Volume VII, Number 8
November 30, 1999
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
Editor: Paul Aucoin, pgaucoin@samford.edu
Associate Editor, Scott Dittman, sdittman@wlu.edu
Subscription Manger: Erika Watts, wattse@aacrao.nche.edu
DeeDee B. Bruns, dbruns@bsc.edu, has been promoted from Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Services to Vice-President for Admission and Financial Aid at Birmingham Southern College.
Mike Corcoran, Corcoran@sou.edu, is Interim Registrar at Southern Oregon University (SOU). Mike's has been at SOU since 1993 where his "real" job is Associate Director of Computing Services at SOU responsible for, among other things, the Student Information System. He has been in higher eduation since 1986, beginning at Arizona State University from 1986 to 1993 as a Manager of Information Systems (Financial Aid, Admissions, Residential Life). "Prior to working in higher ed, I worked in government and private industry in the field of data processing." Mike's predecessor was Charlotte "Cookie" Young, who has moved to Florida Institute of Technology (see below).
Michele Forbes, mforbe1@lsu.edu, has been appointed the Director of Admissions and Student Affairs at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center of Louisiana State University (LSU) beginning December 1. Michele has served in LSU's Office of Undergraduate Admissions for 15 years, most recently as Interim Director.
Charlotte "Cookie" Young, cyoung@fit.edu, has joined the Florida folks as Registrar at Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). Cookie was registrar at Southern Oregon University (SOU) in Ashland for seven years and had spent an additional 11 years at the SOU working in other capacities in the registrar's and admissions offices. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City TN and a master's degree in environmental education from SOU.
NB: If you have news of a colleague which may be of interest to our colleagues, please send contact information to Scott Dittman at sdittman@wlu.edu so it may be considered for inclusion in a future issue of NetNews.
The entire membership is invited to make nominations for the potential vacancy for Vice President for Finance. As with the process we have just completed, please send your nominations to the Vice Chair of the Nominations & Elections Committee. Rather than distributing a special form for you to fill in, we ask simply that you forward your nomination by e-mail or U.S. mail directly to Jerry Montag, Director of Admissions & Records, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72204. E-mail address: jxmontag@ualr.edu Telephone: 501/569-8176.
The deadline for receipt of nominations will be February 1, 2000. After this deadline, the 1999-2000 Nominations & Elections Committee will meet in a conference call, where we will select from your nominations one candidate which could be presented, if necessary, to the membership at the annual meeting. This selection will be announced on or about February 15. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor at the annual meeting.
Please keep in mind that this is preparation for a potential need and does not in any way presume that this vacancy will occur. Since the position of Vice President for Finance is a critical one on the AACRAO Board of Directors, the Nominations & Elections Committee wanted to be prepared for the possible vacancy.
Beverly Q. Lewis, Chair
1999-2000 Nominations & Elections Committee
Pictured in the lobby of the Hotel Santa Barbara, front row, from left, Dennis Dulniak, Paul Aucoin, Beverly Lewis (Chair), Jerry Montag (Vice-Chair), Christine Kerlin, Carol Cline; back row, Bruce Cunningham, Mike Allen, and Janet Ward.
Nearly 50 days after the end of fiscal year 1999, Congress and the President reached consensus on the 13 appropriations bills providing funding for federal and other agencies. During the budget deliberations, President Clinton denied Congress his signature on several permutations of particularly contentious spending measures, particularly the District of Columbia and Labor-HHS-Education. The Labor-HHS-Education spending bill in the end contained a GOP leadership-written across-the-board cut about two-thirds of a percentage below the leadership’s original 1%-cut proposal. In addition, contrary to initial GOP demands, the resulting 0.38% cut will be applied by the President and individual agencies as they see fit. Nonetheless, any across-the-board spending measure is viewed as a major Republican victory considering the President’s vigorous opposition to the scheme. With the budget process now put to bed, the congressional leadership and the President have reason to tout ‘victory,’ and are doing so via hearings, press conferences and interviews with the press.
After President Clinton vetoed four appropriations bills and threatened to veto one other, more than two weeks of talks over an "omnibus" budget bill, the budgetary equivalent of a marathon, began. In the end, the President obtained more than $5 billion in year-end add-ons, financed by a package of offsetting savings that included: a 0.38 percent across-the-board cut ($1.2 billion); an administration-sponsored capture of surplus Federal Reserve funds ($3.8 billion); and moving the last federal payday for fiscal 2000 back one day, which would push $3.6 billion in outlays into fiscal 2001. At the same time, the omnibus served as a vehicle for year-end deals to provide Northeastern lawmakers a big win on dairy policy, ease Medicare cuts enacted two years ago, boost the satellite television industry and reauthorize the State Department.
