Editor: Roy Summerford. Contributing editors: Bob Lowry, Janet McCoy, Mitch Emmons and Richarde Talbot.

The AU Report is published by the Office of University Relations at Auburn University. Issues appear every two weeks during academic quarters.

Official distribution by campus mail includes full-time faculty and staff at campus offices. Copies also are mailed to trustees and officials at AU at Montgomery.

Deadline for receiving items is noon on Tuesday before publication. Direct inquiries, suggestions and items to 23 Samford Hall, Auburn University, Ala. 36849-5109. Telephone 334/844-9999.Electronic mail:summero@mail.auburn.edu

Auburn was the only university in the Southeast ranked in the top 25.

The May edition of Yahoo! Internet Life, out in bookstores this week, lists the Top 100 universities based on a survey of 300 of the most wired universities from an initial count of 4,000 campuses.

"Not only are college students the most Net-friendly group in America but.... Net skills are an increasingly critical part of campus life," editor Barry Golson told USA Today .

"We are very excited about this ranking," said Jim Stone, AU's interim chief information technology officer. "We've tried to create an electronic environment conducive to serving students and preparing them for the future."

The recognition, Stone said, should be shared by university administrators who have set priorities for campus, and employees in the technology division who installed and work to make the system top-notch.

"This really highlights the fact that Auburn is doing very, very advanced things that to some may almost look like yesterday's technology but are far out and reaching in regards to complexity," Stone said.

As an example, he points to the AU Passport, which enables students to register for classes on-line.

"We've just marked the six-month point on that and we are preparing for the next registration season," he said. "For winter quarter, we had thousands and thousands of student to register through this process.

"We believe that we are the only university in Alabama and one of a few in the region to undertake this complex issue on-line," Stone said.

In addition, Stone said that through the work of the Instructional Media Group, faculty are using the World Wide Web "in such creative ways in the classroom."
Nick Backscheider, education technology advisor with the Instructional Media Group, said Auburn ranked high in the poll because of the university's "very strong infrastructure.

"Some time ago, some people made sure the fiber optics needed were in place so when things progressed we were ready," Back-scheider said.

"One of the things that encourages students to use the Internet is that our faculty use it in a variety of ways," Backscheider said. "And, we have some really talented students who are allowed and encouraged to build home pages and use the Internet.

"In many ways, Auburn is ahead of most universities," he added.

The magazine's survey looked at 35 areas in four categories: use of the Internet for academics accounted for 45 percent; social uses, and hardware and wiring, 22.5 percent each; and student services, 10 percent.

Of the top 100 universities, all offer access to on-line library catalogs; 99 offer unlimited access to the Web; 87 provide students Web space for a home page; 71 supply a port for every dorm resident; 43 allow students to view their transcripts on line; 29 let students register for classes on line; and 28 let them add or drop classes on line.

Stone said the university is continuing to make strides in linking AU to the world through technology, and by this fall all AU residence hall rooms will be on-line with ethernet connections. AU is also doubling the size of on-line registration capacity fo r students.

Muse calls for fresh focus on AU graduate programs

Auburn will soon try to identify a few graduate programs that can be developed into programs of national stature, President William Muse told the University Faculty last week.

Muse, in his annual "State of the University" address on April 8, listed an evaluation of graduate programs as one of several initiatives Auburn can take to maintain progress in the face of continuing shortfalls in state funding.

"One of the key elements of our strategic plan will be to provide greater focus to our educational efforts at the graduate level," he said.

"Auburn has gained considerable recognition for the strength of its undergraduate
programs," he added. "But very few programs at the graduate level appear
anywhere in the national rankings."

Muse said the university will develop a process to determine which graduate programs have the potential for national stature.

Fewer than 10 programs would be likely to be have the potential for the investment necessary to make them nationally prominent, he said.

Most graduate programs at Auburn serve local or regional needs, Muse added, and those which serve constituents whose needs are strong and clearly identified should be maintained. For such a program to be maintained, he said, its constituents should feel that the program is of high quality.

"This will mean that graduate programs that do not serve a strong local or regional need or that do not have a clear capability of competing nationally should be phased out."

