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Tuesday, May 8, 2007

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Total Clips: 6

	Date	Outlet
Old Navy CEO returns to college: Auburn University hosts alumna for Spring Symposium	05/08/2007	Opelika-Auburn News
Copy wrongs: Plagiarism always happens elsewhere	05/08/2007	Guardian Education
Snacking can be good for older adults	05/08/2007	CHINAdaily
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE : Irrigation Initiative Seeks To Tap Alabama's Resources	05/08/2007	Alfa Farmers
$10000 on line for Lee County teams	05/07/2007	Opelika-Auburn News
Strategic Snacking After Age 65	05/04/2007	CBS News


Old Navy CEO returns to college: Auburn University hosts alumna for Spring Symposium 05/08/2007 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
Dawn Robertson has earned a bit of a reputation since she graduated from Auburn University in 1977. At some point during a 30-year career in fashion merchandising, she became known as a risk-taker and a change-maker. She explained to attendees of the AU College of Human Sciences Women’s Philanthropy Board 5th annual Spring Symposium Monday how she earned her stripes from Davidson’s in Atlanta to becoming president of Old Navy five months ago. The changes she instituted at places like McRae’s Department Stores, then a division of Saks Inc., and at Myer Department Stores in Australia made her a hot commodity in the retail business world. She said Old Navy actually sought her out to be its president and to help "build Old Navy back to a cult brand." The opportunity was enough to convince her to move her and her daughters from the land down under to San Francisco. Robertson said her education didn’t stop when she graduated from Auburn, but rather continues each and every day. Things she learned on day one at Davidson’s would later become helpful as CEO, she said. The Birmingham native never let her gender effect her status or ability to be successful. Her competitive nature always won out. "To be successful, women don’t need to act like men, but be themselves," she said. Robertson said she is already starting to apply certain tactics at Old Navy that she used in Australia to help Myer, including customer feedback and employee morale. She started an "ask Dawn" e-mail while in Australia to give employees a chance to ask her questions. She said she received 5,000 messages a month for four years and she personally answered every one of them. "I didn’t sleep much those four years," she joked. A similar e-mail exists today - askdawn@gap.com - where she willingly seeks feedback on any of the more than 1,000 Old Navy stores in this country, even if it costs her her sleep.
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Copy wrongs: Plagiarism always happens elsewhere 05/08/2007 Guardian Education Marc Abrahams		Return to Top
This story cites a study on which AU librarian Jean Liddell was co-researcher. Improbable research Cheating is a central theme of a year-old publication called the Journal of College and Character. Its current issue features two studies on the topic. One looks at college honour codes, which are popular in the US and are poised to sprout in the UK and elsewhere. Rodney Arnold, of the College of the Ozarks, together with Barbara Martin, Michael Jinks and Linda Bigby, of the University of Central Missouri, surveyed students at six colleges in the American midwest. The study asks: "Is there a difference in the level of academic dishonesty between colleges and universities that have incorporated an honour-code system and those that have not?" The answer is no. But honour-coded students see things their own way. The authors report: "Students from honour-code institutions perceived that the amount of academic dishonesty at their institutions was lower." The three honour-code colleges in the study are no run-of-the-mill specimens. Each has been formally recognised by the John Templeton Foundation as a "character-building" college. The foundation's website (www.collegeandcharacter.org) celebrates these colleges for "shaping the ideals and standards of personal and civic responsibility". The foundation's motto is "How Little We Know, How Eager to Learn". The second study looks at that