."
Each group was headed by a camp counselor and discussions centered on issues ranging from anxieties of attending college to alcohol awareness. The Tiger Talk groups spent most of their time together at camp, allowing for time to bond and grow comfortable with each other and with AU.
"Aside from academic advising and registration, Tiger Talks are probably the backbone of Camp War Eagle," said Armstrong. "The counselors go through weeks of training and testing to prepare them for the summer, when we entrust them to inform our incoming freshman of the many programs and services available to them here. There's so much the freshmen need to hear while they are here, and just a limited time. We think the counselors do an excellent job in getting this information to the freshmen effectively in the limited amount of time they have."
Each session of Camp War Eagle also featured a parent program where parents met university administrators and faculty and learned about academic programs, policies, facilities and services.
Sessions available to parents were The Freshman Zone, where upperclassmen talked about their first years of college, touching on social issues, money management and general adjustment to university life; meetings with their child's faculty advisor; meetings with representatives of the Bursar, Registrar, financial aid office and other AU services and programs; a mock college class for a taste of what their children will experience; and a discussion with faculty members about the use of technology in the classroom.
This year, more than 4,000 parents of incoming freshmen took advantage of the program.
"One of the reasons we like our Tiger Talk format so much is that is frees up AU staff to interact with the parents," Armstrong said. "While there are some opportunities for the parents to interact with AU students, they respond well to the official word so to speak, so that's what we try to provide for them."
Register e-mail address for directory by Oct. 1
AU faculty and staff have until Oct. 1 to register their e-mail addresses with University Computing for those addresses to appear in the 1999 2000 AU telephone directory.
When sending e-mail on campus, you no longer have to include the word "mail" in the address. This year's phone book, as well the University Directory on the Web, will use the format @auburn.edu for e-mail addresses.
The actual destination where messages arrive can be wherever the recipient chooses and can be changed as the recipient wishes, according to University Computing.
To register with the e-mail forwarder on the World Wide Web, click here. Contact the access administrator in 26 L Building or via e-mail at account@auburn.edu or by phone at 844-4512.
For more information, see "E-mail Addressing & Delivery at AU" on the University Computing Help Desk web site.
Radio collar
In an exercise with high school students at the West Alabama Aquaculture
Honors Camp, Greg Whitis prepares to hide a stuffed coyote equipped with
a radio collar.
Program gives high school students view of careers in natural sciences
Nineteen rising junior and senior high school students from West Alabama visited Auburn recently to learn about careers in fisheries, forestry, zoology/wildlife, environmental science and veterinary medicine.
The students visited the university through a camp financed by an AU Outreach "Do
Something" grant awarded to Len Vining, training specialist in the
Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, and Greg Whitis,
extension aquaculturist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
The $20,000 grant funded the AU camp that is part of a larger West
Alabama Aquaculture Honors Program aimed at halting the exodus of
youths from the economically disadvantaged region.
Besides learning about natural resource-based careers at Auburn, the students, accompanied by two counselors and an Ag Ambassador, visited catfish farms in the state.
"Motivated high school students, outstanding faculty participation and good weather resulted in a very productive week," said Vining. "Several students narrowed their focus on future career objectives, a few solidified their resolve to attend Auburn University, and several faculty expressed a desire to continue the program."
Football Saturdays take turn toward physics
For 40 junior high school scholars, football Saturdays at Auburn this fall offers a chance to hone their science skills under the tutelage of Auburn faculty.
AU's Physics Department, with support from the AU Athletics Department, will conduct its first Young Engineers and Scientists Saturday Academy on four AU home football game Saturdays. Selected junior high school participants will spend three hours each of those Saturdays in AU classrooms studying physical and environmental science. There is no fee for participation.
"Many junior high school students visit our campus on football weekends," said Marllin Simon, an associate professor of physics at AU. "These students walk the campus, see the buildings and enjoy the game, but they don't get a taste of the Auburn University academic experience.