Muse said he expects the process to create some anxieties. "But that will be necessary for us to progress," he said. "The alternative is to remain in a situation where substantial amounts of our resources are being invested in activities that are return ing very limited results for either the institution or its students."

The Auburn president listed other priorities to maintain quality in the face of inadequate public revenues. They include:

€ Raising tuition until it is at least equal to that of other doctoral universities in the Southeast.

€ Recruiting the best students both in-state and from other states, making sure that out-of-state students are charged enough tuition to cover the full cost of their education.

€ Implementing the university's strategic plan, including regular reports to document progress.

€ Increased efforts to inform the public about the positive impact of Auburn on the state.

Muse said the university must operate within political constraints that will not be easily overcome. He noted that the AU System has lost $86 million in needed increased state appropriations over three years as a result of a shift in the funding formula for education in Alabama.

He attributed the shift to Gov. Fob James' efforts to increase funding for kindergarten through high school without any increase in taxes, which, he noted, is a popular sentiment in many counties. As a result of the resulting shifts in funding by the Leg islature, higher education's share of the state education budget has shrunk from a historical level of 33 percent to 27 percent, which is the expected level in the pending budget for 1997-98.

Muse said he agrees with the governor that Alabama has too many institutions of higher education, but he added that the prospects are slim for reducing the number.

"The only solution that has any chance of success, in my opinion, would be to give a state agency the full authority to implement and enforce standards of productivity and quality for all of the degree programs in both two-year and four-year institutions, and to allocate moneys for each institution based on its performance against those standards," he said.

Officers: Future, present, past

Incoming and outgoing faculty leaders welcomed new officers following faculty elections on April 8. Officers are: University Faculty and Senate Chair-elect Glenn Howze and Secretary-elect Jean Olds Weese, 1997-98 Secretary Jennie Raymond and Chair Gary Swanson, and Immediate Past Secretary Barbara Struempler and Immediate Past Chair John Grover. Howze and Weese, elected last week, will become chair and secretary, respectively, in 1998-99.

Grover calls for greater faculty involvement

In his farewell address to the University Faculty last week, 1996-97 Chair John Grover urged greater faculty involvement in matters affecting the university.

Grover, who turned over leadership of the University Faculty and Senate to 1997-98 Chair Gary Swanson, lamented low participation in faculty governance. He noted that only 140 faculty members voted in the April 8 election for chair-elect and secretary el ect.

Urging faculty members to become more involved in state political issues affecting the university, Grover said, "We as faculty need to assert ourselves. Auburn clearly needs to assert its value as a land-grant university and a flagship institution. Don' t give up in this cause to do our best for what is good."

Grover will continue to serve on the University Senate's executive council as immediate past chair of the Senate.

An encouraging word

Auburn student Erin Argo received encouragement from President William Muse shortly before Argo was to speak at an April 7 rally at the Alabama State House in support of higher education. The rally drew several hundred supporters of Alabama colleges and u niversities to Montgomery, where they urged the Legislature to pass adequate funding for higher education this year. The largest amount being considered is a 2.4 percent increase over the current budget.

New service offers counseling to help address financial problems

Auburn is launching a counseling and referral program to help employees avoid or overcome money management problems.

The Financial Counseling and Money Management Program will be a component of the Employee Assistance Program headed by Albert Snipes of Personnel Services.

The new program will be available for all employees and is expected to be most beneficial for support staff in the lowest pay scales, said Snipes and Fred Waddell, family resource management specialist in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

The new program will help these employees and others facing financial problems by providing preventive counseling and basic financial problem solving, said Lisa
Fleming, a member of the steering committee that recommended establishment of the program.

Waddell will train selected volunteers to counsel employees in basic money management practices starting in late spring or early summer.

Snipes said employees with more severe money management problems will continue to be referred to the Community Credit Counseling Service, a new nonprofit agency in Opelika.

Although not affiliated with the university, the agency provides financial counseling to individuals throughout Lee County, Snipes noted.

Waddell said the lowest paid university employees are the ones most in need of money management skills. However, he added, workers at this level often have the least training in money management skills.

