Board to consider budget requests for 2000-01
AU preparing for different accreditation standards
Leadership changes announced for Facilities
Freshman record set, total enrollment drops slightly
Newspaper Hall of Honor at AU to induct two
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Board to consider budget at session
The AU Board of Trustees will meet at 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 29, at the Dixon Conference Center to consider a university budget for the 2000-01 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
The administration has been developing the budget along guidelines that were recommended by the university's 18-member Budget Advisory Committee in May and authorized by the Board of Trustees in June. The guidelines include funds for faculty and staff pay raises, new scholarships, addressing maintenance needs of campus facilities, increases in departmental budgets, Peaks of Excellence programs and other priorities
Key features of the guidelines are a 2 percent increase in pay to faculty and staff and another 3 percent pool of funds for merit and equity increases. The additional funds for employee compensation total more than one-third of the $18.2 million increase in the university's budget for 2000-01. The primary sources of new funding are a 5.4 percent increase in state appropriations and a 5.3 percent increase in tuition and fees.
The guidelines also call for departmental budgets to be increased 3 percent, providing an additional $1.25 million for supplies and operating expenses.
The new year's funding priorities set forth in the guidelines are based on longer term priorities for AU adopted by the Board of Trustees in January 1999 as part of the university's Priorities and Reallocation Plan and are an outgrowth of recommendations from AU's 21st Century Commission of the late 1990s.
For example, the guidelines call for the university to increase its funding for deferred maintenance by $1 million to $7.4 million. The fund is slated to increase $1 million each year until it reaches $10 million. The deferred maintenance funds are targeted to help the university complete needed repairs to classrooms, laboratories and other campus facilities.
One new feature of the budget will be a fund of $1 million authorized by the Board of Trustees to provide scholarships to students from Alabama who qualify on both need-based and academic criteria. More than 1,000 of the new $750 scholarships were awarded with the start of fall semester in August.
Among other priorities set forth in the budget guidelines are $1 million for Peaks of Excellence programs, $500,000 for tuition waivers for graduate teaching assistants and $750,000 for the Provost's Office to assist departments in dealing with enrollment fluctuations due to semester transition.
The main campus budget is projected to be $373.5 million out of a total AU budget of nearly $503.3 million in 2000-01. The other AU units and their budgets are AU-Montgomery, $45.3 million; Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, $39.3 million; and Alabama Cooperative Extension System, $45.1 million.
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Auburn faces a new, results-oriented focus the next time an accreditation review team from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools comes to campus, AU President William Muse told the faculty on Sept. 12.
As the university prepares for a SACS accreditation review team visit in the 2003-04 academic year, Auburn will have to respond to the regional accrediting agency's new focus on outcomes as measures of institutional effectiveness, the AU president said.
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In his fall 2000 State of the University address to the University Faculty, Muse noted that regional agencies have traditionally awarded accreditation based on variables such as the percentage of faculty who have Ph.D's, the number of books in the library and other "inputs" as measures of institutional quality.
With a shift of emphasis to "outputs," Muse said accrediting agencies such as SACS will try to determine whether institutions actually do what they say they do. "An institution is deemed to be effective when it can demonstrate that it is achieving its mission or purpose," he said.
Muse said he anticipates that SACS will seek a careful review of each academic degree "to judge whether the institution has clearly determined what students are expected to know or be able to do when they complete that program, whether the institution is assessing the learning outcomes that are produced, and whether they are using the results of their evaluation to improve the performance of the program.
"We must be able to answer those questions clearly for each academic degree we offer," he added.
Non-academic programs also face a results-oriented challenge, Muse said. "For all non-academic units, the question is whether we are able to clearly describe the purpose of that unit, whether we are measuring if that purpose is achieved, and whether we are using the results of that evaluation to improve the unit's performance."
Auburn has hired James Nichols, director of University Planning and Institutional Research at the University of Mississippi, to help develop methodology to meet the SACS requirements. Muse, describing Nichols as a nationally known expert in the field of institutional effectiveness, noted that the Mississippi educator recently conducted a workshop to acquaint AU deans and department heads with the methodology.
