Roger Blashfield, Professor in the Department of Psychology, received one of this year's Competitive Summer Research and Humanities Grants. He received his PhD from Indiana University in 1972. Since that time, he has been on the psychology faculty at Penn State, the psychiatry faculty at University of Florida, and the psychology faculty at Auburn (since 1996). His research interest is the classification of psychopathology. He also does quantitative studies of scientific literatures. Among graduate students, he is primarily known for his psychotherapy supervision.

The workshop co-directors are Professor Nan Fairley and Dr. Jennifer Wood Adams.

The workshop newspaper reflects the diversity of activities and opinions that made the June 2008 Summer Journalism Workshop a valuable learning experience for the participants.

"I'm sure the lessons this special group of students take home will have a positive impact at their respective high schools," said Fairley, who founded the workshop in 2003. "The students got a real crash course in journalism basics."

The high school students were treated like professional journalists. Not only did they participate in a wide-range of journalism seminars, they had to write stories about their experiences for the workshop newspaper - on a tight deadline.

They wrote stories about environmental issues, community journalism, The Auburn Plainsman newspaper, photojournalism and multicultural issues.

The students participated in a mock news conference with the AU sports information staff and defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks. They did their research on Marks the day before the news conference and were ready to ask him their questions.

Their final assignment was to write a column about what topics they would like to see covered in their hometown newspaper, tackle an issue that is impacting high school students or offer their reflections on their journalism workshop experiences.

During the concluding awards ceremony on Friday, June 13, six of the top participants in the workshop received $1,000 scholarship offers funded by the Mobile Press- Register. "It was amazing to see the participants' confidence as journalists grow as the week progressed," Adams said. "Many of them left with a deeper understanding of the craft and an interest in pursuing journalism or communication at the collegiate level. That's what this workshop is all about."

For more information on future workshops, contact Fairley at the AU Department of Communication and Journalism, 217 Tichenor Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849, (334) 844-4593 or e-mail at: fairlln@auburn.edu.
Application forms for the 2009 workshop and additional information will be posted on the Department's Web site at: http://media.cla.auburn.edu/ cmjn/.

Dr. Baker will be joining the center as a research fellow and editor for Pebble Hill Books.  She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts from Auburn University before completing a doctorate in English from Auburn in 1999.  Baker was most recently an associate professor in the Department of English at Tuskegee University. This past January, she organized a symposium sponsored by the center on author Albert Murray.

Baker will also be coordinating Life of the Mind, an AU College of Liberal Arts signature event designed to emphasize the importance of the humanities in the academic career of Auburn students'.

Maiben Beard, a native of LaFayette, AL, is the center's new outreach associate. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Emory University and comes to Auburn from her position as manager of The Fire House Gallery, a non-profit art gallery in Louisville, GA, where she led various community outreach initiatives.

Beard will help coordinate the Center's many outreach programming offerings, including the Fourth Annual Alabama Book Festival to be held April 18, 2009 at Old Alabama Town in Montgomery, Alabama.

For more information on the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities and its programs, call 334-844-4946 or email cah@auburn.edu.

"Global and international issues are not discipline-specific and should not be taught in silos," explained Bobrowski. "We are fortunate that the deans of the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Business recognize the importance of interdepartmental collaboration and encourage their faculty to work with one another to achieve a common goal. It is important to prepare our constituents for the complexities of globalization."

"Creating opportunities to position the College of Liberal Arts for the future is critical. Establishing an interactive global environment for our students is of the utmost importance to us," said Dr. Anna Gramberg, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "This grant allows new relationships to take place and grow in an academic world as well as in a world of commerce, thus creating a unique and beneficial opportunity for everyone involved."

The BIE grant, which is approximately $250,000, will provide funding for two years and will be used to support three major initiatives. The first initiative, expected to begin in fall 2007, is aimed at creating faculty awareness of the social, political, economic and business environments in Latin America. Some of the grant activities include trade missions to key destinations for Alabama exports, language immersion programs, faculty attendance at varying seminars, and conference presentations on international trade issues.

"In addition to the collaboration between business and liberal arts, we have also partnered with Tuskegee University and the State of Alabama Development Office - International Trade Division (ADO) in hopes of expanding the project beyond the university community," said Marshall. "We believe that the faculty participating in this project can be a resource not only to their own campus but to a number of community colleges throughout the state and to the non-traditional student population."

A second initiative under the BIE grant involves student programs and academic enrichment. Though both the Colleges of Business and Liberal Arts offer international education curricula, neither program focuses on Latin America specifically. With the BIE grant, both the international business curriculum in the College of Business and the international trade curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts will be restructured so as to provide undergraduate and graduates courses in export management as well as courses on Latin American society and culture. The BIE grant will also be used to develop an international trade certificate program designed for students not enrolled in either curriculum. Such curricular changes are expected to be implemented in 2009.

