This Week @ AU

Beta Beta Beta, the National Biological Honor Society, will host its 32nd annual Bat Walk at the Davis Arboretum today at 5:30 p.m. There will be a short presentation on bats and their lifestyles, followed by a walk through the arboretum which will allow participants to hunt for bats using night vision goggles and bat detectors. There will also be live bats and door prizes. The event is free and open to the public. Children of all ages are welcome. For more information, e-mail Katheryn Walker at walkek3@auburn.edu.

The University Program Council will be hosting “The Halloween Carnival” on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The carnival will take place on Cater Lawn and will have many activities such as carnival booths and a children’s costume contest. There will be prizes for the best dressed child.

Students from Auburn University's College of Architecture, Design and Construction will light up the courtyard of Dudley Hall with the glow of more than 400 jack-o-lanterns at the 21st annual Pumpkin Carve on Friday, Oct. 30. The event, sponsored by the Auburn chapter of the American Institute of Architecture students, will begin at 9 a.m. as pumpkins go on sale for $4 for festival visitors and as students begin to create their jack-o-lanterns for the evening's competition. Other activities will include a visit by Aubie from 9:30 a.m until about 11 a.m., the student costume contest at noon and the childrens costume contest at 6 p.m.

Food and drinks, including hot dogs, burgers and chili, will be available for purchase. The public is invited to carve pumpkins from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Also during that time there will be face painting, cookie decorating, games and other community activities.

At 6 p.m., pumpkin carving by students from the College of Architecture, Design and Construction will end and the pumpkins will be lit. At 6:30 p.m., these pumpkins, many with intricate designs and current event themes, will be judged based on creativity, appearance and craftsmanship. Awards will be presented at 7 p.m., and the carved pumpkins will be available for purchase for a minimum donation of $5 to American Institute of Architecture Students beginning at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, read the news release.

The Glomerata photography staff will be taking independent photos Oct. 26 through Oct. 29. They will be located on the second floor of the Auburn University Student Center by the large staircase. These photos will be published in the “People” section of the 2009-2010 Glomerata. This edition of the Glomerata will be available to all students for free in April 2010.

The 2009-10 campus telephone directories are now available at the Foy Information Desk in the Auburn University Student Center. In addition to phone numbers for students, faculty and campus offices, the directory also contains discount coupons good at local businesses.

Students are invited to the concourse, by the Student Union building, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, for security tips, goodies, free T-shirts and more in recognition of National Cyber Security Awareness month.

Cyber Security week four focuses on ways to keep the data on your mobile devices like cell phones, USB drives and laptops safe and secure. For tips on how secure your mobile data, visit http://keepitsafe.auburn.edu/.

Precautions given about revealing information online

During Cyber Security week three, the Office of Information Technology reminded campus users to be discreet in the amount of personal information they share on social networking sites, blogs and wikis.

Sharing details like date of birth, e-mail address, job and marital status with perfect strangers may make unwary users vulnerable. This kind of information can be used to open an account in your name or may grant access to reset your password on applications like e-mail. Can the answer to your password reminder question be found on your social networking site? Don't use common verifications such as your date of birth or your pet's name. Students, remember that prospective employers can see your Facebook and MySpace profiles, so you might want to restrict your profile so it isn't available for the world to see.

October is National Cyber Security Month. The Office of Information Technology will offer tips and hints each week during October to help you stay safe online.

The International Business Fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi, is hosting a presentation by Kellie Guthrie to be held in the Auburn University Student Center ballroom tonight at 6 p.m. Guthrie's life mission is to help women and children in need, but what makes her passion different is how she mixes philanthropy with business. One of the companies she works with strives to help women who are forced into prostitution by the mafia in Thailand. This event is cosponsored by the International Student Organization.

Nell Richardson will be signing copies of her book, “A Family Home: A History of the President's Mansion at Auburn University,” Saturday, Oct. 31, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Auburn University Bookstore.

The book covers the time from the building of the home through the years that Auburn University President and Mrs. Richardson resided there.

For more information on the book signing or to request a signed copy, please contact Margaret Hendricks by calling 844-1365 or e-mail her at mhendrm1@auburn.edu.

