Editor: Roy Summerford. Outreach Editor: Diane Clifton. Research Editor: Mitch Emmons. Contributing editors: Pete Pepinsky, Bob Lowry, Janet McCoy 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

If you and your family want exercise, fun, prizes, free food or just a good chance to get together, Family Day on Thursday, June 5, was made for you. Did we mention a chance to get out of work for a few hours? That too.

Family Day is a broad array of activities -- akin to a community fair -- for AU faculty and staff from 2 p.m.-6 p.m. on Biggio Drive south of Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Jim Ferguson, vice president for administrative services, has asked supervisors to
excuse all employees from regular duties during the first-of-its-kind festival.

"We are doing this to show the university's appreciation to faculty and staff for a job well done, and to give people a chance to unwind, enjoy fellowship and participate as families," said Family Day Chairman Albert Snipes of Personnel Services. Snipes headed a committee of 20-25 volunteers from faculty and staff ranks.

"We have everything together," Snipes added. "All we need now is a big crowd for it to be a success." By a big crowd, Snipes said his committee hopes for 4,000 AU employees and their family members. If Family Day draws a large number of participants, Sn ipes said it may become an annual event.

Among the attractions, all free:
€ Carnival-type game booths for children.
€ Two caricaturists.
€ Fantasy photos, in which participants can dress in football uniforms or other dream garb.
€ Drawings for prizes that will include a weekend car rental, gift certificates, shirts and health club memberships.
€ Bingo with prizes.
€ Local disk jockey Ozz.
€ Displays by Auburn Police and Fire Departments.
€ The AU Gospel Choir in performance.
€ Team sports and field events.
€ Cartoon videos (in the Coliseum).
€ Displays on medical services and prevention of illegal drugs.
€ Cotton candy, popcorn, hamburgers, pizza and more food from local vendors.

For more information, contact Snipes at 844-4145.

Budget blow leaves AU looking at possible tuition increase

Auburn University will have to look elsewhere for funding to prevent the loss of faculty and staff and protect academic quality, President William Muse said following passage of the state education budget last week by the Alabama Legislature.

A pending budget increase of less than 1 percent -- the first increase in three years -- was the first of three economic shocks to the university last week. On Wednesday, Gov. Fob James asked the Alabama Commission on Higher Education to find ways to re duce funding for higher education, currently $981 million statewide, by $100 million. The governor also warned of the possibility of a 1 percent proration in the current education budget, concentrated in the last three months of the fiscal year, which en ds Sept. 30.

As of Friday, the education budget was awaiting the signature of James, who had asked the Legislature to avoid any increase for higher education this year.
If approved by James, the budget passed by the Legislature will provide an increase of 0.94 percent for the AU System in 1996-97 over the current state appropriation.

With the possibility of additional state support eliminated for next year, the administration is looking to a tuition increase as an alternative. "That is the only other major source of revenue that we have," Muse said.

The administration is preparing a request for the board to consider at its June 2 meeting. A specific amount for a tuition increase proposal has not been determined, but the president said a significant increase would be needed to even produce a 2 perce nt pay increase for faculty and staff.

The university will continue its efforts to reduce costs, but additional cuts will have a limited impact on already lean finances, he added.

Last fall's 3 percent pay raise for employees was financed by a combination of cost cutting and a tuition increase that totaled 4.7 percent. At the time, some board members expressed concerns about the effect of tuition increases on access for middle-inc ome Alabama residents, but the board agreed to the 1996 increase after other members cited the need to maintain academic quality.

Whether or not tuition is increased this year, Muse said, the impact of a third straight year of inadequate state funding will be felt by the university. The university is still reeling from a 7.5 percent cut in state funding last year and level funding for the current year, he noted.

"The implications are that the effort that has gone into developing an institution of significant quality -- an institution that is of great value to the state of Alabama -- can deteriorate very rapidly if capable people leave," he said. "Many already ha ve, and I would expect others to follow unless we can improve the level of support we are receiving."

Even if signed by the governor, the budget will provide little new money for Auburn. The increase for the AU System will be one of the lowest percentage increases for higher education in a budget in which the average increase was 1.6 percent. The total allocated to Auburn from the education trust fund for 1997-98 is $177.3 million to be divided among the Auburn and Montgomery campuses, the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and the Alabama Agricultural Extension System.

The one bright spot for Auburn came in the general fund budget, to which the Legislature added $1 million for a poultry science building. The federal government has provided $6 million and the poultry industry has committed some funds toward the $12 mill ion building. (See related story on agriculture funding.)

While earmarking helped the university in the general fund budget, it hurt Auburn in the education budget. From the amount appropriated in the education budget, the university faces $700,000 in increased payments to the state retirement system because of changes in funding requirements and $300,000 in earmarked appropriations for which additional funding was not provided.

The earmarked appropriations are $100,000 for the Raptor Rehabilitation Center in the College of Veterinary Medicine and $200,000 for a minor league baseball field at AU's Montgomery campus.

Even before those funds were earmarked, the university was not slated to receive enough to offset inflation.

"The thing that is so disheartening about this is that Auburn University has done everything that this state could expect us to do," Muse said.

"We have achieved national acclaim for the quality of our academic programs, made major efforts to reduce our costs and informed the leadership of our state about our contributions to the state's welfare. Yet none of these accomplishments seem to be value d," he added.

Sidebar: Meanwhile, next door

While Auburn experienced an increase of less than 1 percent in the education budget approved by the Alabama Legislature last week, the education budget in Georgia included funds for a 6 percent increase for faculty and staff of the University of Georgia, according to Columns, the UGA faculty-staff newsletter.

The Georgia General Assembly also approved funding at the University of Georgia for a $10 million parking deck, to be repaid through user fees, $7 million in facilities improvements, $1.1 million for new and expanded programs in forestry and agriculture a nd $1 million for a new eminent scholar position in veterinary medicine.
Over the preceding two years, state support for the University of Georgia has increased by 14 percent, while, in Alabama, state support for Auburn University has declined by 7 percent, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Campus View: Attitudes pose danger to Auburn's quality, state's future

By William V. Muse
President of Auburn University

The recent blows to higher education in Alabama, particularly the state's major research universities, are a threat to the future development of our state.