"We would be remiss if we did not prepare students for the global economy," said Marshall. "Unfortunately, there is sometimes a misconception that international trade negatively impacts state and local business. The reality is that companies engaged in international business actually yield economic growth. We need to prepare our students to enter today's global workforce."

"Such initiatives, as this by the College of Business and the College of Liberal Arts, to create cross-disciplinary, international opportunities for our students is an Auburn University response to the private sector requirements for the 21st century university graduate," remarked Dr. Paul Bobrowski, Dean of the College of Business and Wachovia Professor. "I hope that this type of collaborative, international effort becomes an Auburn University standard."

The third initiative outlined in the BIE grant proposal is targeted at the state and local business community. In coordination with Tuskegee University, the State of Alabama Development Office, the Auburn University Small Business Development Center and the Auburn Technical Assistance Center, project co-directors will develop outreach programs designed to encourage and facilitate trade with Latin America. A series of community seminars are expected to be available by fall 2008.

(Contributed by Dina Roberts and Vicky Santos)

This year's joint Summer Celebration of Camp Kemet took place June 6, 2008, in the Foy Student Union.

The National Academy Museum presents its non-member invitational exhibiton every two years, showcasing contemporary works by approximately 125 prominent artists from across the country.

The artists whose works are on display through Sept 7. were selected from among more than 400 nominees. The Alden Bryant Award is one of the top three awards for works on display in the exhibition.

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in 1825 to promote American art, presents a regular schedule of exhibitions of art and architecture, as well as educational programs.

Lewis, who teaches painting and drawing in the Department of Art, has also taught at Darmouth College and Cornell University.

His artworks have been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and internationally and are in public and corporate collections across the United States and private colleges in the U.S. and Europe. He holds M.F.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Iowa.

The conference, entitled "Innovations in Effective Compassion," will highlight strategies and evaluations of the work of faith-based and community organizations.

Brown's research is based on the evaluation of the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Enforcement Grant Program Special Initiative: Faith-based and Community Organization Pilot Program-also known as the Rural Pilot Program, of which she is a co-Principal Investigator. Through her research, Brown has collected data on over 150 faith-based and community organizations providing domestic violence services in rural areas across the country, and also focused on eight case study organizations in Tennessee, Arkansas, Wyoming and Idaho.

Brown will present the chapter she wrote for the compendium, Innovations in Effective Compassion, edited by Pamela Joshi of RTI International and published by the Government Printing Office, on the faith-based initiatives. Her presentation focuses on the organizational capacity issues that arose during the implementation of the Rural Pilot Program.

Michael Melancon

History

Michael Melancon was born and raised in New Orleans, where he also received a BA in history from Loyola University. After various travels, he served in the U.S. Army where he learned to speak Russian and German. After a two year stint in Germany (1968-1970), he visited the USSR and decided to pursue graduate work in Russian history. During the 1970s he worked on his PhD at Indiana University, Bloomington. After a year of study in the USSR as a Fulbright Fellow and International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Exchange Student at Leningrad State University, he began teaching at New Mexico State University and the University of Hawaii. His teaching career at Auburn began in 1984. His research focuses on aspects of pre-1917 Russian society and on the Russian Revolutions. His most recent book is The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of the Late Tsarist State. After extensive research in Russia over recent years, with generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, IREX, Kennan Institute, the Hoover Institution, and inside Auburn University, he is writing a history of the Russian Revolution, with a focus on the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party. The Left Socialist Revolutionaries were a radical group that initially allied itself with the Bolsheviks and then opposed Lenin's propensity for proactive violence and abandonment of democratic norms. This study bases itself entirely on formerly inaccessible sources and offers a new interpretation of the Russian Revolutionary phenomenon. His next project will be a history of late-tsarist Russian political culture (1861-1917).

Dr. Guy V. Beckwith has been inducted into the Academy of Teaching and Outstanding Teachers. He has been a member of Auburn's faculty for over 28 years, having joined Auburn's History Department on the tenure track in 1980. Dr. Beckwith helped create the university honors program, now the Honors College, and the curriculum for the innovative, team-taught Human Odyssey series (a science-humanities team-taught sequence focusing on the shifts in human perception resulting from discovery and invention). He played a major role in the development of Auburn's nationally recognized undergraduate and graduate programs in Technology and Civilization.

His publications include articles and reviews in such journals as The South Atlantic Quarterly, Technology and Culture, Issues in Integrative Studies, and Science, Technology & Human Values, and an anthology of readings in the history of technology, currently in its fourth edition. One of his lectures, on the role of mythology in ancient societies, was videotaped and broadcast to national audiences on The History Channel. In 1992, he spent a year as Visiting Honors Professor at the University of Central Florida, and received the Honors Medallion. In 1996, Dr. Beckwith was chosen for one of Auburn's Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Awards, and in 2003 he received the College of Liberal Arts Teaching Excellence Award in the Humanities.

