| Legal download agreement announced
Students will be able to legally download thousands of songs and have access to more than 45 movies a month through a new agreement the university has reached with Ruckus Network. The deal, announced Friday, makes AU the first Washington-area university to offer such a service to its students. “We think that Ruckus Network’s extensive and frequently refreshed multimedia offerings provide a very attractive alternative to illegal downloading,” Gail Hanson, vice president of campus life, said in a statement. “We’d much rather achieve compliance with copyright law by satisfying students’ interests than simply by aggressive policing. Students who previewed Ruckus responded very favorably to its program format and customer engagement.” In addition, Ruckus users can rate albums, playlists, articles, and movies. Students also can submit pictures to the Campus Watch section of Ruckus Network, which posts photos of everything from people and places to campus events. For more information, log on to Ruckusnetwork.com.
Nominations sought for awards
Have you been thinking of a colleague whose innovative work you’d like to applaud? Or a professor whose outstanding teaching is inspiring to students and colleagues alike? It’s time to make nominations for the 2005 university awards for faculty, staff, students, and alumni. As the Staff Awards are now linked with the goals of the Performance Management Program, awards will now be given in the categories of innovation, teamwork, diversity, customer focus, and service to the AU community. A set of criteria has been developed by Human Resources for nominations in each area. Nominees for the Customer Focus Award, for instance, should demonstrate a combination of 12 criteria, such as “checked understanding by stating what he or she understood were the customer’s needs or expectations and asked the speaker to verify or clarify.” Criteria are described at length and nomination forms can be downloaded from the Web site, www.american.edu/
universityawards/staff/nomination.htm. Nominations may come from supervisors, peers, subordinates, faculty, or students. Those nominations are due to the president, provost, or unit vice president by Mar. 1. Faculty awards include such traditional honors as Scholar-Teacher of the Year, Outstanding Teaching in a Full-Time Appointment, and Outstanding Teaching in the General Education Program. Nominations from the community are due to the dean or university librarian by Feb. 18. One exception is the award for Outstanding Service to the University Community by a Faculty Member or Administrator. Any member of the community may submit nominations for this award directly to the provost by Feb. 25. |