"YES is a pilot program designed to help young scholars see the university in a different way, a way that exemplifies the uniqueness of the university experience. We want to introduce them to science-based activities they have never seen before and challenge them intellectually and academically."
Simon said the students will work closely with AU physics department faculty who are experienced in K-12 outreach education.
In the two physical science sessions, students will be given an electronics manual
and a package of all components necessary to build circuits and complete other
projects. Specifically, they will:
* learn how resistors, potentiometers, diodes, photo resistors, capacitors, transistors
and speakers work;
* build and experiment with automatic night lights, electronic metronomes,
electronic motorcycles, variable speed railroad blinking lights, English police sirens,
electronic canaries and a space machine gun. In building these devices, the students
will become familiar with how they work; and
* become comfortable with assembly diagrams and schematics and become confident
in their ability to build and trouble-shoot projects.
Students will concentrate on hands-on activities in the environmental science
sessions, including:
* using a computer-interfaced system to measure the pH of acid rain;
* making and recycling paper;
* investigating nuclear energy by using a geiger-mueller counter to measure and
compare several low-dose radioactive sources (all safe for handling); and
* using a graphing calculator to construct and compare a variety of population
model.
All students will also be given manuals and a paper-making kit to take home.
The three-hour sessions are set for Sept. 26 (Mississippi), Oct. 9 (Mississippi State), Oct. 16 (Florida) and Nov. 6 (Central Florida).
For more information, contact Simon at 334-844-4337 (e-mail: msimon@physics.auburn.edu ) or Mary Lou Ewald-Howard at 334-844-6950 (e-mail: ewaldml@auburn.edu).
Quilting exhibit
Quilts by Tracy Oleinick, at left, will be on display at Pebble Hill.
Exhibit shows quilting as artwork
The thousands of intricate handmade stitches that make one quilt are a passion for AU costume designer Tracy Oleinick, who has turned a childhood craft into a love of sewing and a career in the arts.
Oleinick, an assistant professor of theatre who teaches costume design, will showcase 10 of her handcrafted quilts at AU's Center for the Arts and Humanities in October.
The opening program and reception will be at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, at AU's Center for the Arts and Humanities at Pebble Hill on DeBardelaben Street in Auburn.
In some of her quilts, Oleinick has combined the almost lost art of handquilting with today's technology -- keeping the patterns the same while incorporating shortcuts devised by today's modern methods.
Oleinick says she began her love of sewing at 10, when her mother gave her a full size packaged quilt to embroider. The self-taught quilter has made about 100 quilts. She never sells her artwork, but has donated a few for auction. "Being a costume designer, I have a passion for fabrics and this is a really good outlet for me," she said.
Her love of fabrics and sewing as a child eventually led to her career. This is her fourth year of teaching at AU, and all theatre majors must take a costume construction class taught by Oleinick.
Police warn of hangtag thefts
The AU
Department of Public Safety warns faculty, staff and students
to protect their new 1999-00 parking hang tags against theft.
Det. Tara McCallum says hang tags -- especially those that authorize A-
and B-Zone parking -- become targets for theft each fall quarter.
"Most tags are stolen out of vehicles which have been left unsecured or in which the owner has left a window down," McCallum said. "If a person has a vehicle that can't be secured for one reason or another, they can request a convertible permit from Parking Services. This is a sticker type permit that is put on the front windshield."
McCallum said AUPD prosecutes people for theft of a hang tag and for being in possession of a lost or stolen hang tag. Anyone who is the victim of such theft is urged to file a report with AUPD.
If a person steals a hang tag from a vehicle -- whether or not the vehicle was secured -- it is considered breaking and entering a motor vehicle which is a class C felony along with theft of property third-degree, a class A misdemeanor.