most literary form of cheating: plagiarism. Jean Liddell, a librarian at Auburn University in Alabama, and Valerie Fong, an adjunct professor at two small colleges in San Francisco, call their report Faculty Perceptions of Plagiarism. Liddell and Fong learned that lecturers vary widely in their perception of plagiarism. They surveyed teachers at Auburn University, asking each of them how bad the problem was. The answers spanned from "never see it in my classroom" to "about three-quarters of my students do it". Some responses posed a statistical challenge. Liddell and Fong say: "One faculty member responded that in his/her class, the percentage of plagiarism "cannot be estimated. I imagine it is quite [a bit] higher than any administrator would feel comfortable with." Nearly all of the professors claimed that plagiarism was slightly worse nationally than on their campus, slightly worse campus-wide than in their department, and slightly worse in the department than in their own classes. Auburn University has an official definition of what constitutes plagiarism. However, the study finds that professors' "personal definitions are often quite different". One history professor put the whole matter into perspective. He or she explained that some supposedly deplorable actions were just peachy, but that plagiarism was a sin: "There is no problem publishing something that has no original thought. In history, we do that all the time. But, and this is important, you must cite all the sources from which you borrowed those thoughts." · Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly magazine Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel Prize EducationGuardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
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Snacking can be good for older adults 05/08/2007 CHINAdaily		Return to Top
Claire A. Zizza, an assistant professor of nutrition at AU, was a co-researcher in this study and is quoted in this story. The study appears in the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association." The abstract was picked up by Reuters wire service and WEBMD and has appeared on CBS, in "Scientific American" and on various Web sites. For young and middle-aged adults, snacking can be the enemy of the waistline. As people age, however, their calorie intake tends to drop, either from appetite loss, medical conditions or difficulty buying food. This puts some older adults at risk of inadequate nutrition and unintended weight loss. Research suggests that even among relatively healthy people in their 60s and beyond, those with low calorie, protein and carbohydrate intakes die sooner. In the new study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers found that snacks were an important source of older adults' daily calories and nutrients. And in general, snackers took in more calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat than non-snackers did. While that could be a problem for other age groups, the extra nutrients might benefit elderly men and women, according to the study authors. Older adults who notice that they've lost weight, or that their appetite has waned, might want to add some snacks to their daily menu, said lead author Dr. Claire A. Zizza, an assistant professor of nutrition at Auburn University in Alabama. She and her colleagues based their findings on data from a national health and nutrition survey that included 2,000 adults age 65 and older. Overall, 84 percent said that they snacked in addition to eating meals. On average, snacks accounted for one-quarter of the study participants' daily calories and carbohydrates, and 14 percent of their protein. Snackers ate about 250 calories more each day than non-snackers did. That doesn't mean that older adults should have a couple bowls of potato chips each day for the sake of their health, according to Zizza. People should avoid 'empty calories,' she told Reuters Health, and instead choose healthful snacks like fruits, vegetables, yogurt, tuna and whole grains. On the other hand, older adults who are eating a nutritionally sound diet shouldn't feel they have to give up their potato chips or desserts, Zizza noted. 'Favorite foods can be a great source of pleasure,' she said.