The first session of the 106th Congress, viewed by many observers as having been impeded by the December 1998 vote to impeach the President, failed to live up to the ambitious goals members of Congress had outlined. The Senate’s rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and failure to move on Medicare or Social Security were two of the more visible signs of deadlock. Democratic and Republican efforts at reform failed to muster enough votes to make new law on a variety of issues including rights of patients in managed care plans, campaign finance reform, and tax relief. Congress also failed to produce tougher gun control laws—which Democrats had sought—or a tougher juvenile justice bill—which Republicans had sought. Another stalemate was the Republican leadership’s agreement before the August recess to a $792 billion, 10-year tax cut package that featured income tax and individual capital gains rate cuts, easing of the marriage penalty and an estate tax phase-out. The legislation was designed to cost little in fiscal 2000 or 2001, delaying significant tax relief until later years when larger budget surpluses might make it affordable. The President vetoed the tax bill and invited the Republicans to negotiate a package costing up to $300 billion, but GOP leaders said they feared the administration's price for a tax cut would be increased spending. Hence, no legislation was offered.
The session's achievements included a landmark financial services overhaul driven by banking and insurance industry lobbyists who refused to accept yet another year's delay. Medicare reimbursements to health care providers were increased, and legislation was cleared to grant the disabled extended federal health care benefits when they return to work. Also cleared was a package of business tax break extensions, legislation allowing satellite television providers to carry local stations' programming and a crackdown on software piracy.
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations: A Summary of the 106th Congress
The final Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, H.R. 3424 (incorporated by reference in H.R. 3194), was finally cleared by Congress at $318.5 billion for FY2000 on Nov. 19 when the education issues resolved. President Clinton is expected to sign the bill after achieving agreement on a one-year extension of his plan to hire 100,000 new teachers in order to decrease teacher to student ratio from 18-1. The President and Republican leaders could not agree on the amount to designate to that program, with the GOP providing for $1.2 billion (the FY99 funding level for the program) and the President shooting for $1.4 billion. A compromise was reached with $1.325 billion for the program. As in 1998, the differing education priorities of Clinton and Congress were apparent throughout negotiations on the Labor-HHS bill. The final agreement provides for the overall Labor-HHS-Education package at $8.6 billion with offsets, including an 0.38 percent across-the-board cut in all discretionary spending.
In education, Republicans won provisions that would increase the amount of money allocated for teacher training and repeal Clinton's Goals 2000 program, which provides grants to help schools improve student achievement. The deal also imposes tougher standards for teacher quality.
Republicans and White House officials agreed to add $1.45 billion to the package to beef up some of Clinton's priorities, including after-school programs, aid to disadvantaged children, health care, and the Social Service block grant covering child care and other aid. The final deal included $17.9 billion for NIH, compared with $15.6 billion in fiscal 1999, reflecting both parties' interest in spending on medical research. House Democrats added $86 million in special interest projects during talks with the White House.
House adopted the conference report on H.R. 3064 (H. Rept. 106-419), 218-211, on Oct. 28.
Senate adopted the conference report, 49-48, on Nov. 2.
President vetoed the bill Nov. 3.
House adopted conference report on H.R. 3194 (H. Rept. 106-479), incorporating H.R. 3424, 296-135, on Nov. 18.
Senate cleared bill, 74-24, on Nov. 19.
Average
Tuition and Fees at Colleges Rose Less Than 5% This Year
College tuition and fees rose this year by an
average of 3.4 per cent at four-year public institutions and 4.7 per cent
at four-year private institutions, according to The College Board. Those
rates of increase are the lowest in at least 12 years. But the tuition
increases still outpaced the rate of inflation, as measured by the Consumer
Price Index. The C.P.I. rose 2.3 percent for the 12 months ending in August.
The College Board also reported that a record $64-billion was available
in financial aid last year, helping to offset the rising cost of higher
education. But much of the aid -- 58 percent -- was in the form of student
loans, compared with just over 40 percent in 1980-81. The full article,
incuding tables, charts and a searchable menu of tuitions by state, is
available on the free site of The Chronicle of Higher Education
at http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i08/08a05201.htm
Digital
Signatures Bill Approved
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee gave its approval
to a bill that gives digital signatures equal standing with written signatures
in the eyes of the law. The digital signatures bill, which does not extend
as far as similar legislation passed by the House Commerce Committee, urges
the establishment of a federal standard for digital signatures that would
foster the growth of electronic commerce. States and the parties
involved in transactions will retain the option of using handwritten signatures
for some documents, according to terms of the legislation. (Bloomberg
10/13/99)
Iowa
Colleges Set to Shelter People Displaced by Y2K
Iowa State University, the University of Iowa,
and the University of Northern Iowa are preparing to offer refuge to thousands
of people if Y2K-related utility failures occur on January 1 leaving homes
without heat. The three universities have their own power and water
supplies, and residence halls will be mostly empty with students away for
winter break. The University of Iowa is preparing its largest residence
hall, a recreation center, and student union to shelter thousands in the
event of power failures. The university has its own hospital, and
therefore is equipped with backup power supplies and generators.