The budget that the Alabama Legislature adopted on May 19 will have a severe impact on the research universities, particularly Auburn University, whether Gov. Fob James signs it or not. This was followed within days by a request from the governor for th e Alabama Commission on Higher Education to find ways to reduce funding for higher education by $100 million a year and a warning from the governor's office of possible proration of the current education budget by 1 percent
in the last few months of the fiscal year.

Of even greater concern than the woefully inadequate amount allocated for the major research institutions are the attitudes that influenced the passage of an education budget that could wreck the institutions upon which our state must build its future.

Obligations must be met

Not only does the budget provide less than a 1 percent increase for Auburn but even within that increase there are obligations that we will have to undertake that will severely limit the amount of money with which we have to work. Out of $1.6 million in new funding, we will have to pay increased cost of retirement benefits that result from the state's raising of the retirement withholding rate. That will cost us about $700,000.

Then the legislature earmarked money for several projects for which we did not request any money. This was action by the Legislature without our permission, much less encouragement. The amounts are $100,000 for the raptor center in the College of Veteri nary Medicine and $200,000 for a baseball field at Auburn University at Montgomery. These monies will have to be set aside out of the money that is allocated, which leaves us a little over $500,000 in actual money we got, which is not much to work with a t all to cover operations on two campuses and at experiment stations and extension offices all over the state of Alabama.

The thing that is so disheartening about it is that Auburn has done everything that this state could expect it to do. We have developed a university that has national acclaim, an institution that has been recognized all over this nation for having excell ent academic programs. We have been ranked in one study after another as one of the best public institutions in the region. We have made a very honest effort to reduce our cost of operations, including major reductions in the number of employees. We ha ve been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the most efficient universities in the country in expenditures per student.

We have throughout this whole process worked very hard to protect the quality of our academic programs so that our students will be adequately prepared for the kind of professions they are going to enter. We've even undertaken this year a major effort to try to inform the Legislature and the people of this state about what Auburn has contributed. In spite of all that, we wind up getting an increase of less than 1 percent and end up getting one of the lowest percentage increases for the various universit ies in the state.

Implications are severe

The implications are severe. This will be the third consecutive year with virtually no increase in support from the state. In fact, over that three-year period, there has been a net decline because of the 7.5 percent reduction two years ago. Yet we are supposed to continue to do our jobs and do them well. There's no mystery as to why morale would be low, because we are not only getting no support, we are not getting any real encouragement either.

The implications are that the effort that has gone into developing an institution of significant quality and an institution that is of great value to the state of Alabama can deteriorate very rapidly if capable people leave. Many already have, and I woul d expect others to follow simply because of the lack of support that we are getting.

Longterm, the issue has to be addressed by finding a source for increased support for higher education. I am afraid that is not going to come from the state of Alabama. There is little reason to have any confidence that the state is going to provide sup port for higher education at the level that is needed.

Auburn is going to have to find some way to achieve the goals that it wants to achieve without the support of the state. We are going to have to raise tuition significantly. That is the only other major source of revenue that we have. We are going to h ave to continue our efforts to reduce costs wherever we can. Depending on what the trustees approve in the way of a tuition increase, there might be as much as 2 percent that we can have available for salary increases, but I don't see how we can do much better than that.

Economic growth requires education

Education is the only real salvation that the state of Alabama has to advance economically, to participate in the kind of economic growth that is going to occur in the Southeast over the next quarter century. We have to make investments in our K-12 educa tion system so that we can adequately prepare our young people for the world of work, but we also need to be willing to invest the money so that we can provide an opportunity for our young people to get a higher education that is comparable in quality to that offered in other states. We are not going to be able to do that unless the state is willing to invest in at least one or two universities and let them have the capability to compete academically on a national level.

Right now we are letting our universities deteriorate, and they are going to deteriorate further without some change in the method by which we are funding education in this state. The universities will deteriorate -- and so will the potential for future economic growth of our state -- unless we find some way to reverse the process of year after year not providing any increase for higher education.

AU officials, agriculture leaders pledge to protect ag programs
AU officials met recently with several state agricultural leaders to examine ways in which the university could strengthen its agricultural programs.

Several members of the AU Board of Trustees, AU administrators and agriculture industry representatives met on campus in response to recent criticism by state Rep. Bill Fuller of LaFayette, chairman of the House budget committee.

Responding to concerns voiced by the agricultural leaders at the May 16 meeting, AU President William Muse assured the agriculture industry representatives that Auburn has not de-emphasized agriculture. He vowed to make improvements with their input.

"Agriculture is important to Auburn University because agriculture is important to the state of Alabama," Muse said. "If areas of agriculture have been neglected inadvertently, we need to develop strategies to deal with that.

"Our problem is balancing increasing demand on the university with declining resources, specifically state support, " he added.

Paul Parks, provost and vice president for academic affairs, cited efforts to support agriculture programs at AU. In one example, he noted that Muse and Outreach Vice President David Wilson launched a series of regional forums to determine the needs and concerns of Alabamians across the state.

Billy Powell of the Alabama Cattleman's Association said agriculture at Auburn began losing ground under former AU President James Martin. Powell said producers are challenged by financial and technological pressures, and many producers do not feel that Auburn is responding rapidly enough.

Other industry representatives cited the condition of agriculture facilities as an area needing improvement, but the AU officials noted that several agriculture facilities are at the top of Auburn's list for construction and renovation.

Auburn is renovating Lambert Meats Laboratory and securing funding for a Poultry Science Center. The state's poultry industry has committed to providing some funds for the project and $6 million in federal funds have been allocated to the project.
The Alabama Legislature just appropriated $1 million to the project. Also, a new swine research unit has been approved by the Board of Trustees, the administration has lobbied for state funding for a new large animal clinic, and the university has develo ped a master plan for agriculture and forestry facilities.

James Sanford, chairman of the AU Research Advisory Council and president of Home Place Farms Inc., commended Muse for beginning the prioritization process. Sanford disagreed that Auburn has weakened its emphasis on agricultural programs; but, he said, g iven the rising costs the industry faces and the increased need for research, AU agricultural programs must have strong support.

