Editor: Roy Summerford. Contributing editors: Bob Lowry, Janet McCoy and David Granger. Other contributors: Mitch Emmons, Research and Provost's offices; Katherine Smith, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station; and Jim Killian, Engineering.

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

A Christmas message from AU's President

As we approach the holiday season, I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a merry Christmas and thank each of you for your many efforts on behalf of the university and its students during the past year. Your determination to uphold high standar ds of quality even in adverse economic circumstances is the greatest gift the faculty and staff can give the students of this institution. The distinguishing feature of Auburn University has always been the character and dedication of its people. These q ualities have carried Auburn through difficult times in the past and they will do so again. Auburn University stands today as a testimony to the indomitable spirit and courage of generations of men and women who would not bend when faced with adversity. Despite disappointing financial support from state government, there have been many special moments during the past year. Many times I ha ve seen the fellowship and determination of the Auburn Spirit displayed by faculty, staff, students, alumni and Auburn supporters. This holiday season, instead of dwelling on misfortunes, let us celebrate the ties that bind us together in the Auburn Spiri t. Merry Christmas! -- President William Muse

AU to present honorary degree to Time Inc. CEO Don Logan

Auburn University will present an honorary doctor of science degree to Don Logan, chairman and chief executive officer of Time Inc., at the university's fall commencement on Dec. 15.

Logan, a 1966 AU graduate, will be among an expected 999 people receiving degrees at the 2:30 p.m. ceremony in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. Besides the honorary degree, AU expects to award 772 bachelor's degrees, 187 master's and specialist degrees an d 39 doctoral degrees.

A native of Hartselle, Logan joined Time Inc. in 1992 as president and chief operating officer after earning national acclaim for his leadership of Birmingham based Southern Progress Corporation in the 1980s and early '90s. At Time Inc., he rose to chief executive officer in 1994 and last July gained the added title of chairman.

Time Inc. publishes Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Money, People, Entertainment Weekly and other leading magazines. With 1996 revenues of $4.1 billion, Time Inc. is the largest magazine publisher in the wor ld. It is also one of the nation's largest book publishers and a leading direct marketer of books, music and videos.

The corporation's consumer book publishing operations include Warner Books and Little, Brown and Company. Time-Life Inc. and Book-of-the-Month Club are Time Inc.'s direct marketing companies.

Southern Progress Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., publishes Southern Living, Progressive Farmer, Cooking Light, Southern Accents and other magazines. Southern Progress, which includes Oxmoor House books, is the nation's larges t publishing company for regional magazines and books.

Logan, who majored in mathematics at Auburn, joined Southern Progress as a data processing manager in 1970. He was promoted to vice president and general manager of the computer division, Akra Data, in 1972. In 1978, he was named president of Oxmoor Hou se, the company's book publishing division. Logan was promoted to executive vice president of Southern Progress in 1984 and became chairman and chief executive officer in 1986. Six years later, he entered the senior executive ranks at Time Inc.

Besides the bachelor's degree from Auburn, Logan earned a master's degree in mathematics from Clemson University, where he also worked on a doctoral degree.

Logan has served as a trustee of Samford University, a member of the president's council at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a director of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, co-chair of the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham and on the board of the Alabama Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Salary supplement checks go out just before Christmas

AU employees will get a Christmas gift from the university on Dec. 19 in the form of a $500 one-time distribution. A 2 percent salary increase will follow in January.

Both the pre-Christmas allocation and the salary increase will be financed through internal cost savings and an increase in tuition. President William Muse noted that the administration and Board of Trustees made the increases a priority even though the state did not provide additional funds for salaries in this year's higher education budget.

The salary supplements and pay increases will go to all regular and continuing employees who were in budgeted positions at AU as of May 31 and remained with the university through the current pay period.

Despite rumors to the contrary, many instructors and research associates will receive the funds, said Marcie Smith, AU controller. Those in regular budgeted positions as instructors automatically qualified if they met continuing-service guidelines that a pply to all. Many others were included by their department head or dean, she said.

"If they are in a regular budgeted position, were here last spring and are still here, they will get it,"she said.

The supplemental distribution will be separate from paychecks, which will also be issued on Dec. 19, prior to the campus closing for the holidays. The university will be closed from Dec. 20 until Jan. 5, except for personnel necessary for public safety and building maintenance during the holidays.

Amounts in the supplemental payments will be less than the $500 paid by the university. Taxes will be withheld from the supplemental checks at the same rate as employees' regular paychecks.

The 2 percent pay increases will then show up in employees' earnings with their paychecks in January.

