Editor: Roy Summerford. Contributing editors: Bob Lowry and Janet McCoy. Also contributing: Research Editor Mitch Emmons, Outreach Editor Diane Clifton, Veterinary Medicine Editor Sam Hendrix and Engineering Editor Jim Killian.

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

Open letter to Auburn faculty, staff and administrators

The past few years have been difficult ones for all of us. Because of the 7.5 percent reduction in our state appropriation for 1995-96 and level funding this year, we have been unable to do many things that we wanted to do, including the provision of ade quate compensation for our employees. But, even under these circumstances we managed to provide a 3 percent salary increase this year.

The prospects for next year, 1997-98, do not look promising. As you know, Governor James vetoed the state's education budget and we will not know what appropriation Auburn will receive until late this summer when a special session of the Legislature is c onvened. Given the proposals that the governor has made, I do not believe there will be any significant increase in funding for higher education, if any. We will do what we can as far as salary improvement is concerned, but we may have to delay the impl ementation of any decisions until Jan. 1, 1998.

In the meantime, I want you to know how much I appreciate all the work that you do each day to enable Auburn to be the kind of university that it is. I am particularly appreciative of the members of our faculty who have helped to develop academic program s of significant quality over the years and have remained at Auburn in spite of being paid at less than comparable salaries and who have worked in facilities that too often have been inadequate.

At the July 16 meeting of the Board of Trustees, in response to a specific request from the board, we will be presenting an in-depth analysis of our financial problems, including a look at how we got into the situation we're in, what we have done to cope with these problems and what actions may need to be taken in the future. It is entirely possible that programs and activities will need to be phased out, but it is our intent that measures of that sort will be considered objectively and carefully. No on e likes to contemplate decisions like that, but they may be necessary to preserve a reasonable chance for Auburn to maintain its reputation for quality and to effectively serve the needs of our students.

Your understanding and support during these difficult times will be appreciated.

William V. Muse
President

Reports of mass exodus prove unfounded but deans cite losses of key faculty

Reports from AU deans so far do not bear out tales of large-scale faculty defections from Auburn over prolonged state cuts in funding for higher education, but deans and department heads say the losses are in critical areas this year.

The AU Board of Trustees meets July 16 in a called session to consider establishing priorities for program cuts in anticipation of reduced funding from the state for 1997-98. Gov. Fob James, who vetoed the general fund and education budgets on grounds th at they were pork-laden, has indicated he will call for cuts in support for higher education when the Alabama Legislature convenes in special session to consider new state budgets in August.

Auburn, along with other colleges and universities in Alabama, sustained a 7.5 percent budget cut last year and level funding for this year. Several board members say the university must prepare for cuts if state funds are cut again.

The lack of state support in the face of large increases for colleges and universities in Georgia, Florida and Mississippi has led to increased anxiety for academic deans and department heads at Auburn. The administrators express concern about holding on to talented faculty and recruiting replacements for those who leave.

Among losses cited by deans:

€ Gary Davenport, Animal & Dairy Science, a former teacher of the year in the College of Agriculture. He left for a position in industry and 60 percent salary increase.
€ Mark Stolt, Agronomy & Soils, who is leaving for the University of Rhode Island and a nine-month salary equal to his 12-month salary at Auburn.

€ Mike Conniff, History, who accepted a higher paying position at the University of South Florida after AU's Latin American Studies program lost its funding.

€ Carol Harrison, History, who came to AU two years ago with a doctorate from Oxford. She is leaving for a higher paying position at Kent State University in Ohio.

€ James Hollifield, Political Science, whom interim Liberal Arts Co-Dean John Heilman described as "a true rising international superstar" in his field. Hollifield received a 50 percent boost in salary by going to Southern Methodist University.

€ Robert Hannafin, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology, who accepted a position at William and Mary offering more money and resources.

Describing Hannafin as "a real star in technology," College of Education Dean Richard Kunkel said, "He is the kind of faculty we wish we had the resources and flexibility to keep."

College of Engineering Dean William Walker said he has received a letter of resignation from a faculty member who accepted another job for an 83 percent salary increase. Walker said his college is still recovering from the early retirement of key faculty , including Eminent Scholar Fred Molz, who took the early retirement buyout in 1995 and is now teaching at Clemson.

College of Agriculture Dean James Marion said he is aware of at least 10 faculty members in his college who are being considered by other employers. "With salary levels in Agriculture at 80-85 percent of the average for Southeastern land-grant universiti es, we are vulnerable to losing these and other faculty," Marion said.

President William Muse cited the losses of History faculty members Conniff and Harrison to the AU Board on June 2 as examples of faculty leaving Auburn for higher salaries at non-flagship institutions in other states.

Greg Kowalski, chair of the Department of Sociology, said his department was unable to fill an open tenure-track position in Social Work because of a noncompetitive salary. "The top candidates for this social work position were offered more money to go t o Western Carolina and South Carolina," he said. As a result, the department is hiring a nine-month temporary instructor, he said.

"The inability of Auburn to recruit effectively will have lasting results on the future quality and direction of this institution," Kowalski added.

George Bengston, assistant dean of the School of Forestry, said the school is threatened by its counterpart at the University of Georgia. With UGA receiving an infusion of new money from the state, its forestry school is advertising for nine faculty posi tions, including five new positions, at the same time Auburn's Forestry School is trying to avoid funding cuts, he noted.

