Archive

Army legend dedicated to ROTC
Committee studies issues of intellectual property
UK Fellows Society adds 175 new members
A building for all of campus celebrates 60 years
Teachers explore potential of wireless laptops
State offers discount on park lodging proces to UK employees
Visit to redefine undergraduate focus at UK
Briefs

Army legend dedicated to ROTC

Your first hint comes when you learn that Virl Auterson declines all invitations to see the graphic war movie "Saving Private Ryan."

The second clue is the UK staffer's chest full of ribbons symbolic of military campaigns and decorations. The multi-colored trappings include two Purple Hearts; two Bronze Stars, one with a "V" for valor; and the Combat Infantryman's Badge pinned above his Silver Star, the nation's third highest decoration for heroism.

The clincher comes when you ask Auterson about Korea.

"I went to Korea in November of 1951 and don't ask me any more questions about that because that's all I'm going to say," tears welling, his voice a staccato, his hand cutting through the air.

That confirms your conjecture. Virl Auterson is trying to forget a horrific experience.

Outwardly, though, the retired master sergeant reflects only the positive aspects of his military career.

"The Army gave me good security and good retirement benefits," he said.

In a sense, the Army also gave Auterson his wife, Margaret. The two met in 1953 while Auterson was spending leave in Dover, Tenn., with one of his buddies who had a sister. The rest is history.

Etched on Auterson's face is his military path, which leads from the Russell County farm where he grew up, to his enlistment in the Army in 1951, to airborne training at what was then Camp Campbell, to advanced infantry training at Indiantown Gap, Penn., where he prepared for battle by maneuvering secretly as part of a regimental combat team, and then to Korea.

Through Auterson's choosing, a significant portion of his history is omitted at this point in his story.

After Korea, Auterson's duty stations included Germany, France, Turkey and other locations in the Middle East, and Vietnam in 1969.

Stationed in the strategic Central Highlands, Auterson served as command master sergeant and logistics NCO in an outfit that provided direct combat support for the 4th Infantry Division.

"The Vietcong attacked a lot at night," he recalled. "That was their thing. Everybody where I was at saw combat."

A cagey, battle-hardened veteran, Auterson took personal responsibility for the safety of the soldiers under his charge.

"I'm proud of the fact that I never lost a man in Vietnam," he said.

With over 40 years' military experience, Auterson qualifies as an old soldier. But, contrary to the prediction of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, he's not fading away.

Since he retired from active duty in 1972, Auterson has been military property custodian for Army and Air Force ROTC units at UK. The affection ROTC staff and cadets feel for him borders on adoration, an emotion Auterson reciprocates.

"If I didn't love them, I wouldn't be here," he said.
How important is Auterson to ROTC cadets? How integral a role has he played in their training and education over the years?

To learn the answers, listen to Lt. Col. Mike Inman, battalion commander of UK Army ROTC.

"Mr. Auterson is a legend in Army ROTC," Inman said. "He has been associated with the program in one form or another for over 30 years, and he has been at UK for over 20 years. Many of the cadets he helped outfit and train over the years are now serving at the highest ranks of the active Army, Army Reserve and National Guard.

"I get a lot of contacts from ROTC alumni. I can't recall a single one who didn't advise me to listen to Mr. 'A' or ask me how he is doing. He is an absolute legend. More than this, he is an active supporter of veterans and community affairs. He has assisted many a widow or child in getting proper uniforms and decorations and for arranging a proper funeral for a deceased veteran.

"As the new commander here at UK, it has been an absolute comfort to me to know I have a true professional handling the money and supply transactions. He's a rare combination of a totally competent, dedicated and considerate person."

At 65 years of age, Auterson is in fine fettle. His doctor recently marveled at his good health. He has a bounce to his step and a keen sense of humor.

But a while back, his well-being seemed in doubt.

Around 1975, Auterson began suffering wartime flashbacks and insomnia as his experiences in Korea began resurfacing. A treatment prescribed by Veterans Administration doctors, which Auterson declines to discuss for publication, vastly improved his condition. Now, the warrior who has fought so many battles seems at peace with himself and the world.