He estimated that 15 percent of university employees have financial problems that harm their home life and reduce workplace productivity.

"This is a growing problem that needs to be addressed both here and nationally," Waddell said.

"One of our goals will be to help people head off problems," said Fleming.
For information or assistance, contact the Employee Assistance Program at 844-4145.

Business dean to hold dual post of endowed professorship

Wayne Alderman, dean of the College of Business at Auburn since 1993, has been named the SouthTrust Corporation Endowed Professor and Dean of the College of Business.

Provost Paul Parks said Alderman's appointment to the endowed professorship was effective April 1.

"I'm delighted that SouthTrust Corporation has made this gift of an endowed professorship in recognition of Wayne Alderman's leadership to the College of Business," said Parks. "This is a distinctive honor that recognizes Dr. Alderman's
many contributions to the university and the state."

The endowment was established through an initial $300,000 gift to Auburn from the Birmingham-based SouthTrust Corp.

A Certified Public Accountant, Alderman earned the doctor of business administration degree from the University of Tennessee in 1977.

Alderman, who was a senior accountant for Ernst & Young from 1973 until 1975, began his academic career as an instructor at Tuskegee University. He spent one year as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin before joining the AU faculty.

Authority on ozone hole to present Kosolapoff Lecture at AU

A Nobel Prize-winning authority on the ozone hole in the earth's upper atmosphere will speak at Auburn University on April 29.

The chemist, Mario Molina of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present the annual G.M. Kosolapoff Award Lecture at 8 p.m. in the Chemistry Auditorium, sponsored by the American Chemical Society, Auburn Section.

Molina was a co-author, with F.S. Roland, of the 1974 article in the British magazine Nature which identified a threat to the stratospheric ozone layer from chloro fluorocarbon gases.

The gases were in use worldwide as propellants in spray cans, as refrigerants and as solvents.

The warning was based on work by Molina Roland for which they and another researcher shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Molina and his co-workers have also proposed and demonstrated a chemical reaction sequence which accounts for most of the stratospheric ozone destruction above the South Pole.

A native of Mexico City, Molina holds a degrees from universities in Mexico and Germany and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Medicine and was recently appointed to the President's Committee of Advisors in Science and Technology.

The Kosolapoff Lecture Series is named for G.M. Kosolapoff, a Russian emigre who was an internationally prominent member of the chemistry faculty at Auburn from 1948 until his death in 1976.

Course assists students, others who are making career choices

Are you in the right career? Did you know at age 18 -- or even this morning -- what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?

There is no reason for anyone to go through life wondering if he or she has made the right career choice, says Darrell Luzzo, an Auburn University assistant professor.
Luzzo, who teaches and coordinates an AU course on career selection, has compiled his experiences as a career counselor into a workbook to guide people through the selection process.

People often make a mistake, he said, when they choose a career simply because it pays well or they want to please someone else, usually parents. Others choose a career simply because it is "hot" at the time, and later they may grow to hate it, Luzzo sai d.

"Many people make career choices for all the wrong reasons, and they don't give a thought to whether or not it is something they actually enjoy doing," he said. "They can even be successful and still be dissatisfied because they made the wrong choice. < P> "Or they may like a career at first but grow dissatisfied as their tastes change."
If that is the case, a person may be ready for a change in careers, Luzzo said. It is no longer unusual for people to change careers in their 30s or 40s, he added.

Luzzo cites the cases of a physician who became a high school teacher and a former professor who is now a social worker. Both had become disillusioned with successful careers and reevaluated their interests and goals before changing careers, he said.

Although he has worked with adults of all ages and careers, Luzzo is focusing on college students in an attempt to point them in the right direction before they get entrenched in their careers.

"Some students wait until their senior year and reality sets in," he said. "They are about to graduate and they don't they want the kind of job for which they have prepared over the past four years. It is best if they learn early how to make a career ch oice."

Luzzo and counseling psychology doctoral students under his direction teach a course that is enjoying a surge in popularity as increasing numbers of Auburn students turn to the course for help in choosing a major.