Pebble Hill activity will honor women writers
The book, Ordinary and Sacred As Blood: Alabama Women Speak, features the writing of 75 women, including several Auburn University faculty, staff and students. Some of those authors -- including editor Mary Carol Moran -- will attend the reading, book signing and reception at the Center for the Arts and Humanities headquarters, Pebble Hill on DeBardeleben Street.
Scheduled to read from their short stories or poems are Moran, who teaches a novel writer's workshop for AU Outreach; Alison Franks, secretary to College of Liberal Arts Dean John Heilman; Natasha Trethewey, an assistant professor of English; and temporary employees Ora Maurer and Diann Greene.
This is Frank's first published work and the short story that appears in the book titled Yes was taken from a memoir, Messages for Savannah, she wrote for her granddaughter.
Trethewey has five pieces in the book and a historical picture of her family appears on the book's cover.
Achievements
Dennis Wilson, Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor of Health and Human Performance, was recently one of 18 invited foreign speakers at the 1999 Seoul International Sports Science Congress in Seoul, South Korea. He also spoke at the Korean Society for Sport for All & Leisure Studies Conference at Joong-Bu University.
Jeff Coats has joined the staff of Foy Student Union as a program adviser. Coats, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from AU and is working on his doctorate in higher education administration, will advise the University Program Council. Coats was a graduate assistant at Foy Student Union prior to his appointment, working with the Student Government Association and IMPACT, a student volunteer organization.
Marie Kraska, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology, recently presented an invited paper, "Integrating Applied Mathematics and Vocational Education," at the International Vocational Education and Training Association Conference in Sydney, Australia. The paper examined the implications of technological complexity and the global nature of the work force on the skills requirements for secondary school students in college preparatory and technical training curricula.
Ken Tilt, Extension specialist and professor in the Department of Horticulture, recently received the Outstanding Extension Educator Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science. The award is for exceptional contributions to the profession and science of horticulture and the horticulture industry through innovative extension programs.
Chris Rodger, a professor in the Department of Discrete and Statistical Science, recently was extended an expenses paid invitation to give two 75-minute lectures to the workshop of the Atlantic Association for Research in the Mathematical Sciences. The workshop was held in conjunction with the summer meeting of the Canadian Mathematical Society in St. John's, Canada. He also gave a talk to the CMS meeting on combinatorics and its applications.
Campus Roundup
Accounting systems closing out year
The Business and Finance Division will be processing the accounting fiscal
1998/99 year-end closing beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4. Accounting
information will not be available via ZSS on Tuesday, Oct. 5-7. Account
information for the 1999/2000 fiscal year will be available via ZSS on
Friday, Oct. 8. For information, contact the office of Information Systems
Support at 8444-5661.
Child Study Center has openings
The Child Study Center, the only nationally accredited child care center in
the area, has openings in the 4-year-old and 5-K classes. For
information, call 844-4696 or e-mail lsilvern@humsci.auburn.
Project Uplift seeks volunteers
Project Uplift is seeking volunteers to be Big Brothers and Sisters for Lee
County children. Call 844-4430 for details.
Family Therapy Center offers help
If you or your family are having marital, child, family or related problems,
AU's Marriage and Family Therapy Center can help. Call 844-4478.
Campus Views
The ICOM offense: "Inadequate Citation of Me'
By Herbert Rotfeld, Professor of Marketing
Receiving a manuscript to review for an academic journal, the faculty member opened the envelope in the faculty mail room. As is done by many faculty, after reading the title and abstract, attention then turned to the reference pages to read which articles were cited. Seeing his own name several times on the list, he went to a nearby colleague to point out the perspicacity of the manuscript authors.
"They obviously figured I might be a reviewer for this manuscript," he
observed.
"Or maybe," the colleague noted, realizing the reviewer had never considered an alternative rationale for the citations, "they read your papers and found them to be an important part of the conceptualization and foundation of their work."
Administrators measure faculty research productivity using line counts of
journal articles, sometimes manipulated by weightings of journal "value"
or reputation. But some articles in the top journals are ignored while
others in more minor publications become mainstays of the discipline,
hence desires for measures of impact such as citation analysis.
