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Bloom County . .10
Volume 72 Number 8
Samford University Birmingham, Alabama
December 10, 1987
Samford has been searching
for business dean for 21 months
By B1 Carothers
Staff Reporter
After 21 months without a perma¬
nent dean in the school of business,
both students and faculty have ex¬
pressed concern as to why nobody
has been named to the position.
At the beginning of the spring
semester in 1986, Samford ad¬
ministration discovered that it was
going to have to find a new dean of
the business school. This need was
created after the announcement of
Dean William Geer’s retirement two
years ago.
A dean search committee was
established which consisted, of
Marlene Reed, Ralph Rozelle, Fred
Hendon, some Birmingham
businessmen and members of the
Board of Trustees.
Hendon said that Samford
“advertised in The Chronicle of
Higher Education and in The Wall
Street Journal. Our goal was to have
someone by September 1986, but
we were unable to do so.”
Since that time several prospec¬
tive candidates for the position have
been interviewed, but none has been
offered the post.
Samford’s search for a new dean
is like a search “for a needle in a
haystack,” said Provost William
Hull.
'A search for a
needle in a haystack.*
— Provost William Hull
that he is “looking for a very distinc¬
tive person.”
“We would like somebody who
has academic credentials, who has
academic familiarity and who has
real business world experience,” he
said.
Hull said the university is looking
for a “team player.” He said the
business school needs a creative
man who is willing to work with the
faculty and staff and bring in new
programs which will enhance the
school.
“A new dean offers a chance for
innovation, “ Hull said. ” We are
looking for that rare individual.”
Hull said finding a new dean that
is familiar with the Baptist values
and the standards Samford upholds
is the cause for the delay, because
that person is “a rare individual.”
Corts said “it would be better to
have a permanent dean, but it would
be worse to have the wrong dean.
We don’t want somebody just to fill
in the chair. I understand the
business faculty and students desire
President Thomas E. Corts said to hurry up and find somebody, haystack.”
Believe me, nobody would rather do
that than I. It has been very dif¬
ficult.”
“We’ve had any number of people
in here who could fill the job, ... we
knew when we started out we were
looking for something very distinc¬
tive because we wanted to take the
school a giant step forward,” Corts
said.
That giant step could be what Hull
outlined in his “three circle theory”
about what the school needs to do.
First, Hull wishes for the school
to form closer ties with the greater
Birmingham business community.
“We have great opportunities and
are fortunately located in the heart
of the South and in the business hub
of the state,” said Hull.
Second, Samford needs to try to
establish itself as the flagship
business school in the state. Hull
said since there is no school of that
caliber currently in the state, there
is a perfect opportunity for the
school to forge ahead and become
that flagship.
Third, there needs to be some
minor changes in the curriculum,
but that is up to whoever becomes
the new dean.
No deadline has been set for the
appointment of a new dean, but
when the school gets one it.will have
hopefully found that “needle in the
Exam time's here!
photo by Alan Thompson
Glenn Good, a freshman from Sarasota, Ra., studies in a friend's
room in Crawford Johnson Halt for his Old Testament exam on
Tuesday:
Byte by byte academic computing works at Samford
By Lava
News Editor
Academic computing — the integration of computers into
the curriculum — is becoming a familiar phrase at Samford
University these days. One year ago November 15, 1986,
faculty and staff were assigned IBM personal computers and
software with basic training soon to follow. This was the first
step in a five-year, $5 million commitment to make Samford
a “computer intensive environment.”
A tremendous commitment to make hardware and soft¬
ware available to students has already been realized to a great
degree. To date, Samford has five PC labs.
The computer-to-student ratio is relatively low, with ap¬
proximately 48 students per computer. This calculation does
not take into consideration the students who will be using the
21 Apple He computers in the school of education or the 20
computer terminals hardwired to the Amdahl mainframe
computer.
Computing at Samford has progressed to a new stage of
implementation since President Thomas E. Corts commis¬
sioned the CATS (Computing At Samford) report in late 1985.
The "Top Cats" research team included Susan Dean, Richard
Duncan, Jan Farmer, James Fisk and David Reese, represen¬
ting math and computer science, computer administration,
admissions, chemistry and English, respectively.
The CATS report identifies the perceived needs of faculty
and staff based on questionnaires and surveys administered
over an eighteen-month period.
Recent graduates were also queried via letter to assess the
possible desire for and acceptance of computers at Samford.
The response was high and results were pro-computers, in¬
dicating a strong desire for computers at Samford.
In the long-range plan Corts stated, “Our computer
capabilities will have long-term consequences on the vitali¬
ty of this university.”