Auburn also offers career planning assistance to students through the Office of Career Development Services. Some, however, need or want to explore their choices more fully in a class that teaches them the process of career exploration, Luzzo said.

The course is built around the guidebook Making Career Decisions That Count, written by Luzzo and published by Gorsuch Scarisbrick Publishers of Scottsdale, Ariz. The book is based upon Luzzo's experiences during the past six years as an academic and professional career counselor in three states.

Officially dubbed CCP 101, the career explorations class has been offered for several years in the AU College of Education's Counseling and Counseling Psychology Department.

Department Head Holly Stadler said the course languished for several years before Luzzo arrived and made it more relevant for the students. As a consequence, the course is attracting many more students who want to learn about the world of work and their place in it, she said.

Over the past year, demand for the career explorations class has surged from 20 students in one class a year to two sections of 31 students this spring, and six sections of 20 students are planned for next fall. For those who cannot wait until fall, four sections will be offered in the summer.

Luzzo teaches some sections in the summer and fall, and doctoral students under his direction teach the others.

Part of the increase in demand stems from support by the AU Athletic Department as part of a lifeskills program under NCAA guidelines. Approximately 40 percent of students in the course are athletes.
Arthur Ogden, AU assistant athletic director for student affairs, said the course introduces student athletes to career opportunities beyond the playing field.

Ogden said many athletes are hardly unique in having either unclear or unrealistic career goals. "A lot of students come to college without a clear idea of the career options available to them," he said. "They need help in developing strategies to choos e a career in which they will excel and which they will enjoy."

Not all students are freshmen when they take the course.

Amy Martin of Huntsville graduated from Auburn with a degree in Spanish in the fall of 1996 and stayed on campus to take classes leading to certification as a foreign language teacher in high school. However, she was still unsure about her choice, so she selected the career exploration class as an option.

"I did well in Spanish classes and I saw that as the fastest way to graduate, but I didn't want to be in commerce, and I decided I didn't want to teach either," Martin said. Through the course she matched her interests and abilities to a career as a stud ent counselor, and she has applied for graduate study in counselor education.

"This made me focus more on what I want to do," she said.

Chad Kraska, a sophomore from Greensboro, N.C., knew he wanted to major in the liberal arts but was unsure about what to do. An undeclared major, he has narrowed his choices to the social sciences in the College of Liberal Arts. "I had a clue that those were my interests, but I wanted to find out what options are available," he said. "This affirmed what I was already thinking."

April 21 conference to focus on leadership in education

Auburn will host a conference on educational leadership on April 21 at the AU Conference Center.

Conference goals include informing participants of the future education leadership needs of Alabama, and increasing awareness of goals, standards, models and directions for future educational leadership programs at the state and national levels. Conferenc e participants will also share information on linking knowledge, skills and abilities in business, community and government with education leadership programs.

Michael E. Usdan, president of the Institute for Educational Leadership Inc., in Washington, D.C., will be the special guest speaker. Usdan, a consultant to local and state boards of education and educational organizations throughout the country is an e xpert on the relationship between education and business.

Other speakers include AU College of Education Dean Richard Kunkel; Frances Kochan, director of the Truman Pierce Institute; Carolyn Novack, president of A+; and Anita Hardin, dean of the College of Education at Troy State University.

The Alabama Department of Education, the AU College of Education's Truman Pierce Institute, and the AU Center for Governmental Services are sponsoring the conference.

For registration information, contact the AU College of Education at 844-4446 or the Center for Govermental Services at 844-4781.

Historian to discuss people, events that shaped today's Alabama

Historian Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton on Wednesday, April 16, will present a public lecture discussing the events, personalities and issues that have shaped Alabama for the past 50 years.

Hamilton will speak at 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, at Draughon Library's Special Collections Department as part of the Ralph Brown Draughon Seminars in State and Local History.

Hamilton, University Scholar and Professor Emerita of History at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, draws on her personal experiences from growing up in Birmingham during the Depression, a stint as a reporter during World War II and her career as a his torian.

