Organizational Changes

["President's Office" <auemail@groupwise1.duc.auburn.edu>]

September 21, 2001

Dear Members of the Auburn Community,

As many of you may recall, the fall meeting of the General Faculty that
was scheduled for Tuesday, September 11, was postponed because of the
terrorist attacks on our nation that took place that day. The new date
for this meeting is Tuesday, October 2. During the past few weeks we
have taken some important and I believe positive steps on several
fronts, and I would like to update you on them at this time, rather than
waiting for the October 2 meeting.

I want to begin by reconfirming that Auburn University is robust and
doing well.  In light of the funding constraints we face, we can be
especially proud that Auburn has again been ranked by US News & World
Report as one of the top fifty public institutions in the country, and
as the top institution in this state. I know there is some debate about
what it means to be included on this list, but I also know how we would
feel if we were not included on it. The university and our colleges and
schools continue to receive outstanding rankings from numerous other
sources as well.  Our enrollment is at record highs and next year's
applications for enrollment are significantly higher than those for this
year.

In reflecting on the respect and recognition that Auburn people and
programs are earning, I realize that I should be saying thank you to all
of you. The university would not enjoy the prominence it does today
without our highly able and dedicated faculty, our very fine students
and alumni, and our very committed staff and professionals. You and they
have made Auburn what it is.  I am honored to serve you. It is my
intention that, working together, we shall preserve what we have
achieved, advance this institution beyond what we have already achieved,
 and hopefully enjoy the process of doing so.

Our success in moving forward will depend on many factors, including
not only our funding base but also our organizational base. To thrive
within the competitive environment of the 21st century, we must have in
place organizational structures and processes that match the increased
size and complexity of our operations. This is true in several areas,
including our academic programs, our governance structures, and also
some major non-academic areas of the institution.

What I just said may seem abstract, so let me offer some concrete
examples. Three years ago the work of the Role Commission led into a
process of reallocation and reorganization for all areas of the
university, including our academic programs. I know how painful that
process was, but I believe the campus community has begun to appreciate
that what we did then has played no small part in our success in
shrugging off the current year's proration of our state funding.

And in the area of governance, we have in recent months begun to take
steps as an institution to bring our policies and practices into line
with the standards recommended by the Association of Governing Boards of
Universities and Colleges. It is the leading national organization of
governing boards of public and independent institutions of higher
education. I understand that these steps may not be coming as quickly as
we might hope, but I am confident of continued forward progress in the
months to come.

We have also begun to extend the process of organizational change into
several areas of the university that are not directly academic in
nature, but which have become extremely important to the vitality of the
university and therefore to its academic programs. These areas include
our facilities operations, our alumni and development operations, and
our office of university relations. The remainder of this messages
provides an overview of what we are doing in each of these areas.

Changes in the Facilities Division

Last fall, the university engaged the services of a facilities
consultant to examine in detail the structure, processes, policies, and
procedures of our facilities operations.  The primary purpose of this
review was to enhance the Facilities Division's ability to serve the
university and to address the SACS accreditation requirements of this
critical university function.  I have recently appointed Dr. Christine
Curtis, Associate Provost for Facilities, to oversee the implementation
of the recommendations for improvement. During the implementation period
she will be directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of the
Facilities Division.  Dr. Curtis is exceptionally well-prepared to take
on this responsibility. She has been serving as liaison between the
academic sector of campus and Facilities Division, has served as
co-chair of major building and renovations committees, and has been
instrumental in planning for future building renovations and
infrastructure for Auburn University.  Dr. Curtis's experience in both
the academic and facilities arena will serve Auburn University and our
Facilities Division very well during this period.

Changes in the Alumni Office and Development Office

Last fall, the university also engaged a consulting firm to review the
alumni functions and development functions of the university. I want to
point out that over the past decade the office of Alumni and Development
has recorded some admirable successes in terms of its programs,
membership, and fund raising. It has become completely clear, however,
that starting immediately we must increase our ability to raise
extramural support by at least an order of magnitude. The review of
alumni and development was intended to assess our preparedness in this
regard. After careful review of the recommendations of the consultant,
along with numerous other sources of input, I have recently taken the
following steps.

We currently have a single office for both the alumni functions and
development functions of the university. In view of the increased size
and complexity of both areas, as well as the immediate need for an
expansion of our development efforts, I am establishing two separate
offices, one for alumni and one for development. Ms. Betty DeMent will
serve as the university's Vice President for Alumni Affairs.  Dr. Wil
Miller, currently the Assistant Vice President for Development, will
serve as Acting Vice President for Development.  We will begin
immediately a national search for a permanent appointment to this
critical position. 

I foresee an expansion of the vice presidential role relative to the
university's alumni affairs functions. Specifically, I believe it
critical that we begin to focus on ways to communicate and involve as
many as possible of our approximately 150,000 alumni with the university
and all its opportunities and challenges.  Ms. DeMent will continue to
serve as the chief liaison between the university's alumni affairs
office and the separately incorporated and private entity, the Auburn
Alumni Association.  The Auburn Alumni Association, with its approximate
50,000 members, will continue to play a vital role in the university's
overall alumni activities as we move to even higher levels in this area.
 
							
Dr. Wil Miller will be charged in the interim with developing the
structure and strategies to allow us to proceed as soon as possible with
a major capital campaign.  He will also be working closely with the
various academic units to insure that the information infrastructure
needed is responsive to the growing needs and expectations of our
development staff, as well as our donors and potential donors.  Dr.
Miller will serve as the university's chief liaison with the separately
incorporated and private entity, the Auburn University Foundation.

I have provided my detailed observations regarding changes in the
university's alumni functions and the development functions on the AU
website which can be accessed at
http://www.univrel.auburn.edu/alumniorganization.html. 

Changes in University Relations and University Communications

Last, I wanted to update you on the other key administrative area on
which the university began to focus a review last fall.  Communication
consultants have now visited campus twice to review the operations of
our Office of University Relations, as well as the broader issue of how
we at Auburn are communicating among ourselves and with our many
external audiences. A draft report has been issued and the
recommendations are being studied.  It appears to me a number of
recommendations, if implemented, could accomplish three critical goals:

1.	Strengthen communications within the campus community.
2.	Shift Auburn's communications and the role of University
Relations in the direction of being more active and less reactive.
3.	Define and promote an identity for Auburn, based on its core
values, that establishes its distinctive place in higher education.

These goals are already being addressed to some extent through means
such as the messages I have been sending to the campus community. I
believe that additional steps suggested in some of the consultant's
recommendations will help us do even better. An example is the proposed
creation of an Intranet to facilitate communications within our campus
community. The goal of defining and promoting Auburn's distinctive
identity fits in with broad-based discussions I have been having on this
subject with the university's leadership group, including both the
Senate leadership and trustees. I expect to receive the consultant's
final report within the next several weeks, and to seek reactions to it
from University Relations and the university community more broadly.

By way of conclusion, the changes we are making in several non-academic
areas are intended to strengthen the framework of support that we
provide for our core academic programs of instruction, research, and
outreach. Sound facilities, effective communications and publicity, and
growing endowments can do much to enhance the success of our endeavors.
I appreciate your taking the time and interest to read this account of
some of the changes I am making in these three very important areas of
university activity.

Sincerely,

William F. Walker
Interim President