Although the SACS visit is three years away, AU has little time to spare in implementing the new measurements, Muse said. "It is imperative that we put in place this system for evaluating our institutional effectiveness this fall in order to have adequate time to collect data on our assessment of our performance and to use those data to improve future outcomes."
Outcomes-based measurements are not simply a "gimmick" to satisfy the accrediting agency, he said. "It ought to be the central focus of all that we do."
Muse said faculty in every academic program need a clear understanding of the learning outcomes that students are expected to achieve and whether or not students are meeting those standards. "Likewise, every operating unit ought to have a clear understanding of what it is supposed to be doing and ought to want feedback regularly as to whether or not it is doing so," he added. "Only by focusing our energies in such a context can we continue to improve the quality of all our operations."
Many of the measures taken in recent years have been stressful but have made the university stronger, said Muse, who cited several achievements of the past year.
"Auburn has positioned itself to effectively serve the needs of its students and other constituencies and developed a plan to bring the institution to greater national stature academically," he said.
"We are in the best financial shape we have been in for some time, largely
because of some wise strategic decisions that have been made and
because of the sometimes painful measures that we have taken," he added.
"But, if we continue to plan carefully, use our resources efficiently and
work towards the goal of fulfilling our mission and purpose, I believe that
all of us can take a great deal of pride in the progress that Auburn makes
and the stature that it attains."
Leadership changes announced in Facilities
AU Facilities Division administrators Catherine Love and Tom Tillman have been assigned additional duties by Executive Vice President Don Large following the Aug. 31 retirement of Stanley Drake as AU's assistant vice president for Facilities.
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Love, who has been executive director of Facilities since 1998, has assumed broader responsibility for the division's operations, and Tillman, campus planner since 1994, has assumed responsibility for all facilities planning operations, including developing and implementing the university's master plan.
Large said Love and Tillman will oversee their respective areas of responsibility while the university addresses several issues related to the longterm structure and responsibilities of the Facilities Division and its units. The future administrative structure will be shaped by the results of a study being launched to determine how best to meet the university's evolving needs in facilities maintenance, operations and campus planning, he added.
"We are attempting to determine how Facilities can best serve the university in the years ahead," Large said. "With the growing demands resulting from significant increases in deferred maintenance funding and numerous new building projects likely in the next few years, we need to look at what administrative structure and personnel processes will be most appropriate."
A related consideration, he said, is the analysis the university must conduct for reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The executive vice president noted that the SACS accreditation process will include development of a clear and quantifiable basis for assessment of services provided by the Facilities Division.
Large credited Drake, who had alerted the administration of his retirement plans in 1999, with providing the opportunity for a smooth transition of leadership within the division. "One of the strengths of Stan Drake's leadership in the Facilities Division was that he established a first-rate leadership team, with outstanding individuals in both the operations and planning areas," Large said.
"Operations and facilities campus planning are very different functions, which Stan did an excellent job of coordinating. Both Cathy Love and Tom Tillman have demonstrated exceptional abilities in their areas of responsibilities and have proved themselves very capable of assuming their leadership assignments," he added.
Drake had been head of Facilities since joining the university in 1983 and assistant vice president since 1993. He joined the university administration after a lengthy career as a utilities contractor and business executive in Opelika, where he had also served in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a city commissioner and mayor.
Large said Drake had been instrumental in improving the structure and operations of the Facilities Division, enhancing the professional skills of its employees and greatly expanding the university's longrange planning capabilities. "Many of the improvements in the quality of life on campus can be traced to improvements brought about by the Facilities Division under Stanley Drake's leadership," he added.
Love joined the Facilities staff in 1988 and worked in several administrative capacities before being promoted to executive director two years ago. She holds a bachelor's degree from Auburn and a juris doctorate from Jones School of Law at Faulkner University.
Tillman earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from AU and worked in
private practice before being named campus planner six years ago.
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Enrollment drops slightly, freshman numbers increase
Despite a record freshman class of nearly 4,000 students, total enrollment at Auburn dropped slightly this fall from a year earlier as the university shifted from the quarter to semester system.
AU enrolled 21,860 students -- 19,050 undergraduates and 2,810 graduate students -- when fall semester classes began Aug. 22. Total enrollment was down 1.1 percent as Auburn registered 17 more graduate students and 277 fewer undergraduates than last year.