Her reports and reflections are collected in her most recent work, Looking for Clark Gable and Other 20th Century Pursuits, published this year by the University of Alabama Press. She is also the author of Seeing Historic Alabama: Fifteen Guided Tours an d the official bicentennial history of Alabama.

Hamilton's lecture in Auburn is part of the fourth season of the Draughon Seminars, which offer programs by noted writers and scholars on topics of current research in Alabama and Southern history. The seminars, administered by AU's Center for the Arts an d Humanities, were established in 1990 by AU alumnus Kelly Mosley, in memory of historian and former Auburn President Ralph Brown
Draughon.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the AU Center for the Arts and Humanities, the Special Collections Department, AU Archives and the Department of History.

Goddard spending year working with Cover Leadership Center

H. Wallace Goddard, an associate professor in AU's School of Human Sciences, has taken a one-year professional development leave to work at the Covey Leadership Center in Provo, Utah.

Goddard, who is also a family and child specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, is working as a home and family consultant at CLC.

His primary project to date has been contributing to a research team that is working on a companion book to CLC founder Stephen Covey's international best seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

The book is titled The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, which is scheduled to be published this fall.

CLC's clients include more than half the Fortune 500 companies, as well as thousands of small and mid-size companies, educational institutions, government institutions, and other organizations.

At AU, Goddard has developed several programs which focus on developing strong families. One 100-page publication, National Extension Parent Education Model of Critical Parenting Practices, was the first publication of its kind to provide common consensu s on family issues for extension professionals nationally.

Tony Award-winning play scheduled for April 22-26

AU's Department of Theater will present Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe's "The Colored Museum" April 22-26 at Telfair Peet Theater.

The play will be under the direction of guest director Shriff Hasan, who has directed several productions in Alabama.

All performances -- except for a 2 p.m. matinee April 26 -- will be at 8 p.m. Individual tickets are $12, $10 for seniors and AU faculty and staff and $8 for AU students. Tickets can be purchased by calling the theater Ticket Office at 334/844-4154.

Hasan has taught in Tuskegee University's Department of English and as director of the TI Little Theatre. He earned a MFA in theatre from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. He has had extensive course work with Jules Aaron, Craig Belknap, Rob ert Beneditti, Pew Palter and Debra Lavine.

He was a finalist for the Irene Ryan award from the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy and is a founding member of the Fantasia Theatre Co. In Tuskegee.

Unsung Hero: Phyllis Hodge, secretary in Political Science Department

This week's Unsung Hero is Phyllis Hodge, secretary in the Department of Political Science. She has been at Auburn for 13 years, the last seven in Political Science. She was asked:

I get the greatest satisfaction in my job when... I feel as if I have accomplished something each day by doing the best that I can possibly do and seeing the end result. I also feel good when I am able to help people, especially students, by helping them get into a class or answering a question or helping them out of a crisis or just being there for them, whatever the situation might be.

In my job area, quality is measured by... How well I know my job and performing in a professional manner on a day-to-day basis and knowing that I have contributed to the department as a whole. Trying to put my best foot forward when there is a crisis or d eadline on something and knowing that I did my very best. Keeping abreast of the new computer technology and other information that could make my job more efficient.

If I could change one thing about Auburn (or my job), it would be... To give more recognition and respect to Secretary/Clerical staff and other staff members on this campus. Paying them a comfortable salary for their time, experience and dedication that t hey give to this university. Just imagine where a department would be without the staff. I truly believe that we are the backbone of any office or department.

I've always wondered why... With all this knowledge and technology on campus, why can't someone find a solution to the parking situation on this campus. It is so frustrating to come to work or leave for lunch and there is no place to park. Then, if you pa rk illegally somewhere in order to get back to work on time you are given a ticket which must be paid. I always wondered where is the logic behind this.

When people come to this campus, I want them to... Feel welcome and at home and notice the overall friendliness and warmth of the people that work here. I want them to feel that whatever they need during their visit that someone will do their best to help them and that they are welcomed back anytime.

In my spare time, I like to... Sew, cross-stitch, crochet, read, travel, spend time with my daughter and with family and friends. I also like to experience new and exciting things and I am constantly learning everyday.