Career Development Services is presenting a seminar, "Negotiating Job Offers and Personal Finances," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center, ballroom B. Jack Walls, Auburn University career counselor, and Brenda Dozier, of The Legacy Financial Group Inc., will coach students in navigating multiple salary offers and personal finances beyond college.

Applications for SOS Orientation Leaders are due Monday, Nov. 9, by noon. Applications must be turned in toFoy Hall, room 189. SOS will also be hosting an information session on Monday, Nov. 2, at 5:30 p.m. in room 2107 of the Auburn University Student Center. For more information, visit www.auburn.edu/sos.

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Majors is hosting the "STEM Scaring for Kids" on Oct. 29 from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Greystone Mansion. This event is a Halloween masquerade benefit for the Boys and
Girls Club of Greater Lee County.

WEGL will be DJ-ing and doing a live broadcast from the event. Costume prizes will be awarded for the “best-dressed” and a dance-off competition will take place. There will also be free food, fun and games.

Tickets are $10 for admission. If paired with the purchase of a T-shirt, the fee is $20. All students are welcome to attend. To purchase tickets, you must have your student ID. Each student is allowed to purchase a ticket for one guest.

"Cultivating Sustainable Communities: How to Ignite and Spread a Commitment to Sustainability" is the title and theme of this month's Green Lunch that will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Auburn University Student Center, room 2223.

Presented by Mike Kensler, this month’s lunch will take the form of an interactive presentation. This presentation is designed to help participants develop their own philosophies and approaches to sustainability action and organizing. Individuals, student groups, community members as well as staff and faculty are encouraged to participate.

Kensler has expertise in natural resources management, planning and policy, as well as in the areas of organizational learning, team building, leadership development and civic engagement. He has worked with communities and organizations at local and regional scales to cultivate a more sustainable future. He currently works as the outreach programs administrator in the Auburn Water Resources Center.

For a further description of the lunch, visit the Sustainability Office Web site here.

Provost Mary Ellen Mazey is inviting students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners of the College of Agriculture and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station to contribute ideas to the search for a new dean and director. Mazey will moderate a college-wide forum Nov. 3 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Hood Auditorium, 207 Comer Hall. Dean Richard Guthrie recently announced his decision to retire as dean and director.

Clarinetist David Odom and pianist Jeremy Samolesky will perform “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Blue” on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Goodwin Recital Hall. The “something new” is one of a series of worldwide premieres of David Maslanka’s “Eternal Garden: Four Songs for Clarinet and Piano.” Odom was part of a consortium of performers and educators that commissioned the piece, resulting in a major new work for the repertoire.

Also on the program is Weber’s “Grand Duo Concertant,” a tour de force of the genre for over a century, representing “something old.” The “something borrowed and blue” is an arrangement of Gershwin’s highly stylized “Piano Preludes,” originally for solo piano.

Odom and Samolesky are members of the Auburn University Department of Music faculty. The department hosts a wide variety of concerts, recitals, lectures and other events throughout the year both on and off campus.

More information on this event can be found here.  Information on all events can be found on the department’s homepage.This event is free and open to the public.

The annual Auburn University Fall Choral Concert will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Auburn United Methodist Church, located at 220 E. Magnolia Ave. The concert will feature performances by the Auburn University Chamber Choir, Women's Chorus, Men's Chorus and Concert Choir. Selected works by Orazio Vecchi, Johannes Brahms, Eric Whitacre, Peter Wilhousky, Rosephanye Powell and other composers will be performed. This concert is free and open to the public.

Art Museum awarded five honors in publication competition

The Southeastern Museum Conference, a regional museum professional organization, has awarded the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art five different honors in the 21st Annual SEMC Publication Competition contest this year. The winning entries were announced and displayed at the annual meeting in Charleston, W.Va., from Oct. 13 through Oct. 16 of this year.

Four of the awards were directed to the JCSM's outstanding in-house designs, which included: the catalogue and invitation for "Dale Kennington: Subjective Mythologies," which captured two gold awards; the September

through December 2008 museum newsletter and the 2009 Auburn University Art Department Studio Faculty Catalogue, which both garnered silver awards; and honored with a silver award for content was the publication "A Present for My Country" John James Audubon's American
Voice by Taylor Littleton.