Five faculty receive Alumni Professorships

Five AU professors have been awarded Alumni Professorships for five years starting in 1997-98.

The five are Donald Ball, Agronomy and Soils; Wayne Johnson, Electrical Engineering; Gopal Krishnagopalan, Chemical Engineering; Clinton Lothrop, Veterinary Medicine; and Samuel Mockbee, Architecture.

Alumni Professors hold the title for five years on a rotating basis. Faculty awarded the distinction receive a $3,000 yearly salary supplement funded by the Auburn Alumni Association and are selected on the basis of outstanding teaching and research.

"The Auburn Alumni Association funds the Alumni Professor program because of its desire to support distinguished faculty," said Provost Paul Parks. "The program is designed to reward faculty members who have been recognized by their peers and colleagues as making outstanding and exceptional contributions to the university's academic programs."

Four win 'Employee of Year' recognition

Four AU employees have been recognized as "Employees of the Year" for 1996-97.
The four are Dianne Smith, a secretary in the College of Veterinary Medicine; Loretta Hamby, a custodian in Building Services; Al Eiland, an art designer in Extension Communications; and Billy Holbrook, supervisor of the model design laboratory in Aeros pace Engineering.

The awards, which include $500 bonuses, were presented by AU President William Muse during a recent employee recognition ceremony hosted by Personnel Services.

The annual awards were started in 1991 to recognize individuals who display outstanding service by the university's staff. Recipients are chosen by a nine member committee of employees from across campus. The four were chosen from among the monthly Spirit of Excellence recipients, who are also chosen by the committee from nominations submitted by supervisors, faculty and staff.

Smith won in the secretarial/clerical category. In nominating her, L.M. Krista, head of the Department of Anatomy and Physiology, said, "The department's image is greatly enhanced due to Ms. Smith's professional standards... Ms. Smith is a consummate professional and extremely dedicated to serving the department and the university."

Hamby won the award in the service/maintenance category. She was nominated by Henry Armstrong of the Credit Union, who wrote, " Her overall professional approach to her job ensures that our members will always have a clean and well cared for place to do business. We could not be more pleased with the job Loretta has done for the Credit Union."

Eiland received his award in the administrative/professional category. In nominating Eiland, his supervisor, Carol Whatley, said, "Al's professionalism and dedication to excellence are evident in all his work... Al has very high standards and he simply l ives up to them. The results are evident in the compliments he receives and his record of doing things right the first time."

Holbrook received the award in the technical/paraprofessional category. Aerospace Engineering Department Head John Cochran described Holbrook as "a master machinist who can make or repair practically anything." AE Professor John Burkhalter added, "Mr. H olbrook is one of the few true craftsmen left in this country and particularly AU... Besides his expertise as a master craftsman, Mr. Holbrook exemplifies the ideal in personal professionalism..., and it is obvious from discussions with other faculty th at he has the highest respect and admiration."

Conference to examine major issues in education

Equity funding will be among several major issues in education to be examined in a teleconference at Auburn University on May 29.

The conference, "In Black & White: The State of Public Education in America and Alabama," will also explore such the role of higher education in teacher education, the status of K-12 in Alabama, vouchers and privatization in education, integration, curric ulum content and development, youth violence and parental involvement.
The two-hour program will begin at 4 p.m.

The conference will feature remarks by Harvard University education Professor Charles Willie and a panel discussion by Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman; Ann Jolly, a special services teacher and former Alabama Teacher of the Year; education reform advocate William Smith Jr., chairman of Royal Cup, Inc.; Ethel Hall, vice president of the state Board of Education; and Richard Kunkel, dean of the AU College of Education.

The conference at the AU Conference Center will be uplinked via satellite for free distribution statewide. For information, contact Renee Middleton, conference coordinator and director of human resources in the AU College of Education, at 844 4446.

Administrators see progress, some gaps in compliance with disability law

Auburn faculty, staff and administrators are becoming more aware of their responsibilities toward the disabled, but some may still break the law inadvertently, say two persons overseeing AU's enforcement of disability rights laws.

Activities such as the recent Disabilities Awareness Week remind the campus that disabled people are a part of the Auburn community, Kelly Haynes, director of the Office for Students with Disabilities, and Debra Armstrong Wright, executive director of Aub urn's Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Office.

Haynes and Armstrong-Wright said other activities such as the "Disability Issues in Higher Education" seminar on May 16 serve to help people understand and comply with Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Jeanne Kincaid, a New Hampshire-based national authority on education and disability law, explained the disability protection law to groups of students, faculty, staff and administrators in the one-day seminar.

Violations are more likely to be inadvertent than deliberate, said Armstrong Wright. For instance, she noted, citing Kincaid, some faculty do not realize that disabled student workers have the same hiring and job protection as disabled workers who are full-time.

"People are becoming more aware of the law and most are willing to make accommodations for the disabled," said Armstrong-Wright. "The university tries to provide at least one major training activity each year, and that seems to be helping."
Haynes said attitudes have changed tremendously in recent years. "There are still problems, but there has been a lot of progress in attitudes as well as facilities," she said. "We just need to keep working on them, and that is what we intend to do."

For questions about the employment of persons with disabilities, contact Armstrong-Wright at 844-4794. For questions about access, accommodation or other matters concerning students with disabilities, contact Haynes at 844-2096.

AU Theatre presents classic play by Gogol

AU's Department of Theater will present Nikolai Gogol's "The Government Inspector" on Wednesday-Saturday, May 28-31, at Telfair Peet Theater.
The play, which began its run on May 22, is directed by Trish McAdams, head of the Department of Theatre.

Each remaining performance 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. One of the world's most prominent wri ters of the first half of the 19th century, Gogol was a novelist, playwright and humorist whose works have been cited by critics as among the finest of Russian literature.

In October 1835, Gogol wrote his friend and fellow writer Alexander Pushkin requesting a Russian anecdote that could serve as the basis of a comedy. Allegedly, Pushkin recounted a time when he was stuck in a dingy provincial hotel and was mistaken by loc al officials for a St. Petersburg dignitary. Within two months, Gogol had completed "The Government Inspector," a work widely regarded as a masterpiece of comic playwriting.

