This Week @ AU

The AU Bookstore will close at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, May 30th for inventory. Strictly Business will be closed Friday, May 30th for inventory.

Tiger Transit will suspend normal operations May 8-21. The night security shuttle will suspend operations May 11-15. During the semester break May 8-21, Tiger Transit will operate only the stadium deck bus to Haley Center Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Limited transportation to and from graduation ceremonies at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on May 10 will be provided by Tiger Transit from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Transportation may be obtained from either the stadium parking deck and/or the Credit Union/Max Morris parking lot. Summer operations begin May 21 with limited service 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Effective May 22, the regular daytime routes will operate 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The external Night Transit will operate 5-8 p.m., Monday through Friday. The night security shuttle van service begins summer operations May 15 and operates 6 p.m.-7 a.m., Monday through Sunday. Beginning May 15, passengers must call 844-7400 to obtain night security shuttle van service. The name of the Magnolia Extension route has changed to Old Row-West Parking. Service on the Hill-West Parking and Haley-West Parking routes will be suspended during the summer semester. Passengers should also note the following realignment of bus stops for the East University, South Auburn and South College routes. The Southern Edge stop is now serviced by South College, and The Edge Apartment is serviced by the South Auburn route. The Edge and Research Park bus stop is located to the rear of the apartment complex on DeVall next to the Auburn University Research Park Building 1. For the most current route information, go to the Tiger Transit Web site at www.auburn.edu/administration/parking_transit/transit/.

AU Recycling will hold PaperJam '08 on the Haley Center concourse and Roosevelt concourse May 2, 5 and 7 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. each day. You know how you always have a ton of notes at the end of the semester that you'll never need again? AU Recycling has decided to try to capture some of that paper before it hits the landfills. They also will be collecting any unwanted notebooks and binders.

To the Auburn University Community:

Last week, the Board of Trustees hosted a day-long workshop to discuss Auburn University’s strategic plan. Faculty and student representatives of Auburn’s main campus and the Montgomery campus attended, and we had an open, positive, and participatory dialogue.

The Board identified six overarching priority areas for the next draft, beneath which the 62 tactics from the original draft will be organized and prioritized. The areas include academics, research, extension/outreach, faculty development, financial resources, and continuous improvement. None of the original tactics were eliminated at this point. In fact, several ideas were added.

Our next step is to establish prioritized actions, timelines, measurement benchmarks, responsibility areas, and estimated costs of the recommendations and submit the expanded draft to the Board at the June 26-27 meeting.

Of special note is that all present agreed that the plan, while moving us forward, will also protect our considerable strengths: Auburn has been a top 50 public institution for 15 years in a row; we have 20 programs ranked in the top 20 nationally; we have engaged alumni who carry their love for the Auburn family throughout the world; we’ve been among the first institutions in the country to conduct national assessments which reveal that our students – who are already extremely bright when they arrive as freshmen – make substantial gains in knowledge by the time they graduate; our junior faculty identify Auburn as an ideal place to work; and 96% of our alumni say if they had to choose all over again, they would choose Auburn.

Such strengths provide an outstanding foundation upon which to continue.

We look forward to sharing further plans with you this summer. Thank you for your interest in, participation in, and support of this planning process.

Sincerely,

Jay Gogue
President
Auburn University

Welcome Week 2008 will be held August 16-23. Welcome Week is a way to welcome AU’s new and returning students to campus fall semester. If interested in sponsoring a program or event during Welcome Week 2008 please fill out an event request form on the Welcome Week Web site at www.auburn.edu/welcomeweek. Event requests are due Friday, May 30 by 4:45 p.m. For more information, call or e-mail Michelle Murphy at 844-5292 or murphmi@auburn.edu.

In addition to regular operating hours, the Auburn University Bookstore will be open the following hours:
Saturday, May 3, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Finals, first final begins at 9 a.m.) and Saturday, May 10, 8 a.m.-2:15 p.m. (Graduation, ceremonies at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., cap and gown distribution begins at 8 a.m.)

Free copies of the spring Auburn Circle, Auburn University's general interest magazine, will be distributed on the Haley Center concourse and in the Lowder Business Building April 22-25, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Auburn faculty, staff and students should mark their calendars for Thursday, April 24, at 4 p.m. for the formal installation of Jay Gogue as the university's 18th president. The half-hour ceremony will take place on the Cater Hall lawn. In the event of rain, the installation will move to the Foy Student Union ballroom on Friday, April 25, at 9 a.m. The entire campus community is invited to attend. For those who cannot attend in person, the ceremony will be streamed on the Web at www.auburn.edu/installation.

The play, "Little Shop of Horrors," will continue at the Telfair Peet Theatre April 15-19. Audrey II, the infamous bloodthirsty plant, pays a visit to the Auburn University theatre in this spring production. The popular rock musical is based on the 1960 Roger Corman cult movie of the same name. The musical boasts music by Alan Menken and lyrics and the book by Howard Ashman, the duo who created other memorable characters including Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" and Belle in "Beauty and the Beast." For more information, see http://media.cla.auburn.edu/theatre/.