Human Sciences Dean June Henton said recruiting new faculty has become harder because of Auburn's funding situation. "It's a difficult case to make for outstanding persons to come to Auburn, given the outlook for higher education in Alabama," she said. "The word is out, and while we are doing our best, it is a tough sell."

John Jahera, head of the Department of Finance, said his department is still trying to cope with the loss of three veteran faculty members through last year's retirement buyouts. "The loss of three faculty members with over 75 years of experience among t hem is not replaced with the use of instructors at about one-third of the pay who do not possess a Ph.D. and who do not have the wealth of experience," said Jahera. "While we will make every effort to continue the classes, there will most definitely be a loss in the quality of those classes."

The History Department is turning to temporary faculty to help offset the loss of permanent faculty. Department Chair James Hansen said three temporary faculty who taught 5,000 students in 22 core curriculum sections in history last year.

"Next year we may employ as many as six temporary faculty who might teach as many as 33 sections in the freshman core, or nearly 8,000 students," Hansen said. "This development is unprecedented in the history of our department and presents a very unfortu nate trend connected to downsizing and one-time funding."

Hansen said the History Department also combined two positions to save money after faculty retirements. "This has meant one less person to handle graduate duties in American history, fewer and larger sections of U.S. history and the loss of some courses, particularly Alabama history."

Records show no direct link between financial cutbacks, faculty losses

Records show no direct link between faculty losses and university economic conditions over the past decade.

During the past 10 years, faculty attrition at the rank of assistant professor and above has varied from 4.4 percent in 1995-96, to 9.1 percent in 1987-88. The highest faculty attrition coincided with a period of growth, and the lowest attrition over the past decade came in a year in which a 7.5 percent cut in state funding precluded salary increases.

Sam Lowther, executive director of Planning and Analysis, said years of high attrition have traditionally been due to a surge in retirements rather than departures of faculty for other jobs. For example, in the high-attrition year of 1987 88, 44 percent of the 88 departures was due to retirements, and in the low-attrition year of 1995-96, only 27 percent of the 48 departures was due to retirements.

Retirements accounted for 63 percent of the 82 departures in 1994-95, when the university instituted incentives in the summer of 1995 to stimulate early retirements before the state funding cut took effect that fall.

Attrition rates were 6.4 percent in 1985-86, 8.5 percent in 1986-97, 9.1 percent in 1987 88; 8 percent in 1988-89, 6 percent in 1989-90; 5.4 percent in 1990-91, 7.1 percent in 1991-92, 4.7 percent in 1992-93, 5.6 percent in 1993-94, 7.3 percent in 1994-95 and 4.4 percent in 1995-96. Figures for the current year will not be available until th e close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, but numbers reported so far have been consistent with previous years.

Lowther said figures for the past decade are consistent with historical attrition levels for the university.

What the figures fail to show, Lowther noted, are the reasons for leaving and the quality of those who leave. Those determinations have to be made, he said, by deans and department heads who work with the faculty and have to find replacements for ones wh o leave.

Then & now: Past woes compared to present dilemma

Campus leaders who lived through earlier past financial crises were asked to compare those times with Auburn's current economic situation. Responding were
President Emeritus Harry Philpott, who led the university through the growth period, with periodic downturns, of the 1960s and '70s, and President Emeritus Wilford Bailey, who served under Philpott as a vice president and served as president in 1983-84 d uring Auburn's recovery from a financial crisis and administrative turmoil of the previous three years. Also responding were three who served as department heads during the early 1980s: Gerald Johnson, Bert Hitchcock and Wayne Flynt.

Harry Philpott
President Emeritus
President, 1965-80
"While the situation is discouraging, we have encountered others, we have worked through them, and certainly we will again. We need state leadership -- legislative and gubernatorial. In my 30 years, I have never seen that situation worse. No one is carryi ng the torch."

Wilford Bailey
President Emeritus
President, 1983-84
"Auburn survived some very difficult circumstances and actually improved under the terms of later governors. But it's a complex issue. It's not just the governor, but the economy and state political climate. Alabama has a high percentage of people who do not want to increase taxes regardless of what the money is to be used for."

Gerald Johnson
Professor Emeritus
Political Science
(Department head during early 1980s)
"Auburn University and other universities are strong, long his-toried and very important in this state. They will survive... Auburn has historically been an underfunded university. This is nothing new. The difference, however, is the increment of difficu lty in terms of severity."

Bert Hitchcock
Professor
English Department
(Department head during early 1980s)
"It's an old, old story of squeezing the university to cut costs. The lemon is just about squeezed out. I am not sure the past pattern of going down and rising back up will repeat itself. The cycle seems to be spiraling down."

Wayne Flynt
Distinguished
University Professor
History Department
(Department head during early 1980s)
" In the early 1980s, there was the sense that things were bad all over but it was only a temporary situation. In the 1990s, there is a sense of hopelessness, that the problems are not going to be solved. Now, there is a much greater chance of hemorrhage ."

Panel to consider changes in school leadership education

President William Muse has appointed a commission of education, business and community leaders to identify ways in which Auburn can help the state avoid a pending shortage of well-trained elementary and secondary school leaders.

Muse appointed College of Business Dean Wayne Alderman and College of Education Dean Richard Kunkel as co-chairs of the Presidential Commission on School Leadership for the 21st Century,

The commission will examine leadership needs of the state schools from kindergarten through 12th grade; identify programs and resources to address those needs at the college, state, regional and national levels; examine present programs within the univers ity and community that develop management and leadership capabilities; identify avenues for collaboration in the preparation of future educational leaders; and develop a proposal for implementation.