The text for the Auburn production is an adaptation by Peter Raby, based on a translation by Leonid Ignatieff.

Automated answering service ends busy signals for callers to Enrollment offices

Callers seeking information on admission, financial aid, housing and transcripts no longer listen to a busy signal or experience the aggravation of being transferred from person to person. AU's Office of Enrollment Management Services has implemented an a utomated answering system that transfers calls to the appropriate office with the push of a button.

"Parents, prospective students and enrolled students who may have called previously and gotten a busy signal should now be served much quicker," said John Fletcher, assistant vice president for Enrollment Management Services.

Anyone needing information from an Enrollment Management Services office can call 844-4EMS. Menus and submenues will direct them to the appropriate office.

For example, a prospective student can call that number and the voice of Jim Jackson, supervising producer for Multi-Media in AU's Office of University Relations, will welcome them, provide office hours and a choice of options. Pressing 1 will connect the caller to Admissions where subsequent options are available to request an application or check the status of an application; verify receipt of transcripts, test scores or other required material; and obtain admission requirements.

"Hopefully this will eliminate the frustration of people being transferred incorrectly and they will reach the people they need," said Paula Stokes-Clark, business and administrative services assistant. "We really do like the phone to be answered by a re al person, but we just don't have the staff to handle the volume of calls. So, our goal is to better and more efficiently serve people."

Previously, three receptionists faced the daunting task of answering anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 phone calls each month. In September, which is the busiest time of year, EMS offices received 100,000 calls, Fletcher said. Those three receptionists will now answer calls from people using rotary phones or calls that can't immediately be transferred because the person is either in a meeting or on another call, he said.

"We're open to comments and suggestions," Stokes-Clark said. "Everything can be changed for improvement. If we get enough comments about something, we can look at it and see if we can change it," she said.

A directory of direct numbers for EMS offices is available for academic units and administrators by calling Paula Stokes-Clark at 844-6427.

Student-built solar car earns high spot in national race

Sol of Auburn, AU's student-built solar-powered vehicle placed sixth among 33 competitors at the Eastern Regional Qualifier in Michigan this month to earn the 11th starting position in "Sunrayce 97."

Sunrayce 97, an intercollegiate competition in which students from 40 universities across North America design, build and race solar-powered vehicles, will take place June 19-28. The course will run 1,230 miles from Indianapolis to Colorado Springs.

AU competed in its first Sunrayce in 1990, finishing 15th out of 32 and 25th out of 35 in 1993. Brake problems, however, prevented the resource-challenged team from qualifying in the 1995 event.

"This is our first competition since 1993," said Sushil Bhavnani, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and faculty advisor to the Sol of Auburn team. "But the team already has shown that despite having fewer resources than m ost of the other colleges involved in Sunrayce, that they can compete."

"The team wanted to show what it could accomplish despite our financial constraints being obviously more than the other teams," said Sol of Auburn team captain Matt Day of Montgomery.

Most of the team members are engineering students. They spend countless hours working on the vehicle preparing it for competition, and participation on the solar car project is completely voluntary, Day said. But they're attracted to the project because of the experience it affords them.

"None of us get any extra credit for this," he said. "And most of us are taking 15- to 16-hour course loads. But this project gives us a chance to apply some of the lessons we learn in class."

Day added that despite the extra time demands the solar car involves, most team members actually improve their grades while working on the project.

"The solar car project has turned into the largest undergraduate engineering project ever undertaken at Auburn University," Bhavnani said. "Students involved get a chance to refine management and design skills and apply and test their ideas."

Several corporate sponsors provided support during construction of the vehicle, Bhavnani said. However, the students basically are on their own for financing the racing trips.

"We would welcome other sponsors," he said. "The students have a lot of sweat equity in the project, but they could use some additional help to make the trip this June."

Buddy Davidson inducted into Lee High School Hall of Fame

Auburn Assistant Athletic Director Buddy Davidson has been inducted into the Hall of Fame at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery.

Davidson, an AU alumnus who graduated from Lee in 1957, joined 40 other Lee graduates who have been selected over the past four years. The induction ceremony was May 2 at the high school.

"It was a real humbling and rewarding experience that people still remember you and care about you," Davidson said.

The Lee Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognize former students and faculty who distinguished themselves after graduating from or leaving Lee. Davidson, the fourth member of his class to be inducted, says the Hall of Fame, was created in the spi rit of Lee's belief that education was essential to success in life.

"One of the things that makes it special is that it's not an athletic hall of fame," he said. "It recognizes (former) students for what they've done later in life."

Davidson said one of his fondest memories of Lee was the school spirit. "Lee was a brand new school started from scratch (in 1955)," he said. "Everybody got to participate in everything. The Lee spirit sort of started then because we were new."

After graduating from Lee, Davidson worked as a correspondent for three daily newspapers and as a football manager for four years as a student at Auburn. He was also a student assistant in the sports information office and was sports editor and managing e ditor of The Auburn Plainsman.

Davidson, 57, who earned a journalism degree from Auburn, was sports information director at Auburn from 1964 through 1981 when he became assistant athletic director.

Human Sciences lecturer to discuss negotiations of freeing Beirut hostage

Lucille Levin, who worked tirelessly to win her husband's release from Beirut following his kidnapping, will be the 1997 Mildred Brown Davis lecture at AU on Thursday, May 29.

Levin, an associate professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and at Samford University and founder and chief executive officer of the Community Nonviolence Resource Centers, Inc., will speak at 4 p.m. in 144 Spidle Hall. Her lecture is titled "Fr om Beirut to Birmingham."

The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Consumer Affairs in the School of Human Sciences.

Born in Birmingham, Levin was educated in Virginia and Alabama and is the wife of former network television journalist Jerry Levin. She was working in the Divinity School in Beirut when Jerry, serving as CNN's Mideast bureau chief, was kidnapped and held hostage for more than 11 months.

That experience, in which she negotiated for her husband's release, and her subsequent graduate study in international education with an emphasis on peach studies at Columbia University has made Levin an expert in conflict resolution.
She has become an outspoken advocate for community involvement in conflict management and world peacemaking.