The slight decline in undergraduate enrollment was attributed to the fact that many students rushed to earn their diplomas ahead of the switch from the quarter to the semester system.
Auburn's freshman class of 3,864 students for 2000 represented a 4.4 percent increase over last year's freshman total and shattered the old record of 3,706 set in the fall of 1998.
John Fletcher, AU's interim vice president for student affairs, said the decline in enrollment is attributable to the large graduating classes in the 1999-00 academic year. Those graduating classes more than offset the increase in new freshmen, he said.
"A significant portion of the decline is due to a large graduating class from last year," Fletcher said. "We graduated approximately 400 more students during the last academic year than we did in the 1998-99 academic year. That resulted from students accelerating their academic schedules in order to complete degree requirements prior to our switch to the semester system this fall."
Fletcher said the admission of a large freshman class this fall was needed to maintain a balance in overall enrollment. "The admission of a large freshman class actually was very important for us to maintain a stable enrollment," he said. "We needed that to offset the larger graduating class of last year."
Fletcher attributed the large freshman class to the work of the AU admissions staff and to Auburn's continued reputation as a quality institution.
Newspaper Hall of Honor at Auburn to induct two
Two newspapermen -- the founder of The Advertiser-Gleam in
Guntersville and the longtime owner of The Monroe Journal -- will be
inducted into the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor during Auburn's annual
Media Day on Oct. 21.
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Porter Harvey and William M. Stewart will be inducted posthumously by the Alabama Press Association. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in the Alabama Newspaper Hall of Honor Room in Draughon Library. Registration will start at 9:15 a.m.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Broadcasters Association will also meet on the Auburn campus. Rick Lockridge, CNN's technology correspondent, will speak to broadcasters during an hour-long session that begins at 9:30 a.m., at Foy Student Union, Room 213.
Media Day is sponsored by University Relations and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, in partnership with the Alabama Farmers Federation. A barbecue and musical entertainment on the north lawn of the library will follow the APA ceremony and broadcasters' meeting.
Harvey and Stewart will be the 86th and 87th inductees in the Hall of Honor, which was established by the APA in 1959. Plaques honoring the pair will be placed in the Hall of Honor Room at the Draughon Library.
Although Harvey founded the twice-weekly Advertiser-Gleam in 1941, he had a notable career in daily newspapers that dated back to 1926, when he worked for the New York Post.
Harvey, who was president of the APA in 1967-68, was widely noted for depth of coverage his newspaper provided the community, including the colorful, widely read obituaries he wrote. He died in 1995 at age 91.
Stewart was widely praised for taking on the Ku Klux Klan in his
newspapers' editorial pages more than 40 years ago.
At various times, Stewart -- who was APA president in 1959-60 --
owned The Monroe Journal, The South Alabamian in Jackson, The Wilcox
Progressive Era in Camden and The Brewton Standard. He died in 1995 at
age 74.
Theatre dedicates first play of season to Harrison
AU Theatre will honor emeritus professor Cleveland Harrison with its 2000 season opening production of "You Can't Take It With You".
The play will run Oct. 3-7 at Telfair Peet Theatre, and the Theatre Department will host a ceremony and reception honoring Harrison at the Oct. 6 performance.
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Plays will begin at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $12 general admission; $10 for senior citizens, faculty and staff; and $8 for students. For more information and ticket reservations, call the AU Box Office at 844-4154.
Dan LaRocque, head of performance and artistic director of AU Theatre, said Harrison was an "ideal first honoree because of the many contributions he has made to the department, university and community."
Harrison joined the AU theatre faculty in 1970 and was department head from 1970-78 and again in 1990-91.
"Cleveland was instrumental in overseeing the design and construction of the award winning Telfair Peet Theatre and received the prestigious Theatre Hall of Fame Award from the Alabama Conference of Theatre and Speech in 1996," LaRocque said.
During his tenure, Harrison directed many productions for AU Theatre and also acted in several major roles including Sir Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons," Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" and Grandpa Vanderhof in the 1974 summer production of "You Can't Take It with You."