Muse asked for an interim report by January and a final report by June 1998.
The commission is an outgrowth of a AU-hosted conference on linking schools, business, government and the community with leadership programs in higher education. The conference attracted education leaders and advocates from around the state and focused a ttention on the increasing complexity of school leadership, said Kunkel.

The College of Education dean said the commission is a response to a growing awareness among business and education leaders that schools in Alabama will need an infusion of leaders with a broad base of management skills in the near future.

He cited recent comments from state school Superintendent Ed Richardson that the state faces a problem in preparing enough broadly trained school leaders to meet the emerging demand.

Kunkel added that a Truman Pierce Institute study shows that half the school administrators in Alabama will soon be eligible for retirement. With government, community and administrative demands increasing on the schools, the next generation of leaders wi ll need more expertise in business and public administration as well as education administration, said Kunkel.

"Training of school leaders in the future cannot be just in colleges of education," he said. "The commission can help us identify ways to create a partnership of disciplines to prepare school leaders of the future for the challenges they will face. "

Alderman said the bonds that management fields share across the various schools and colleges. "Much of what the College of Business faculty do and their expertise lies in its application to organizations," he said. All organizations, whether a large mul tinational corporation, a local entrepreneur, a university or a high school, have organizational issues such as managing change, personnel development and budgeting.

"There are critical needs in K-12 in Alabama, and Auburn faculty, including business faculty, can play a key role in meeting those needs and moving education forward," Alderman added.

Kunkel and Alderman will work with a commission that includes off-campus representation from Wayne Teague, former state school superintendent; Phil Raley, superintendent of Opelika City Schools; a representative from Auburn City Schools; Anne Grady, presi dent of the Opelika City Council; Gail Alsobrook, president of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce; and Jeff Hand of Alabama Power Co.
Commission members from on-campus include James Kaminsky, head of the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology; Frances Kochan, EFLT faculty member and director of the Truman Pierce Institute; EFLT faculty member Jerry Mathews; Rob ert Montjoy, director of the Economic Development Institute; Bob Niebuhr, head of the Department of Management; and Keith Ward, director of the Center for Governmental Services.

Bentley named dean of libraries

Stella Bentley, assistant university librarian at the University of California-Santa Barbara, has been appointed dean of libraries at AU.

"We are extremely fortunate to have been able to recruit someone with the background, experience, leadership and vision that Dr. Stella Bentley brings to the university as our new Dean of Libraries," said Provost Paul Parks.

The appointment is effective Sept. 1.

Bentley has been at UC-Santa Barbara since 1988, serving three years as assistant university librarian with the Collections Department, where she was responsible for administering all aspects of collection management and development, preservation and Spec ial Collections.

For the past six years she has been assistant university librarian with Collections and Information Services, where she has directed the library's collection management, development program and public services functions.

Before joining UC-Santa Barbara, Bentley worked at Case Western Reserve University for one year. Prior to that, she served eight years at Indiana University, holding various positions with Indiana University Libraries.

Bentley earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from California-Berkeley in 1965, a master's degree in secondary education from Indiana State in 1968, a master's degree in library science from Indiana in 1978 and a Ph.D. in information science from In diana University in 1987.

Semester briefings start with freshmen

Incoming freshmen attending this summer's Camp War Eagle sessions are the first group to receive information about Auburn University's planned transition to a semester calendar in the fall of 2000.

Camp War Eagle is a two-day orientation program for new freshmen and their parents. These students and their parents will receive a brochure detailing various aspects of the semester transition as part of their information packages during the orientation.

"This group of students will be affected by the transition which will take place during the senior year for most of them," said Christine Curtis, coordinator of the quarter-to-semester transition program.

"We want to begin informing them early about what to expect and to encourage them to work closely with their academic advisors throughout their enrollment here at Auburn to ensure they make the transition academically prepared."

The AU Board of Trustees last November, approved the switch from quarters to semesters.

Curtis said semester transition information will soon be available to anyone interested through all academic advisors, deans' offices and through the university's Internet web site at: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/semester.

Rebecca Roden retirement marks end of 41-year era for Graduate School

After more than four decades of helping keep graduate students at Auburn on track toward their degrees, Rebecca Roden has retired as assistant dean of the AU Graduate School.

Roden, who retired June 1, joined the graduate school in 1956, when Auburn was still officially Alabama Polytechnic Institute. She has had a hand in the progress of practically every doctoral student and the majority of master's degree recipients in
Auburn's history, said Graduate School Dean John Pritchett

Pritchett said his recent transition from a department head to dean of the Graduate School was eased by the knowledge that Roden was there to help. He noted that she had provided continuity for him from his days as a graduate student in the 1960s and sin ce 1973 as a faculty member and department head working with the Graduate School.

"In all the capacities with which I have worked with her, Mrs. Roden's commitment to the Graduate School, its students and the university always came through," Pritchett said. "She was truly one of our unsung heroes."

The Graduate School, with about 3,000 students, that Roden leaves is vastly different from the office she entered in 1956. In the 1950s, Graduate School Dean William Vann Parker split his time between the school and the Mathematics Department, where he w as department head, and Ruth Brittin, his assistant, handled day-to-day activities of the school and its 350 students.