The consequences also concern Andy Rucks, associate
director for academic computing. “On the theory that easy-
to-do things get done first,” Rucks said, “our focus at Sam¬
ford has been to provide the tools for business administrators
at the university to do their job. What academicians do is
not as easily identified.”
After being at Samford since June, Rucks finds his posi¬
tion “very much a challenge. We are in what I would call the
preliminaries.” At present Rucks is visiting with various
academic departments to identify their needs relating to
academic computing “so I can obtain or make a case for the
resources required to do academic computing.”
Rucks has asked “Dr. Hull and the deans to identify some
peer institutions” for study and comparison. If, in fact there
are “any institutions that Samford wants to emulate, well try
to improve on that model.”
, Outlining a four-year effort, with the first year spent work¬
ing on preliminaries. Rucks notes the need for change at
several levels.
SUSI, Samford University Student Interface, is in a “raw
form at the moment. It was imported from Georgia Tech and
we simply do not have the programming staff to make a great
deal of modifications.”
Through SUSI, every student enrolled at Samford can ac¬
cess the Amdahl mainframe computer, which contains the
electrdhic mail system and the university calendar. Eventually
SUSI will allow students access to library records.
“We need to have the faculty interface. Faculty Computing
Environment” (dubbed FACE by Rucks), “up and running very
soon.”
Academic computing needs must be linked to educational
goals for the entire university. “We cannot demand that faculty
use them. We cannot demand and expect that to occur.”
Rucks said, “However, I sense that they’re very open.”
Please see Computers page 3
Moving back to campus
By DaeFowtar
Associate News Ecfitor
Samford students living in tem¬
porary housing will return to more
permanent living arrangements
after Christmas break.
Director of Housing Tun Hebson
said the 22 men housed at the
Econo Lodge will be placed in on-
campus housing next semester.
“We haw been moving the students
as space became available.
Originally around 30 students were
housed off-campus,” Hebson said.
“We’re very happy to be able to
move the students since they miss
out on a lot by living off-campus.”
Hebson said space has become
available hi Crawford Johnson Hal
since some students mowd into
other housing or graduated.
Hebeon is also concerned that
the 174 students who have not
returned room reservation cards
for next semester may jeopardize
their housing situation, as room
assignments for new students are
currently being decided.
Many Econo Lodge students are
experiencing mixed emotions
about moving on-campus and leav¬
ing some of the comforts their cur¬
rent housing offers.
Freshman David Berdeaux fa
optimistic about moving on-
campus. Tm looking forward to
in more activities without having
to drive back and forth. I will miss
cable television and the maid ser¬
vice."
Hebson said that a stt
has been present at the motel, and
the students at the Econo Lodge
follow the same rules as students
Tuition policy questioned
By A.
Staff Reporter
Prior to 1983, Samford students
who were not able to pay their tui¬
tion and fees upon registration could
pay the university in installments,
usually over one semester.
Now as the costs of tution, fees
and supplies at Samford rise, some
students say they would prefer to pay
on the installment plan. But
members of the administration say
they are not looking for the plan to
return any time soon.
Vice president for business affairs
Gerald Macon said the change in
the tuition policy was not only good
business practice, but it made it
easier to manage the university.
“It would be very risky. Samford
University has to make substantial
commitments, and salaries are our
biggest item," Macon said. “We
need to know how many students are
going to be here and what the
revenues are going to be.”
“It helps considerably to get these
tuition dollars at the beginning of the
term,” Macon said.
This year, there was an excess of
$10 million in financial aid at Sam¬
ford in the form of grants, loans,
scholarships, or on-campus jobs.
For the student who seems to have
no alternative at all, there is a quick ,*11
st help4-??
method in which they can get I
at registration when they do not
have the money available.
Samford offers a last resort han¬
dy cash loan in cooperation with
Central Bank. This policy was
established four years ago when the
new tuition policy was enforced.
A student applies for the loan at
registration. It is processed almost
immediately, and then, in most
cases, it is approved.
The only reason a student can be
denied a loan is if he or she has ap¬
plied for this loan previously and
then failed to submit payments over
the allotted time period.
Samford does subsidize the in¬
terest rate, which is 12 percent.
Although other state institutions
have enacted a policy of pre-paid tui¬
tion where the tuition can be paid
years before the child reaches col¬
lege age, it is doubtful that this, or
the installment policy will ever be
accepted here.
“It might be considered here;
however, all of those programs are
new," Macon said. “I have my
doubts on how successful those pro¬
grams are going to be." This policy
changed in 1983 after President
Corts took office, succeeding long¬
standing president Leslie S. Wright.
Although the policies and recom¬
mendations may come from within
the administration or from members
of the Board of Trustees, H is the
Board of Trustees that has the final
word on setting policy on tuition.
Samford University Library
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