After his retirement in 1991, Harrison turned to writing, and the publication of his recent book Unsung Valor has brought him both critical and commercial success.
Harrison will be the first of four local citizens to be honored by AU Theatre during the 2000 season for each person's significant contributions to the arts, the university and the Auburn-Opelika community.
While the play is rooted in the 1930s, "You Can't Take It With You" feels current, says A. Lynn Lockrow, an associate professor of Theatre and director of the performances. Lockrow said the play, written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman in 1936, is one of America's best loved comedies.
The play's plot revolves around the courtship between young Alice Sycamore and Wall Street scion Tony Kirby, her boss' son.
Endowment seeks to boost diversity in Engineering
William F. and Brenda W. Hayes of Plano, Texas, have established an endowment
in the AU College of
Engineering to promote excellence and diversity.
"Brenda and I are pleased to be involved with the Minority Engineering Program and its efforts to create an environment that nurtures and educates talented minority students," William Hayes, a retired Texas Instruments, Inc., executive, said in making the gift to Auburn.
The income from the William F. and Brenda W. Hayes Endowment for Diversity will be used by the director of the College of Engineering's Minority Engineering Program for program development and enhancement to improve student retention.
The fund may be used to recruit minority students to Auburn through the MEP program; for one-on-one mentoring, counseling and tutoring; collaborative learning groups and academic excellence workshops; or for scholarships for participating MEP students.
It may also be used for the development and implementation of course work designed specifically to promote and improve student retention.
Scholarship support will be awarded for two academic years, or until the recipient receives the engineering undergraduate degree, whichever occurs first. Students must remain enrolled in the College of Engineering's MEP program under terms of the scholarship, and make satisfactory academic progress on a term-to-term basis in the academic year.
The Hayes endowment will be instrumental in helping the MEP maintain quality academic support programs and scholarship opportunities as the level of student participation grows, said program director Dennis Weatherby.
William Hayes received a degree in electrical engineering from Auburn in 1965 and
a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1967. He began his career with
Texas Instruments, with most of his experience coming in the firm's defense
business.
In 1993, Hayes became corporate executive vice president for TI, where he was responsible for the company's software business and its digital imaging venture project.
William Hayes is a member of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council and the Auburn University Research Advisory Council.
Brenda Waldrop Hayes also has strong ties to Auburn, working as a secretary in the
Department of History and the Office of Agriculture Extension from 1963-67 to help
her husband obtain his degree in Electrical Engineering. She later earned a bachelor
of arts degree in English from the University of Texas at Dallas and a bachelor's in
social work from Texas Woman's University.
Posts filled in Building Science, Architecture
John D. Murphy Jr. has been appointed head of the Department of Building Science , and Behzad B. Nakhjavan has been named interim head of the School of Architecture for the 2000-01 academic year.
Murphy joined AU from Colorado State University, where he was graduate coordinator and assistant department head in the Department of Manufacturing Technology and Construction Management.
Murphy has a Ph.D. in architecture with an emphasis in construction science and management from Texas A&M University. He also earned a master's in construction management and a bachelor's in building construction from Texas A&M.
Murphy is vice president and president-elect of the Associated Schools of
Construction. In 1996, he received the National Teaching Award from ASC.
A member of AU's architecture faculty since 1993, Nakhjavan received the
Dean's Award for Outstanding Faculty for 1999-2000 in the College of
Architecture, Design and Construction. He earned a bachelor's degree from
Mississippi State University and a master's of architecture from
Washington University in St. Louis.
Nakhjavan has been a visiting professor at Gilian University in Iran, the
Vicenza Center for Architecture in Italy and at the University of Arkansas
School of Architecture.
High School students flock to campus for War Eagle Days
As many as 3,000 prospective students are expected on campus when Auburn University hosts War Eagle Days, its largest annual student recruitment effort, Sept. 23 and Oct. 21.
War Eagle Days are designed to attract prospective students to campus, where studies show most students decide on where they will attend college. With War Eagle Days, AU offers the lure of financial aid and admissions workshops and exposure to various campus groups and organizations amid the exciting atmosphere of college football gameday on the Plains.