Unfortunately, any attempt to quantify the ineffable aspects of academic
work are subject to limitations and flaws. At a basic level, an article that
is repeatedly referenced as an example of poor work or is cited to
castigate authors for errors will show up as influential in a citation
analysis. And citation analysis also encourages reviewers to abuse their
power.
This is not to say that a reviewer's self-citation is bad per se. Reviewers should be experts in the area which, in turn, means they might have published important efforts in the area. In academic discussions with friends, we all could cite ourselves as broader explanations of our points (as a good reviewer might to authors of a manuscript) saying, in effect, show me how this article is in error. And yet, as is more often found....
* * *
From: Reviewer A, Professor Hugh Jeegoe
To: Editor, Journal of Excessive Verbiage
Re: Manuscript 98, "Perverse Appeals in Advertising Strategies"
Obviously, the author has attempted to cover an important topic. But I must note at the outset that I am offended to find that the literature review makes inadequate citation of me. While I have never addressed these specific issues, I consider myself to be an expert on the areas covered.
On page two, they could add a citation to my landmark study of subjects forced to watch advertising in black rooms (1978 in the Journal of Black Rooms). Also, my article in 1986 in the Journal of Obscure Papers should appear in citations around page four. I also noticed that they avoided use of simple mean statements, but a reference to authority is my vector sector multiple macro-splatter cross-pollination model which is explained in the Journal of Excessive Quantification.
I know that adding these citations to the paper, while not altering the
substance of the study of findings, will make it something that more
people would read. And I'll assign it in my classes.
* * *
Friends should cite friends not to increase citation counts, but rather, to
admit to help and influence from colleagues, or so we hope. Yes, we all
like seeing our names in print, but it should not be seeking citation for its
own sake.
And yet, many textbooks now arrive on the desks of potential adopters with an added author index, listing and locating the names of people whose books or journal articles appear somewhere in the pages. There are some valid uses for this additional index, but in practical terms, it serves so potentially adopting faculty can quickly find how and if the book mentioned them.
Ah, yes, the new standard for textbook rejections: it must not commit the ICOM offense and make "Inadequate Citation of Me."
Unsung Hero: Geri Murray, Glanton House, Human Sciences
This week's Unsung Hero is Geri Murray, office administration assistant in the Marriage and Family Therapy Center. She has been in that position and at Auburn for two years. She was asked:
What do you do in your current job? "I manage the office of the Marriage and Family Therapy Center at Glanton House. I work with three faculty members and 12 graduate student therapists. I also do secretarial work for the Child Study Center next door."
What is the most rewarding part of your job? "Working with the student therapists is rewarding. They are appreciative of whatever I do for them."
What is the most challenging part of your job? "Talking to people in crisis on the phone."
If you were not doing this job, what would you most like to do? "I'd like to tutor children or be a remedial educator."
What makes Auburn special? "I think the War Eagle symbolizes Auburn's spirit: independent and strong."
What was your first impression of Auburn University? "I thought the campus was beautiful and the people were friendly."
How has that impression changed? "It hasn't changed."
What words best describe Auburn as a work environment, learning environment or just a place to be? "It is a place that is full of opportunities for personal growth."
What do you like to do when not at work? "I like to hang out with my husband, relax with something good to read, sleep, enjoy activities with our kids. On Sundays, I have a class of 3-year-olds who give me a fresh perspective on life."
What person or persons do you most admire and why? "I admire people who have tough jobs but they maintain their sense of humor; specifically, my parents who have raised seven kids, my husband, Bruce, who is a lifelong educator, and our clinic director, Dr. Connie Salts."
What is your favorite line from the Auburn Creed and why? "'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 that country by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God.' We have lived in several states and truly, this is a great country, but it can only remain so if we as individuals commit ourselves to acting upon this creed."
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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@mail.auburn.edu |