Coping with

.... 1'88" 3

Transition radiates aura of friendship

b,· Erin \l'halen An administrative change, such as a new presi­

detlt in a university, can be a disruptive or bar· monic-us period. Depending on the individual in­volved and the circumstances surrounding the change. certain conditions are likely to occur. Steven W. Straw, assistant professor of marketing and small business administration, discussed changes in administrations.

There are three common scenarios. One is that a stranger to the university is brought in as chief administrator. A hostile atmosphere between the old and new administrations is another possibili· ty. A friendly swi tchover, with the new president part of the previous administration, is the third.

The latter is the case for NAU. Eugene M. Hughes. who assumed presidential duties from J . Lawrence Walkup July l , has been with NAU for nine years. Hughes' most rece11t position was the academic vice presidency.

Friendly change Changes in policy and personnel are likely to

occur less often in a friendly transition than in the other two instances. Being part of the previous administration, there would be more cont:nuity in the administration changeover.

" Hctghes had input as vice president. He was almost unquestionably in agreement with polic:in because he helped make them," Straw SP.iCI. " Because he had input, carried out and originated some policy, I expect changes would be less."

[ __ A_n_a_lr_•_is ___ ] In the other two possible situations, the new

president would have to review everything before malt!nc changes. If the president is a strqer to tJui·uruversity, be would have to learn his job before rocking the boat or making changes.

The question of rocking the boat during a friendly change would depend on the individual, although necessary changes may come more quickly than desired.

Most changes likely to be made will be evolutionary as new problems arise. Revolutionary or dramatic changes are not likely in a friendly transition.

Changes in action and policy will be seen over a period of time, however. The main reason for that may be a changing society.

" An administration will be somewhat different from the past, because the future is different from the past," Straw said. "In any five-year period you would notice the difference, whether there's a change in presidents or not."

Any alterations made in an amicably-changed administration will go smoother and quicker than in other scenarios. That is because people working with the new administrator already know his s1andards.

" Deans are accustomed to working with him," Straw said of Hughes' case. "The deans are a critical link, because they run their schools."

Hughes also agrees that having a good working relationship with other administrators and being familiar with a president's job bas eased the transition period.

"In general I had a feel for the kind of things the office required. I know and had a close working relationship with other administrators and had worked with stude11t body leaders," Hughes said. "I had 110me real advantages knowing a lot of people bere whether they be stu· dent or faculty."

When Hughes became president, two vacancies were created in the Cetltral administration. One was his former position and the other was vice preside11t for student and university relati0111, vacated by Robert C. Dickeson. Dickeson left to become director of the Arizona Departme11t of Administration in Phoenix.

Vacancies are normal In an administration, whether a change in leadenblp bas occuqed or not. Vacancies occur as promotiODI are made within a university or as better positi0111 at other institutions are offered adminlltraton.

Stronger efforte Workers already Instated ill the inltitution may

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Quality academics

President's concern

• IS

Editor• :\ot~: :\AU Preoident Eugene ~1. Hul!h .. s " 'as inte.-·ie,.·ed Thul"8day by Lumberjaok Senior R"portel"8 Bill P«k and Erin Whalen. Hugheo dio~uooed future proje~ts and conc.,pts aff«ting the unhersit~· community.

R .. port.-r: Are you working to increase enrollment? Hugh .. s: Not necessarily. I'm more con­cerned with the quality of our academic programs. I think we've had an era of great growth. both with the size of our university and the physical facilities themselves. I think at this point, NAU is viewed as a major four-year university. I'd like my emphasis placed on quality. not quantity.

A.-porter: What would you consider to be an ideal student-teacher ratio? Hughes: It depends on the curriculum involved. I would hope to maintain the ratio we now have, which is approximately 22 to one. and maintain the philosophy wherein courses basically are taught by our regular full-time faculty. I also would hope we wouldn't bave any huge classes taught in the auditorium. If you wanted to save money, that would be the way to do it. I )lope we wouldn't have to do that, because then the quality of education does suffer.