Payroll accounts for $178.5 million of the $307.5 million main campus budget in 1997-98. The budget, approved by the Board of Trustees on Nov. 21, is up from $291.8 million last year. With state support remaining virtually level, student fees and relat ed charges accounted for most of the new funds. The largest increase in spending, $5.5 million, was for instruction, primarily salary increases.

United Way deadline nears

This year's United Way Campaign is in its final days, and Susie Hall, campus campaign coordinator, says there is still time for AU employees to turn in a contribution or request a payroll deduction.

Employees interested in participating should complete the pledge card that was distributed to them earlier this fall and return it to their departmental coordinator or directly to the United Way of Lee County by Dec. 17. "We hope to wrap up the United W ay of Lee County Campaign just before Christmas,"Hall said.

As of Dec. 3, the campus raised $95,624, which represents 87 percent of the $110,000 goal. The overall campaign has raised $611,572, representing 76 percent of the $800,000 goal.

"Traditionally, the university has been one of the largest single contributors to the United Way of Lee County,"said Hall. "The success of each year's campus campaign is due to the dedicated service provided by the campus divisional leaders and the depa rtmental coordinators."

Twenty division leaders, representing all areas of the university, are spearheading the campus campaign. Employees who have lost their pledge card may obtain another card by contacting their departmental coordinator or division leader or Hall in the Offic e of the Vice President for Administrative Services.

New equipment to untangle e-mail logjams, end delays

Campus electronic mail users can expect a speedup in delivery in the near future as University Computing completes an upgrade of its network server.

Rapid growth in use of e-mail led to delays which are being remedied with a network server that has several times the capacity of the equipment being replaced, says Gene Stewart, director of network services at University Computing.

Although enrollment and employment numbers have remained stable, Auburn students and employees sent more than 3 million e-mail messages across the computer file server in October, up about 25 percent from a year earlier.

The two Sparc Center 2000's known as Mallard and Wood, which
function as campus mail and network file system servers, will be replaced with a new Ultra Enterprise 5000. Both models are produced by Sun Microsystems.

The new E5000 system will contain 10 processors operating 250 megahertz, compared to Mallard's 6 processors at 40 megahertz and Wood's 4
processors operating 50 megahertz. The new system will contain 2.5
gigabytes of memory, compared to the 512 megabytes on each of Mallard and Wood.
In addition, a new Ultra 2 server will also be installed as a
stand-alone NFS server to increase the speed of accessing files and to
reduce the workload on the new E5000. The new NFS server will contain 512
megabytes of memory and two processors operating at 300 megahertz.

While the larger numbers may mean little to nontechnical users, Stewart said the numbers signify greater capacity that will mean much faster delivery for users of e mail and other networking services at Auburn.

Stewart said University Computing personnel expect to install the new system between quarters, providing all components are received from the manufacturer on time.

Construction plans gain OK of board

Several proposed construction projects moved a step closer to reality at the Nov. 21 meeting of the AU Board of Trustees, but funding remains a question for most of the projects.

The board authorized a search for architects for an admissions office/visitors center at the site of the old Kappa Alpha house and for a large-animal teaching hospital at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The board also approved schematic plans for 800-1,000 additional parking spaces on the west side of campus, selected an architect for an art museum/gallery, authorized development of final plans for a Poultry Science building and discussed the need for a new chemistry building to replace labs in Saunders Hall.

The new parking area will incorporate a portion of Max Morris field and adjacent areas; it will result in closing the northern section of Wire Road and rerouting traffic around the parking area, starting in 1999. Administration plans call for the parking improvements to be financed with a $5.8 million bond issue or alternative means. A bond issue would be repaid through parking fee increases.

Funding for the other projects is uncertain. Four options for funding were discussed at the board meeting:

* A state agricultural bond issue, with a portion going toward the Veterinary Medicine and Poultry Science buildings. The proposed bond issue died in the 1997 session of the Alabama Legislature but is expected to be resurrected in the 1998 session.

* Borrow $17 million to $30 million to finance some of the construction. A bond issue could be financed by continuing the university's debt service at the 1997 or 1998 levels if the board chooses to forego savings from a reduction in debt as current bond s are paid off.

* Convince the Legislature to allocate part of a $1 billion windfall from the Alabama State Retirement Systems over the next five years toward capital improvements such as the proposed facilities. However, several legislators have proposed alternate us es, and Gov. Fob James has suggested cutting taxes rather than spending the money.