By George Lewis

Committee studies issues of intellectual property

The World Wide Web not only has presented new opportunities for universities. It also has created a variety of legal pitfalls for faculty and administrators.

Among the issues: How do faculty protect the materials they post on the Web? What procedures will govern the use of material from another university in UK distance-learning courses? Will faculty have the same proprietorship over Web-based materials as on textbooks, or does the university share ownership?

"These are issues of paramount importance to the faculty who find this a critical issue. The number of faculty who will be affected will increase as more become involved with distance learning," said Joseph L. Fink III, assistant vice president for research and graduate studies and professor of pharmacy.

Fink recently was appointed to chair the Ad Hoc Committee on Intellectual Property Issues with Distance Learning, a panel organized in September by Fitzgerald Bramwell, vice president for research and graduate studies, and Eugene Williams, vice president for information systems.

Other members are Robert Aken, university libraries; James Boling, agriculture; Del Collins, medicine; Paul Eakin, arts and sciences; G.T. Lineberry, engineering; Joan Mazur, education; Michael Nietzel, arts and sciences; William Pfeifle, allied health professions; and ex-officio member Katherine Adams, university legal counsel.

"Distance learning is really a hot topic nationally," noted Fink.

He said the Western Governors University went online in September. Meanwhile, Kentucky's version, the Commonwealth Virtual University, is in the planning stages.

"UK's been doing this for some time," Fink pointed out.

Over time, a variety of legal questions have surfaced.

"If I devote my time to develop a course but the university contributes resources, who owns the intellectual property, particularly the copywritable material - the faculty member, the department, the college or the university?" Fink said in posing a typical question. "There are really no good answers at this juncture. It's a really murky area of law."

He said the ad hoc committee is blazing a trail where few other universities have ventured. As part of the committee's charge, it will review other universities' policies.

University attorney Adams said she sent out an e-mail to universities across the country, seeking information about their policies specifically applicable to distance learning. Responses made reference to policies and efforts to develop policies.
A number of regional and national seminars in recent months have attempted to explore the questions.

Fink noted two of the committee members are faculty who already have faced distance-learning and new-technology questions. Eakin has developed courses for the Web, while Mazur recently authored a textbook that included a CD-ROM.
The university's intellectual property committee - not connected to the new ad hoc committee - questioned whether Mazur's CD-ROM could be considered her individual property in light of the grant support that made production of the CD-ROM possible. The committee eventually released the rights to Mazur.

But Fink said faculty will have new considerations for materials they develop for the Web. Among them is the role of graduate students as co-authors and the possible rights that may be extended to those students.

The committee faces a mid-January deadline for submitting a policy recommendation, he said. To make sure the panel hears all concerns and receives as much input as possible, public hearings have been scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, in 206 Student Center; 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, in Room MN442 Medical Center Complex; and 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in Room 109 of the Maloney Building at Lexington Community College.

By Dan Adkins

UK Fellows Society adds 175 new members

J. David Johnson, the new dean of the College of Communications and Information Studies, wanted to do something special to remember his parents and is establishing a scholarship in their names.

Brenda McMurry in the UK College of Engineering and her husband, Dale, saw the need for additional funding to the college and have agreed to donate thousands of dollars over the next 10 years.

What do these UK employees have in common? They are among the 175 people who last year became new members of the UK Fellows Society for committing to give $10,000 to the university.
During its 31-year history, more than 4,500 UK Fellows have donated or pledged more than $357 million to the University of Kentucky.

With his commitment, Johnson will honor his parents, Clarence and Edna Johnson, with an endowed scholarship for students from Eastern Kentucky to study in the communication college.
"My roots are in Eastern Kentucky," said Johnson, who was raised in Michigan. "My parents were from Jonancy (in Pike County). I know what a difference a scholarship like this would have meant in their lives."

Brenda McMurry said in her job she is "in a position to know of the needs of the college and the University, as a whole. Dale and I feel this is a good place for our money to be."