A Woodrow Wilson Visiting Scholar at Princeton University, Levin serves on the boards and/or staff of the Human Rights Project, Educators Without Borders, the Save Lebanon Foundation, Pax World Service, UNITED NATIONS Associate, Caux Scholars and World Pe acemakers.

She is the author of Beirut Diary , which was made into a TV movie "Held Hostage" starring Marlo Thomas as Levin.

Among the important work of the Community Nonviolence Resource Centers, Inc., is the design of comprehensive programs for teaching alternatives to violence in the public school system. The charter model of this project is now operating successfully in Pas adena, Calif.

Mildred Brown Davis of Pike Road, Ala., received her bachelor's degree from Auburn in 1943. She had a distinguished career as a field representative for the American Home Economics Association and as director of continuing education in home economics for the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

AU signs partnership agreement to assist Loachapoka High School

With a stroke of a pen, Auburn University and Loachapoka High School officially entered into a partnership agreement that AU President William V. Muse calls a "win-win association."

The signing of the agreement was held Wednesday, May 14, in the library/computer room at LHS.

"Auburn University is pleased to enter into this partnership agreement with Loachapoka High School," said Muse. "I see this as a win, win association. Public school students will benefit through the programs we can offer, and Auburn will reap future benef its when this student population goes to college.

"It is our hope that many more partnerships such as this are in the near future," Muse added.

Under the terms of the partnership, AU and LHS agree to the following:
* To develop a "work-shadowing" program whereby LHS students will "shadow" the work performed by professional and technical employees at AU;
* To explore the initiation of a junior ROTC program at LHS;
* To establish a computer laboratory at LHS utilizing used computers from AU and appropriate software for student use. These computers will be fully capable of Internet connection. AU's College of Education Learning Resource Center will assist in this pro ject;
* Beginning in September 1997, and ending June 30, 1998, AU will make available a graduate intern through its Public Service Internship Program to assist LHS in applying for federal, state and philanthropic grants and contracts;
* AU and LHS will coordinate the planning of an International Students Day at LHS. AU's International Student Organization will be encouraged to assist in the development of this initiative;
* AU's College of Education will work with LHS in developing a strategic plan for the school. Under the aegis of the Truman Pierce Institute, this initiative would involve parents, administrators, community residents, teachers and others who have a vested interest in the school;
* AU will encourage student volunteers through its student organization, IMPACT, to provide to LHS students various academic and personal enrichment programs;
* AU and LHS agree that the Office of the Vice President for University Outreach will be the point of contact for executing the agreement, and the principal's office at LHS will be the point of contact for the high school.

"The University has a strong commitment to providing outreach assistance to the K-12 schools of Alabama, and we are delighted to have this opportunity to work with our neighbors here in Lee County," said David Wilson, vice president for University Outreac h.

"I particularly want to recognize the contributions of our student service organization IMPACT to this joint effort with Lee County Schools," he added.
The impact to the Loachapoka community will be beneficial and long term, says Lee County School Superintendent John Painter. He added that the outreach effort at LHS will reach 45 percent of the 7,500 students attending 12 schools.

LeeNet formed, assists Lee County Schools with telecommunications

Auburn University's departments of Telecommunications/ETV and University Computing have come to the aid of approximately 7,500 Lee County School students with the advent of LeeNet.

LeeNet is a computer networking system between Lee County's 16 facilities with separate connection for internet access for all schools.

"In reaching out to K-12, let me indicate that as I've attended meetings across campus over the last two years, there has been any number of comments from faculty, staff and administrators who have expressed a desire to help, particularly in technological areas where we thought we could best deliver that kind of assistance," said Jim Stone, AU's interim Chief Information Officer, director of Telecommunications /ETV, and unofficial project leader.

"It (LeeNet) turned out to be a far bigger undertaking than we figured initially," Stone added.

The project was daunting because of the rural nature of Lee County and because some schools were under the influence of the Columbus, Ga., telephone office while others were under the influence of the telephone office in Montgomery. Consequently, a long-d istance carrier was contracted to connect schools in Smiths with the Lee County School System's central office in Auburn and with other county schools.

A second problem was in providing students Internet access but not access to administrative data. This was solved by installing two separate connections -- one between all the schools and one from each school to Auburn University, which serves as LeeNet's connection to the Internet.

In fact, the computer access provision in the AU/Loachapoka High School Partnership Agreement, which guarantees an Internet connection, could not have been possible without the creation of LeeNet.
Loachapoka Principal Richard Harvey is excited about the implications for his students.

"LeeNet has allowed my students to be a fingertip away from the greatest universities in the world," said Harvey. "I think that alone means everything to rural schools in the county."

Vice President for University Outreach David Wilson is also cheered by this example of technological outreach.

"Through University Outreach, Auburn University is investigating numerous ways in which we can collaborate with Alabama K-12 education with an eye to the enhancement of all levels of education for the citizens of the state," said Wilson.

Gene Stewart, manager of AU's Network Support in the Division of University Computing, said that while there were obstacles, they weren't insurmountable.

"There was a good deal of work to be done. They (the Lee County School System) had about 14 servers. We had to look at each one and install new software for wider networking," said Stewart. "I think it turned out really well. The school system was happy, and we were happy to be a part of it."

In addition to intersystem and Internet access, e-mail capability is another benefit of the LeeNet system. For example, Sandra Little's second grade class in Loachapoka now have pen pals in the Cayman Islands.

LeeNet's web page (www.lee.K12.al.us) also offers a link to the Alabama Department of Education.

High school students, gain AU mentors, career options

A pilot program of workshad-owing for Lochapoka High School students has been in place at Auburn since September.

Workshadowing exposes students to potential career opportunities, skills and other requirements needed in a day-to-day work environment, says Janeula Burt, a doctoral candidate in educational psychology, who started the program last fall.

This exposure comes in the form of providing AU mentors working in particular fields in which the students are interested.

"Loachapoka High School students will get a chance to see the types of skills and education that it will take to fulfill their dream career, explore career areas that they were unaware of, or satisfy their curiosity of specific duties certain jobs entail, " said Burt.

Three of the workshadow students, Chris Willis and Ferris Moore, in the 10th grade, and Shamika Davis, a junior, agreed that the program had enriched their lives.