* Secure private donations. Private donors have contributed or pledged more than $2 million of the $3.5 million needed for the art museum/gallery. In addition, federal, state and industry sources have committed $8.5 million toward the $12 million needed for the Poultry Science building.

The board agreed to proceed with planning for the Poultry Science building after administration officials noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has given the university until September 30, 2000, to obtain the remaining funds for the building of r isk losing the $6 million federal government allocation.

The $33 million large-animal teaching hospital, another project tied to the proposed state agricultural bond issue, is needed to enable the College of Veterinary Medicine to meet accreditation requirements of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. The board previously approved the teaching hospital in the college's master plan; the latest action approves placement of the facility next to the aging McAdory Hall, the college's large animal clinic since 1960. McAdory would then be used for offices a nd other non-clinical functions.

The proposed admissions office/visitors center, costing approximately $2 million, would be built on the KA house site at South College Street and Samford Avenue. Demolition of the house began last Wednesday.

By moving admissions counselors out of Martin Hall, the university would address persistent complaints from prospective students and their parents about access and parking problems. The university is also discussing with officials of Auburn and Opelika ab out their participation in a visitors center in the building.

A second chemistry building has moved up on the list of university building priorities since a recent study confirmed potential air quality problems in Saunders Hall. The university has responded by upgrading safety equipment and shifting lab classes th at use potentially harmful chemicals to more appropriate facilities. However, Provost Paul Parks said those measures provide only a temporary solution.

When the new chemistry building was completed next to Saunders in 1989, the board authorized preliminary planning for a second building. Due to lack of available funding, that project was later put on hold. Parks recommended at the Nov. 21 board meeti ng that the project be revived and made a high priority.

The board also agreed to proceed with plans for the art museum/gallery, selecting the firm of Gresham, Smith and Partners as architects. The firm had been selected earlier to assist internationally prominent architect and AU alumnus Paul Rudolph, but he died before the contract could be signed. The building review committee for the art museum/gallery recommended Gresham, Smith after the board split on an earlier recommendation for a different architect.

Birmingham businessman gives $3 million for scholarships, women's athletics

Prominent Birmingham businessman Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. has made a $3 million commitment to Auburn University to benefit women's athletic programs and to provide scholarships for top students.

"Mr. Bashinsky's generous support for the higher education institutions in Alabama is remarkable,"said AU President William Muse. "At a time when state appropriations are inadequate, it is the vision of donors like Mr. Bashinsky that allows our universit ies to move forward. We appreciate his support of Auburn."

Bashinsky, retired chairman of the board of Golden Enterprises (parent company of Golden Flake Snack Foods), is a staunch supporter of higher education in Alabama.
His donation will provide monies to begin construction of a women's sport complex to replace the gymnastics facility destroyed by fire in 1996.

The new facility will be built adjacent to Hutsell Track and the football practice fields. The first phase of construction will include a state-of-the-art complex for the gymnastics and softball programs.

Bashinsky's contribution will also provide scholarships and programming for outstanding students in the Auburn University Honors Program.

Fuller E. Callaway Foundation gives $500,000 for art museum at Auburn

Efforts to build an art museum and gallery at Auburn recently received a $500,000 boost from the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation of LaGrange, Ga.

The gift, which raises the foundation's contributions toward the museum to $1 million, was presented by AU alumnus Charles D. Hudson, a LaGrange-based business, civic and education leader in Georgia and Alabama.

Hudson, who is retiring from the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation Board of Trustees, has long been an advocate of the fine arts. He is credited with helping establish the acclaimed Lamar Dodd Art Center at LaGrange College.

The total goal for construction and maintenance of the fine arts museum is $5 million.

New coding system planned for academic courses in 1998

With the implementation next fall of a new student information computer system, AU will initiate a new four-digit course numbering system based on the course identification method that will be used when it changes to a semester academic calendar in fall 2 000.

The new course numbering system also will appear in the next AU Undergraduate and Graduate Bulletin, according to Registrar John Fletcher.

"For the next Bulletin, courses will be identified using a four-digit code," he said. "The first digit, however, will be a zero -- until the semester system is instituted."

Changing to a four-digit course identifier is necessary to prevent expensive re programming after the Online Auburn Student Information System goes online, says Nick Backscheider, educational technology advisor and coordinator of the OASIS project.

"We had to decide whether to go with a three- or four-digit course identifying system when the new computer system goes online," Backscheider said. "It was determined that the most efficient method would be to go with a four-digit system immediately, rath er than change systems after we move to semesters."

Courses currently are identified by a three-digit code. Numbers now used as course identifiers will remain the same in the upcoming bulletin -- with the exception of the zero at the front, said Kevin Loden, who coordinates publication of the bulletin in t he Office of University Relations.