Reporter: What contributions to NAU would you like to be recognized for? H ughe : I think you have to first review the history of this institution and the early presidents who have served the institution. You'll find they basically were concerned with survivaL The institution was very small. During World War-II, the enrollment became so small there was talk of closing this institution. So you saw the presidents during that era trying to keep the institution open.

Then when Dr. Walkup took over the un­iversity there was an era of higher educa· tion, which was the era of !I!OWth. This meant growth in the size of the faculty, the student body and the physical plant itself. I think Dr. Walkup did a tremendous job with the change of NA U from a teachers college to a state university. I think he'll always be recognized for growth.

Now we're facing an era of higher educa­tion. I think generally there will be a steady state of growth in enrollment and the physical plant. There will be some improvements, but you won't see the growth you saw in the past 20 years.

Then I think what we really have to look at, in terms of all the services we offer students, is providing the very best we can.

I think we offer an alternative to Arizona State University and the University of Arizona within our system of higher educa­tion . In many respects we offer, philosophically, what you find in many private institutions. That's the close faculty-student relationship.

This relationship is the concern for students from the time they're admitted un· til they're finally placed in a position. Then we follow them beyond that in their career. I think all of these things lead to this total quality of excellence that I would hope we'll be recognized for.

If there is any one thing I would like to be recognized for, it would be excellence in our academic programs, and student af· fairs. By that I'm not implying we haven't had excellence in the past, but I think we will place more emphasis on those kind of things.

Reporter: You have received three proposals for a power increase at KAXR· FM, one of the two student radio stations. The proposals are for a 3,500-watt increase, a 5,000-watt increase and a 100,000-watt in· crease. Which of the three proposals will you present to the Arizona Board of Regents meeting in October? Hughes : I think unless you pick the 100,000. watt increase, there is no reason to propose an increase. I think you can sell the concept as a station that would provide public broadcasting to the northern counties of the state. If you're thinking of just providing service to Flagstaff and the surrounding area, then we wouldn't be making enough of an impact to ask for those kind of things.

Reporter: Is there a chance NAU may have a closed campus? Hul!heo: No. What we're talking about is a partially-closed campus. There are a number of projects involved. The first project deals with changing University Drive, which comes in from the bigbway department on Milton Road.

The drive is going to be widened by agree­ment between the board of regents, the state of Arizona , the city of Flagstaff and the developer of the nearby shopping center.

We put out plans Aug. 20 for that project, and we open bids this weell. That project should take place this faiL The drive will be

Culture becomes life's fascination

... One of the largeolo~ulptureo at NAU wa& erected 'lll'rdnesda~ in front of tl11• ,.,.,. library addition. Created thio oummer by the Kink y Pines Art '\\ ork·hoJ•·· ron· trete ~oune, the 6,000-pound pi«e had to be moved by a J...,al u, .. J~ Co. r ran ... Photo by Linda Kephart Wiloon. s.,. otory page seven.

widened to five lanes uo to the cemeterv. There will be a new road constructed

from Milton Road off Riordan Road. We'll close the road between the library and the Creative Arts center. ·rbe new road will go behind the present parking lot at the Creative Arts Center. We'll hope to bid this project sometime during the winter, so we can begin construction in the spring.

The thought or the long-range planning committee is to complete the perimeter roadway, so you would have access to the campus and be able to travel completely around the campus without necessarily going to the core.

It would be my thought, if we can, to close off some of the interior roadways and develop more green areas with parking on the periphery of the campus. So all this leads to at least a partially-closed campus, being more similar to what can be found at

ASU or U of A.

Reporter : Is there any area of the curriculum you especially would like to see improved? Hul!hes: [ think, situated as we are on the edge of one of the largest Indian nations tn the world, we should be recognized for excellence in Indian education. I plan to try for a total u'liversity ef!ort devot"!i rn th• development of programs and services for university students, hopefully unexcelled by any university in the country We will have the kind of programs people wtll want to participate in and emulate within their own settings.

Reporter: In a prev10us meeting. you men· tioned the use of a computer-hasf'd manage·

S.,e Cone~rn pa~~:e 2.