"The thing I like most is getting to talk to people in the legal profession," said Davis, who will be attending the AU Engineering MITE program this summer, confesses she's not so sure about attending law school at the University of Alabama.
"It depends," said Davis. "I like the Auburn campus."

Moore said that one AU contact, Troy Smith, academic counselor in the Athletic Department told him to "'work hard at the things you want to do in life.'"

Willis said his mentor told him to "'start small and work your way up.'
"It's fun to see your mentor," said Willis of his relationship with James Brown, executive director of AU's office of Minority Advancement.

Willis said his mentor "made me go and fill out a pre-ACT (American College Testing) form, get on the Internet and search for colleges."

Other activities included a tour of the AU campus, athletic department and museum; a meeting with President William V. Muse; and lunch with AU athletes.

The program is open to grades seven through 12 with sophomores and juniors being the most active, says Burt. The 17 students initially enrolled have come a long way since Burt first met them at the beginning of the school year.

"When I first started going to LHS, I found that the students were very distrustful, apathetic and even hostile in their attitudes about and towards Auburn University," said Burt. "They were apprehensive about the idea of coming to Auburn and whether they would be welcomed and whether they would feel comfortable on the campus -- not because of its size, but because of its racial composition."

Burt slowly acclimated the students by bringing in speakers from AU to talk to them about career planning and placement, entrepreneurship, athletics and higher education.

"I brought the students to the university to show them the class room environments, the students, the facilities, some of the offices that keep this University running -- including President Muse's -- and the athletic facilities that many of them are some what familiar with," said Burt.

Now, as this year's program comes to an end, Burt believes that in the process of putting the workshadowing program into practice, she has also helped the students' perception of Auburn.

'Smart bullets' under development at AU have dead-eye accuracy

A target-tracking bullet with accuracy currently equal to only the most advanced guided missiles is on the laboratory work bench at Auburn University.

Working jointly with the Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Florida, Auburn scientists are applying the "intelligence" of adaptive materials to the development of an electronically controlled smart bullet.

The technology named Barrel-Launched Adaptive Munition -- or BLAM -- operates through a laser guidance system similar to the type used by the British Royal Air Force during the Gulf War, explained Ron Barrett, an assistant professor in the Department of A erospace Engineering and Auburn's liaison scientist with the project. Its innovative nose cone is the nerve center of the smart bullet, Barrett added.

"The nose cone contains tiny piezoceramic tendons (electronic control components) that literally steer the bullet," he said. "These tendons are shortened or lengthened in response to an electrical impulse hundreds of times a second. At supersonic speed, v ery small angles generate huge amounts of lift."

Smart bullets are primarily intended for use in air-to-ground or air-to-air weaponry, according to the Air Force, and they are expected to significantly increase accuracy and effective range.

"The way pilots guarantee a hit (with present weapons technology) is by filling the sky with lead," Barrett said. "With BLAM, pilots need only one bullet to get a hit.
This technology could change the nature of war."

Although the Air Force predicts it will be about 15 years before BLAM is ready for the defense program, tests already have proven the technology is effective.

Huge forces are generated when a bullet is fired, Barrett said. However, tests indicate that the system can withstand accelerations 17,000 times that of gravity and the tiny electrical steering rods are able to provide excellent control up to three times the speed of sound.

Research contracts & grants increase 13 percent in '95-'96

Although funding issues continue to dominate the horizon in all areas of higher education, Auburn University's research contracts and grants awards during fiscal year 1995-96 increased 13 percent.

Auburn's Total Organized Research, which includes all expenditures supporting its research program, also rose to $78.2 million over the previous year's total of $76.2 million. This increased Auburn's percent share of all research dollars available nationw ide, noted Associate Provost and Vice President for Research Michael Moriarty.

"These are important gains, particularly during a period where faculty resources also were taxed due to attrition of some 89 senior faculty researchers," Moriarty said.
Contracts and grants -- research funds competitively obtained from private industry and various granting agencies -- rose appreciably from last year's $37,389,973 to $42,162,059 for fiscal 1995-96. Virtually every school and college achieved an increase i n C&G funding.

Auburn received 929 C&G awards for the year. The College of Agriculture obtained the highest individual number with 369 awards totaling $7.6 million. However, the College of Engineering garnered the highest value, $14.9 million from 205 awards.
Other schools and colleges making gains in competitive funding are: College of Sciences and Mathematics, 102 awards at $3,870,079; College of Veterinary Medicine, 58 awards at $2,479,277; College of Architecture, Design and Construction, 5 awards at $128, 800; and College of Business, 7 awards at $171,900.

Awards at Auburn's remaining schools and colleges held steady at approximately the same as during the previous fiscal period.

"The true credit for Auburn's maintained position as a major player in the research arena is due to the diligence among our faculty researchers," Moriarty said.

"Research universities do not win contracts and grants without having demonstrated capacity in the fields these funding agencies and industries are interested in, such as the ability to create new products, solve technical problems or attract new industry .

Yet, Moriarty cautions against taking the numbers at face value.

"These numbers are telling us the importance of strengthening our ties with the private sector as well as with our legislative body," he said.
Alabama's neighboring states are increasing appropriations for higher education while Alabama has steadily reduced its support by more than 7 percent since 1994, Moriarty added.

"I believe the reason for this decrease stems from lack of awareness of the value of higher education; particularly the value of university research and its relationship with teaching and the public outreach efforts that transfer research knowledge and de velopments to practical application," he said.

"Auburn's mission as a land-grant university involves a three-pronged focus of research, teaching and outreach. The three, however, are really inseparable from the true purpose of providing an environment of learning," said Moriarty.

"The year's accomplishments are indeed noteworthy and the researchers responsible are to be commended. As a major research institution, though, we must also remain focused on better informing and convincing our governmental leaders and the citizenry we se rve that Auburn University is a necessary and essential link in the future well-being of our state; that its research program is a vital organ necessary for a healthy, prosperous economy."

Congressional aides review AU's research programs

Obtaining continued funding for the National Textile Center and matching support for construction of a new School of Forestry building were the central focus when staff assistants to Alabama's Congressional delegates visited the Auburn campus recently.