The couple is taking advantage of matching dollars provided by Lexmark Inc., where Dale is an analyst. She noted that the Lexmark policy allows their dollars to go twice as far.

These new UK Fellows joined hundreds of others in celebrating during an annual dinner held Nov. 6 in Rupp Arena. The Fellows Society dinner caps the day for UK's fund-raising volunteers who gathered earlier for the annual UK Development Council meeting.

UK's overall fund raising last year totaled some $47.6 million from more than 43,000 donors. Each was all-time records, made possible, in part, by faculty and staff like J. David Johnson and Brenda McMurry, employees who see the need for private dollars.

By John Scharfenberger

A building for all of campus celebrates 60 years

On the evening of May 14, 1938, University of Kentucky student Carl W. Ramsey watched with more than just interest as crowds of people entered the new Student Center.

He was proud of the new center ­ a place for students, built by students, faculty and staff. Built by him.

"The night of the opening dance you couldn't get in that place. Everyone was there," said Ramsey, an engineering graduate student at UK when the center opened. "There were more than a thousand too many people there it seemed."

A Lexington native, Ramsey has since retired from his engineering career which got part of its start with Student Center work. He, along with several other students and graduate students, worked with UK faculty and staff to design and build UK's original student center. The center celebrates its 60th anniversary this month.

"I worked during the summers for the engineering department and the University," Ramsey said. "They needed help for the center and the Great Hall. I just happened to be there at the right time.

"We did the ironwork in the engineering shop and made the railings for the building there. When I visit the center, I can find parts that I made and others made. It's nice to look at something and know the classmate who worked on it."

The Student Center was built in 1937, after Omicron Delta Kappa, a leadership honor society, lobbied President Frank McVey. The society and a number of other student organizations raised most of the money for the construction, and faculty members in engineering designed the building in an pre-art deco style. Once the building was up, many interior touches were added by staff and students. Many fixtures were designed and produced by students and the wooden Kentucky map hanging over the building's central staircase was produced by staff members in the University's cabinet shop.

"There are tidbits all over this building to remind us that all of campus had a hand in creating this center," said John Herbst, director of the Student Center.

A plaque near a side entrance identifies the president and Board of Trustees who oversaw the building's creation. The designers are also listed ­ "Staff of the College of Engineering."

Recently, the building underwent a restoration of sorts ­ rooms were redecorated with original furniture and other decor was replaced.

"The building has changed over the decades to reflect that time," Herbst said. "We thought it was time today's students share in some of the flavor of the original student center."

Herbst said over the years the Student Center has continued its focus on meeting students' needs, but has also become the place on campus for interaction.

"Students, faculty and staff can meet on common ground at the center," he said. "It gives the campus a sense of community."

The Student Center will celebrate its 60th anniversary Nov. 13-15 with a reception for alumni and friends on Friday, an open house on Saturday and a brunch and special presentation on Sunday.

By Selena Stevens

Teachers explore potential of wireless laptops

One of the first things the 13 students in Jim Lumpp's Electrical Engineering 449 class do is power up the laptop computers provided by the College of Engineering. The next concern is making sure the laptops are tied into the wireless connections on Anderson Hall's second floor.

Lumpp and Jim Griffioen, a computer science professor, have spent the last two semesters exploring ways to bring wireless-laptop technology into their classrooms ­ not simply for students to use for note storage, but as both a teaching and a learning tool.

"It's high-tech, leading edge stuff. We've just touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we need to know," Griffioen said.

Griffioen and Lumpp are attempting to tie the classroom to the World Wide Web, providing students with online access to lecture notes, illustrations, animations and video sequences the students can then store on disks.

This semester, Lumpp is teaching the course. Griffioen is observing the progress ­ not of the class, but of the problems and advantages the wireless classroom presents.

"We're doing more than replacing the blackboard with an electronic blackboard. The only thing you've changed, when you do that, is that everything you write on the blackboard is recorded. We want to do novel things," Griffioen said.