Meanwhile, the University of Northern Iowa is preparing its residence halls,
gymnasium, and football dome. In preparing for Y2K, universities
in the Midwest have the benefit of an extra hour over schools on the East
Coast because of the time difference, and will be watching to get an idea
of what to expect. (Chronicle of Higher Education 11/05/99)
Other highlights of the issue include:
Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council Announces Winner of Best Practices Award. The Best Practices competition supports the Standards Council’s mission of promoting the use of standards for sharing data within the higher education community in order to improve service and control costs. The competition for the year 2000 will be announced at the May conference, with submissions due October 1, 2000.
The NCAA Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility.
This guide is now available on the Internet and is intended for use only as an initialeligibility resource, not as an admission reference. It
provides country-by-country outlines of the academic credentials students need to meet initial-eligibility standards for NCAA athletic
participation. To obtain a copy of the Guide, contact the NCAA publishing department at (888) 388-9748. The Guide is $4 for NCAA
members and $8 for nonmembers.
For the latest on What’s Happening in New Orleans as well as a glimpse into the Preliminary Program, visit AACRAO’s Website at
http://www.aacrao.org. Watch for additional details in the mail -- the AACRAO Annual Meeting 2000 Preliminary Program will be arriving
in members’ mailboxes in early January. This resource, among other things, will provide a comprehensive list of session titles and
workshops, along with registration and “Meeting at a Glance” information.
AACRAO Welcomes New Members and Bids Farewell to Departing Members. Among the new members are these institutional members:
Caught in the Surf, Websites You Can Use
Degrees Conferred: NCES has just released "Degrees and Other Awards Conferred by Title IV Eligible, Degree-granting Institutions: 1996-97." This publication provides information on the number of degrees and other awards conferred by Title IV eligible, degree-granting institutions located within the 50 states and District of Columbia during academic year 1996-97. Included are summaries by level of degree, field of study, race/ethnicity of recipients, and state. To order or view this publication (in PDF format) please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000174. Thanks to Fred Lillibridge, flillibr@nmsu.edu, Director, Institutional Effectiveness & Information Systems at Doña Ana Branch Community College (NM) for forwarding this from the TAIR list.
Plagiarism: In helping our faculty to meet the challenges of our more high-tech age, Dr. Jim Terry, terryj@salved, Registrar at Salve Regina University reports "Plagiarism.org has some very interesting potential for detecting plagiarism by determining if a term paper has been copied from the internet or from another class. The service was recently introduced on ABC News with Peter Jennings, and my own brief look has been fascinating. Perhaps you'd like to check it out." http://Plagiarism.org/index.html. You can also read a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article on catching cheaters in on-line courses in the free section at http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i12/12a04701.htm.
Reference: Desperate for some online reference help which has higher reliability than something one of your students threw together? Try some of these excellent starting places, but watch out for attempts to add you to their automatic e-mail lists or to have you make them your start-up web site. (Your e-mail is already cluttered enough, isn't it?)
NB: If you know of a web resource that you think may be useful to your colleagues, please send the URL to Scott Dittman at sdittman@wlu.edu so it may be considered for inclusion in a future issue of NetNews. Tell a little about why you like it and be credited with the catch.
- Miriam-Webster's online dictionary and thesaurus http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm are among my favorites, allowing for wild-card searching for word stems. Also, Onelook Dictionaries http://www.onelook.com/ offers you a free search box on your own web page and simultaneously search for a word in 580 dictionaries.
- Netscape's compilation http://directory.netscape.com/Reference/Dictionaries/index.html and Yahoo's http://dir.yahoo.com/Reference/ start with broad categories and then let you wander around. But my favorite is Martindale's Reference Desk, http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/Ref.html. You'll find everything from online language translators to more than 9,000 different kinds of calculators to geographic locators on this award-winning site maintained by Jim Martindale, http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/Author.html.
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online, http://search.eb.com/: After a slow start up, the servers have been beefed up significantly and the content high quality, as you would expect from EB.
