Auburn University

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Good morning! Here's today's summary of news coverage of Auburn University.
NOTE: Any errors in text are due to formatting by the publication.

Total Clips: 6
Headline Date Outlet
   UA likely to pass AU enrollment 09/12/2006 Opelika-Auburn News
   'A defining moment', AU students pause to remember 9/11 09/12/2006 Opelika-Auburn News
   Gymnasts Take Part In Big Sis/Little Sis Picnic 09/12/2006 CSTV: College Sports Television
   Roast a Chicken and Rave 09/12/2006 Cooking Light Magazine
   Early head count: UA passes Auburn in enrollment 09/11/2006 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
   Tips for healthy living given 09/11/2006 Brewton Standard


UA likely to pass AU enrollment
09/12/2006
Opelika-Auburn News
Amy Weaver

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Auburn University may no longer get to claim it is "Alabama's largest educational institution."

Preliminary enrollment numbers from Tuscaloosa show the University of Alabama has 256 more students than Auburn University this fall. Auburn officials reported an enrollment of 23,544 last Thursday, the most in its 150-year history.

"It has never been Auburn's goal to be the state's largest institution," Auburn President Ed Richardson said in a written statement. "In fact, our board of trustees some time ago agreed to a cap on enrollment of 25,000 students. Instead, Auburn’s goal is to be the best institution that it can be."

UA, which started classes a week after Auburn, won't release final numbers until later this week. If the count holds steady, Alabama will have more students on campus than Auburn for the first time since 1949.

Fifty-seven years ago, UA was the largest state institution, Harry Truman was president, and Auburn was known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute. In the fall of 1949, 7,974 students attended UA, while 7,284 students were enrolled at API - a difference of 690.

"We are not striving to be the biggest institution," UA Provost Judy Bonner said. "We are striving to be the institution of choice for the best and brightest. We are experiencing growth, but it is planned. And the emphasis is on quality."

Auburn wants quantity and quality as well. The Board of Trustees set an enrollment goal of 25,000 several years ago, but at its meeting earlier this month, agreed to allocate $3 million to its scholarship fund in an effort to attract more top students.

"Auburn is really interested in enrolling the best prepared students we can into our university, and we certainly have a goal of reaching those milestones," said John Fletcher, assistant vice president for enrollment management services at AU.

Auburn has grown faster than UA, hitting an enrollment of more than 20,000 students in 1988. UA never had more than 20,000 enrolled when Robert Witt became president in 2003 and set an enrollment goal of 28,000 students by 2013. Witt and his staff have aggressively recruited inside the state to bring top students to Tuscaloosa.

UA had more in-state students in its freshmen class than Auburn in 2004, reversing a lopsided trend. UA had 2,576 Alabama freshmen in 2005, compared to 2,464 at Auburn. In 2001, Auburn had 2,447 in-state freshmen while UA had just 1,800.

Besides the allocation for scholarships, Auburn's board also agreed to improve its recruiting practices to enroll more high-achieving students from inside and outside of Alabama.

"We want to attract the best students possible and provide them with a quality education second to none in Alabama," Richardson said. "At the same time, we strive to fulfill our land-grant obligations to the state of Alabama through research, outreach and Extention and to contribute to the state’s economic development."

Richardson is expected to present the plan at the next trustees meeting in November.

"We certainly are aware of Dr. Witt's desire to grow to 28,000," Fletcher said. "For Auburn University, we need to assess where we are, and through that process decide as a university where we want to be."
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'A defining moment', AU students pause to remember 9/11
09/12/2006
Opelika-Auburn News
Amy Weaver

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It was a typical weekday morning on the campus of Auburn University as students and staff scurried to appointed destinations.

But at 7:46 a.m. something got their attention, something to make many stop in their tracks.

On Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, starting the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil. Five years later, it was the boisterous voice of Brandon Costerison carrying over the Haley Center concourse that commanded students to stop and listen.

Six separate times, the AU senior from Birmingham asked students to pause and join him and others in a moment of silence, a moment to remember the events as they unfolded throughout the morning of Sept. 11 five years ago. He made the request each time a hijacked airplane crashed and each time a World Trade Center tower collapsed.