"An example for the new bulletin: EH 101 (English 101) would be listed as EH 0101," Loden said. "Listings for other courses would follow this same pattern."

The new bulletin goes to press in mid March and is available to students during summer term, Loden added.

Adding the fourth digit to the course identifying system will not become a burden for students during registration, said Fletcher, adding, "Students will continue to register under the procedure they are using now," Fletcher said.

Queries regarding the OASIS system should be sent to sis@mail.auburn.edu.

Fletcher: New system to be easy, more efficient to use

A new four-digit course numbering system that will be used when Auburn changes to a semester system in fall 2000 should be more efficient than the current three digit coding, says Registrar John Fletcher.

"By having some common characteristics built in and with parts of the code making it easy to quickly identify course levels and course types, the new system should be more efficient," he said.

Creating a system to clearly identify courses developed for the semester curriculum was one of the initial objectives in the semester transition process, Fletcher noted.

"The most obvious way to do this was to change the course code," he said. "As semester courses are developed they will be assigned a four-digit code. This will clearly and immediately identify them as semester courses, and the numbering system will carry over after the semester transition goes into effect."

The new system which has gained approval from the University Semester Transition Committee and the Executive Semester Transition Committee allows some flexibility for individual college and school input, Fletcher adds.

"Schools and colleges will have control over setting the first, second, and third digits, with some exceptions" Fletcher said. "Each school and college will have the ability to decide at what level a course should be offered."

Designations in the 1,000-4,000 series will be freshman -- through senior-level courses. Advanced undergraduate courses will have 5,000-6,000 level codes; and graduate courses will be designated as level 7,000-8,000, Fletcher says.

"Five thousand-level courses will be reserved for advanced senior-level and fifth year students in professional programs," Fletcher said.

Components of the new course numbering system are:

The first digit designates the course level:
1XXX = primarily freshmen-level courses
2XXX = primarily sophomore-level courses
3XXX = primarily junior-level courses
4XXX = primarily senior-level courses not available for graduate students
5XXX = courses for advanced undergraduate, fifth-year students in professional curricula
6XXX = advanced undergraduate and graduate courses
7XXX and 8XXX = graduate-level courses
The second and third digits generally are available for departments, schools and colleges to assign. Some, however, will be assigned by the Office of the Registrar for common university courses, such as:
X90X = independent study
X91X = practicum
X92X = internship
X93X = directed studies (on campus)
X94X = directed field experience (away from campus)
X95X = seminar
X96X = readings
X97X = special problems (special topics)
X98X = non-thesis project
X99X = research, thesis and dissertation
The fourth digit is reserved for use by the Office of the Registrar, IE:
XXX0 = base course
XXX1 = lab supplement for base course
XXX2 = problem/recitation course
XXX3-6 = variable
XXX7 = honors course
XXX8 = honors lab course
XXX9 = variable

An interim version of the new four-digit course numbering system will be instituted next fall when the new OASIS student information system goes online. This interim course numbering system will differ from AU's present three-digit course numbering only i n that a zero will be added at the beginning of each course number.

"This interim course numbering system will remain in place until the semester transition is instituted," Fletcher said.

More information about the new semester course numbering system is contained on the semester transition web site at: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/semester/.

Barth takes assignment for World Bank

James Barth, Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance at AU, has accepted a three-month academic assignment to the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

An internationally recognized expert on financial institutions, Barth will spend December-February at the World Bank, working on international banking issues.

"I'll be looking at banking problems that have arisen in different countries to try and better understand these problems and look at ways these problems might be resolved,"he said.

Barth said he received the invitation from the World Bank after he and a colleague, Robert Litan of the Washington-based Brookings Institute, presented a paper on U.S. banking problems at a World Bank conference.

Barth, who in recent months has turned his attention to international banking issues, said as many as 130 different countries have experienced some "significant banking problems"since 1980.

Advancements of Science symposium schedules three AU faculty members

Auburn University professors Conner Bailey, Claude Boyd and Joe Molnar will participate in a symposium on world shrimp farming practices at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science's 1998 Annual Meeting and Science Innovation Exposition in Phil adelphia in February.

Molnar, a professor of agricultural economics and rural sociology, will be the organizer of the symposium, "Global Shrimp Farming, Mangroves and People: Finding a Sustainable Path."The event will include speakers from throughout the world with various per spectives on shrimp farming, a major industry in parts of Asia and Latin America.

