Cynthia J. Bowling, Associate Professor in Political Science, received her BA in Political Science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and her MA and PhD from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Since 2004, she has been the co-director of the American State Administrators Project, a national survey of state administrators in its fifth decade of research. Since coming to Auburn in 1998, she has enjoyed teaching courses in public administration to undergraduates, MPA and PhD students. Her research focuses on American state governments, particularly the executive branch, state budgeting and public finance, and women in state administration.

The conference, entitled "Innovations in Effective Compassion," highlighted 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 presented 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.

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 Political Science Department located in the College of Liberal Arts invites everyone to attend the lecture, "Election Administration's Role in Preserving and Promoting Democracy." It will be at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26, and given by Doug Lewis, the executive director of The Election Center. The lecture will take place in Ballroom B at The Hotel at Auburn University. Following the lecture will be a reception, which will give students, faculty, and others a chance to speak with Mr. Lewis.

For more information, contact Briggite Demasi, demasbl@auburn.edu, or call 343-844-5697.

Project Vote SmartProject Vote Smart will bring their motor coach to Auburn University on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to provide information on candidates and the voting process to anyone interested in stopping by.

The Vote Smart Bus will be parked at the end of Haley Concourse near the Quad. Everyone is welcome aboard the bus to take a tour and learn about the services Project Vote Smart provides.

The bus is touring college campuses all over the country to provide voters, of all ages, the ability to defend themselves with knowledge against the onslaught of various political strategies and potential misinformation they might be exposed to for the 2008 elections.

Project Vote Smart is a national research organization founded by national leaders such as John McCain and Geraldine Ferraro, and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. It is funded entirely through foundation grants and the individual contributions of 45,000 members.

For more information, visit http://votesmart.org/blog/?page_id=113

The Auburn University Health Administration Alumni Organization's (AUHAAO) Fall Conference is Friday, Oct. 26, 2007 at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center.

Start your Auburn vs. Ole-Miss football weekend early by attending this exciting professional development opportunity. It is a great way to reconnect with HA alums, faculty and students, and those working in the health care field.

The conference is open to all AU HA students, AU HA alums, and others working in the health care field.

11:30 - Noon, Registration

Noon - 3 p.m., Lunch and Presentations

3:05 - 4 p.m., AUHAAO Annual Meeting

A presentation entitled, "Emergency Preparedness for Health Care Facilities: Lessons Learned from Katrina and Best Practices Going Forward," will be given by James B. Aiken, M.D., M.H.A., the Department of Emergency Medicine and Director of Homeland Defense at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, and Susan G. D'Antoni, Former Executive Director of Orleans Parish Medical Society in New Orleans.

Fees:

AU HA Program Alum and AUHAAO Current Members: $50

HA Program Alum and Non-member of AUHAAO: $75

Students: No Charge

All Others: $75

(note: fees include lectures, materials, lunch and break. Onsite parking is complementary to registrants of the program)

Questions: Call (301) 921-4300 ext. 13, or (205)967-7368.

Program registration deadline: Oct. 17, 2007.

A few years ago, concerned citizens in Uniontown found an ally in an Auburn political science professor in efforts to revive their struggling, once-thriving West Alabama community.

Midway between Selma and Demopolis in the heart of Alabama's Black Belt, Uniontown had seen its economic base decline over several decades as many of its youg people and much of its commerce departed for larger cities. Determined to revitalize their town, community leaders turned early in this decade to University Outreach and the College of Liberal Arts' Department of Political Science for infomation and assistance.

AU Political Science Professor Christa Slaton, a nationally recognized authority on public opinion polling and the training of elections officials, made the first of many visits to Uniontown with a Kettering Foundation grant to conduct public forums to aid city leaders in formulating redevelopment plans for the Perry County town. When traditional approaches failed to draw a significant number of the town's 3,000 residents together, Slaton immersed herself in the community, meeting individuals in local stores, beauty parlors, offices, the library and other sites about town over a period of months.

Slaton found a town trying to move beyond a history of racial, social and economic problems that had left many citizens suspicious of the motives of office-holders, of anyone involved in civic efforts and, often, of each other. Yet, she found that many residents shared a dream of a prosperous, vibrant future for their hometown; they just did not expect anyone to step forward to make the dream possible.