Tim Dodge, reference librarian and history subject specialist at the Ralph Brown Draughon Library, will speak on the influence of gospel music on early rock and roll at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the RBD Library. Using a combination of lecture and brief samples of recordings, Dodge will trace the multifaceted and sometimes surprising connections between the sacred and profane worlds of gospel music and early rock and roll. Dodge holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of New Hampshire and a master's degree in library science from Columbia University. As "Dr. Hepcat," he hosts the Golden Oldies show on WEGL FM 91.1 from 5-7 p.m. on Fridays. His lecture at AU is part of the Discover Auburn series that is cosponsored by the Auburn University Libraries, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Auburn University Bookstore. A reception will follow the program. For more information, call 844-4946.

The Auburn University Women’s Resource Center and the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs will host a one-day Women’s Leadership Conference Tuesday, April 8, in room 217 of Foy Student Union. The theme for the second annual conference is “Acting Locally, Thinking Globally.” The mission of the conference is to promote the development of leadership skills, provide information about important issues affecting women’s lives and promote women’s active involvement in their communities, countries and in the world. Opening remarks will be presented by Susie Gogue. Keynote speakers will be Sally Jones Hill, alumna of the College of Liberal Arts, and Christa Slaton, associate dean of education affairs in the College of Liberal Arts. Lauren Hayes, president of the Student Government Association and Alison Penuel, president of Delta Gamma sorority, will also speak.

Workshop topics will include financial management, body image, stress management, balancing work and personal life, sustainability, networking and philanthropy, women’s rights and health issues, violence against women and civic engagement. The conference will close with a panel of student activists who will address current issues that impact women and identify ways that students can become actively engaged in social issues.

The conference will also have a dedication ceremony in memory of Auburn student Lauren Burk who died tragically in March. The conference is open to the public, but seating is limited. To register for the conference or for more information, contact Angela Tickle at ticklan@auburn.edu or Latoya Harris at harril3@auburn.edu.

Cap and Gown orders are currently being taken in the AU Bookstore located in the Haley Center. The deadline to reserve regalia was April 4. Students who miss the deadline may still be able to reserve regalia for another week. The price is $32 for Bachelors degree, $52 for Masters and $57 for Doctorates. Please call the bookstore at 844-4241 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to reserve regalia. When contacting the AU Bookstore, please have head measurement, measurement of where a baseball cap would fit to nearest ½ inch and credit card information available. The bookstore does not keep regalia on hand so students must rent it to guarantee having it available for graduation.

Student Government Association Elections is one of the largest events on campus and provides students with the opportunity to develop skills in event planning, logistics and the elections process. In addition, elections provide an opportunity to interact with highly qualified candidates for Auburn elections. Applications for Assistant Director of Elections and Elections Board are now available in the SGA office in 332 Foy Student Union or on the SGA Web site, www.auburn.edu/sga. The Assistant Director of Elections application is due in the SGA office by 5 p.m. Monday, April 14 and the Elections Board application is due in the SGA office by 5 p.m. Monday, April 21. Interviews will be held at separate times for each position. For more information, visit www.auburn.edu/sga or email hartwil@auburn.edu.

The Auburn University Sustainability Initiative invites faculty and advanced graduate students to participate in the third Auburn University Sustainability in the Curriculum Workshop, May 12-13. Based on a nationally recognized model, the workshop offers an intellectually stimulating and collegial experience for faculty across the range of disciplines at Auburn. Please register by April 11. For more information please visit the workshop Web site at http://www.auburn.edu/projects/sustainability/Fallline.php.

Auburn University's chapter of Chi Sigma Iota and Chapter VII of the Alabama Counseling Association will sponsor a workshop on dealing with children who have experienced trauma. The workshop will be held in Foy 213 Saturday, April 12, from 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Four CEUs are available for those attending. Presented by Robert James Miller II Ph.D., RDT, and Laurice Adams MA, RDT, LCAT, the workshop will provide participants with relevant research and information for working with children who have been exposed to neglect, physical and sexual abuse. Miller is a licensed clinical psychologist and drama therapist in New York and New Jersey, and Adams is a drama therapist and a licensed creative arts therapist in the state of New York. For professionals, the cost is $40 for preregistration and $60 on the day of the workshop. For students, the cost is $10 for preregistration and $25 on the day of the workshop. Student registration requires a brief letter from a professor verifying status with a university. Participants who wish to take advantage of the early registration deadline must have their registration form postmarked by April 7. For more information, contact Jamie Carney at 844-5160 or carnejs@auburn.edu.

The Emerging Leader Institute (ELI) is one of the Student Government Association Tiger Tuesday’s Freshman Leadership Programs. A main goal of ELI is to help freshmen students learn how to get involved on campus. In light of that goal, ELI has created a scholarship for a student who is involved on campus and has positively contributed to Auburn University or the surrounding community. The award will be in the amount of $250, and will be awarded to a freshman or sophomore student. Applicants should hold a 3.0 or higher G.P.A. and exhibit strong leadership skills. Applications are available online at www.auburn.edu/sga and in the SGA office in 332 Foy Student Union. Applications are due Friday, April 11 at 4 p.m. in the SGA office. Scholarship interviews will take place April 15-17. For more information, contact the Director of ELI, Virginia Collins at collivh@auburn.edu.