"There's a concept that has been proven in student recruiting that, once a student visits a campus, that's when and where they really make their decision about where they want to attend college," said Van Muse, an advisor in the AU Admissions Office.
"We want to make this experience for these students such a positive experience that they will choose Auburn. What a better way to do that than having them here on gameday, showing them all a great time and, hopefully, having them see us win a football game, too."
This year's War Eagle Days coincide with Auburn's home football games with Northern Illinois on Sept. 23 and Louisiana Tech on Homecoming, Oct. 21. Students attending will be provided tickets to the games.
Also offered are the workshops, browse sessions where the students can get information on student groups and organizations and talk to representatives of those groups, campus tours and an allotment of "free time," when the students can see the campus on their own and enjoy the gameday atmosphere. Students are also encouraged to attend Auburn's famous pregame Tiger Walk, which takes place along Donahue Drive two hours prior to the kickoff of each game.
Each of the sessions will also include a welcome session featuring campus administrators and student leaders. President William Muse, John Fletcher, interim vice president for Student Affairs, and Student Government Association President Lindsey Boney are scheduled among the welcoming speakers.
The specific agendas for each of the War Eagle Days vary because of different kickoff
times for the football games. Students planning to attend can access those agendas
through the War Eagle Days web page at www.auburn.edu/ems/wareagle.html.
AU has invited students who have applied to Auburn and students who have not
applied, but who meet AU's SAT or ACT requirements for admission.
State's poet laureates to present reading at Pebble Hill
Current and former Alabama poet laureates will present the work of some of their predecessors at 4 p.m. Oct. 3 at Pebble Hill, home of the AU Center for the Arts and Humanities.
Helen Norris, Poet Laureate in Alabama, and Helen Blackshear, former laureate, will discuss These I Would Keep: The Alabama Poet Laureates, 1930-2000, a collection edited by Blackshear featuring works by Alabama's nine poet laureates.
The volume showcases the diverse voices of Alabama's poet laureates, including William Young Eliott, Mary B. Ward, Morton Prouty, Ralph Hammond, Blackshear and Norris. A forward was written by Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.
"'These I Would Keep' not only celebrates poetry as an artistic medium, but preserves it as a vital part of Alabama literary heritage and, as a result, chronicles the state's changing cultural character over the past 70 years," said Jay Lamar, associate director of AU's Center for the Arts and Humanities.
These I Would Keep: The Alabama Poet Laureates, 1930-2000 was
published by NewSouth
Books of Montgomery.
Research Office seeks proposals for biogrant studies
The Office of the Vice President for Research is seeking proposals for the biogrants program. Grants awarded through this program are intended to assist AU faculty in conducting research in the biological sciences.
Recipients are selected by a review committee comprised of faculty from each of AU's 12 colleges and schools. Proposals are due to be submitted to the OVPR at Samford 202 by 2:30 p.m., Oct. 27.
More information, including forms and detailed instructions for preparing and submitting proposals, can be found on the OVPR web site at: www.auburn.edu/research/vpr/biogrants/
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More than 20 handmade quilts will be displayed at Telfair Peet Theatre Oct. 3-20 in an exhibition titled "Cotton Bowl Quilters."
A reception will honor members of the local quilt guild, the Cotton Bowl Quilters, on Oct. 5, at 6 p.m. in the upstairs Gallery at Telfair Peet. The reception will be part of the Department of Theatre's season opening production of "You Can't Take It With You," which will be performed Oct. 3 7.
Tracey Oleinick, associate professor of theatre, the department's costume designer and president of the quilt guild, said 22 quilts will be displayed by several local artists. Oleinick, an expert quilter, will show two quilts.
A "Millennium Quilt," made by members of the guild, will be the centerpiece of the show and later raffled during an Auburn Arts Association event.
Library offers seminars to faculty, grad students
AU Libraries is offering a variety of seminars this fall for faculty and graduate students.
All the seminars are free, but advanced registration is required by completing the online registration form or by calling or contacting Marcia Boosinger, chair of Reference and Instruction, or subject specialist librarians at 844-1739 (boosiml@auburn.edu).