Roden was finishing her degree in Education when Brittin asked her to help with the increasing administrative load of the growing school. Roden agreed, quickly mastered those duties and remained on the school's staff after earning her degree.

In the 1960s, Roden succeeded Brittin, who left for the University of Puerto Rico. Brittin later returned to Auburn as a member of the English faculty, from which she retired a few years ago.

Roden, an Opelika native, was not a typical student when she began working in the Graduate School. While a student in the late 1940s, the then-Rebecca Harris met and married Jerry Roden Jr., a war veteran who was taking post-graduate courses in English a nd journalism. Before Rebecca could finish her degree, the couple left Auburn when Jerry graduated and took a job elsewhere. In 1955, however, with three children in tow, they returned to the area and Rebecca returned to campus to complete her degree. < P> Jerry Roden, a native of Pisgah, returned to Auburn as an English instructor and editor of the Alumnews, forerunner to Auburn Magazine. He eventually left the campus positions to serve as executive director of the Alabama Council on Human R elations, but after several moves in less than a decade, the Rodens had settled in Lee County. Rebecca Roden, meanwhile, had become a source of information and assistance to hundreds of graduate students at Auburn.

As the Graduate School grew during the 1960s, Roden assumed greater responsibilities, eventually being promoted to assistant dean. From 1965 until this year, she inspected the records of and certified for graduation nearly every graduate student who earn ed a degree from Auburn.

By the 1970s, when Parker retired and Paul Parks, now AU provost, became graduate dean, Rebecca Roden was handling registration for the Graduate School. She recalls manual registration as overwhelming for the staff as well as for students. But, she adds , the chance to see and get to know the students individually made it all worthwhile. "Computer registration and now telephone registration speeded things up and made it easier on everyone, but now you no longer see the students, so you don't get to know them as well as we did then," she said.

Under four deans -- Parker, Parks, Norman Doorenbos and Pritchett -- the Graduate School experienced steady growth in numbers of students and size and quality of programs. Although the number of graduate students has increased nearly tenfold and styles c hange, students remain much the same, she said. "I really don't see that much change in people," she explained. "Students today have some of the same problems and strengths as then. There are a lot more buildings than there used to be, but the people a re much the same."

The one constant, Roden said, has been the quality of working relationships. "Ruth Brittin and Dean Parker meant a lot to me since they helped me get started, and there have been a lot of other good people through the years," she said. "I am going to mi ss associating with the people the most."

McFarland named to interim AU Graduate School position

History Professor Stephen McFarland has been named interim associate dean of the AU Graduate School.

Graduate School Dean John Pritchett said McFarland has agreed to serve during the search for a permanent appointment. The search will be conducted during the coming academic year, and Pritchett said he hopes to fill the position before the start of the 1 998-99 academic year.

McFarland, an AU faculty member since 1981, succeeds Rebecca Roden, who retired June 1 as assistant dean, and assumes additional administrative duties as one of two associate deans. Michael Lisano holds the other position.

An authority on aviation and Middle East history, McFarland has been on the AU faculty since receiving his Ph.D. in 1981 from the University of Texas. He became an associate professor in 1987 and professor in 1995. He was a visiting professor of milita ry history at the U.S. Air Force Air War College in Montgomery in 1992-93 and has written and published extensively on aviation history.

Research society forms speakers bureau of faculty for local schools

A science research society at AU has formed a campuswide speaker's bureau to offer the services of university scientists to schools in Lee County.
School teachers at any school in Auburn, Opelika or elsewhere in Lee County may contact any of the faculty members listed on Sigma Xi society's page on the World Wide Web.

The WWW address is:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/societies/sigma_xi/speakers.htm

"We've got people throughout the university who already are going to schools and making presentations, but there has been no formal way for a teacher to find a speaker for a given subject," said James Sartin, a professor in the Department of Physiology a nd Pharmacology at AU's College of Veterinary Medicine.

"As a land-grant institution, Auburn is committed to reaching out to the people of Alabama in many ways. We in Sigma Xi decided we would look campuswide for volunteers for this speaker's bureau and then to put up a web page with the names and subjects."

Sartin, who has been president of Sigma Xi at AU for the past year, said the topics range from animal welfare and anthropology to spaceflight. Sixty-six topics with nearly as many different faculty members are listed as potential speakers. The number of t opics and faculty members involved will likely continue to expand as other faculty from throughout the campus offer their expertise.

Because of funding limitations, the speaker's bureau is planned only for schools in Lee County, but Sartin says future plans could possibly include videotaping of programs for statewide distribution.

Sartin said another planned program -- an electronic mail question box -- may help take AU science expertise to students and teachers across the state.

"We have plans for a web page where students, teachers or anyone around the state could e-mail a science question to an Auburn faculty member," he said. "We're still working on it, but hopefully by the start of school in the fall we will be able to make this available to people statewide."

Wingfield named coordinator of special events in President's Office

Patricia Wingfield, formerly the Elderhostel coordinator for Outreach Programs, is the new coordinator for special events in the Office of the President.

Wingfield, who began her duties during spring quarter, handles the scheduling and logistics for awards ceremonies, graduations, receptions and other official activities involving the President's Office. She also assists with other administrative duties w ithin the office.

The duties were previously handled by Lynne Hammond, who was named secretary to the Board of Trustees in February.

Wingfield holds a bachelor's degree from Samford University and attended graduate school at Auburn. She has been a member of the AU staff since 1991.