Peter E. Harzem, renowned behavioral psychologist, died peacefully at his home Monday, May 26, 2008, following a long illness. He was 78 years old. A memorial service for him is planned for 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 29, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Auburn, Ala. The service will be followed by a reception in the parish hall. Dr. Harzem's ashes will be interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Auburn at a later date.

Dr. Harzem was born around midnight on Dec. 31, 1929, or Jan. 1, 1930, in Istanbul, Turkey. Due to the holidays, his birth wasn't registered until Jan. 5, 1930, which is his official birthday, though he preferred to celebrate it over several days. He was the only child of Sukru and Saime Harzem.

His professional life began in his teens when he became a newspaper reporter in Istanbul. During this time, he also published poetry and short stories. His passion for writing never waned throughout his life, and he was working on another book at the time of his death.

Dr. Harzem moved to London, England, in the 1940s following World War II to attend the university. After his first year, he took work at a hospital as a registered nurse to support himself, eventually becoming a teacher of nursing. A few years later, he received a First Class Honours degree in psychology from the University of London-one of only three out of more than 350 graduates to receive this distinction. He was invited to do graduate work at Oxford, but chose to go to the University of Wales, where he finished his education and joined the faculty, becoming a senior professor and the director of the psychology program. It was there that he met, and ultimately married, Anne Laaja Rausberg. This beautiful and equally intelligent Estonian woman remained the love of his life for more than 44 years, attending and nurturing him until his death. On Sept. 24, 1971, the Harzems welcomed their only child, Emma Elvira-Anne Harzem.

During his 14 or so years at the University of Wales, Dr. Harzem began working with world-renowned figures in psychology and caught the attention of B.F. Skinner, the father of Radical Behaviorism. Dr. Harzem worked with Skinner, explaining how the same data could be manipulated to generate different results, and Skinner made several return visits to Wales, even dining at the Harzem's home.

This led Dr. Harzem to begin lecturing internationally, which he did for the next 40 years, becoming a regular presenter in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Estonia, and the United States, among others. Many of his publications have been translated into Italian, Spanish and Japanese, and he served on the editorial boards of professional journals in England, Mexico, Brazil, Spain and the United States. He made many dear and devoted friends in this international community.

Dr. Harzem came to Auburn University in 1978 and was later named Hudson Professor of Psychology, a distinguished position he held until his retirement in 2006. While at Auburn, he established the behavioral division of the psychology department and served as department head for four years. In 1997, Dr. Harzem became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga. President Carter was present and personally congratulated him, saying "I am pleased to have you as a fellow member of the United States."

He belonged to the Rotary Club (twice being named a Paul Harris Fellow), a Buddhist study and meditation group and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, where he cultivated dear and lasting friendships. Dr. Harzem was an insatiable learner and constant researcher, exploring and writing about many interesting things beyond psychology, most recently studying Buddhism, string theory and the passage of time with regard to intervals between the past and the present.

Dr. Harzem was preceded in death by his father, mother, step-father and grandson, Peter Walter Slyz. He is survived by his wife, Anne; his daughter, Emma; his son-in-law, Yurij Slyz; and his two-week-old granddaughter, Tessa Katherine-Anne Slyz. He also leaves behind a legion of friends in Auburn and around the world.

In lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to make a contribution in his memory can send a donation to East Alabama Medical Center's Cancer Center, in care of the EAMC Foundation, 2000 Pepperell Parkway, Opelika, AL 36801.

The Office of the Provost has released the names of faculty receiving promtoin, theure or both in 2008. Those faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts are:

Tenure

• Charles Alan Israel, History

Associate Professor and Tenure

• Barbara Bondy, Art
• Seihill Kim, Communication and Journalism
• Guy Rohrbaugh, Philosophy
• Carole B. Zugazaga, Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

Professor

• John Emmett Winn, Communication and Journalism

Associate Clinical Professor

• Embry A. Burrus, Communication Disorders

Clinical Professor

• Martha Wilson, Communication Disorders
• Elizabeth Zylla-Jones, Communication Disorders

Journalism Professor Ed Williams has marked his 25th year on the Auburn faculty by endowing a scholarship for students in the program.

Williams continues to teach in the Department of Communication and Journalism after stepping down as faculty adviser to the Auburn Plainsman student newspaper after 23 years in that role.

"My students tell me that I've impacted their lives, but I wanted to leave another kind of legacy, something that will be here long after I am gone," said Williams. "I felt that funding an endowed scholarship is something that will be a part of Auburn forever and something that demonstrates the commitment that I've had to my students and to the Auburn Plainsman for the past 25 years."

The endowment will provide scholarships for students who have demonstrated a commitment to journalism through working at The Plainsman.

Williams joined the AU faculty in 1983 after several years of writing for newspapers in Alabama, including the Montgomery Advertiser, the South Alabamian, the Brewton Standard and the Andalusia Star-News.

During Williams' 23 years as adviser the Plainsman was awarded 13 of its 23 Pacemaker Awards, the highest honor awarded in college journalism. Only one other collegiate newspaper, the Daily Texan at the University of Texas, has received more Pacemakers than The Plainsman.