A space will be reserved and materials prepared if you register. Seminar planners request that scheduled participants who are unable to attend, contact Boosinger or cancel online or by contacting Boosinger.
The seminars are:
* Electronic Journals in the Social Sciences: Sessions will be Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 2 p.m., in the first floor Instruction Lab of Draughon Library, or Thursday, Sept. 28, 10 a.m., in the second floor Instruction Lab of Draughon Library.
* AUBIEXpress and Document Delivery: To Your Desktop and to Your Door: Sessions will be Oct. 4, at 3:30 p.m., and Oct. 5, at 10 a.m. Both will be in the first floor Instruction Lab of Draughon Library.
* Truth & the Web: Tips and tricks to help patrons search the web. Sessions will be Oct. 11, at 1 p.m. and Oct. 12, at 10 a.m. Both will be in the first floor Instruction Lab of Draughon Library.
* Electronic Journals in the Humanities: Sessions will be on Nov. 1, 10 a.m., in the first Floor Instruction Lab of Draughon Library, and on Nov. 2, at 3 p.m., in the second Floor Instruction Lab of Draughon Library.
* Electronic Journals in the Sciences & Engineering: Sessions will be Nov. 8, at 2 p.m., and Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. Both sessions will be in the first floor Instruction Lab in Draughon Library.
Engineering students urged to bring computers
As part of a College of Engineering initiative, the college's faculty urged pre-engineering freshmen to bring a personal computer to campus with them this fall. Faculty members say computers are so vital to learning the field that students cannot get by without them.
"Engineers in the field interact daily with personal computers for communication, engineering analysis and design, problem solving, Internet access, and many other activities," said Vic Nelson, a faculty member who led the development of guidelines for the Freshman Computer Initiative. "Our goal is to prepare our students to work in this environment, and to enhance the quality of their engineering education."
Nelson, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said the FCI was established after the college took an in depth look at what its students will need to succeed in engineering in the future. Students who attended Camp War Eagle freshman orientation sessions were introduced to the requirements of the computer initiative and provided with a set of guidelines listing suggested hardware and software purchases.
"If incoming freshmen do not own a personal computer that meets the minimum configurations required for their classes and labs, they may lease one through the university or through another source rather than purchase their own," Nelson said.
Outreach distributes writings from land-grant symposia
Collected writings from Auburn's Presidential Symposia on the Land-Grant University and Contemporary Society during the 1990s were scheduled for distribution to faculty by University Outreach last week.
The material also includes reports of strategic outreach committees chaired by Liberal Arts Dean John Heilman and University Professor Wayne Flynt.
This is the first time the symposia speeches have been published, said David Wilson, associate provost and vice president for University Outreach. "Expanding faculty participation in outreach and University support for their participation is one of the most important objectives of this office," he said.
Wilson said the three symposia speeches and two outreach committee reports collectively form a comprehensive discussion on outreach from both national and campus perspectives. He noted that the authors form a distinguished panel of nationally recognized university administrators and professors, including AU President William Muse, Heilman, Flynt, Michigan State University President Peter McPherson and Oregon State University President Emeritus John Byrne.
The information was compiled and published by the Office of Outreach Information and Marketing.
Campus Roundup
Child care referral services offered
The Employer's Child Care Alliance assists AU faculty and staff in
placement of children in area day care facilities. ECCA also provides
other child-care referral services to parents who are employed by AU or
one of several other major employers in Lee County. Contact the ECCA at
749-8400 for assistance.
BC/BS access offered in person, on web
AU's Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative will be on campus in Ingram
212 from 10 a.m.-11:45 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 17, and Wednesday, Nov. 15, to
meet with faculty and staff who have questions or need assistance
concerning their BC/BS insurance coverage. No appointment is necessary.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield also provides services to faculty and staff over
the BC/BS web site at www.bcbsal.com. Through that site, persons
insured by the AU health plan may download or order claim forms, order
replacement ID cards, check provider directories or correspond by e-mail
to BC/BS customer service and obtain a response within 24 hours.
Fraternity seeks faculty adviser
Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity is seeking a faculty advisor to aid and
guide them in the restructuring of their chapter. A two-hour per week
time commitment is required. Interested persons should contact chapter
advisor, Christian Carpenter at 826-5045, or IFC Advisor Jamie Mantooth,
at 844-4595.
