AUBURN - The 2010 Southern Collegiate Bass Fishing Series hosted by Auburn University will get underway Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13, on Lake Guntersville. Weigh-ins will be held at Bucky Howe Park at 2 p.m. each day.

The series has gained national recognition and contributed greatly to the explosive growth of collegiate bass fishing. More than 150 anglers representing 30 universities across the southeastern United States are expected to compete in the series, which will determine the universities that will be represented at the 2010 Southern Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship.

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The National Weather Service has awarded Auburn University a StormReady designation for meeting specific criteria in the areas of advance planning, education and awareness that help ensure the safety of the campus community in the event of severe weather.

"We are very proud to receive the StormReady University designation," said Chance Corbett, Auburn's associate director for emergency management. "Auburn University takes the threat of severe weather seriously. We promptly inform our students, faculty and staff of severe weather through our AU Alert program, outdoor warning sirens and other means of notification. We will continue to educate the campus community and prepare for severe weather threats that may affect our campus."

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AUBURN - Members of the Auburn University Board of Trustees and the president and chief executive officer of EBSCO Industries Inc., Dixon Brooke, participated today in the dedication of the new Learning Commons in Auburn's Ralph Brown Draughon Library. Funding through a generous gift by EBSCO helped create this space that was designed to respond to the needs of today's students.

Throughout the past three years, the Libraries have worked closely with Auburn's students to gather input in order to have a space designed with the students and for the students. The Learning Commons features 300 additional power outlets, 10 group study rooms and almost 500 new seats.

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AUBURN - Recent results from a pioneering study involving more than two dozen colleges and universities across the nation show significant gains in the intellectual and academic skills of Auburn University students as they progress from freshmen to seniors.

The findings were presented today to the Auburn Board of Trustees, which has supported the university's involvement in the program for data-based measurement of student learning since the program began in 2005.

The university's chief academic officer, Provost Mary Ellen Mazey, says results of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, or CLA, provide evidence that at Auburn, students are developing at a rapid pace key skills expected of a college graduate. Until recently, that was a claim that all colleges and universities made but few could document.

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AUBURN - The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art will screen the first film in its presentation of the 2010 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers series beginning Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. The featured film will be "Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman," produced and directed by Eric Bricker. Bricker will be available for discussion following the film.

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, "Visual Acoustics" explores the career of the late architectural photographer Julius Shulman. Populating his photos with human models and striking landscapes, Shulman combined the organic with the synthetic, melding nature with revolutionary urban design. The resulting images helped to shape the careers of some of the greatest architects of the 20th Century, including the work of Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Pierre Koening, John Lautner and others.

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AUBURN - A recent Ask Alabama poll found an increasing level of pessimism among Alabamians regarding the economy. Only 44 percent of respondents told Auburn University pollsters that the economy will improve over the next 12 months, reflecting a drop of 11 percentage points since a comparable poll was taken last July.

The rising pessimism of consumers was the key finding of a telephone poll of 615 adults taken Jan. 4-14 by Auburn University's Center for Governmental Services.

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AUBURN - TigerMeds, a pharmacy services program for Auburn University employees, has reported more than $1.3 million in savings on prescription costs for individuals and the university during the program's first year.

Auburn's group health insurance plan saved more than $1 million in prescription costs during the past year through implementation of the TigerMeds program. That figure is based on an external pharmacy benefit analysis by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, administrator of the self-insurance plan.

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AUBURN - Auburn University will host a two-day symposium on "Cross-Cultural Perspectives on University Teaching and Learning" on Feb. 19-20 for higher education faculty members across the state and beyond, as well as its own faculty.

In sessions led by international scholars, topics include: managing a multicultural classroom; how culture affects writing; and teaching and learning in higher education in the context of Korean, African American, Hindu, Hispanic, Muslim and Confusian cultural perspectives.

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Auburn University Parents' Association awarded grants totaling $12,000 to four recipients on Friday. The grants, in keeping with the AUPAs mission of providing both members and Auburn University with suitable programs and services that satisfactorily address both family and campus needs, covered a wide variety of programs across campus.

Overall proposals totaling $56,418.41 were received from eight organizations. The proposals had to include the effect of the respective effort as it pertained to Auburn, the student body, and reflect positively on Auburn. The interested organizations were given a specific format, including a page limit and financial requirements, to be followed. AUPA formed a committee to review each grant, whose findings were approved by the full Board of Directors. Committee members were: Susan Pendleton (President, AUPA), Georgia Bentley, Cathy Benton, and Tim Rhyne (Secretary, AUPA, and Grant chair).

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AUBURN - Auburn University and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new $21 million facility that will house Auburn University's new Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, Research Center on Thursday, Feb. 4. The facility will be located in the Auburn Research Park on Devall Drive.

The event included remarks by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Auburn University President Jay Gogue, Auburn Board of Trustees member Charles McCrary, as well as Jeffrey Bundy, vice president, MRI, for Siemens Healthcare, and Laura Grill, executive vice president and administrator for East Alabama Medical Center.

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