The system Griffioen and Lumpp are testing opens the flow of information broader by establishing multi-directional communication. Instead of the instructor using laptops to feed information to the student, their system permits students to speak to the instructor ­ via laptop ­ to ask a question, without interrupting the information flow to the other students.
The system also permits the students to speak with other classmates.

The students aren't the only ones learning in this class. Griffioen and Lumpp are realizing that the technological classroom requires instructors to learn new ways to teach.

Lumpp and Griffioen discovered last year they could provide too much information with the laptops. Since the students realized all lectures and materials were posted online and always available, they tended to become complacent.

"Now, we always leave things out, so they always have to ask questions and pay attention. You want to cause good habits in your students," Griffioen said.

"You definitely develop a new teaching style, because students spend more time looking at a laptop screen than at the instructor. So we have to learn how to point at things, and we have to learn new gesturing techniques. These are the kinds of things we've stumbled across," he added.

Other drawbacks included a limited amount of software available for wireless classrooms and concerns about the impact of Web-posted materials.

"The constant availability of lecture notes and other materials can be a huge benefit for a terrible setback," Griffioen said, citing last year's experience with generating laziness in students.

That problem will probably be left to individual teachers as they attempt to use the technology.

The software problem will be solved with time, he said.

"Publishers will help with this as they put out more electronic materials to go with their textbooks," Griffioen predicted.

By Dan Adkins

State offers discount on park lodging proces to UK employees

University of Kentucky employees can take a little vacation and save some money thanks to the Kentucky State Parks' Commonwealth Connection program.

The program discounts lodge rooms and cottages at the state's 16 resort parks and two other parks equipped with cottages. The discount is available to all active and retired state, county, city and federal employees Nov. 9 through March 31, 1999.

The state's 16 eligible resort parks are: Greenbo Lake, Carter Caves, Jenny Wiley, Buckhorn Lake, Natural Bridges, Cumberland Falls, Pine Mountain, Lake Cumberland, General Butler, Rough River Dam, Pennyrile Forest, Lake Barkley, Kentucky Dam Village, Kenlake, Barren River Lake and Dale Hollow. Parks with cottages available are John James Audubon and Blue Licks Battlefield.

Per night costs at the parks are: $35 for lodge rooms; $50 for one-bedroom and efficiency cottages; $70 for two-bedroom cottages and $85 for three-bedroom cottages.

Beginning Dec. 1, a complimentary continental breakfast will be offered at Buckhorn Lake, Carter Caves, Greenbo Lake, Pennyrile Forest and Dale Hollow.

Reservations can be made up to one month prior to arrival. For more information or reservations, UK employees can call 1-800-255-PARK or visit the state parks' Web site at www.state.ky.us/agencies/parks/parkhome.htm.

Staff report

Visit to redefine undergraduate focus at UK

Another set of authorities on the improvement of undergraduate education in the nation's research universities is due on campus Wednesday, Nov. 18.

John Byrne, executive director of the Kellogg Commission, and Dick Sasson, provost of Ohio State University, will meet with the three sub-committees that embody the President's Initiative on Undergraduate Education in Kentucky's Comprehensive Research University.

Byrne and Sasson will assist the sub-committees in the formulation of goals that will lead to an enhanced undergraduate experience at UK.

The Kellogg Commission project sought to redefine the function, role and mission of public and land-grant colleges and universities to meet the challenges of a new century.

The President's Initiative is a semester-long project that will conclude in January 1999 with a report that will guide the University in its efforts to improve undergraduate education in the short run, over the five-year span of the UK Strategic Plan and for the next two decades.

The initiative began at the beginning of this semester with a visit from Shirley Strum Kenny, president of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and chair of the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research Universities, and Stanley Ikenberry, president of the American Council on Education and a member of the Boyer Commission. Kenny and Ikenberry helped the President's Initiative gain focus and get under way.

The Boyer Commission's report forms the foundation on which the President's Initiative is based.