Bailey lived for a while in Southeast Asia where shrimp farming is a popular practice. He is familiar with the role that shrimp farming plays economically in the region and also with some of the problems, both sociological and environmental, associated wi th the industry. Also a professor of agricultural economics and rural sociology, he will speak on the impacts of the industry on community development and the environment.

Boyd is a professor of fisheries and allied aquaculture and has been involved in shrimp farming as a researcher and as a technical consultant to shrimp farmers in countries such as Ecuador, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. He will speak on the relations hips between shrimp farming and the environment, particularly the use of best management practices to reduce the industry's negative impacts to water quality.

The AAAS meeting and exposition will be Feb. 12-17 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia and will include lectures, 150 symposia and two seminars as well as the exposition on science innovation.

Nursing's first dean, Mary Woody, named 'living legend'

Mary Florence Woody, founding dean of Auburn University's School of Nursing, has been honored as a "Living Legend"by the American Academy of Nursing.

The LaFayette native, whose career in nursing spanned more than 45 years as a staff nurse, hospital administrator and educator, came to Auburn in 1979 as the first dean of AU's School of Nursing. She was dean for five years before leaving to accept a posi tion as associate hospital director and director of nursing for Emory University Hospital and as associate dean of the Atlanta university's Woodruff School of Nursing.

AU nursing Dean Charlotte Pitts says Woody laid the foundation for an AU program that is beginning to reach its full potential.

"Auburn was lucky to have someone like Mary Woody with a broad-based knowledge of the field to lay the framework for our School of Nursing,"Pitts said.
"She had a great deal of experience that she could draw on in establishing the school's curriculum so that it reflected the knowledge and clinical expertise essential for practice in the real world. From that initial curriculum, we have adjusted and expa nded to a fully accredited school whose graduates pass the national licensing exam at a near 100 percent rate. We owe Ms. Woody a debt of gratitude for her foresight and expertise in establishing our program."

In her career, Woody served at hospitals in Alabama, Georgia and New York and on the faculties of Auburn, Emory and Teachers' College of Columbia University in New York. She retired in 1993 as interim dean of the Woodruff School of Nursing.

The Living Legend award is presented annually to "the most stellar fellows of the academy as role models and reminders of nursing's proud history."Woody, one of 36 charter fellows of the AAN, is among six nurses nationwide who received the award for 1997.

The AAN is an organization of nursing leaders in practice, education, research, management, and policymaking whose mission is to "provide the nursing profession with visionary leadership, focus the contributions of nursing leaders, advance scientific know ledge, and influence the development of effective health care policies and practices."

Business, Engineering students take on real problems at electric utility

The managers of a Pensacola, Fla., electric generating plant gave a group of Auburn University business and engineering students the opportunity to work on a real world problem involving one of the plant's generator units.

The case studies were created by Professors Chetan Sankar of the AU Department of Management and P.K. Raju from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Students in a Strategic Management class and a Mechanical Engineering class participated in the case study, which revolved around the question of how the Crist Power Plant should handle the planned maintenance shutdown of a turbine generator unit in early 1998.

Joe Martin, plant manager, and Jimmy Sherouse, superintendent of engineering and administration, participated in the case discussion with the two classes.
Martin said he decided to participate in the exercise because Gulf Power Co. -- owner of the Crist Power Plant -- will be counting on a pipeline of quality college graduates.

"It's important to our needs that we be able to hire quality graduates in the future,"he said. "We felt this (case study) was a good vehicle for us to work with these students. We're going to need them in the future."

During the exercise, the Auburn students decided on the best option for the company's planned maintenance shutdown, and then defended their decision to Martin and Sherouse.

Gulf Power, a subsidiary of the Southern Co., serves 10 counties and 71 towns and communities in northwest Florida.

New organization to inform students about semester conversion

Auburn University's Student Government Association has formed an organization to help keep students informed while Auburn switches from the quarter to a semester system in 2000.

The SGA Semester Transition Committee will work closely with other university transition groups, said chairman Ben Newbern.

"We would like to work beside the university's transition committees, the SGA and other administrative committees to share information and to detect problems or issues that may arise as concerns among the students,"Newbern said.

The 16-member STC is comprised of students representing the University Transition Committee, graduate school, freshman and sophomore classes and the Freshman Forum, Newbern said.

"We're trying to get as much face-to-face contact as possible,"he said. "We're going to be working quite a bit with the school councils and advisors, and with the various student organizations."

Welcoming the SGA Semester Transition Committee's participation in the transition process, Provost Paul Parks said, "It is our intent to keep students fully informed so that they will know how the transition will affect each of them. The SGA committee can play an important role in that process."