After 35 years at AU, Gerald Leischuck rides into sunset

Gerald Leischuck decided at an early age that he didn't want to grow up to be a cowboy on his family's sprawling ranch in Colorado. So, he took his father's advice, went to college and made a career in education.

Forty-four years later and hundreds of miles removed from the western plains,
Leischuck has retired from what he described as a "dream" job in education -- one of the top executives at AU.

On April 1, Leischuck, 61, retired after a 35-year career at Auburn that saw him rise from graduate student to executive assistant to the president and secretary to the AU Board of Trustees.

"I've had a marvelous career. It's the kind of career that if you could have scripted it, it couldn't have been better," he said. "You never know how your career is going to unfold. I never would have thought that someday I would have been executive assi stant to the president, working closely with the Board of Trustees. I thought if I had been a successful principal or junior college administrator, that would have been a very good career for me."

As a youngster growing up on a 2,400-acre spread near tiny Ramah, Colo., Leischuck discovered early on that he wasn't suited to the grueling life of a farmer-rancher in the West.

"I had a horse, we had several hundred head of cattle on the ranch, we had tractors, we put up hay for feed. During winter time, we had to go out and feed the cows, do the branding -- all those horrible jobs," he said. "I spent a lot of time riding a ho rse, following cows, branding. This whole thing (career in education) was an escape from that."

When he complained about life on the ranch, Leischuck said his father encouraged him to go to college and pursue another career. So, after graduating from Ramah High School in 1953, Leischuck set out for Colorado State College (now the University of Nort hern Colorado), where he earned a degree in business education and mathematics in 1959.

Leischuck taught school for a while in Kiowa, Colo., before returning to Colorado State for an M.A. in educational administration and psychology.

"When I was finished with my master's degree, my major professor encouraged me to go ahead and get my doctorate before I got too encumbered," he said. "He tried to steer me to Stanford, but I told him I'd like to go to the Southeast."

"He said, 'Well, I don't know a whole lot of people in the Southeast, but I know Truman Pierce at Auburn'," said Leischuck. "I didn't even know where Auburn was. He said, 'If you let me, I'll contact Dean Pierce and see if he has an opening in the docto ral program'."

Leischuck moved on to California for a job teaching math at a Stockton, Calif., junior high school. "In the fall of 1962, I came to Auburn on an assistantship, and that was the beginning of my long association with Auburn," he said. "I started as a grad uate assistant to Wilbur Tincher in the College of Education."

A year later, Tincher was named director of the Office of Institutional Research and brought Leischuck along as his graduate assistant. Leischuck got his doctorate from Auburn in 1964, met his wife Emily, turned down several job opportunities and remained in Auburn while teaching and working as a research associate to Tincher.
In 1965, he was named assistant director of institutional research and became director a year later.

"From 1963 until 1997, I was basically associated in one way or another with the president's office," said Leischuck, who later became secretary to the board and President William V. Muse's executive assistant.

Leischuck said he decided to pursue a career in the South, partly because of his curiosity over the civil rights movement at that time.

"Careers are funny. You don't plan them. You make choices," he said. "I could have stayed in Colorado or California, but it was the adventure thing that took me here -- the sociological changes taking place in the South during the early 60s.

"When I told people I was going South, some discouraged me (because of the racially-charged atmosphere). The first experience I had with that was driving to Auburn in September 1962. I was coming down the highway and there were two buses. One was dropping off white children and second dropping off black children. I realized for the first time there were totally separate schools."

In fact, Leischuck, along with many other white students, befriended Auburn's first black student, Harold Franklin, who enrolled for winter quarter 1964.

"We would walk across campus . . . with him. I know we were hissed a couple of times. We just ignored it and went about our business. The oddity, in retrospect, was the calm and the ease and low key nature of the whole thing (desegregation) as it unfolde d at Auburn. I give (former president) Ralph Draughon credit for that. The leadership at the time was very responsible, and the campus was very responsible."
In addition to Draughon and Muse, Leischuck worked under four other Auburn presidents -- Harry Philpott, Hanley Funderburk, Wilford Bailey and James Martin.