Accounting information to go off-line
The Business and Finance Division will be processing the 1999/2000
accounting fiscal year-end closing beginning at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
Accounting information will not be available via ZSS on Oct. 4-5. System
administrators say information for the 2000/2001 fiscal year should be
available via ZSS on Oct. 6. Contact the office of Information Systems
Support at 844-5661 if you have any questions.
AU GLB Caucus sets meetings
The Auburn GLB Caucus, a faculty/staff/graduate student group that works
to make Auburn a better place for gay, lesbian and bisexual members of
the university community, meets the first and third Wednesdays of each
month. For more information, contact Becky Liddle at liddlbj@auburn.edu
or 844-2881.
Campus Club schedules speaker
The AU Campus Club will sponsor a public lecture by Tim Moore, director
of AU's Institute for Biological Detection Systems, on "Protecting the
President, our Airports and Schools" at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, at the
College of Veterinary Medicine's Overton Auditorium. The Campus Club,
which is conducting its fall membership drive, is an organization
dedicated to welcoming newcomers to Auburn and promoting fellowship
among members of the campus community. For information, contact
Virginia Hayes at 821-0369.
Career Expo 2000 scheduled
Career Development Service will host Career Expo 2000 at the Dixon
Conference Center from 3 p.m.-8 p.m. on Sept. 26-27. Representatives
from many employers will be on hand to discuss career opportunities and
interview students for internships and permanent jobs. For more
information, contact Melvin Smith at 844-4744.
Supercomputer accounts available
Auburn faculty may obtain an account on the Cray SV1 at the Alabama
Supercomputer Center at no charge. A wide variety of scientific and
engineering software is available on the SV1 along with FORTRAN, C, and
C++ compilers. The ASC's list of applications software is on-line at
www.asc.edu/supercomputing/software.shtml. The SV1 has 16 processors,
each rated at 1.2 GFLOPS peak. Assistance in securing an account or using
the Cray is available from Scott von Laven (scott@asc.edu or 256/971
7434).
Campus Views: Viability process proved difficult, necessary
By John F. Pritchett
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Three years of hard work and difficult decisions for Auburn University have resulted in Auburn being recognized as the leader among Alabama's public universities in meeting the state's requirements for viability of higher education programs.
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Many people at Auburn went through a lengthy, painstaking review of their programs and made some hard decisions during the viability reviews, but the university has emerged in a stronger position to justify its requests for additional legislative appropriations.
For that reason, I find it troubling that some observers not familiar with either the process or its results have questioned both whether it was really necessary and whether it really accomplished anything. Those arguments ignore the 1996 law mandating viability standards and insult the large number of faculty whose programs were subject to the viability reviews. The faculty whose programs were dropped or merged as a result of the reviews would hardly agree that it was "just a game" of removing catalog listings, as some in the media have alleged.
The purpose of the legislation could not be clearer. As framed by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, the state's coordinating board of higher education, the legislation states: "The goal of this effort will be to evaluate priorities, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and focus existing resources to enhance the overall quality of academic offerings."
Auburn's degree programs are clearly defined. Real costs are involved in offering these degree programs: faculty salaries, faculty support, laboratory equipment and supplies and specialized facilities. We are talking about real faculty, real students and real resources. Contrary to what some observers have suggested, a degree program is much more than a "listing in a catalog."
When a university offers a degree program, it commits significant resources. The listing in the catalog assures the prospective student and his/her parents, as well as the taxpayer, that the degree received will meet nationally recognized criteria and standards. That translates into accountability. For example, 10 public institutions in Alabama offer B.S. degree programs in physics. Assuming each institution has allocated the requisite resources to offer a degree that meets expected criteria and standards, this translates collectively into a significant commitment of resources and related infrastructure. This is where the viability issue arises. Of the 10 physics programs in Alabama, as of April, only two had a sufficient number of students enrolled to meet the required graduation rate of 7.5 per year. Auburn University was one of those two.