"It is important to inform our elected leaders about the capabilities of Auburn and of these two critical programmatic needs in its research and education program," President William Muse stated during his address to the group on May 9.
Deans of the 12 schools and colleges also gave presentations on key research
activities under way in their areas.

The event, sponsored by the Research Advisory Council, has become an annual means for helping to keep the state's national representatives updated regarding the research arm of AU's education mission.

Research Briefs
Deadline approaches for young faculty career awards program entries

Applications for awards in the Alabama NSF EPSCoR Young Faculty Career Enhancement Programs are due by June 2.

The program has announced an anticipated 10 awards this year of up to $25,600 each. Projects selected must be in the areas of biological and environmental science, materials science or information science and technology.

The Alabama NSF EPSCoR Young Faculty Career Enhancement program is designed to assist junior faculty at EPSCoR-participating institutions in advancing their research. Applicants must be in a tenure-track faculty position and not have
been in their current position for more than five years.

Recipients will be selected and announced by the Alabama EPSCoR Steering Committee. For more information, contact the AU Office of Research Development, extension 844-5964.

Business, engineering researchers recognized for paper on education

A paper on teaching engineering and management principals, a collaborative work by two engineering and business faculty members, has earned the writers the 1997 Thomas C. Evans Instructional Unit Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.< P> P.K. Raju, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Chetan Sankar, a professor in the Department of Management, were presented the annual award for their paper titled "Teaching Real World Issues to Engineering Students Through Case Stu dies."

Raju and Sankar have been involved in researching the techniques described in their paper for the past three years. The case study method of teaching helps bridge the gap between theory and practice, they wrote. Working with engineers and business profess ionals from industry, they said teaching through case studies is an innovative way to bring examples into the classroom of the kinds of technical and business issues dealt with in industry.

Support of their work has been through grants from AU's Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management, the Teaching Effectiveness Committee and the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education.

Search under way for position to work with industries on technology transfer

Efforts are under way in AU's Industrial Programs & Technology Transfer operations to strengthen the office staff and its ability for continual improvement by adding a second full-time position.

Advertisements for an associate director were distributed on campus and began appearing in the major state daily newspapers and the Chronicle of Higher Education on April 20.

Applications and nominations should be sent to William Walsh, head of the Department of Textile Engineering and chair of the search committee, at 202 Samford Hall.

Jan Thornton was named director when Auburn launched a major push during fiscal 1996 to improve its patent and licensing program.

High on the program's achievements list during the past year under Thornton are:
€ The number of faculty invention disclosures nearly tripled from the annual average of six between fiscal years 1991-94 to 15 in 1996.
€ Technology transfer royalties rose from $85,000 last year to $188,000 for the current year; and additional research support funds from industries using Auburn developed technologies hit a record high of $666,000.

Sports medicine conference to focus on problems of sporting dogs

If it's true that every dog has his day, then mark Saturday, May 31, on your dog's calendars. The AU College of Veterinary Medicine's fifth annual Sports Medicine Program will address problems of the canine athlete.

Dozens of veterinarians, dog trainers and handlers are expected to attend the day long program, which will feature some of the nation's leading experts in canine athletic injury treatment. The program will include experts on veterinary sports medicine from AU and the states of Colorado, Florida and Alabama.

"Orthopedic injuries are a major concern for those who work with canine athletes," said Steve Swaim, professor of small animal surgery and medicine at Auburn and coordinator of the Sports Medicine Program.

"Hunting dogs, stock dogs and other working dogs perform at high levels in various environments, so they are naturally going to have stresses to joints and muscles.
The program will present information on the treatment and physical therapy of such stresses in working dogs."

This year"s program will feature three outstanding veterinarians and four AU faculty members. These include:
€ Robert Taylor, staff surgeon at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, Colo., and a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons with a special interest in orthopedics and canine
athletes. He will address physical therapy and the working dog;
€ Terry Terlep, a practitioner at Suburban Animal Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla., and former president of the American Canine Sports Medicine Association. He will speak on care of the geriatric canine athlete; and
€ George Wood of Selma Animal Hospital, who will speak on dental problems common to working dogs.

AU speakers will be doctoral candidate and retriever handler Eric Altom; Pathologist Byron Blagburn; Small Animal Veterinarian Douglass Macintire; and Jan Steiss, an electrodiagnostic researcher with the Scott Ritchey Research Center at Auburn. They will address such issues as parasites, heat stress and stroke prevention and treatment, kennel management, and limber tail syndrome.

The College of Veterinary Medicine began a sports medicine program to study injuries, diseases, nutritional factors and physiologic functions of dogs and horses involved in field sports and working endeavors in 1991. Equine sports medicine information is planned for later in the year.

The program is sponsoring three primary research projects:
€ a hereditary, muscular dystrophy-like ailment in Labrador retrievers;
€ a respiratory syndrome afflicting fox hounds; and
€ effects of nutrition on conditioning in the canine athlete.

Auburn People: Juggling is part of life for Admissions staff member

Yancey Rushton's one-word job description at Auburn could well read "juggler." By day, he is coordinator of departmental programs in the Office of Admissions. After hours and on weekends, he is the volunteer head coach of Auburn's nationally competitive lacrosse club team. In addition, Rushton is a Ph.D. candidate in Fisheries.

Rushton has been working since last fall in Admissions, where he assists acting director Bob Karcher in scheduling visits for admissions counselors to college day activities at high schools and other activities to promote student recruiting. His stint as a staff member began after two years as lacrosse coach, a volunteer job he undertook shortly after staring his doctoral studies.

"Sure it keeps me busy," Rushton admits, "but it makes me happy. These are my priorities, so I make it a point to devote time to each of them."

Although officially a club team, Auburn's lacrosse team has become one of the strongest teams in the South, competing against varsity and club teams from around the region and this year representing the Southeast Lacrosse Conference with a 10-2 conference record and 14-5 overall record in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association National Championship of Collegiate Club Lacrosse in St. Louis.

Lacrosse is derived from a sport introduced during colonial times to settlers by Iroquois Indians. The sport thrives in the Northeast and parts of the West and Midwest and is gaining in popularity among Southern colleges and universities. Auburn's team competes against teams from six other Southeastern Conference institutions, including Alabama, as well as Georgia Tech, the Citadel, Emory and Georgia Southern.