Of the six, he described Draughon as "an assimilator and unifier; he laid the foundation" at a time when World War II veterans were returning to campus;
Philpott: "a visionary. He saw what a comprehensive university could be. It was the hey day of Auburn. He was getting appropriation increases of 18 to 25 percent a year"; Funderburk: "Was at sea most of the time. He was fighting battles the entire time he was here. There was a lot of divisiveness. He never could get it going."; Bailey: "He was a great healer. He brought all the disparate groups back together." Martin: "Tremendous builder. He was the builder of all builders. He demonstrated the campus coul d become quality physically as well as academically. He also saw the need for a great library."; Muse: "His legacy is developing. He's got to demonstrate management and planning skills because the resources are not there like they were in another era. He 's got to be a master at building consensus and developing unity under severe funding constraints, which will likely plague him the whole time he's here. Those are the tools he brought to the university." Leischuck also praised Muse for improving the rela tionship between the faculty and the trustees and bringing diversity to the campus.

"Somewhere along the line, Auburn became a very good university and became recognized nationally," said Leischuck. "There's quality, and I suppose that started with President Draughon, but certainly during Philpott's years when admissions standards were put in place and he was able to recruit faculty and build programs.
Those things develop over a long period of time. That didn't happen last week or three years ago."

In addition to his Auburn career, Leischuck says he took pride in his international presidency of Phi Delta Kappa and his decade of service as president of the Auburn City Board of Education.

Meanwhile, Leischuck in retirement plans to spend more time tending to his yard and garden, working with his orchids and greenhouse, traveling, visiting the ranch and writing a scholarly book on his period at Auburn.

The Leischuck family still owns the Colorado property, including a home with a view of a distant mountain range, but Leischuck says he and his wife will spend their retirement in Auburn.

"We thought about it (retiring in Colorado) for about 30 seconds," he said. "The first time I took Emily out for an extended stay, my Dad said, 'Come on Emily, I want to show you your place'. On this property there were several farms combined and one sti ll had old house on it. It didn't have much of a roof, but it was still standing. He (father) said if you come out here I'll give you that house. I think we had two donkeys and some geese and he said, 'I'll give you geese and goats, the donkeys and that w ill be the start of your setup'. She said, 'No, Gerald can come out anytime he wants to for any length of time and I'll visit, but I'm not going to stay'."

A-Day weekend filled with campus activities

A-Day weekend on April 25-26 will feature a variety of events and musical entertainment, capped by the annual intrasquad spring football game.

The A-Day football game, matching the orange and blue teams, will be at 3 p.m Saturday, April 26, in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Student tickets are $1 and $5 for all others.

The weekend will begin with several meetings of advisory councils for AU's colleges and schools.

The advisory groups, composed of alumni and other influential business leaders for the colleges of Architecture, Design and Construction, Liberal Arts and Engineering, will meet Friday, April 25.

In addition, the College of Sciences and Mathematics will hold its third annual Dean's Awards presentation at 4 p.m., when students will be recognized. In addition, the outstanding teacher and faculty advisor in the college and two outstanding graduate t eaching assistants will be honored.

Also, the School of Architecture in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction will have an afternoon tea at 4 p.m. that Friday for students, faculty and parents. It will be in Biggin Gallery.

Activities continue into the evening Friday, April 25, with a concert by the Indigo Girls at 8 p.m. at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. Tickets are $12 each.

Parents' Weekend, a time when parents can come to campus learn what their child is doing in college, has several events planned, said Liz Peel of the Auburn Alumni Association. Nearly 600 people have registered for Parents Day weekend activities and more registrations are expected.

Several tours will be offered for parents on both days, including a campus tour for prospective students, a tour of Placement Services, a sports tour and a tour of Ralph Draughon Library.

On Saturday, the annual President's Barbecue on the lawn of the President's Home is planned, as well as a reception at the Student Honors Center in Broun Residence Hall hosted by Honors Program staff for families whose students are enrolled in the program .

The 20th Annual Open House of the College of Veterinary Medicine is Saturday from 8:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. Activities include exhibits, tours presentations, a petting zoo, teddy bear surgery and animal trivia games.