"I've had the perfect job," said WIlliams. "But I felt it was time for new leadership aas the adviser, and I want to concentrate on classroom teaching and advising students in our internship program. It's been a fun ride -- I wouldn't take anything for my association with student journalists at The Plainsman."

Besides teaching, Williams will contiue to serve as journalism internship director.

The College of Liberal Arts is pleased to announce English major Allison Brown as the winner of the University's Role in Creating Good Global Citizens essay contest. The contest was open to all university students this spring and was sponsored by the East Alabama Medical Center and the College of Liberal Arts.

In her winning essay Brown states that "no longer can we merely identify ourselves with the classifications of community, state, and country, but we must begin understanding and associating on a global level." The best place to teach this broadening concept, according to Brown, a junior, is the university campus.

Kevin Roozen, Assistant Professor of English, served as committee chair and reviewed a number of excellent submissions, but found Brown's to be extraordinary. "Selecting one winner was not any easy task," Roozen said. "Allison's piece was selected because the committee thought that it offered the most insightful analysis of what it means to become a productive global citizen and how universities might promote development in those directions."

First runner up of the essay contest was public administration graduate student Brigitte Demasi, and April Sheppard, a junior in pre-pharmacy, was second runner up.

Brown was awarded a $500 prize sponsored by East Alabama Medical Center while the first and second runners-up were awarded $250 each by the College of Liberal Arts.

Brown's plan to help international unification focuses on branching outside one's comfort zone and taking classes to broaden one's perspective, experiencing foods from other countries, and attending cultural events on campus. It goes beyond the typical Auburn curriculum to become a global citizen. Simply asking questions to those of diverse nationalities will broaden one's perspective of that culture, just by knowing about it; even something as simple as watching world news on television or opening up a newspaper will help accomplish the goal of becoming a global citizen, according to Brown. " It is through these actions that students can not only become better aware and more invested in other groups of people," she says, "but it creates in them a certain cultural sensitivity required for the role of global citizen."

The best way in accomplishing the title of global citizen, Brown says, is to study abroad in a foreign country. One way the university could help in creating good global citizens, according to Brown, would be to make abroad trips more accessible and obtainable; not only are they costly, but many study abroad programs are not publicized enough. Many students do not know how to go about applying or signing up for a semester overseas, so if this information were better publicized, Brown predicts that more students would be willing to go. Scholarships for abroad trips would also be an excellent way to get more Auburn students out in the world to gain knowledge and explore, according to Brown.

Brown believes that many aspects go into becoming a global citizen, and the process in becoming one takes time, curiosity, and a desire for knowledge and unity. Ultimately, as Brown said in her essay, "the challenge of becoming a global citizen rests upon the shoulders of both the student and the univ

The first book in the series, just released, is titled In the Path of the Storms: Bayou La Batre, Coden, and the Alabama Coast and co-authored by award-winning writer Frye Gaillard and artists-in-residence Sheila Hagler and Peggy Denniston. The Gulf Coast villages of Bayou La Batre and Coden are two of Alabama's most distinctive, with roots going back to the French settlements of the 18th century. The book captures, in words and photographs, the uniqueness of these seafood-producing towns-including its significant southeast Asian refugee population-as well as the extraordinary challenges of higher gas prices, cheap imported seafood, and rash of hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina. In the Path of the Storms is the story of tradition, and forces of change, and the brave struggle of these Gulf Coast communities to survive and thrive.

The book's publication is a result of a community history project funded by the Kettering Foundation of Ohio and undertaken in collaboration with the Truman Pierce Institute in the College of Education at AU.

The Draughon Center is located in Auburn at the historic 1847 Scott-Yarbrough House known as Pebble Hill.

For more information, contact the Center at 334-844-4946 or email mwilson@auburn.edu.

On April 4th, the Department of Psychology hosted 21 psychology undergraduate students and faculty from HBCU. A group of students from Oakwood University in Huntsville, accompanied by three of their professors, were invited to visit Auburn by Dr. Barry Burkhart, Chair of the Psychology department. Another group of students -mostly from South Caroline State University- were invited by the Graduate School as part of its campaign to recruit more students from HBCU.

Dr. Garnetta Lovett, Diversity Officer of the CLA welcomed the visitors and engaged them in a lively Q&A session about Auburn's determination to increase minority enrollment at the graduate level. Faculty from each of the areas of specialization within the Psychology Department (Clinical, Experimental, Industrial/Organizational, and Applied Behavioral Analysis) introduced the visitors to the training and research possibilities that they can pursued in Auburn. During lunch the visitors had the opportunity to interact further more with Auburn psychology students as well as faculty. Finally, the visiting students toured both animal and human research labs in the Thach and RFB buildings.

According to Dr. Alejandro Lazarte from the Psychology Diversity Committee, who organized the visit, this visit has provided an unusual opportunity to develop a productive contact between the Department of Psychology at Auburn and HBCU in our state and region.

The Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) named Myers as “Social Worker of the Year” for 2008. NASW is the foremost professional organization for the social work profession. They garner nominations from the eight chapters in Alabama and the nominees are sent to the State Office for consideration. Myers received her award recently at the state NASW meeting in Tuscaloosa.

Myers, MSW, LCSW is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Social Work Program since 1995. She earned her MSW from Louisiana State University and BSW from the University of Southern Maine. She teaches and conducts clinical research in aging, adoptions, HIV/AIDS, addictions and community practice. Her outreach efforts include: serving on the East Alabama Services for the Elderly board, is a founding member of East Alabama AIDS Outreach, and participates in several outreach efforts with East Alabama Medical Center . As a private independent practitioner of social work, she conducts adoption home studies and co-facilitates an adoption support group through the Alabama Post Adoptions Connections.

Her University service includes serving on the President's Diversity Leadership Council, the Title XI Committee and Women's Studies Committee. She is the local chapter advisor for Alpha Delta Mu, a National Social Work Honor Society.

On Thursday, April 3 at 4 p.m. in the Foy Ballroom, History Professor Dr. Joseph Kicklighter delivered the inaugural "Final Lecture." The Student Government Association, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Mortar Board sponsored this event as an opportunity for the Class of 2008 to recognize Dr. Kicklighter, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts, as the professor they feel is the most outstanding teacher at Auburn University. Student academic and campus leaders narrowed down a wide pool of nominees to five outstanding professors, then juniors and seniors across campus voted Dr. Kicklighter to deliver the inaugural lecture in this new program.

Dr. Kicklighter delivered this commencement-style address which was open to all students, faculty, and administrators. In his address, Dr. Kicklighter included words of advice and inspiration for students who just began their college career as well as those who are preparing to leave Auburn University for the final time.

The Final Lecture program was created to give all students the opportunity to participate in a teaching award given on behalf of the student body. For a professor to be nominated and voted on by students as the top professor at Auburn University is one of the highest honor students can bestow upon a faculty member.

View the video

OR

Download or share with a friend the video of Dr. Kicklighter's lecture at AU iTunes

John Homayoun Mazaheri was born in Teheran and raised in Iran and in Paris, France. He studied at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris (1965-70), at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (MFA in printmaking, 1976), at the University of Aix-en-Provence (MA in French, 1984), and at Brown University (PhD in French, 1989).

He taught printmaking and French in Teheran in the late 1970s (in college), returned to France in the early 1980s, and moved with his family to the United States in 1984. He taught for several years at the University of Massachusetts/Boston and at Clark University (Worcester, Mass.), before he became assistant-professor of French at Auburn University in 1989. In 1991 he became an American citizen. He has been full-professor since 1999. His publications include a book on the French moralist La Bruyère, two monographs on H. de Balzac (the second one is forthcoming), and many articles on the 17th and the 19th centuries, which have appeared in various scholarly journals in Europe and in the U.S. He is mostly interested in the relationships between Christian theology and literature. He is also active as a visual artist, and participates in juried shows.

Many classes are smaller; many classes are easier to get seats in; the atmosphere on campus is more peaceful and relaxed.

Moreover, summer tuition is billed at the same rate as Fall 2007 and Spring 2008. The tuition rate for 2008-09 has not yet been announced.

Check out the courses available through Tigeri and talk with your major advisor or your CLA Student Services Center Advisor about how Auburn's College of Liberal Arts could help you reach your educational goals this summer!

Even other civil rights-era journalists listen when long-time journalist Clarke Stallworth talks about what happened in both Alabama streets and newspapers when Martin Luther King Jr., George Wallace and a court case called Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas changed the world.

So it’s more than fitting that Stallworth, this year’s speaker for the Neil O. and Henrietta Davis Lecture Series, will talk to journalists, journalism students and the public on Thursday, March 27 at 5 p.m. in the Dixon Auditorium at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center.

"The journalists who covered the civil rights movement are a treasure of important historical information,” said John Carvalho, director of the Auburn University journalism program. “Mr. Stallworth and his colleagues were in the middle of a situation that had all the markings of a great story: conflict, impact, constant change. Their professional response to the situation is a model for young journalists."

Stallworth’s 42-year newspaper career began at the Birmingham Post-Herald in 1948; his early years included an incident in which a Ku Klux Klan member threw a hammer at his head at a KKK rally he was covering. He was on the spot to report, and won numerous awards for covering, the Phenix City, Ala., clean-up and murder trials and the administrations of Governors James “Big Jim” Folsom, John Patterson and George C. Wallace won numerous awards. He was city editor at the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer from 1965 to 1966, but returned to the Birmingham News as city editor during the years when the city was known as “Bombingham.” Even as editor, he continued to report, covering events in Paris, Prague and Cuba; for years he wrote a column called A Day in the Life of Alabama. His book by that same name was published in 1994, and he has published two more.