By George Lewis

Briefs

Nanci Kincaid featured in Visiting Writers Series
Award-winning writer Nanci Kincaid will read from her novel, "Balls," at 4 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Peal Gallery, first floor of the Margaret I. King Library North, as part of the Visiting Writers Series. "Balls" is the story of a football coach's wife.

Another of Kincaid's novels, "Crossing Blood," was nominated for the Lillian Smith Award, and her stories are routinely chosen for the annual Best Stories from the South, an anthology of the best works pertaining to the South published in literary and trade magazines. The anthology is published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and edited by Shannon Ravenel.

UK researchers study experimental therapy for ovarian cancer patients
Researchers at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center are seeking women to participate in clinical trials involving Doxil, a new therapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Women with ovarian cancer who are not helped by standard therapy and who have limited options for further treatment may benefit from enrolling in a clinical trial.

Doxil is a liposomal formulation of the widely prescribed anticancer drug, doxorubicin.

"Doxil targets the cancer cells and may allow more drug to get where it is needed," said Holly Gallion, a UK gynecologic oncologist and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UK College of Medicine. "A byproduct of this effect is that it also reduces side effects, such as hair loss, nausea and vomiting, and severe bone marrow suppression that are typically associated with chemotherapy."

Women eligible to take part in this study are those with ovarian cancer who have failed first-line, platinum-based chemotherapy, the standard approach for treatment of this type of cancer. For more information, call Michele Hughes, senior clinical research associate, at 257-4944.

Native American Month celebrated with presentation
Lynwood Montell, emeritus professor of folk studies at Western Kentucky University, will present "Life Histories of Contemporary Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands" at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 in 122 Whitehall Classroom Building. A reception will follow at the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology in Lafferty Hall.

The event is sponsored by the museum, the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, the Kentucky Heritage Council, the Anthropology Graduate Student Association and the Department of Anthropology.

For more information, call the museum at 606-257-8208.

'Celebrating Words' focuses on public images
Public relations professionals will discuss "Words and the Public Image" in the fall semester's final "Celebrating Words in Kentucky" panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, in the William T. Young Library auditorium.

Dennis Altman of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications will moderate the discussion. Participants are Jack Guthrie of Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations of Louisville, Thomas Preston of Preston Global of Lexington, William Sheehy of Sheehy Associates of Louisville and Mary Ellen Slone of Meridian Communications Inc. of Lexington.

The discussion is free and open to the public.

Singles club to meet Nov. 11
Lexington-area singles are invited to join the Lexington Singles Travel Club, which encourages and promotes active single lives.
The club meets twice monthly, once for a program and once for happy hour at a local restaurant.

The club's next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Hunter Presbyterian Church in Lexington. Thailand will be the topic of the meeting. For more information, call Judy Wiglesworth at 873-3843 or J.P. Maschky at 259-1127.

'UK News Report,' UK at Halftime' shows set for November
The November edition of "UK News Report" will include stories on research development at UK, the new School of Public Health in the UK Chandler Medical Center and more.

The program will air at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 14 on WTVQ-TV; 6:30 a.m. Nov. 15 on WAVE-TV; noon Nov. 21 on KET; and four times each week on Intermedia's UKTV.

"UK at Halftime," a show airing at halftime of football and basketball games, will feature extension agent Sam Quick Nov. 11 who will discuss the upcoming Grandparents Raising Grandchildren teleconference. Grandparent Ruth Mocnic will join him.

The Nov. 14 show will take a look at UK's strong student Women Engineers chapter. Sue Scheff, College of Engineering; Kristi Maggard, an engineering student; and Scott Brady, Rexroth Corp., will be the guests.

Melanie Tyner-Wilson, assistant director of Residence Life; and student Sean Endfinger will talk about efforts to help students succeed in the Nov. 17 show.

For Nov. 21, the UK College of Dentistry's Seal Kentucky Program will be featured. Raynor Mullins, College of Dentistry; Janine Parsons, Rockcastle County school health nurse; and Mike Miller, Marshall County Judge Executive, will appear.