I cannot debate the number of graduates per year that a program must have
to be viable. I don't know if it should be one or five or even 20. At some
point, however, it becomes difficult to justify allocating resources for a
program for which there is little or no student demand. In times of limited
state support for higher education, should an institution with a nonviable
program close it and reallocate resources to meet other instructional
needs?
Yes, there is too much competition for too little education funding. But
until our legislative leaders address that issue, and regardless of how
they address it, we must make the best use of available resources to
serve our students.
Auburn's Office of Planning and Analysis reports we have the equivalent of 985 budgeted fulltime instructional faculty and that we need 1,220. How do we address this shortfall? Until we can gain legislative support for increased appropriations, we have to find other solutions. That means we must assess our degree programs, whether as a result of viability legislation or other processes, and reallocate real resources from those programs with little or no student demand to those with demonstrated needs.
In some graduate degree programs, we simply did not have adequate resources to recruit and retain enough students to meet viability standards. Should we continue to carry those programs, implying that we have the necessary resources, when in fact we do not? Is that truth in advertising?
In many cases, program reductions have resulted in significant internal reallocations of resources. Did this save money? Not if you view saving as depositing resources into a savings account. Did this permit the university to reallocate more effectively and efficiently utilize its limited resources? I would certainly hope so. In this process, we demonstrated a higher level of accountability.
Auburn's Board of Trustees did not -- as suggested by some in the media - demand program mergers and eliminations based upon the viability legislation. Rather, the leadership of the university, with extensive faculty input and review, responded to the legislation beginning in 1996 through a proactive and reasoned process. We are now at the end of that process. If we are farther along than some other institutions within our state, perhaps that is to our credit.
Viability is far too serious to be considered a game. Games don't have a direct bearing on available resources to serve our students and the people of our state.
On the heels of viability, performance-based budgeting is coming to higher
education in Alabama. Accountability will be a central theme. Auburn's
performance on the viability mandate positions the university well to
justify our needs within such a budgeting system.
This week's Unsung Hero is Kim Trupp, associate director in Housing and Residence Life. She has been at Auburn 24 years , the last seven in her current post. She was asked:
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What do you do in your current job? "I manage either directly or indirectly certain functions related to the administrative side of on-campus housing. I also deal with many issues that don't clearly fall under anyone else's job description!"
What is the most rewarding part of your job? "Most definitely interacting with a wide variety of people -- especially students. In the thousands of opportunities I've had to do so, a simple application of the Golden Rule has provided me with more rewards than I will ever deserve!"
What is the most challenging part of your job? "Housing all those young people you see in droves on campus each summer. Even though it's physically and mentally demanding, coordinating housing for all of the university's summer residential camps is an exhilarating experience."
If you were not doing this job, what would you most like to do? "Those who knew me pre-motherhood would not believe it, but I'd rather be at home with my 7- and 10-year-old daughters. I'm truly blessed, though, to have enough flexibility in my job to invest myself in their school and other activities."
What makes Auburn special? "You get the same answer to this one a lot but it's true: The people are what make Auburn special because they love Auburn and it shows."
What was your first impression of Auburn University? "I came here 24 years ago as a student and never left so I guess it must have been a good one!"
How has that impression changed? "It's matured. I've been able to see Auburn from the eyes of a student and now as an employee and a member of the community. I tell non-Auburn people that you can't beat this place for its quality of life."
What words best describe Auburn as a work environment, learning environment or just a place to be? "I have a favorite T shirt that I wear frequently when I run. It has been cut and shaped to where it's totally comfortable and feels just right. On the front it says 'I believe in Auburn and love it!' That about sums it up for me."
What do you like to do when not at work? "I love running -- whether I'm
actually pounding the pavement or if I'm just moving on to whichever
family activity comes next. Sports, reading, and cooking are favorites
too."
What person or persons do you most admire and why? "My Mom and Dad --
they don't have to say a word and you know the power of their faith in God
because they live it every day. I hope our kids will say the same of my
husband and me when they reach that understanding."
What is your favorite line from the Auburn Creed and why? "It's too
difficult to single out one line because, in my mind, each one is equally
essential in capturing the essence of Auburn."
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AU Report
Editor: Roy Summerford. Contributing editors: Bob Lowry, Janet McCoy and
David Granger. |