AUBURN - The Auburn Alumni Association and its affiliate Auburn clubs nationwide awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships to 226 students this past year. The association raised more than $750,000 for scholarships. Of this, Auburn clubs raised more than $400,000 for scholarships at the close of the fiscal year Sept. 30.

"One of the Auburn Alumni Association's chief priorities is to help ensure that the cost of an Auburn education doesn't present an insurmountable barrier to those who would otherwise enroll," said Debbie Shaw, Auburn's vice president for alumni affairs and executive director of the association. "The association is much more than a spirit organization – it's part of our mission to provide scholarship dollars to those in need."

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AUBURN - Students at Auburn University will soon have the opportunity to earn credit for a master's degree while still working toward their undergraduate diploma.

Trustees at Auburn today approved an accelerated dual degree program that is expected to appeal to top students who wish to work in fields where advanced qualifications are needed.

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AUBURN - Auburn University has identified programs that $25.9 million in stimulus funds from the federal government will support once released by Gov. Bob Riley.

The majority of the funds will support student learning, safety and other enhancements, as well as teaching. The intent is to enhance the experience of the entire student body, which for fiscal year 2010 has reached 24,602.

"It would have taken a 26 percent tuition increase to cover the gap created by the dramatic decrease in state appropriations for fiscal year 2010," said Don Large, Auburn University executive vice president. "The promise of stimulus funding allowed us to mitigate that by using the majority of funds to improve student services."

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AUBURN - Auburn University has launched MATRIX for the Future: Premier Agriscience Education Academy in response to a growing shortage of secondary and postsecondary agricultural educators and declining enrollment numbers in agriculture at Auburn and at land-grant colleges nationwide.

The two-year project, funded by a $100,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, was developed by Don Mulvaney, an Auburn University College of Agriculture professor, animal scientist and leadership coordinator for the College of Agriculture; and Brian Parr, an assistant professor in the College of Education and agriscience education specialist. Out of a shared concern for the future of agriculture in the United States, Mulvaney and Parr launched the program to prepare outstanding high school students enrolled in agricultural classes and involved in agricultural organizations to be the next generation of leaders in agricultural production, education, science and agribusiness.

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AUBURN - Auburn University has created a new scholarship to honor the memories of two graduate students who died nearly a decade ago. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a Chinese student in the Graduate School.

The Chen-Wu Graduate Fellowship Award honors Auburn graduate student Changqing Chen and his wife, Yi Wu, who were found slain in their off-campus apartment May 29, 2000. Chen was a graduate student in textile engineering, while Wu was set to begin graduate studies in electrical engineering that summer.

The Changqing Chen and Yi Wu Scholarship Memorial Fund was initiated following the deaths and was recently merged into the Auburn Family Graduate Assistantships Endowment.

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AUBURN - Auburn University has achieved its highest enrollment in history this fall, and its freshman class boasts the top ACT score of any previous class, according to numbers released today by Auburn's Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Enrollment is 24,602 among all students groups – undergraduates, graduate students and those enrolled in professional schools – which is up from 24,530 in fall 2008.

New freshman enrollment consists of 3,918 students, who compiled an average score of 26.2 on the ACT college entrance exam, outpacing last year's then-record of 25.9.

This year 477 new minority students are enrolled, up 15 percent from last year's 416, a number which includes all students of color. The number of new transfer students also increased, with 1,377 enrolled as compared to last fall's 1,305.

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AUBURN - Auburn University became one of the first universities to have its own social networking Web site last week with the launch of "Auburn Family," a site designed to inform and connect current and prospective students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and fans.

The site, which can be accessed at http://family.auburn.edu, allows users to manage their personal profile, upload Auburn-related photos, blogs and videos, set status updates and communicate with other members via their "comments wall" or direct messaging. The network also features current news stories about Auburn University from students' perspectives.

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AUBURN - The Auburn University Marching Band, which has entertained football fans for more than a century, will boast its largest membership in history this fall with 380 members, up from a record 372 in 2006.

"We had a great recruiting year," Marching Band director Corey Spurlin said. "We also have some great people returning."

Spurlin said 398 students attended the preseason camp this August. The camp, open to any student who registers, involves both a playing audition and a marching evaluation before members are selected.

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AUBURN - Auburn University will award 1,197 academic degrees during its summer commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Aug. 10 in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Of the degrees Auburn will award, 821 are bachelor's degrees, 282 are master's degrees, 77 are doctorates, 13 are specialist degrees and four are professional degrees.

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AUBURN - The National Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology Conference takes place at Auburn University June 17 through June 20. The BEST conference is co-hosted by Auburn's College of Sciences and Mathematics and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. Representatives from each of the 35 BEST competition sites will gather at the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center for the first time since Auburn University was named BEST headquarters in January.

BEST, the second-largest robotics competition in the United States, annually engages more than 12,000 middle- to high-school students in the project-based learning program. The stated mission of the non-profit, volunteer-based organization is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in a sports-like, science- and engineering-based robotics competition.

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