Stallworth has also conducted more than a hundred workshops for journalists all over the country and in Canada, including 33 workshops for the American Press Institute. He has also taught journalism at Samford University, the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Stallworth is not only a legendary journalist – celebrated Montgomery Advertiser reporter Alvin Benn calls him “a hero” -- but he’s also a nationally known writing and reporting coach who’s conducted hundreds of workshops in newsrooms across the country and Canada. Journalism Professor and Plainsman advisor Ed Williams recalls meeting a reporter in an Ohio newsroom who had taped to her computer a quote from Stallworth. She said he changed her life, Williams said. “I wonder how many other reporters throughout the country have that same quote from Clarke Stallworth, ‘What does this story mean to the reader?’ taped to their computers?” said Williams.

Stallworth is married to the novelist Anne Nall Stallworth. They have two children and three grandchildren.

The Davis Lecture Series was established in 1996 to honor the late Neil O. and Henrietta Davis and encourage excellence in journalism. The Davises founded, reported for and edited the respected Lee County Bulletin for more than 40 years. Both were Auburn graduates; among his many honors and press awards, Mr. Davis was a Nieman Fellow whose editorials were reprinted in such publications as The New York Times. The Davises’ purchase of The Tuskegee News to provide coverage of the black community in Macon County and their responsible reporting on numerous events such as the desegregation of Auburn University and Auburn’s public schools are widely considered critical acts of leadership during troubled times. Both have been inducted into the Alabama Press Association’s Hall of Honor.

AUBURN - The Auburn University Marching Band will perform abroad for the first time in its 110-year history when it participates in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Limerick and Dublin, Ireland.

Approximately 200 band members, along with Director of Bands Rick Good; Marching Band Director Corey Spurlin; and Assistant Director of Bands Doug Rosener; and others, flew out of Atlanta March 13 for a five-day itinerary in Ireland that will include two days in Limerick and three days in Dublin.

On Sunday, March 16, the band will perform at the 36th Annual Limerick International St. Patrick’s Festival Band Parade in Limerick. On Monday, March 17, it will perform at the International St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Guinness Brewery in Dublin. Also during the trip, band members will take tours to learn about Irish culture and history.

In April 2006, the Lord Mayor of Dublin contacted Good to invite the band to appear in the 2007 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Due to a much-needed fundraising drive for new marching band uniforms, Good declined for 2007 but accepted for March 2008.

“That was a tough decision to make at the time, but it was the right one,” said Good. “I am just so honored that we could make this special international educational experience happen for all those involved.”

The parade route in Dublin is 2.8 km, or 1.7 miles, and takes approximately one and a half hours to complete. Special guests of the parade include The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Paddy Bourke; and the CEO of St. Patrick’s Festival, Donal Shiels.

For photos of the band preparing and marching in the parades, visit http://ocm.auburn.edu/ireland.

AUBURN – Auburn University recently received a $100,000 endowed gift from the James M. Cox Foundation in honor of Cynthia Tucker. A 1976 graduate of AU, Tucker was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2007 for “her courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the community.” She is currently the editorial page editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The endowment will provide scholarships for students in the journalism program in AU’s College of Liberal Arts. Known as the Cynthia Tucker ’76 Endowed Scholarship for Journalism Excellence, the gift strives to increase the level of diversity in the journalism program.

“It is such an honor to receive this endowment from the Cox Foundation,” said Anna Gramberg, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “So many of our journalism students admire Cynthia Tucker, and giving them the opportunity to emulate Cynthia’s prestigious career is the best gift I can think of.”

Tucker joined Cox Enterprises more than 30 years ago and the endowment recognizes her contributions not only to the company, but to the entire field of journalism. “At Cox, we value talent, diversity and acting as a good corporate citizen,” said Leigh Ann Launius, director of foundations and operations at Cox Enterprises. “Creating this scholarship in Cynthia’s name is the perfect way to pay tribute to all three values.”

Cynthia Tucker was born in 1955 in Monroeville, Ala. At Auburn, she earned a dual degree in journalism and English, while writing for the student newspaper, The Plainsman.

Tucker was selected as Nieman Fellow by Harvard University in 1988. In 1993, the National Women’s Political Caucus awarded Tucker the Exceptional Merit Award. In 2005, Tucker received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. She was a finalist in 2004 and 2005 for a Pulitzer Prize.

“I’m deeply honored by the generosity of the Cox Foundation, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the bright and committed young journalism students who are scholarship recipients,” said Tucker.

The gift counts as part of the “It Begins at Auburn” Campaign which encompasses all colleges and schools, as well as the AU libraries and museums, athletics and Auburn University Montgomery. Endowments for student scholarships, faculty, programs and unrestricted dollars make up 58 percent of the campaign’s goal. In addition to endowments, the campaign will focus on facilities and equipment, campus beautification, research and current operations.