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WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE : Irrigation Initiative Seeks To Tap Alabama's Resources 05/08/2007 Alfa Farmers		Return to Top
Jim Hairston of Auburn University is one of the researchers spearheading this project. When the driest January-March in more than 100 years turned the dark, moist soil in Dennis Bragg's cornfields to a hard, dusty desert, the Madison County farmer did something he never dreamed of doing this time of year. He irrigated. 'We planted the corn and needed to water it to be sure it would come up and not just sprout and then run out of moisture and die,' Bragg said. 'This is the first time I've ever watered anything in March. You never think you're going to plant a crop in the dust and have to water it to get it up.' But with Alabama now in the midst of a 27-month drought -- the worst since 1954 -- Bragg will likely be relying on irrigation not only at planting time, but also throughout the growing season. Unfortunately, Bragg, who irrigates a third of his cropland, is the exception rather than the rule. Most of the state's farmers don't have irrigation. Despite Alabama having more miles of navigable waterways and more annual runoff than any other state, only about 100,000 acres of Alabama farmland are irrigated, compared to 1.2 million acres in Georgia. A new effort supported by the Alabama Farmers Federation, however, is trying to change those numbers. The Alabama Irrigation Initiative includes a study to determine the feasibility of expanding irrigation efforts in Alabama as well as state and federal legislation that would aid farmers in developing the infrastructure necessary to provide water to their crops. 'This collaboration between many of our research universities will help determine whether large-scale irrigation is a viable option for the Southeast,' said Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who helped secure funding for the research project. 'This study will also provide critical information for both farmers and local government, regarding the health of Alabama's water resources.' Drs. Richard McNider and John Christy, both atmospheric scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Dr. Jim Hairston of Auburn University are spearheading the research project. Although they received funding to begin the official study last October, McNider said the team has been gathering data on water use for more than six years -- building on research done during the past three decades by Larry Curtis, a biosystems engineer with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. 'The intent of the study is to determine whether making an investment in irrigation in Alabama is the right thing to do -- whether it is the right thing economically for the state to do and whether it is the right thing environmentally for the state to do,' said McNider. Thus far, the answer to both questions has been a resounding 'yes.' From an economic standpoint, Alabama has lost 2 million acres of corn and another million acres of cotton since 1950 due, in part, to a lack of irrigation. According to McNider, these losses each year cost local economies $500-$750 per acre. Meanwhile, other states have benefited from Alabama's hesitancy to embrace irrigation. Corn production has shifted to the Midwest where deep, water-holding soils produce better, more-dependable yields. And, cotton acreage has shifted to the arid West, where government-subsidized irrigation is being stretched to its limits. Ironically, the researchers have found irrigation in the Southeast, and particularly Alabama, would be much more efficient than costly systems now in place in Arizona and California. According to their research, most Alabama crops need only 6-9 inches of irrigation to supplement the state's 50-plus inches of average annual rainfall. In dry western climates, those same plants would need up to 4 feet of irrigated water. That leads to McNider's second point Irrigation in Alabama, when properly implemented, is the right thing to do environmentally. Not only is Southeast irrigation more efficient, but it also can be done without negatively impacting wildlife habitat, soil salinity or municipal water supplies. Alabama Congressman Terry Everett agrees. In fact, he is sponsoring legislation that could provide federal cost-share assistance for stream-fed ponds to capture the state's abundant water during the rainy, winter months and store it for use during summer. 'Drought mitigation has not worked in the past,' Everett said. 'Ad hoc disaster bills really offer little for farmers. What we need is some on-site storage, off-stream storage, where we can collect water during the off-season. 'We simply can't continue to feed (America) at the low cost we have for years unless we get additional cropland under irrigation, and this is one way to do that,' he added. Everett's analysis of the country's food needs is consistent with that of the UAH and Auburn University researchers. While the nation's population is expected to grow by 50 percent in the next few decades, irrigation of western farmland will become increasingly difficult. Already, 33 percent of available water in the Texas/Oklahoma region is being consumed, and 100 percent of available water is being consumed in southern California. Contrast that with the Southeast, where only 3 percent of available surface water is utilized, and it?s easy to see why McNider says the Alabama Irrigation Initiative may be good for the nation as a whole. 'Our need for irrigation infrastructure may be right in line with what the country needs,' he said. If Alabama doesn't invest in irrigation, however, the state's cropland will likely diminish. One model shows that, since 1950, farmers have lost an average of $9 per acre growing rain-fed corn, while they could have made $217 per acre if those same fields had been irrigated. But corn isn't the only crop where the state's lack of irrigation has put farmers at a competitive disadvantage. Cotton, soybeans, peanuts, vegetables and other commodities also would benefit from increased watering. That has prompted the state's largest general farm organization to make the Alabama Irrigation Initiative a legislative priority. 'If we are going to be successful farming in the future, we can't continue to depend on rainfall. We need to be able to irrigate every field we have,' said Alabama Farmers Federation President Jerry A. Newby. Few farmers, however, have access to abundant well water or nearby streams, and many beginning farmers don't have the financial resources to withstand droughts. That's why Bragg says it's imperative for Alabama to develop the infrastructure to capture excess water from stream flows in the winter months for use during the growing season. 'If we don't do these things, dry-land farming will not be able to compete domestically with irrigated land or globally with cheaper input crops. That's what will happen in my generation,' Bragg said. 'But if we irrigate, what will happen in Alabama is agriculture will grow. It will grow on a personal level, and it will grow Alabama's economy. And we will be here to reap the rewards of things we can't even see yet.'