Rather than looking for help from outside, the Auburn professor suggested that those who felt the strongest about their community should join together for small civic improvement projects that could pay quick dividends without requiring much financial investment. A small band of citizens soon joined together to clean up an overgrown, trashfilled lot off U.S. 280, turning it from an eyesore into a public park that became a place of civic pride. Out of that initial action grew a citizens group, Uniontown Cares, that has been a major factor in the town's revival of hopes as well as economic growth, such as the addition of new businesses and a farmer's market. The town's progess is on display online at www.uniontownal.org.

Slaton, who has since been named associate dean of educational affairs in AU's College of Liberal Arts, says Uniontown's residents turned things around on their own. Her role, she says, was to help the community draw upon expertise that a land-grant university such as Auburn is supposed to provide to the state's citizens. "They set goals for themselves and they did it themselves,"she said. "Rather than express anger over the inaction of others, they decided to take action. Once they started, they kept making improvements."

She added, "It was as much a learning experience for me as was to the people of Uniontown. When we go out in a community and work with the people there, we bring back knowledge that we can share with our students, so, in a way, everybody gains."

In recognition of a range of projects, including the Uniontown effort, that carries the expertise of Auburn faculty throughout the state and beyond, Slaton this fall received AU's 2007 Award for Excellence in Faculty Outreach.

"Dr. Slaton's work is the epitome of what it is to be engaged in outreach as a faculty member," said Royrickers Cook, assistant vice president for University Outreach. "Her commitment to sharing her academic expertise to all residents of this state should serve as a model for all of us who work at this great land-grant institution."

In addtion to Slaton's work at Uniontown Cook cited her ongoing work with the national Election Center training program, a non-profit education organization based in Houston, Texas. For that program, Slaton collaborated with several other poltical science professors at Auburn to develop more than a dozen certification and re-certification courses. Slaton has administered the program since 2003, and she played a key role in developing the center's national code of ethics.

Nearly 600 elections officials throughout the United States have graduated from the Election Center program. "Our goal is help professionalize the field of elections and voter registrations," said Slaton. "We provide the elections officials a way to understand, evaluate and improve the administration of elections."

Slaton's involvement with university outreach began long before her arrival at Auburn in 1993. While at the University of Hawaii in the 1980s, she was one of the designers of a method of deliberative public opinion polling and helped establish the first neighborhood justice center in Hawaii. A native of South Carolina, Slaton earned her Ph.D. in political science in 1990 and taught at Georgia Southern University before joining the political science faculty at Auburn three years later.

At Auburn, before joining the dean's office in the College of Liberal Arts, she served as director of the master of public administration progam and director of the elections administration progam in the Department of Political Science.

Au Report December 10, 2007

The Center for Governmental Services at Auburn University, along with partners The National Endowment for The Public Trust and The Washington Center, will host a symposium, "Advancing Excellence and Public Trust in Government," Sept. 17 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The symposium will feature keynote speaker Juan Williams, National Public Radio senior correspondent and Emmy-award winning writer and broadcaster. Additional experts and speakers include David Weil, co-director of the transparency policy project at the Kennedy School of Management and a professor at Harvard and Boston Universities; Richard Greene, consultant to the Pew Center on the States; Irene Rubin, professor and author of "Politics of Budgeting" and former editor of The Public Administration Review; Michael B. Smith, president of The Washington Center; Suzanne J. Piotrowski of public affairs and administration at Rutgers University-Newark, and author of "Governmental Transparency in the Path of Administrative Reform"; Sandra Fabry from the state government affairs division of Americans for Tax Reform; and Christa Slaton, director of the elections administration program with the National Election Center and professor and associate dean at Auburn University. Honored guest Lt. General Harold G. Moore (Ret.) will introduce The National Endowment for The Public Trust. The purpose of this year's symposium is to discuss and develop standards for evaluation of transparency at all levels of government in four primary areas: finance, human resources, strategic planning and technology. Pre-registration is requested. The registration fee, which includes lunch, is $50. To register, call 844-3101. Additional information is available through the conference Web site at www.auburn.edu/governmentalexcellence and by e-mail at gebp@auburn.edu.