For more information on this and other activities contact Marilyn Laufer, JCSM director by calling 844-1486 or by e-mailing her at laufema@auburn.edu.

Museum to showcase 'Advancing American Art'
The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is featuring a selection of some of the museum's most treasured pieces from its "Advancing American Art" collection. The exhibit opened on Oct. 24 and will run through Jan. 23 in the Chi Omega-Hargis Gallery. The 36 paintings and works on paper in this collection constitute one of the most significant components of the museum's permanent collection. Acquired by Auburn University in 1948, when Auburn was known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, they were originally part of a group of artworks assembled by the U.S. State Department in 1946 to demonstrate the ascendancy of American modern art. The current exhibition features paintings by Arthur Dove, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ben Shahn. For more information on the works of art in the museum's "Advancing American Art" collection, go to this link.

Julie Shaffer, founder of Slow Food Atlanta, southeastern regional governor for Slow Food USA and Emory University's sustainable food service education coordinator, will be lecturing for the Auburn community today in Haley Center room 3195 at 4 p.m.

The lecture will include a 20-minute video on Slow Food and chocolate tasting. The event is free and open to the public.

Those of us who spend each week on the Plains attending Auburn football games know what a great experience it is. It seems each week, fans of visiting teams are taking notice as well. Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs addresses the hospitality and friendliness Auburn fans share in a guest column published in newspapers over the weekend. Click to link to read the column.

Provost Mary Ellen Mazey will hold an open forum at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, in 1106 Ralph Brown Draughon Library auditorium. She will be discussing the Lecturer and Senior Lecturer positions. The forum is open to anyone interested in attending.

Auburn University Student Government Association 2010 Elections

A spring elections candidate information session is being held for anyone interested in running for Auburn's Student Government Association 2010 officers. The meetings will take place on Monday, Oct. 26, and Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. in room 2222 of the Student Center. The elections committee will talk about each position. The campaign is divided by major and minor candidates. Major candidates are president, vice president, treasurer and Miss Auburn. Minor candidates are college/school officers: president, vice president and senators. They will also talk about qualifications and costs of the campaign, and how to begin.

Student Government Association hosts third annual Final Lecture

The Student Government Association's third annual Final Lecture Selective Committee is collecting nominations for outstanding professors and will continue to be accept nominations until Nov. 20. Students may nominate a professor within any school or college; however, previous recipients will remain ineligible for a period of four years after receiving the honor. If a student knows of a professor they feel is worthy of distinction, please e-mail sga@auburn.edu with the professor’s name and a paragraph informing the selection committee of how that professor has influenced the student and Auburn University. A committee of seniors comprised of student and academic leaders will narrow down the nominations. In the spring, the upperclassmen will vote on which of the candidates is most deserving of this honor.

The Final Lecture program was created to give all students the opportunity to participate in a teaching award that is given on behalf of the student body. It recognizes professors who have made extraordinary contributions through classroom teaching and service to the university. To be nominated and elected as the top professor at Auburn University is one of the highest honors students can bestow upon a faculty member. The selected professor delivers a keynote address to the entire university on a topic of his or her choice. Past addresses have included words of advice and encouragement for both students beginning their college careers and those moving beyond the walls of Auburn.

•    Drive-In Movie at The Beach, corner of Donahue and Lem Morrison, featuring Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the movie begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

•    Come share your talents at UPC's Open Mic Night on Wednesday, October 21 in 2222 and 2223 Student Center at 7 p.m. Come out and sing, read poetry, or tell jokes! Instruments are allowed!

•    Freestyle Competition Tuesday, Oct. 27 in the Auburn University Student Center ballroom at 7 p.m. The free-style contest is a competition of verbal skill. Competitors will rap against each other over an instrumental track for a period of 30 to 45 seconds and judges will choose a winner from each pair until only one remains. Sign-ups begin next week in UPC Suite 3130.

•    UPC wants your input. Come participate and enjoy free food during a focus group that aims to gather student ideas regarding the direction of UPC. Come have your opinion heard on Thursday, Oct. 29t in 2227 Student Center. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and discussion is from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.