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$10000 on line for Lee County teams 05/07/2007 Opelika-Auburn News Tamiko Lowery		Return to Top
AU is a sponsor for this community project. After 14 weeks of salads, sweat and sacrifice - it’s time to weigh in and see which Healthy Lee County team will walk away with a cool $10,000. Roughly 2,000 Lee County residents signed up to lose 14 pounds in 14 weeks. A four-person commitment was required of the 14-week weight-loss challenge, where the goal of each participant was to lose at least 14 pounds or one pound per week and keep it off through healthy eating, exercise and team support. Each team that has reached the 14-pound per person goal will now be eligible for a grand prize drawing to win $10,000, split equally between team members. Each team member was weighed separately for a combined team weight. While the initial weigh-in took place Jan. 13 through 20, the weigh-out is currently going on now through Saturday. The winning team will not be announced right away because it will take at least a week after the weigh-in for computer calculations. The winning four-person team will be awarded $10,000 on or near May 20. And regardless if a team has lost the allotted weight or not, five weigh-in participants will be given $100 just for weighing-in. Whether the motivation was monetary or more lasting, East Alabama Medical Center PR Manager John Atkinson says he hopes program participants take what they’ve learned and will apply it for life, a long healthy life. "This program isn’t about trying a diet where you use extreme measures to lose weight in 14 weeks," he said. "Instead we are trying to arm people with the knowledge they need to live healthy during these 14 weeks and beyond." Healthy Lee County statistics show that life expectancy in Alabama is 74.1 years compared to the U.S. average of 77.2 years. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., behind smoking and tobacco use. Healthy Lee County is a response to the obesity and overweight statistics reported in 2006, especially in the state. Alabama has the second highest level of adult obesity in the nation and ranks seventh nationally in the percentage of overweight high school students. Sixty-three percent of Alabama adults are overweight or obese. Healthy Lee County is supported, in part, by EAMC, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, Alabama Hospital Association, the Alabama Department of Public Health, Auburn University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Barber Dairies. A list of weigh-in locations and times for today through Saturday are listed at www.health
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Strategic Snacking After Age 65 05/04/2007 CBS News		Return to Top
(WebMD) Snacking may help people aged 65 and older get enough calories, a new study shows. The researchers included Claire Zizza, PhD, RD, assistant professor in Auburn University's nutrition and food sciences department. They note that while snacks may blow the calorie budget of younger adults, older adults tend to get fewer calories and may need snacks to make up their calorie deficit. Zizza's team analyzed interviews from a 1999-2002 national health study that included about 2,000 U.S. adults aged 65 and older. In the interviews, participants reported everything they had eaten during the previous 24 hours. Most participants — 84% — were snackers. They typically snacked 2.5 times per day, taking in 150 calories per snacking session. Snackers averaged 1,718 daily calories, compared with 1,466 daily calories for people who didn't snack. The study doesn't show exactly what the snackers ate, though snacks provided about a quarter of their daily carbohydrates and calories, 20% of their daily fat, and 14% of their daily protein. Snacking apparently didn't ruin the participants' appetites. Snackers didn't cut back on calories at meal times, the study shows. "Our results suggest snacking may ensure older adults consume diets adequate in energy," Zizza's team writes. Of course, nutritional quality counts. The researchers recommend promoting the consumption of healthful snacks for older adults. The study appears in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
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