Don Wehrs is an Associate Professor who has two books forthcoming. Pre-Colonial Africa in Colonial African Narratives: From Ethiopia Unbound to Things Fall Apart, 1911-1958 (Ashgate) explores the origins of political reflection in twentieth-century African fiction by reading seven narrative representations of pre-colonial African history and society. Islam, Ethics, Revolt: Politics and Piety in Francophone West African and Maghreb Narrative (Lexington) traces novelistic explorations, from the 1950s to the 1990s, of the struggle to craft decolonized forms of Islamic identity within sub-Sahara and North African societies. His essay on Sterne and postcolonial literature and theory appears in The Cambridge Companion to Laurence Sterne (2008); in 2006 he published articles in College Literature and Modern Philology on Shakespeare, ethics, and cognitive science, and will present papers on friendship and rivalry in The Winter's Tale and teaching sacred texts in World Literature courses at the 2007 MLA conference. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the Southern Comparative Literature Association and currently working on book chapters for two collections on Sterne and a book-length project on the relationship between ethical sense and literary signification in Shakespeare, Cervantes, and others. Don Wehrs received his PhD from the University of Virginia. He specializes in novel genre and history, eighteenth-century studies, postcolonial studies, and comparative literature and has published articles in MLN, SEL and ELH.

Call for Participants for the College of Liberal Arts Civic Engagement Summer Academy

May 12-16, 2008

The College of Liberal Arts Civic Engagement Planning Committee is pleased to announce the inaugural Civic Engagement Summer Academy for the College of Liberal Arts, May 12-16, 2008. Any CLA faculty members interested in incorporating civic engagement/service learning practices in existing syllabi for the fall 2008 semester are encouraged to apply. A $1,500 stipend will be awarded to ten selected applicants; the Civic Engagement Planning Committee will make the selections. The application deadline is: Wednesday, March 26, 4:45 PM

The purpose of the CLA Civic Engagement Summer Academy is to provide information and tools necessary to facilitate the incorporation of civic engagement/service learning activities into the CLA curriculum. The CLA Civic Engagement Summer Academy is an intense 4 ½ day workshop designed to help faculty incorporate service learning into a pre-existing course they are teaching in fall 2008. The CLA Civic Engagement Summer Academy will be held in Haley 3346. The Academy will include a rigorous and invigorating schedule of speakers and working sessions. Two half days are scheduled for hands-on, off-campus civic engagement/service learning opportunities for faculty. Refreshments and lunch will be provided daily.

At the conclusion of the academy, each participant will be expected to have re-designed an existing syllabus to incorporate civic engagement/service learning practices (with assessment strategies) to become operative in the fall 2008 semester. During the fall 2008 semester, Summer Academy participants will be asked to attend five Discussion Luncheons whereby Academy participants will re-convene monthly to discuss and process issues related to the incorporation of service learning into their courses. Costs of the workshop and the monthly luncheons will be sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts Civic Engagement Planning Committee.

Please note the deadline for submission is Wednesday, March 26, 4:45 PM.

Deliver applications to: Dr. Christa Daryl Slaton
Associate Dean for Educational Affairs & Graduate Studies
College of Liberal Arts
2046 Haley Center

For further information, contact Dr. Christa Daryl Slaton, Associate Dean for Educational Affairs & Graduate Studies and Chair, Civic Engagement Planning Committee, at 844-2890 or by email at slatocd@auburn.edu.

Additional Information about Application Procedure (pdf)

President George W. Bush has seen his popularity sink to unprecedented levels for the modern era since winning the 2004 election, but political observers should not be too hasty to write off his presidency as a failure, says an AU authority on American government.

Ted Becker, author of several books on major political struggles, says Bush may have more long-range impact on the nation than many other preisdents. Becker predicts that Bush's long-term impact on the nation will come through his two Supreme Court appointments during his second term, with another one possible in his final months in office.

One of Bush's premiere objectives as president was to lock in a federal judiciary that would protect "conservative interests" no matter who controls Congress and the presidency over the next generation.

"The next president is going to have to inherit the Iraq War, an economic calamity and a dysfunctional government," said Becker. "But long after this war and these problems are in the history books, the nation will feel the impact of Bush's two, and maybe three, appointments to the Supreme Court."

He explained, "Presidents can only control the government directly for four or eight years, but they can influence the direction of government for a generation or more through their appointments to all federal courts, especially the Supreme Court."

A member of the Political Science Department in AU's College of Liberal Arts since 1988, Becker has been a leading scholar of the federal courts and the presidency, as well as other aspects of American government, for more than four decades. His books include "The Impact of Supreme Court Decisions" and "Government Lawlessness in America," both published by Oxford University Press, and "American Government: Past, Present, Future."

The ascendancy of an extremely conservative judiciary was no accident of history, Becker said. "It was the intent of the Federalist founding fathers to make the Constitution what the Supreme Court interpreted it to be, and, from the way they set it up, they knew that it would be the least democratic branch of the United States government, and therefore the most conservative."