Veasley named to head Small Business Development Center

Devron Veasley, acting director of the Small Business Development Center in the College of Business, has been promoted to director.

Veasley, a member of the SBDC staff since 1990, had been named acting director following the death in November 1996 of Gary Hannem, who had dire Veasley, who has a B.S. in production/operations management and a Master of Business Administration degree from AU, had been a management scientist in the SBDC prior to Hannem's death.

"Devron was the best qualified of a very strong pool of candidates, and we are very pleased that he has accepted our offer to direct the Auburn SBD," said Bill Sauser, executive director of business outreach.

As a small business consultant for SBDC, Veasley had been responsible for acquiring more than $8 million in business loans for clientele, new business recruitment, marketing research, business planning and development and budget preparation and control.

Veasley also led an eight-county business development outreach and recruitment program, implemented a financial-market research liaison program with area banks and served on the AU Federal Credit Union Loan Committee for two years.

The SBDC provides management and technical assistance to small businesses at any stage of development. Market research, financial analysis and new product development are areas where the center provides most of its assistance. Other services include loan packaging assistance, workshops and seminars and procurement.

The AU SBDC is a member of the Birmingham-based Alabama Small Business Development Consortium, which has 11 other service centers in Alabama.

AU professor leads production of Enclyclopedia of Acoustics

Its publishers are calling the new Encyclopedia of Acoustics the most comprehensive coverage of acoustics in more than a century. Malcolm Crocker, University Professor in Auburn's College of Engineering, predicts it will set the acoustical engineering st andard for the next millennium.

Crocker was editor-in-chief of the four-volume set published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., of New York. The encyclopedia set, which sells for $475, contains more than 2,000 pages of information on every aspect of acoustical technology. Contributing
"These volumes superbly introduce readers to advanced knowledge and skills . . . and presents a remarkably coherent picture of the entire discipline," Sir James Lighthill of the Department of Mathematics at London's University College writes in the forewo rd.

"Although there are several excellent textbooks on different aspects of acoustics theory, no one book gives a comprehensive treatment," Crocker said.
Through its 18 parts -- each devoted to different areas of acoustics -- Crocker adds that the Encyclopedia of Acoustics is aimed at providing a comprehensive single source compilation of information on acoustical science.

"The editor-in-chief and his editorial board are to be congratulated, not only on the admirable organization of the four volumes as a whole but also on their brilliant selection of authors for every one of the work's 166 chapters," Lighthill added.

Ross to visit Italy for printmaking

AU Art Professor Conrad Ross is planning to spend part of the fall in Venice, Italy, continuing his work in the art of printmaking.

Ross has been invited to the prestigious Scuola Internazionale di Graphica Venezia, an old world print shop, and will develop a edition of five folios to be published by Wycross Press in 1998.

He has titled the folios "The China Collés #2/Venice," after a set of collés he made following a 1993 nine-city trip to China as a Fulbright-Hays scholar, studying the art of that country.

"The first set of collés that I did of China used subject matter drawn from my personal experience as reflected in several relief, intaglio and digitized prints," Ross said. His work was published as "The China Collés and Gray Stay The Cloud s," a set of eight monoprints.

"The collés were, I felt, discards that . . . reflected my observations on politics, the environment and tradition in China."

For his new set of collés, Ross plans to combine his research into the image of Marco Polo as a "conveyer of the culture of China to Europe and the West."

In addition, Ross has original illustrative material from "Description of the World," a book of the tales and travels of Polo published in 1298, or "any visual material subsequently published that could be used in my collés to convey information of Marco Polo's experiences."

Ross will weave his extensive collection of slides from his trip to China along with illustrations of Polo's travels to develop "The China Collés #2/Venice."
Ross has obtained a subscription from the Huntsville Museum of Art, and is seeking subscriptions of $600 each for the remaining four folios.

School of Pharmacy starts joint venture for residency program

The AU School of Pharmacy will become part of a joint venture to establish a pharmacotherapy residency program at the Baptist Medical Center and Montgomery Cardiovascular Institute in Montgomery.

The venture, which will also include the University of Alabama School of Medicine's Montgomery Internal Residency Program, will be geared to pharmacists who have earned the doctor of pharmacy.

AU is the only public university in Alabama that offers the Pharm.D program.

Based in Montgomery, the new residency program will allow one resident each year to work on drug therapy clinics for cardiovascular disorders and conduct research on drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disorders.
The resident will also train in the drug therapy of common internal medicine illnesses by helping care for Baptist Medical Center heart patients.

"In recent years, colleges of pharmacy have recognized the expanding role that individuals trained in clinical pharmacy can bring to patient care and have developed Doctor of Pharmacy," said Keith Campagna, an associate professor of clinical pharmacy at A U. "Soon, the Doctor of Pharmacy will become the only professional degree offered in pharmacy and residency training programs, such as this one, will become more common."

The residency program is funded through a $30,000 grant from Merck & Co., Inc., and Merck Company Foundation, with matching funds from the AU School of Pharmacy.

'Move Out' food drive nets record amount in donations

Moving can be an overwhelming experience -- packing up nine months worth of belongings -- but AU students this spring had 2,865 pounds less to pack due to "Spring Move Out."

The fourth annual "Spring Move Out," a program which encouraged AU students to donate food and other items to area charities as they packed up for the summer, was coordinated b…y Waymon Abner, health and safety technician with Housing and Residence L ife at AU.