For some, Costerison's message may have only served as a reminder of the anniversary, while others clearly heard him. Those people stopped walking or talking on their cell phones to bow their heads solemnly in remembrance.

"If it helped one person (remember), it was worth it," said sophomore Jeffrey Ioimo. "If we don't remember, how do we expect our children to remember?"

The AU College Democrats and College Republicans put their political views aside to mark the day together. Besides the moments of silence, members had a banner that read "Auburn University will never forget" for students and staff to sign. It will be sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg or FDNY headquarters. They also accepted donations for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and Wounded Warriors Project.

New York native Rachel Newcomb was in eighth grade at a boarding school in Baltimore when she got word of the attacks. Her thoughts immediately went to her family, especially her father, who works in Manhattan. The AU freshman says she thinks about that day all the time. She woke up Monday morning thinking about it and called her friend who lost his dad when the towers collapsed.

Newcomb was more than willing to sign the banner bound for NYC.

"It means something," she said. "I want people to know I'm thinking about them."

Junior Alex Krauss has vivid memories of Sept. 11 as well. He was in a high school marketing class in his hometown of Alexandria, Va., when he first heard the news.

"I was freaking out because I have family in New York City," he said.

Once the Pentagon was hit at 8:37 a.m., Krauss said it was "pandemonium" because many of his classmates have parents who worked there. Fortunately, only one family member of a classmate died in the attack.

"My dad remembers where he was when JFK was shot, and when the (Space Shuttle) Challenger exploded," Krauss said. "This was a defining event. I remember it very vividly."

Ioimo, chairman of the College Democrats, couldn't worry about his family in NYC or DC until officials at Montgomery Catholic called an impromptu assembly. Without seeing the images most of the country had been watching on television all day, he said it was hard to grasp.

"It had a surreal feeling," he said.

Drew White had planned to cut class at Lee-Scott Academy that day, but the Opelika native joined his classmates after the Pentagon was hit. White said he used to be apathetic about politics. But Sept. 11 changed that. He is a junior, political science major and an officer with the College Republicans.

"Anger. That sums up everything. Even now, I'm still angry," he said.
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Gymnasts Take Part In Big Sis/Little Sis Picnic
09/12/2006
CSTV: College Sports Television

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**This story is about AU gymnists' involvement in the community.**

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn University gymnastics team took part in a picnic as a part of its Big Sis/Little Sis program on Sunday, Sept. 10 at Town Creek Park.

The picnic, which featured pizza and games, marks the start of the program's second year and pairs the 16 Auburn gymnasts with 39 girls from the Auburn Gymnastics Academy. Throughout the year, the girls will keep in touch with their little sisters to help provide support and helpful advice about how each other's season is going.

This is just one of the many ways that Auburn gymnastics is involved in the community. Keep checking back for more updates about the Tiger's community service projects, and of course, gymnastics.
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Roast a Chicken and Rave
09/12/2006
Cooking Light Magazine
Lorrie Hulston Corvin

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**Patricia Curtis, director of Poultry Product Safety and Quality Program at AU, is mentioned as a source in this story.**

Few entrees are as familiar and welcoming as a succulent roast chicken. It's often the star of homey weeknight suppers and company-worthy dinners. Roast chicken's broad appeal is well deserved because its neutral-tasting meat harmonizes with many flavors, from those of Lemon-Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes to Oven Barbecue Beer-Can Chicken.

Although picking up a rotisserie chicken at the supermarket is a convenient option, there are a number of advantages to roasting your own bird at home. Taste is the best reason—you can use virtually any combination of herbs and spices to suit your preference. Roasting a chicken allows you to control the sodium, as well as the quality of the ingredients. Best of all, it's simple, mostly hands-free cooking if you follow a few steps.

Use the Right Equipment
Use a heavy metal roasting pan that is designed to withstand high heat and a cooking rack that fits in the pan. The pan will catch the flavorful juices (essential to preparing a delicious pan gravy) that drip as the bird roasts. The rack elevates the bird off the pan, allowing the chicken to roast rather than simmer in its juices.