Citing the court's history, Becker said there was only a single prolonged "liberal" period of the Supreme Court, extending from Roosevelt's New Deal through the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. During that 40-year span in the middle of the 20th century, the court made many major "liberal" decisions, such as enabling desegegation, expanding the rights of criminal defendants and ruling that anti-abortion laws are unconstitutional.

Becker said these and similar decisions were directly responsible for a "conservative" resurgence that began with the presidency of Ronald Reagan in 1980. "Perhaps the central goal for American conservatism since then has been to change the composition of the Supreme Court to restore it to its traditional 'conservative' stance," he said.

Through the appointment of John Roberts as chief justice and Samuel Alito to the court early in his second term, Bush created a solid and relatively youthful majority of conservative jurists on the court, completing the reversal that began in 1986 under Reagan, with his appointment of William Rehnquist as chief justice. George W. Bush has also appointed conservative judges to dozens of lower court positions, and the political effects will endure long after he has left office. "A lot of people say this year's election is the most important since 1980, when Reagan was first elected, but it could turn out that 2004 was a bigger election year, at least in terms of lasting impact," said Becker, who noted that the most liberal justices are also the oldest, including one who is in his 90s.

"Reagan started a process that George W. Bush completed in his second term. If any of the remaining 'liberal' justices becomes incapacitated, George W. Bush could cement a solid conservative bloc through 2030." He added, "It took conservatives three decades to accomplish their goals, and, whether liberals or the American public of the future likes it or not, the Supreme Court will very likely protect those gains for the next two decades. This is the victorious legacy of George W. Bush."

No matter who controls the presidency and Congress over the next decade or two, they will have to deal with a court that, becuase of lifetime appointments, will look much the same as today. "Any policy decisions by future presidents and Congress having to do with climate change, global warming, limiting corporate defections to other coutnries, improving the economy or protecting civil liberties will have to go through the Reagan-Bush-Bush Supreme Court."

AU Rpeort Macrh 10, 2008

The renowned Core Ensemble will present a performance of its nationally acclaimed touring production of "Ain't I A Woman!" at Auburn University's Telfair Peet Theatre on Wednesday evening, February 27th at 7:30 P.M. The production is being jointly sponsored by the Auburn University Departments of Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Music, Theatre, and the A.U. Vice President for Outreach.

"Ain't I a Woman!" celebrates the life and times of four powerful African American women: renowned novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, ex- slave and fiery abolitionist Sojourner Truth, exuberant folk artist Clementine Hunter, and fervent civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer. The musical score is drawn from the heartfelt spirituals and blues of the Deep South, the urban vitality of the Jazz Age, and contemporary concert music by African Americans. "Ain't I a Woman!" is a joyful exploration of the trials and triumphs of four passionate and accomplished women.

The performance features an extraordinary melding of theatre and chamber music performed by Tahirah Whittington, cello, Hugh Hinton, piano, and Michael Parola, percussion, with actress Taylore Mahogany Scott, who has performed in theatre, film, and television, including the nationally televised PBS show African American Lives with Oprah Winfrey. The work is the latest in a series of multicultural and feminist performance pieces produced by the ensemble over the past ten years.

The Core Ensemble has toured in Australia, England, Russia, Ukraine, the Caribbean, and in every region of the U.S. The Core Ensemble receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the Palm Beach County Cultural Council.

The show tours throughout the U.S. during Black History Month and

Women’s History Month.

For tickets call 334- 844- 4154

Admission is Free for Auburn University Students w/a valid ID.

General Admission $20.00

Senior Citizens $15.00

AU Faculty and Staff $15.00

Visa and MasterCard accepted.

Make check or money order to:

Auburn University Theatre

Send to:

Auburn University Theatre

211 Telfair Peet Theatre

Auburn University, Auburn

36849- 5422

Barbara Lebow's drama, "A Shayna Maidel," literally "a pretty girl," will be staged Feb. 19-23 by the Auburn University Department of Theatre in its intimate theatre upstairs.

Meaning literally "a pretty girl," "A Shayna Maidel" concerns a Jewish family torn apart by the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.

The play examines the relationship between two sisters reunited one year after the end of World War II. One sister had escaped the Holocaust by moving to America 18 years before, while the other sister remained behind with their mother to recover from scarlet fever. Those left behind fail to make it out in time and suffer through the Holocaust, while the father and sister are safe in America. The mother becomes a victim of the Nazis, but the sister in Poland survives and is eventually reunited with her father and sister in New York. The sisters are strangers who must reestablish their childhood bonds while approaching the trauma of separation and persecution from separate perspectives.

All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. There will be no 2:30 p.m. matinee performances for this production. Seating is extremely limited. Admission is free for Auburn University students with a valid identification card. General admission is $15, senior citizens $10, and AU faculty and staff $10. Liberal Arts Dean Anne-Katrin Gramberg will host an opening night reception following the performance Feb. 19. The Department of Theatre will also host a body of Jewish American Life Visuals in the Telfair Peet Theatre art gallery during the run of the production. For tickets and more information, call 844-4154.