- If you aren't familiar with Lexis-Nexis' Academic Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe, you should be. This is especially valuable for doing word searches of news articles and research publications. It is a bit slower than you might hope for but is quite user-friendly and comprehensive.
- Many search engines have natural language processors to help you start your researching by asking a question in English. The two best examples I've found belong to Altavista, http://www.altavista.com/ and Ask Jeeves, http://www.askjeeves.com/. The latter recently asked questions below the search box.
For more, (after you finish reading this newsletter) go to: http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?99114.iialaddin2.htm
Prilissa is like a gremlin trying to spoil Christmas in that
this Melissa-like virus capable of reformatting a hard drive.
The W97M.Prilissa.A. virus uses Microsoft's Outlook to send infected documents via e-mail, much like the
well-known Melissa virus, and in addition uses the system date to reformat users' C: drives on Dec. 25,
according to recent statements by anti-virus software experts.
For more:
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?991122.enxmasvirus.htm
AACRAO Annual Meetings:
April 9-13, 2000, New Orleans, LA http://www.neworleans.com
April 21-25, 2001, Seattle, WA http://www.seattle.com/visiting/index.html
April 13-18, 2002, Minneapolis, MN
April 6-10, 2003, Washington, DC
President: David Christ, Director of Admissions, Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC 29614, phone: (800) 252-6363, fax: (800) 232-9258, email: dchrist@bju.edu
President-Elect: Ken Hayes, Director of Admissions and Recruitment, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, PO Box 1595, Salisbury, NC 28145-1595, phone: (704) 637-0760x 212, fax: (704) 633-6804, email: hayesk@rccc.cc.nc.us
Florida
Annual Meeting: June 4-7, 2000, Tampa, Florida
President: Lisa Damian, Assistant Registrar, Univesity of Miami, PO Box 248026, Coral Gables, FL 33124, phone: ( 305) 284-2294, fax: (941) 284-6293, email: ldamian@miami.edu
President-Elect: Deborah Fuschetti, Registrar, South Florida Community College, 600 West College Drive, Avon Park, FL 33825-9356, phone: (941) 453-6661, fax: (941) 453-2365, email: fuscde24@sfcc.cc.fl.us
Middle States
Annual Meeting: November 29-Dec 2, 1999, Pittsburgh, PA
President: David R. Clawson, Associate University Registrar & University Dir., of Student Records, Thomas Jefferson University, 1015 Walnut Street, Room G-22, Philadelphia, PA 19107, phone: (215) 955-5001, e-mail: david.clawson@mail.tju.edu
President-Elect: Ira Tyszler, Dean of Institutional Research & Review, Touro College, 27-33 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010-4202, phone: (212) 463-0400, fax: (212) 627-9542, email: tysz@touro.edu
Mississippi
Annual Meeting: April 3-4, 2000, Louisville, MS
President: Cathy R. Van Devender, Registrar, William Carey College, 498 Tuscan Avenue, Box 4, Hattiesburg, MS 39401-5499, phone: (601) 582-6195, fax: (601) 582-6196, e-mail: regoff@wmcarey.edu
President-Elect: Bettye Graves, Director of Data Management & Records, Jackson State University, PO Box 17125, Jackson, MS 39217-0125, phone (601) 968-2300, fax: (601) 968-2399, e-mail: bgraves@ccaix.jsums.edu
Oregon
Annual Meeting: April 30-May 2, Warm Springs, OR
President: Bob Bontrager, Director of Admission
& Orientation, Oregon
State University, 104 Kerr Administration, Corvallis, OR 97331-2106,
phone: (541) 737-6166, fax (541) 737-2482, email: robert.bontrager@orst.edu
President-elect: Todd McCollum, Director
of WES Enrollment Services,
George Fox College, 414 N. Meridian, Newberg, OR 97132, phone: (503)
554-6120, fax: (503) 598-4338, email: tmccollum@georgefox.edu
Virginia
Annual Meeting: December 6-8, 1999, Hot Springs, VA
President: D. Scott Dittman, University Registrar, Reid Hall, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450-0303, phone: (540) 463-8455, fax: (540) 463-8045, email: sdittman@wlu.edu
You may now view position announcements at the AACRAO website. Point your browser to the AACRAO home page at http://www.aacrao.org, then click on the Jobs On-line link in the light green box on the left side of the home page.
Contact Steve Alexander at the AACRAO Office if you wish to place a paid announcement on the site, (202) 293-9161 or by e-mail to: alexanders@aacrao.nche.edu
End of NetNews, an AACRAO Electronic Newsletter
Send questions about your subscription address or about subscribing to:
Erika Watts<wattse@aacrao.nche.edu>