You'll also need a reliable kitchen thermometer. Since oven temperatures vary, a thermometer is the truest test of doneness. The USDA recommends that whole chickens be cooked to 180°. Our recipes direct you to pull the bird from the oven at 170° and let it stand 15 minutes. The internal temperature of the chicken continues to rise as it stands, reaching the desired temperature without overcooking and drying out. Check the accuracy of your thermometer by immersing the stem in at least two inches of boiling water and waiting 30 seconds to check the reading. If it registers 212°, it's accurate.

Select the Best Bird
Our recipes call for meaty "roasting" chickens. Because they're older and larger than broilers-fryers, they have more muscle and fat. When the fat cooks off, the roast chicken is moist and tasty.

Overall, we find roasting a fresh bird offers better results in terms of flavor and texture than frozen chicken (although many people keep frozen birds on hand for convenience). Look for a fresh, never-frozen chicken at larger supermarkets. There are subtle differences among free-range, organic, and traditional farm-raised birds.

Read the label, and look for a bird that contains no added ingredients. Patricia Curtis, director of Poultry Product Safety and Quality Program at Auburn University in Alabama, says chicken is often injected with water, broth, or saline. This slightly increases the weight of the bird and flavors it.

Store and Handle Properly
Cook a whole fresh chicken within one to two days after purchasing. If you start with a frozen chicken, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Never thaw a chicken at room temperature—that allows bacteria to grow. Always make sure the chicken has thawed completely before cooking because a partially frozen chicken can cook unevenly and overbrown on the outside before the interior reaches the proper temperature.

Many people wash chickens before roasting them out of habit or a belief that washing reduces the risk of salmonella. In fact, cooking the bird to the proper temperature is the only safeguard against bacteria, and rinsing can spread bacteria to the sink or other areas where water may splash. For this reason, we do not call for rinsing chickens before cooking.

Prepare the Bird
Roasting the chicken with the skin intact flavors and moistens the lean breast meat as it cooks. Most of the fat cooks off, but some is absorbed from the skin into the meat.

Herbs and spices rubbed over the outside of the chicken will only flavor the skin, but seasonings rubbed under the skin will permeate the meat. Since our recipes call to remove and discard the skin after roasting, it's important to rub seasonings directly on the flesh.

To loosen the skin, start at the neck cavity. Insert your fingers between the skin and flesh, and work all the way to the drumsticks, pressing gently as you go. Take care not to tear the skin because this will cause it to shrink during roasting, exposing the meat beneath. Without the protection of the skin, the meat dries out easily. Once the skin is loose, it's simple to rub seasonings on the meat.

Seasoning can be as simple as a little salt and pepper, but chicken marries well with a variety of flavors, from classic lemon and rosemary to barbecue to Mexican chipotle chile. However, there are other tricks that contribute to a tasty bird. Stuff the cavity, and the meat absorbs flavor from the inside out. Brining (soaking the chicken in a mixture of water, salt, sugar, and spices before roasting) is another technique that delivers a moist and delicious bird.

Classic technique for roast chicken calls to truss or secure the bird with twine. With the exception of Oven Barbecue Beer-Can Chicken, our recipes call for trussing the chicken. We recommend this procedure mostly for aesthetic purposes. If you plan to present the whole bird at the table before carving, trussing makes it look attractive. Otherwise, it neither helps nor hinders the cooking.

Roast
The key to a beautifully roasted chicken is to keep the lean breast meat moist while allowing time to fully cook the legs. Although we discard the skin, browning is another consideration since crisp skin provides a shield for the delicate meat. High-heat roasting produces a beautifully bronzed bird, but it may also toughen the meat. Chicken cooked at a low temperature comes out moist but yields a lackluster-looking bird. A combination of high and low heat produces the best results. Our recipes direct you to begin at 375° and increase the oven temperature to finish the cooking. This allows you to control the browning during the final few minutes of roasting.

Carve
Once you've roasted the perfect bird, wait at least 15 minutes before carving. This allows the internal temperature of the chicken to reach the proper level, (180°) and the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. For an impressive display, place the whole roasted bird on a platter and present it at the table before carving.