Missionaries and legends spawn professor's interest by Erin Whalen

A full-blooded Pawnee Indian grand· father and growing up with a missionary foster father affected the life and career choice of Ross L. Woodruff, associate professor of Navajo.

Pawnee legends conveyed by his grand· father , and missionaries from all over the

world who filtered through his home, sparked Woodruff's interest in cultures and language.

"That h1s pretty mucb shaped my life," Woodruff said. " As a teenager I was exposed .to different languages, cultures and food.".

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Woodruff was reared by his grandparents in a rural town near St. Joseph, Mo. His grandfather told hi1'J tales of the Pawnee people, although they never practiced In­dian customs.

"He always lived like a white man," Woodruff said of his grandfather, who was a farmer.

After the death of his grandmother the 12· year-old Woodruff was put in a foster home, that of the president of Berean Missions, Inc.

Missionaries from 14 foreign countries, including Cuba, the Philippines, Africa and South America, would spend furloughs at mission headquarters with Woodruff's foster family.

" We had missionaries coming and going all the time," the 51-year~ld professor said. " I have friends from all over the world because of it."

Woodruff related a story of a child living at the mission headquarters. While playing a game, the child asked for the ball in four languages, including different African dialects and French, before finally com­municating in English. Later, be asked bis mother, " Why does everything have five names?''

8erean Missions also had missionaries in America with Indian tribes. Living at beadquarters until be was 22 years old, Woodruff wu esposed to the Navajo 1anpage and Cllltllre tbroacb the mis­liaaaries.

1111J50, Woodndl took a job as a .-raJ eclacator ill the Navajo raenatioll in An-. Tllere be 1atJibt reJiCioa ec~Ka­tioll for the s-tller1l Baptilt Conatioa ...t leaned lilt Nanjo ....-..

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"I IIJad DO ........ of ltaJIII witll lilt Nanjo peaple," WOGihlf llitl. "But I fell ill loft wiU1 lllem. l'te left, bat I alwaJs - llllcll to u.n. l 'ft lpf!llt ... ,.,. willl Nnajo people.

'"'lley're a &CCIII people, ID interesting people and wbell JOIIIpl!lld that many years

with them, you Jearn to like them. ·' he satd "I have a lot of Na\•ajo friends. They treat me like family and that helps."

Woodruff is teaching four Navajo language courses this fall , three of which are undergraduate and one is a graduate­level course. It is th'! 11th year Navajo has been offered at NAU.

Navajo as a written language was stan­dardized in the late '40s and early ·sas by Robert Young and William Morgan, Woodruff said. Previous to that. there were three dissimilar orthographies developed by Catholic, Presbyterian and Christ1an Reform missionaries.

The present wntten system consists of modified English characters with accent and nasal marks, Woodruff said.

Despite the years spent with the Na\'ajo people, Woodruff does not claim he peaks the language fluently.

" I don't think any whtte man can speak 1t fluently," he said. " But I can get around "

Some Jndian languages are tn danger of dying out. An Associated Press report stated a University 1f Georg1a professor IS

working to record the native language of Cocopab Indians, who live near Phoemx and Yuma, Ariz. before it becomes extmct

The Pima and Maricopa Indians, With whom Woodruff was an educattonal m1S· sionary for three years, also are losing their language. Teenagers and young adults do not speak their native tongue, Woodruff said.

" No one bothered to preserve their Cllltural heritage for them," he said.

That is DOt the case with the Navajo. Moll homes speak Navajo, although the litutioa is cbaJICing somewhat. In 1!151 , 13 peree111 of the Navajo spoke English and - t5 percent speak English in addition to Navajo, Woodndf said.

"I dolt • t tbint there is any danger of Navajo belllllolt," be said. " Orpnizatlons liR the Navajo Conummity Co1Je«e that are itterelted ill prei8Vinc 'Navajo culture are ~ Navajo legends."

Woodnlff estimates • perceat to 7& pe:r· eat of the NAU Navajo clul members are IBdinl. Reuonl far them to take Navajo, 11e laid. are to 1eam their language if they do DOt blow it yet, to learn to read the 1a11gaage and to learn the more formal speech.