A total of 3,513 pounds of food -- 2,865 pounds from on campus -- was donated to the East Alabama Food Bank in Auburn. In addition to food items, several truckloads of household items, including clothing and miscellaneous appliances, were donated to Goodw ill Industries and the East Alabama Task Force for Battered Women.

"I couldn't believe how much we had this year. We hope to continue the program and add other groups to our donation list," said Abner.

Chinese view AU Fisheries program

AU last week hosted 14 high-level representatives of the Chinese Ministry Agriculture, who were here to study the model of the U.S. catfish industry.

John Jensen, head of the Department of Fisheries, said the aquaculture extension administrators from China looked "at how the catfish industry has developed and how the infrastructure works. Our catfish industry is viewed worldwide as the best model of aq uaculture development."

"The main thing is the model of development," he said. "The Chinese have got to dramatically increase their fish supplies through fish farming, so they have to go about it differently than they've done in the past."
Jensen described the current Chinese aquaculture methods as "low-tech" because they rely largely on "using manures, fertilizers and grasses from the outside."

"If they're going to feed their people with quality fish products that the new China is demanding, they're going have to change to feed-based (fish) farming," he said.
Carp is the No. 1 fish in China, which does not produce catfish, said Jensen.
visits to fish farms and processing plants.

At AU, the delegation got an overview of the catfish industry, the land-grant university concept, a campus tour and a tour of the fisheries research station. The group also studied the development of the catfish industry, the role of research and extensio n as a catalyst for development and how the catfish industry functions in a market economy, said Jensen. This was the sixth group from China to receive aquaculture training at Auburn since 1993.

Gift boosts minority recruiting program

Phillip Morris, USA, has donated $15,000 to an AU program that brings in prospective minority graduate students for campus visits. The AU Campus Visitation Program this year will be Oct. 2-4, says James Brown, executive director for minority advancement.< BR> In addition to campus tours and social mixers with current graduate students, faculty and staff, visitors can also go through the graduate admission and financial aid process.
To qualify for the program, students must have at least a 3.00 grade point average, attained a junior or senior standing or be enrolled in a master's degree program, have taken or registered to take the GRE or GMAT.
For additional information, call Brown at 844-4148 or e-mail at brownjc@mail.auburn.edu.

Thousands of high schoolers experience campus life through summer camps

The Summer Experience Program at Auburn University is back in full swing this year.

The Outreach Program Office at AU is hosting more than two dozen resident summer camps for junior and senior high school students. Participants get to experience the lifestyle of a student at Auburn while participating in e educational activities.

Cheerleading squads have a choice of Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) or National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) indoor camps. Some of the camps provide mascot training. Each camp culminates with a full-dress, squad-level competition and perform ance on the last morning of camp. The session is open to the public. Camps to be held are NCA: July 8-11, 27-30, 31-Aug 4, 4-7; and UCA: June 29-July 2, 18-21, 21-24, Aug 7-10, 10-13.

The Universal Dance Association (UDA) and American All-Star Dance recently conducted indoor squad training. NCA Danz indoor squad instruction will take place July 28-31. Heart of Dixie Band Front Camp is an outdoor program designed to provide instruction to squads or individuals. The Heart of Dixie camp will be held July 7-9. Each camp features a public, end-of-camp performance and awards ceremony on the last day.

The Josten Yearbook camp held June 18 - 20 offered workshops designed to help the staffs of school publications prepare for their upcoming assignments with hands-on instruction and training. Experts assisted participants in areas of layout, artwork and c omputer software applications. Individuals, squads, and sponsors attended this program.

The AU Symphonic Band camp was held June 22-28 and staffed by faculty from the Music Department. Individuals were given the opportunity to train as an ensemble or perform in smaller groups. Individual instruction was available and participants were able to choose a preferred type of music. The camp closed with a concert by the students.

Students interested in art and design have the opportunity to explore the world of the industrial designer. The AU Industrial Design Department will provide expertise for this program July 13-18.

The College of Engineering is sponsoring the Minority Introduction to Engineering (MITE) Program for the 20 year this summer. MITE affords high achieving minority students an opportunity to experience Auburn's campus life while learning about academic pr ograms offered by the College of Engineering. The last two of three sessions will be held July 6-12 and July 20-26.

The AU World Affairs Youth Seminar affords high school students the opportunity to explore cultural differences and promotes international goodwill. The Lee County Sunrise Rotary Club partially sponsors this program. A highlight of the six-day program to be held July 13-18 will be a Model United Nations session.

Many of Auburn's varsity coaches will conduct camps summer. Athletic camps include, swimming, football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, tennis, golf, soccer, track, and volleyball.

For more information about these camps contact the AU Outreach Program Office at (334)844-5100 or by e-mail at opo@uce.auburn.edu. Information is on the Internet at http:/www.auburn.edu/outreach/opose. Fees and registration deadlines vary from camp to c amp.

Dryden recalls days at Tuskegee Airman for Loachapoka students

Retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Charles Dryden, recently entertained students at Loachapoka High School with recollections of his days as a Tuskegee Airman as part of an Outreach program.

When speaking with a group of Algebra II students, he said "The best number to remember in algebra is 992. Do you know why?" The students shook their heads in bewilderment. Col. Dryden went on to explain that he was one of only 992 Tuskegee Airmen. He was in the second class of black pilots to graduate in the history of the U.S. Army Air Corps and a member of the famed 99th Pursuit Squadron, later the 332nd Fighter Group which served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy during World War II.