The STC is being broken down into several subcommittees, Newbern said.

"One subcommittee will deal with school councils; another that will deal with student organizations; a third that will deal with publicity and campus media; and a fourth that will deal with Camp War Eagle and the freshman experience,"he said.

In fall 1998, the STC will begin instituting student-oriented communications programs.

"With the committee, a lot of misconceptions students may have about the semester transition will be cleared up or erased," Newbern said.

Libraries to dedicate new automated system on Jan. 6

AU Libraries will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Libraries' new on-line system and catalog, AUBIECat, to be on Jan. 6. The ceremony will be at 10 a.m. in the main lobby just inside the Mell Street entrance of the RBD Library. AUBIECat is now avai lable from the Libraries' AUBIEPlus home page, or at http://aubiecat.auburn.edu. For details about AUBIECat, contact Marcia Boosinger, instruction librarian, at 844-1740 or boosiml@lib.auburn.edu .

Engineering Hall of Fame inducts three AU alumni

Three Auburn College of Engineering graduates -- Hank Hayes, Michael McCartney and James Odom -- will be inducted into the state Engineering Hall of Fame in 1998.

Hayes graduated with honors in electrical engineering in 1965, returning to complete his master's degree in 1967 on a NASA-sponsored research assistantship. He accepted a position at Texas Instruments on graduating, performing antenna
design research for a variety of systems.

Hayes' work led to the development of today's state of the art airborne radar systems for military applications, including the system now being built into the next generation F-22 fighter platform.

Anticipating the end of the Cold War and the effect on the defense industry, Hayes had a major role in strategic planning to increase the company's position in commercial markets. He was named executive vice president of Texas Instruments in 1993.

The Hueytown native has been a member of Auburn's Research Advisory Council since 1993. Hayes is also a new member of the Alumni Engineering Council.

McCartney, a 1957 graduate in civil engineering, was a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees from 1979-1992. As president of the Gadsden-based McCartney Construction Co., he played a key role in bringing the National Center for Asphalt Techno logy to the AU campus. The center has become internationally known as the premier research institution focused on hot mix asphalt.

McCartney has been a member of NCAT's board of directors since it opened. The industry it serves is responsible for more than $11 billion in annual revenues, giving it a significant impact on the nation's economy. During his tenure, NCAT's annual budget, which is directed to research and continuing education, has grown from $300,000 annually to more than $2 million.

McCartney established a scholarship program for deserving students in the
Department of Civil Engineering. He is also involved in the Alumni Engineering Council, and is a recipient of the group's Distinguished Auburn Engineer Award.
AU presented him with an honorary doctor of science degree in 1994.

Odom, a 1955 graduate in mechanical engineering who lives in Decatur, worked from 1956 until 1989, and is now deputy group manager and senior vice president of the SAIC, Inc., Huntsville Group.

He has been directly involved in several of NASA's major projects, including the Hubble space telescope, the Space Shuttle, the Apollo program, and the Freedom space station.

Odom's NASA career began with the Army at Redstone Arsenal, but he was transferred to Marshall Space Flight Center in 1959 -- a year before its formal establishment.

At Marshall, Odom helped develop early satellites, unmanned space probes, launch vehicles, and propulsion systems. He led the engineering design and testing for the second stage of the Saturn V/Apollo lunar launch vehicle. The Georgiana native directed th e development of the Space Shuttle's external tank during its initial design phase, and saw the project through its first six launches.

Odom also played a major role in the development of the Hubble space telescope and capped his NASA career as associate administrator for the space station Freedom.

Odom, who has an honorary degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, was the first recipient of the outstanding alumni award from the AU Department of Mechanical Engineering, is former chairman of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council.

AU Computing offers software upgrades, services at websites

University Computing has announced several new or expanded services and software packages available to users of campus computer technology. These include:

* F-Prot Professional virus protection software and Netscape version 4.04 are now available via AU Install. For more information, please check out the web page at auinst.duc.auburn.edu or the AU Technology Update page at www.auburn.edu/duc/update.html.

* AU Study is a web based application that allows faculty to create, post, and register class syllabi online. The syllabi are linked to the student's schedule of classes on the Web. For more information about using AU Study, see the AU Technology Hotline web page at www.auburn.edu/hotline/#austudy.

* Faculty can download a copy of a class roll (including student e-mail addresses) or send a message to the entire class via the Class Rolls application on the AU Web at www.auburn.edu/its/ducapps/class_roll.html (an administrative user ID is required). F or more information on obtaining and administrative user ID, contact your departmental Computing Coordinator (see a list of Computing Coordinators at www.auburn.edu/client/cc.html).