To carve the bird, first remove and discard the skin. Use a sharp knife to remove each leg by cutting through the joint where the thigh attaches to the body. You can then separate the drumstick and the thigh by cutting through the joint where they meet. Serve each piece whole, or cut the meat away from the bone. Carve the breast meat by holding the knife parallel to the breast and thinly slicing. Or cut away the whole breast, and slice it on a cutting board.
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Early head count: UA passes Auburn in enrollment
09/11/2006
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Associated Press

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**This story also appeared in the TimesDaily, Houma Courier, Thibodaux Daily Comet, Gadsden Times, Decatur Daily and WSFA-TV.**

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama will have more students on campus than Auburn for the first time since 1949 if an early count for the fall holds steady.

Auburn, which started classes a week before UA, announced an official enrollment of 23,544 last Thursday. Although UA won't release final numbers until later this week, preliminary numbers put about 23,800 students on campus this fall, The Tuscaloosa News reported Sunday.

"We are not striving to be the biggest institution," Provost Judy Bonner said. "We are striving to be the institution of choice for the best and brightest. We are experiencing growth, but it is planned. And the emphasis is on quality."

Auburn has grown faster than UA, hitting an enrollment of more than 20,000 students in 1988. UA never had more than 20,000 enrolled when Robert Witt became president in 2003 and set an enrollment goal of 28,000 students by 2013. Witt and his staff have aggressively recruited inside the state to bring top students to Tuscaloosa.

UA had more in-state students in its freshmen class than Auburn in 2004, reversing a lopsided trend. UA had 2,576 Alabama freshmen in 2005, compared to 2,464 at Auburn. In 2001, Auburn had 2,447 in-state freshmen while UA had just 1,800.

Auburn, whose trustees approved an additional $3 million to its scholarship fund to recruit top students, has been working toward an enrollment goal of 25,000.

"The goal of 25,000 was established years and years ago, and that's still a very general goal the university has," said John Fletcher, assistant vice president for student affairs over admissions at Auburn. "Auburn is really interested in enrolling the best prepared students we can into our university, and we certainly have a goal of reaching those milestones."

He said Auburn is drawing up a strategic plan that includes identifying areas where it will recruit aggressively.

"We certainly are aware of Dr. Witt's desire to grow to 28,000," Fletcher said. "For Auburn University, we need to access where we are, and through that process decide as a university where we want to be."
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Tips for healthy living given
09/11/2006
Brewton Standard
Special to the Standard

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**Robert Keith, ACES nutrition and health specialist and AU professor of nutrition and food science is the source for this story.**

The path to a long, healthy life is not straight and narrow but broad in the sense that it touches every aspect of life, not just diet and exercise. Unfortunately, millions of Americans mistakenly focus on one or two facets of their lifestyles and ignore the rest.

They do so at their peril, according to Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutrition and health specialist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science.

Healthy living, Keith says, "requires evaluating all aspects of your life and not just one or two."

With this in mind, he offers a list of the major lifestyle practices that he believes makes up the big picture of healthy living.

Good nutrition is essential. People who consume adequate amounts of complex whole grain carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, protein and low-fat dairy foods with a heavy emphasis on antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables face significantly lower risks of heart disease and certain types of cancer, Keith stresses.

Healthy eating may not get you very far if you don't get adequate amounts of daily exercise.

The alternative -- remaining sedentary -- has been shown to be as big a risk factor as poor diet in terms of promoting the development of hypertension, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

An initial exercise program could be as simple as making an effort to walk every day -- for example, parking your car several blocks away and walking the extra distance. Over time, this could be expanded into to a somewhat more rigorous effort, such as walking or jogging several miles a day.

Regular medical checkups screen for major health risks such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and other potentially life-threatening diseases.

.A good health plan is not complete unless it excludes smoking - hardly surprising considering that this habit is strongly linked to cardiovascular diseases, emphysema and lung cancer.

Never downplay the merits of sleep, adequate sleep. Adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep a night. Over time, anything less than this increases stress on the body.

Granted, no list can claim to be a guarantee of perfect health. But certainly people who follow these lifestyle practices have a far better chance of living a long and healthy life than those who don't.
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