Ice cream social to celebrate success of campaign

Want the scoop on Campaign Auburn: The Next Generation? Alumni & Development will host an A-Day ice cream social at Plainsman Park on April 26 from 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. for faculty and staff who contributed to the success of the campaign.

The ice cream social will also feature information about the difference philanthropy is making on campus.

"The faculty and staff do so much every day to increase the reputation of our university," said Betty DeMent, vice president for alumni and development.
"That's why it's especially important to honor those who gave above and beyond by contributing to Campaign Auburn.

Faculty and staff contributed more than $1.7 million to the Family Campaign portion of the comprehensive campaign, which surpassed its $175 million goal last fall on its way toward a Dec. 31 conclusion.

DeMent said the ice cream social is being held at Plainsman Park because the new baseball facility is one of the many beneficiaries of the campaign. Donations and pledges to Campaign Auburn are funding scholarships, professorships, purchase of library ma terials, program support and construction and renovation of facilities.

Beginning this month, representatives from the Office of Alumni and Development will be making presentations at colleges and schools to explain the impact of the campaign in their areas.

"There was a lot of confusion after the Generations Fund Campaign (in the mid 1980s), when people saw the large total and thought all of that money would be readily available," said DeMent. "We don't want that to happen again."

DeMent noted that about 38 percent of the campaign total is available for current operations. Eleven percent is earmarked for capital improvements, and 21 percent is in endowment funds. An additional 13 percent represents pledge commitments yet to be wi th received, and 17 percent of the campaign total is from estate commitments.

University employees who participated in the Family Campaign and plan to attend the ice cream social are asked to contact Julie Nolen, director of donor relations, by campus mail at the Alumni Center, e-mail at nolen@mail.auburn.edu or phone at 844-1322 b y April 18.

Liverance receives award from professional association

Darwin Liverance, director of University Personnel Services, was presented the Distinguished Service Award for the Southern Region of the College and University Personnel Association at the association's recent regional meeting in Atlanta. Liverance was recognized for improvements to AU's personnel system over the past 10 years and for service to the profession at the state, regional and national levels. CUPA Southern Region represents 1,900 personnel service professionals in 13 Southern states plus Puer to Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Gerber honored by campus chapter of AAUP

Larry Gerber, associate professor of History, has received this year's Academic Freedom Award from the Auburn chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Chapter President Cyrus Dawsey presented the award to Gerber, a former University Faculty chair and former AAUP chapter president, during the annual spring meeting of the University Faculty. Dawsey cited Gerber's continued dedication to representing faculty interests during Gerber's 14 years at Auburn.

Speaker to discuss folklore collecting in Alabama

Folklorist Jack Solomon will present a public lecture on "Folklore Collecting in Alabama at the End of the 20th Century: Genres and Methods -- The Pleasures and the Problems" at 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 15, in Broun Hall Auditorium. Solomon, a faculty memb er at Central Alabama Community College, is the author of collections of folktales and Gone Home, a collection of epitaphs. The lecture is sponsored by the AU Special Lectures Program, the College of Education, the AU Center for the Arts and Humanities a nd the departments of English, History and Sociology.

Early Childhood Summer Enrichment Program planned

The Early Childhood Summer Enrichment Program offered by the Department of Curriculum and Teaching will be offered in partnership with Auburn City Schools this year. The six-week program will begin June 30, with sessions on Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m.-noon. Children aged 4-5 will be at the Early Childhood Education Center on East University Drive, and those 6-8 will be at Wright's Mill Road Elementary School. The fee is $20 per week per child, and children may be enrolled for any number of week s. The theme for this year's program will be "Frogs, Snails, Ponds and Trails." For details, contact Janet Taylor at 844-6747.

Aggies in Auburn to assemble on April 21

Former students of Texas A&M will assemble in Auburn on April 21 for the annual Texas Aggie Muster. Those interested in attending should contact Barry Bryan at 844-5340.

Marriage & Family Therapy Center offers help

If you or your family are having marital, child, family, drug, alcohol or related problems, AU's Marriage and Family Therapy Center can help. Call 844-4478.