He told them how on June 9, 1943, then as a Lieutenant, he lead a flight of six pilots, in his P-40 airplane nicknamed "A-Train", engaging enemy aircraft in aerial combat over Pantelleria, Sicily.

It was the first time in aviation history that black American pilots of the U.S. Army Air Corps engaged aircraft in combat.

Dryden encouraged the students "to seek out and determine what is important to each one individually and to develop what you do best to its fullest potential."

He passed along advice given to him as a child by his parents - "the knowledge you have is going to make the difference. What you have up here (pointing to his head) can never be taken away from you."

Dryden told Outreach staff members that he is sometimes contacted by a parent of a student who is required to do a term paper on the Tuskegee Airmen. "It is my delight when after helping the student the parent calls back to tell me tell me that their chi ld made an "A" or an "A+". I'm thrilled."

The retired officer said he loves interacting with young people. "It really pleases me to talk to the youngsters and hopefully inspire one or two ... who haven't made up their minds yet."

In Auburn, the Center for Arts and Humanities, the Outreach center for the College of Liberal Arts, hosted Col. Dryden at a book reading as part of their Reading Our Lives: Southern Autobiographies series. The series puts writers in touch with public aud iences.

Jeff Jakeman, professor of History at AU, said he relished the opportunity to preview Dryden's autobiography, A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman before publication. "The story of his life came alive for me, " said Jakeman.

Addressing the Pebble Hill audience, Dryden spoke of the stringent requirements the recruits were required to follow. He noted that only one-third of the recruits completed the course to earn their wings.

He said, "From the time I received my wings, I was grinning all of the time. I was 22 years old at the time."

Dryden served during WWII and Korea and in duty assignments in Japan, Germany and different bases in the United States. He also served as a Professor of Air Science at Howard University.

College of Engineering creates Leadership Institute for young engineers

AU's College of Engineering has launched the Engineering Leadership Institute to provide young engineering professionals with comprehensive leadership development, says the institute's director.

"The nature and scope of continuing education for engineers is changing," said George Blanks, institute director. "The focus is on preparing technically competent engineers to become effective leaders of a rapidly changing, technologically advanced workfo rce."

The Engineering Leadership Institute (ELI) is designed for young professionals with five to 10 years of experience and who excel in their technical competence, Blanks said. Participants will be selected by their senior leadership to receive the accelerate d development program.

"The dynamics of business and technology demand an accelerated leadership development experience for those who will lead their organizations in the next millennium," said Blanks.

The series of intensive, hands-on seminars are intended to form a partnership between innovative companies seeking to provide their young professionals with leadership tools for an increasing complex world, he said. ELI will feature limited class enrollm ent, a leaders-in residence program, participation in case studies, personal leadership assessment and training for the participants' own supervisors in mentoring techniques.

ELI is designed to help participants understand leadership, maximize individual potential, communicate effectively, lead teams, make decisions, promote organizational change and maintain high ethical standards. Once the institute is completed, participan ts will be offered annual leadership programs and opportunities to network with fellow ELI graduates.

"Successful CEOs go beyond making the right choice in determining who the future leaders of their organizations will be -- they ... develop their successors by equipping them with the tools they need to become effective leaders," Blanks said. The leadersh ip institute is designed to help those CEOs to develop " institutional heirs," he added.

The first class of the Engineering Leadership Institute is scheduled to run from October 1997 through August 1998. The sessions will rotate among locations statewide. Senior company officials may nominate young executives to the institute through August 22. Inquiries may be directed to Blanks at (334) 844-5759 or by e-mail at eli@eng.auburn.edu .

Campus Views: Publish or perish: Mystique of lists defies logic

By Herbert Rotfeld

As we finished the revisions directed by the journal editor, I mentioned to my co author that I could not work much longer that day since I was not feeling too well. He excitedly said, "If you die, then I could publish this as sole author!"
What do you do when you hear a thing like that?
Of course, I had to kill him.
The article was published last month and I am the sole author. A footnote thanks my late colleague for his "comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript."

A friend sent me the title page of a journal article that had a footnote by the list of names for the four authors: "The first three authors contributed equally." If all four had been equal partners, as some might presume, the split of credit would be 25 percent each; if the first three did "more," was it 30 percent each and the fourth did 10? Beyond the insulting and unnecessary slap at the fourth person, and the questions of just what he or she did (typist?), with four authors they are juggling very s mall numbers here.

Many university promotion or tenure committees wish the supplicant to state a percentage contribution, but the pragmatic reality of research and writing makes it hard to calculate how the work loads were split. In a truly symbiotic research partnership, the whole should be greater than the sum of the parts (which, I hope, is the true value of co-authored work). Researchers should often have no idea how to write the "percent contribution," making anyone's listed statement questionable.

And the numbers are creeping into all sorts of places where they aren't required, in personal documents, vita and article cover pages. Credit has taken priority over the work itself, or so it seems, and some authors probably fight over who gets what.
A friend reported seeing a vita that noted "62.5 percent contribution" by one item.
Did they compare time sheets? Yet some vita note very tight percent increments on each co-authored paper listed, with a superfluous "100 percent contribution" beside sole authored pieces. (I guess these people want it known that they never asked anyone's opinions, didn't have any comments on drafts or revisions and didn't have a graduate student or colleague help with any phase of the work.)