* AU ResNet connects on-campus residents directly to the campus network and the Internet. Dorm residents surf the web at connection speeds faster than the fastest modems for about the same cost per month. Find out more information from the AU Technology H otline web page at www.auburn.edu/hotline/#auresnet.

For current information about what's happening in Technology at AU, please check the AU Technology Update pageon the AU Web under the Technology button (or go directly to URL www.auburn.edu/duc/update.html).

Caterpillar sets up demonstration center

Caterpillar Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, has established a new Forest Products Training Center in Lee County in conjunction with AU and Mead Coated Board, Inc.

The site, located north of Opelika, will be used to show equipment to prospective buyers, train operators and give AU students hands-on experience with forestry equipment and forest operations.

John Wilhoit, a forest engineer in AU's Department of Agricultural Engineering, said the project represents a cooperative effort between education and industry to provide services to the forest industry. It also represents Caterpillar's confidence in the Southeastern market.

The Southern Forest Engineering Center is a multidisciplinary group of scientists and educators from Auburn's School of Forestry and Department of Agricultural Engineering and the USDA Forest Service's Engineering Research Unit, a part of the Southern For est Experiment Station. The center, which evolved through more than three decades of cooperation between AU and the Forest Service, was officially designated as a center in 1991 and is dedicated to improving the management and utilization of southern for est resources and solving the problems of the southern forest community.

With this cooperative precedent already set at Auburn, Caterpillar considered Lee County and the surrounding area to be an ideal location for the training center, Wilhoit said. Mead Coated Board, a wood products manufacturing company that owns forest lan d and manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Georgia, joined the effort by providing a site for the training center.

The Forest Products Training Center will provide both hands- on equipment operating areas and classroom space. Wilhoit noted that the center, which was officially dedicated in October, will benefit the forest industry and also students at Auburn. "We wi ll be able to use the site to train and educate our forestry students, giving them real hands-on experience in forest operations," he said.

City reminds AU employees about need for business license for outside consulting

The city of Auburn's Finance Department reminds AU faculty and staff that a city business license is required if an AU employee conducts consulting or other compensated activities as a private venture outside university employment.

The business license renewal period is from Jan. 1-March 2 each year, and departmental personnel at Auburn City Hall, 171 N. Ross St., are available to assist applicants in completing the forms.

A city ordinance levies a 1 percent occupation license fee on the salary of each person employed within the city limits of Auburn, including faculty and staff at the AU campus. Not covered are AU employees whose work site is not on campus or elsewhere in the city limits.

The university deducts the license fee from employee paychecks. The business license is required of employees who receive additional income from consulting clients or other professional services. The license also applies to individuals whose "side" office is located outside the city limits if they provide services within the Auburn city limits at any time during the year.

Persons may obtain a partial refund of occupation license fees for services performed outside city limits. A refund form is available from the City Finance Department.
For further information, contact Sandra Wilder at the City Finance Department, 887 4923.

King celebration to feature talk by international human rights advocate

Keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration on Jan. 15 will be Randall Robinson, president of the TransAfrica organization, which lobbies on behalf of national and international human rights causes.

The author of Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America, Robinson will speak at 6 p.m. in Foy 258. The theme for this year's activities is "Celebrating the Dream: Linking a Better Tomorrow for Our Children. Robinson's presentation is sponsore d by the AU Center for the Arts and Humanities and the Office of Minority Advancement for Undergraduate Student Services.

Financial Policies and Procedures now on website

AU's revised Financial Policies and Procedurs are now located on the World Wide Web at: http://www.auburn.edu/administration/iss/business_office/policy_manual /index.html .

Head of AU Honors Program strives to overcome misconceptions

The head of the Auburn University Honors Program says getting his students to believe they can compete with their counterparts from Harvard and other academic institutions better known for prestigious scholarships is sometimes a tough sell.

"I can ask students if they think Auburn is an excellent place to go to school and they'll say 'yes,'" William Gwin said. "But if I ask them if they can compete with a student from Harvard for a Rhodes Scholarship, they'll say 'no.' There's a perception w e've got that Auburn is the best school in the state and ranks well regionally, but if we go out into national competition with some of the best academic institutions, we can't cut it."

It falls to Gwin to convince students interested in prestigious scholarships such as the Rhodes Scholarship, Fulbright Grant, or Marshall Scholarship that they can -- with the proper preparation -- compete with students from the Harvards and Stanfords. Gw in is quick to acknowledge that preparation is key --- and one of the main reasons he began AU's Prestigious Scholarship Program in 1990.