Over the past three years, the Auburn lacrosse team has turned around from an undisciplined, ragtag collection of players with a losing record into a disciplined, highly competitive team that wins most of its games against teams from peer institutions aro und the region.

This year, despite being eliminated in the opening round of the national championships, the Auburn lacrosse team was one of four teams nationally selected for the USILA Sportsmanship Award, which goes to the teams which best represent the sport of college lacrosse.

Rushton said his coaching philosophy is simple: Regardless of the club designation, team members work hard and act like a varsity squad representing the university in all that they do. The approach has paid off, he noted, in team cohesion, improved acade mic performance among the 47 players and a winning record on the field.

"This was a bunch of guys who three years ago were going nowhere," said Rushton, who learned lacrosse in high school at a private military academy. "They came together as a team and did it on their own. I am just glad to be a part of it."
Volunteer assistant coaches this year are graduate students Hayden Hontgas, Charlie Pickett and Erik Shilling.

Although the coaching duties do not overlap his work with the Admissions Office, Rushton has become a reference point for prospective students interested in nontraditional sports. "For kids who played the sport in high school or are looking for something different, lacrosse can be a factor in their decision to come to Auburn," he said.

The volunteer coaching and admissions staff positions are the latest twists in an eclectic career history for Rushton. A Navy veteran and a 1993 AU graduate in German, he came to Auburn for a graduate degree in fisheries science while working for a pond management company in the area. Although determined to finish work toward the degree, Rushton says he is increasingly drawn to making a career or working with young people.

Achievements

Bob Coulter, a purchasing specialist in the AU Purchasing Department has been elected president of the Chattahoochee Valley Chapter of the National Association of Purchasing Managers. Coulter has served on the chapter's board of directors for the past th ree years.

Two professionals from Auburn were recently elected to offices in the Alabama Association for Psychological Type for 1997-98. Serving as president is Gail McCullers, director of Housing and Residence Life, as secretary, Dennis Drake, career counselor in Career Development Services.

Mona El Sheikh of the Department of Psychology presented two papers at a recent meeting of the Society for Child Development. They were "Marital Conflict, Emotional Regulation, and the Adjustment of Children of Alcoholics" (co-authored with Rebecca Blakem an, a graduate student in psychology) and "Man-Woman, Man-Child and Woman-Child Arguments: Which Type of Conflict is Most Upsetting to Child-Witnesses?" (co-authored by Joann Harger, a graduate student in psychology). El Sheikh has also been invited to sp eak at the Second International Conference on Children Exposed to Family Violence on June 5 in Canada.

Kevin Kelley, a doctoral student in the Department of Health and Human Performance, was one of six candidates selected worldwide to participate in an intensive course on the limits of human performance, May 19-25, in Ancient Olympia, Greece. The course i ncluded studies of cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic, thermoregulatory, nutritional, neuromuscular, genetic, motor control and learning limits.

Virginia O'Leary, chair of the Department of Psychology, was one of four psychologists presenting an all-day seminar, "Building Healthy Lives: Understanding Mind-Body Connections," as part of Smithsonian Forum in Washington, D.C. Her presentation was "Ho w to Thrive by Finding Positive Meaning in Life." The other presenters were from Bowman-Gray Medical Center, Carnegie-Mellon University and Yale University.

Roger Blashfield of the Department of Psychology was recently awarded a diplomate in clinical psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Campus Roundup

Schedule set for computer processing of finals
Faculty using computer scanning for exams during spring quarter finals can get the exams scanned at Test Scoring Services in Tichenor 120. Scanning services are available Friday, June 6, from 7:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m.; Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m-4 p.m.; and Monday-Wednesday, June 9-11, from 7:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m. For information, contact Bruce Holt at 844-9904.

Some meal reimbursements to be taxed
In response to recent Internal Revenue Service interpretations, reimbursements for meal allowances that do not involve an overnight stay are subject to FICA and Medicare taxes as well as federal income taxes, says Ronald Herring, director of Payroll and E mployee Benefits. The change goes into effect June 1.

Program to provide summer supervision for children
The Employers Child Care Alliance, of which AU is a member, is offering a summer program for children, ages 10-14, of employees. Called "Bridges," the program is designed for children who are too old for and/or balk at regular child care but need a super vised program of activities this summer. The AU Department of Family and Child Development worked with the Child Care Alliance to develop curriculum for the program. To reserve space for your child or get more information about the "Bridges" program, ca ll the Child Care Alliance at 749-8400.

Volunteers sought for child development study
The Child Development Study Program in the Department of Psychology seeks volunteers for a study involving children, ages 6-11, and their parents. Participating parents will complete questionnaires, and the children will take part in one lab procedure. Participants will be compensated up to $70 for their time and effort. Contact Mona El-Sheikh or graduate assistants at 844-6905.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative to visit
AU's Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative will return to campus on June 17, July 15 and Aug. 12 from 10 a.m.-noon in the Payroll and Employee Benefits Office, Ingram 212. No appointment is necessary.

Forms required for employees to take classes
Employees planning to enroll in AU courses for credit must submit an approved UPO 200 (Request to Enroll in University Course Work) each quarter of attendance. The completed and approved UPO 200 should be sent to University Personnel Services. Forms may b e acquired from departments or Personnel Services.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, May 28
€ Phi Kappa Phi Banquet and Initiation, 6 p.m., Foy Ballroom. Contact Randall Clark at 844-8236 for reservations.
€ AU Theatre: "The Government Inspector," 8 p.m., Telfair Peet Theatre. Through May 31.

Saturday, May 31
€ Veterinary Sports Medicine Conference: 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Overton Auditorium.

Monday, June 2
€ AU Board of Trustees, Conference Center, Time TBA.

Tuesday, June 3
€ University Senate, 3:10 p.m., Broun Hall Auditorium.
€ Author's Reading & Book Signing: Judy Troy, AU English Department, West of Venus, 4 p.m., Pebble Hill.

Thursday, June 5
€ Family Day festivities, 2 p.m.-6 p.m., Biggio Drive, south of Coliseum.