Apparently, journals have become the way we generate personal lists, not the way we spread ideas, and the faculty members' new career goals are vita with lengthy lists of articles. "Credit" and counting has supplanted the original purpose of scholarly pu blications. An impressive list on a vita makes for an impressed faculty who might scan it, regardless of whether any of the articles listed were read.
Years ago, sociologists reported on a poor country facing problems of overpopulation that taught their uneducated rural women the rhythm method of pregnancy prevention, using a bead necklace for them to count out the "safe" times to have sex. But as the necklace itself gained a mystical value, the women would simply move the beads to the "right" positions so they could have sex with their husbands.

Like these women, faculty have let the list of publications acquire a mystical value, losing track of what the publications themselves were meant to represent.
Administrators want to show accomplishments on which to base pay raises; the list itself becomes the coin of the realm for salary, teaching loads and travel money.
Tenure and promotion has sometimes devolved into credit assessments and line item counts.

In turn, the truth gets difficult to separate from exaggerations and sarcasm. . . .

While talking with two colleagues at the Alfred Bester Unknown University's Department of Applied Compulsion, a third faculty member entered the room and congratulated the person whose office we occupied.
"Why the congratulations?" I logically asked.
She expanded with visible pride. "I just had an article accepted in the Journal of Exalted Authors."
"Oh, congratulations. What was the article about?"
"It was published in the Journal of Exalted Authors," she repeated, surprised that my question was asked.
"Yes, you said that. But I was wondering if it might be a subject related to my own interests. Do you have a copy?"
"Well, yes. Or, uh,. . . no. It's around here somewhere. But it was accepted.... And I had to learn a whole new word processing program to put the disk in publication form. I was first author and did 56.8 percent of the work."

It often seems that the purpose of research has been lost. Or worst, the goals for why we want faculty to be involved with research and writing have been warped.

Of course, there is recognition to both faculty and school from the faculty members' variety of scholarly contributions, but that recognition grows from people reading the material, not from lines listed on their vita or annual reports. Scholarly writing is encouraged as part of the academic life for scholars and educators; no one wants faculty minds to transform into tapioca while their knowledge of areas they teach becomes archaic.

Yet it appears that few people wish to admit how some colleagues can make strong positive contributions to the academic environment of a school or department despite their lack of a lengthy list of journal articles written for every evaluation period. I have long since stopped listing work "in progress," articles "in-press" and "percentage contributions" in my vita and annual reports. But recognition by peers comes from the people who read and discuss or otherwise notice interesting work, not from the pe ople who read the titles on a list.

***

Herbert Rotfeld is a professor in the Department of Marketing and Transportation in the College of Business.

Campus Roundup

Casual Days declared for summer

Fridays will be casual dress days at AU for the remainder of the summer, says President William Muse. "Casual Days" were first implemented a year ago by Muse, who said, "All employees are invited to wear comfortable clothing, appropriate to their jobs, o n those days."

Sri Lankan professors to present public lecture

Two visiting professors from Sri Lanka will present a public lecture on "Improving the Lives of Disadvantaged Communities in South Asia" at 2 p.m., July 9, in Foy 213. The professors, S. Sandarasegaram and Raja Gunawardhene of Colombo University in Sri L anka will also be visiting with faculty and students in the College of Education. The special lecture is sponsored by the University Special Lectures Committee and the Center for Educational Research in the College of Education.

Pre-law society to host Brazilian legal experts

Pi Lamda Sigma, AU's pre-law honor society, on July 11 will host a group of Brazilian judges, lawyers, prosecutors, law students and law professors who are attending the master of comparative law program at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. Law professors from the Ukraine and the Philippines will also attend. While at Auburn, the visitors will attend Philosophy faculty member Cliff Perry's class on Ethics in Health Science and will attend a luncheon at which they will discuss and compare t he U.S. and Brazilian legal systems. Faculty members and students interested in participating in the program may contact Dorothy Wells Littleton of the pre-law program at 844-2198.

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 went effect June 1.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative to visit

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

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.

Psychology graduate student wins award

Heather Ringeisen, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology, recently received the Sigma Xi Research Society's award for having the top master's thesis at AU for 1996-97. Due to inadvertently crossed references, she was earlier identified as a g raduate student in Chemistry.

Dinner Theatre: Deathtrap
"Manicured maniacs and mind games"
July 17, 18 & 19
Dinner 6:30 p.m. Performance 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $25 per person for buffet and show
Menu upon request
Call for Tickets 844-4145
Checks payable to: SummerStage '97
Presented by Auburn University Theatre and AU Hotel & Conference Center

Unsung Hero: Barnese Adair-Wallace, Housing

This week's Unsung Hero is Barnese Adair-Wallace, head of housekeeping for Housing and Residence Life. She has been a member of the AU staff for 16 years. She was asked:
I get the greatest satisfaction in my job when... "students and parents check into their dorm room/apartment and they are pleased with the cleanliness and condition of the room or apartment."
In my job area, quality is measured by... "The number of satisfied residents and how fast and professionally we handle cleaning problems."
If I could change one thing about Auburn (or my job), it would be... "to reward employees with a monetary incentive an employee goes above and beyond the call of duty."
I've always wondered why... "there is not a grade/step system where employees can move up within the department when they are doing a great job and trying to better themselves."
When people come to this campus, I want them to... "be glad they came and leave with a positive attitude concerning the services we give to the students."
In my spare time, I like to... "travel, sing gospel music, shop and take nature walks."