"We wanted to emphasize to our students the availability of these opportunities," Gwin said. "At the same time, we wanted to get across to them a point that Edgar Gentle, the only Auburn Rhodes Scholar to date, once made that at any time there are one or two students at Auburn that are capable of winning a Rhodes Scholarship if they just prepare well, pursue it and have, as Edgar said, a little luck.

"And, finally, we wanted to put in place a mechanism by which to prepare these students that decide to go after these opportunities to increase their chances of being successful."

The program has worked. Since its inception, Auburn students have won 25 prestigious scholarships and nine more candidates are currently in various stages of application for others, including two for the Rhodes Scholarship. Not bad for a program administe red out of the Honors Program office, which has only three staffers including Gwin, and relies heavily on the volunteer efforts of faculty throughout the Auburn campus.

"We are still at some disadvantage because at Harvard, for example, they move all their candidates into the same dormitories their sophomore year and train the much like we do our athletes," Gwin said. "They have the resources. We've got two part-time peo ple and a secretary to administer a program for 560 students of which the scholarship program is only a small part. I would think that Harvard probably has three people devoted full-time to scholarship preparation alone."

Preparation for scholarship application at Auburn is covered largely in a booklet distributed to all interested students. It details all the prestigious scholarships, their requirements -- including a minimum grade-point average of 3.6 -- and application processes.

The booklet also gives general tips to students interested in any of the scholarships. Potential applicants are encouraged to participate in campus and community organizations. Other tips include enrollment in a speech communications course, avid reading (particularly of at least one national newspaper) and participation in discussions and debates about current events.

The emphasis on a knowledge of current events, Gwin said, is because most scholarship application processes involve interviews that include discussion of world news items.

"A lot of the interviews have a significant focus on current events," Gwin said. "We encourage our students to read The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Our students are bright, but many of them haven't developed an interest in cu rrent world affairs. The normal Auburn student is very engaged in what they are doing here academically, but they don't reach far beyond that."

The final step in the preparation process, Gwin says, is trial by fire --- the mock interview. Gwin arranges a panel, usually made up of Auburn faculty members, to grill his applicants. He purposefully makes the trial run as tough as possible.

"You really want to make that mock interview tough," Gwin said. "It's kind of like getting ready for a football game by practicing against the Dallas Cowboys. After that, you would be prepared for anything. Whatever they threw at you, you would have seen tougher. We want our panelists to really get the students' attention and make them think about the issues deeper and come up with better and more succinct answers."

Gwin takes a great deal of pride in the Honors program in general and the prestigious scholarship program in particular. He sees both as vehicles to help Auburn students realize the value of an Auburn education and to continue to boost Auburn's academic r eputation.

"So many of us, students and faculty, here at Auburn don't realize that we can operate on an international scale in all fields of study," Gwin said. "And I think that realization is the kind of culture we need to develop here --- that we're more than just a football school, more than just an engineering school. We need to realize that we do have a great deal of breadth here and develop among our students a realization of what Auburn can provide for them and, in turn, what they are capable of accomplishing by taking advantage of the education we provide."

Unsung Hero: Tommy Bartlett, computing specialist

This week's Unsung Hero is Tommy Bartlett, lead application specialist in the Information Management Services unit of the Office of Alumni, Development and University Relations. He has been at Auburn since 1990. He was asked:,

I get the greatest satisfaction in my job when... "When someone else is pleased. We have a heavy workload and quite often the tasks we perform are difficult and time consuming. It's very gratifying to see the response of a user when we've just accomplish ed the 'seemingly impossible.'"

In my job area, quality is measured by... "Quality seems to be is measured by production. We push out a lot of programs, lists, labels, reports, mailings, etc., and if we can't meet the deadlines then we have failed.

If I could change one thing about Auburn (or my job), it would be... "I would start by replacing handshakes with hugs. I would make Auburn University a kinder, gentler place to work. So often we are loaded down with work and we never take a moment to say a kind word or the time to say how much we appreciate each other. We need to take more time out to say thank you, and not take each other for granted. God has blessed us with an opportunity to work with each other, so we should try harder to do it with a joyful heart. I wish that Auburn were a place where people would not burden one another but bear one another's burdens."

I've always wondered why... (no answer).

When people come to this campus, I want them to... "see the pride of Auburn and the quality of its people."

In my spare time, I like to... "My spare time is most often spent with my Church family, my wife and kids, friends and the outdoors."