 Good afternoon. It is better in here than it is outside. Well, it is an honor to welcome you to our Fall Campus Assembly. I am always pleased to see the faculty, our staff, and our students who are able to make it over to this important event. I would like to begin by introducing two very special guests who are with us today from our Alumni Association. And I would ask you to stand as I call your name. First of all, Carol Sprayberry. She is our Vice President of our National Alumni Association, and I will invite her to come forward in just a few moments. And then, of course, Calvin Brown, who's Director of Alumni Affairs, is joining us as well. Thank you both for what you do for the University of Alabama, and I certainly appreciate day in and day out the way that you serve this university out on the road. So thank you all for being here. At this time, I would like to welcome Ms. Sprayberry to the podium to present the outstanding commitment to teaching awards. Thank you so much, Dr. Bell. It's my honor and privilege to be here with you. On behalf of the nearly 200,000 alumni and friends of the University of Alabama, please join me today in recognizing, thanking, and congratulating our 2019 Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award recipients. These awards are presented each year by the University of Alabama National Alumni Association based on the faculty member's commitment to teaching and the impact they have on students. This year, a number of highly qualified educators were nominated. These finalists were selected not only for their commitment to teaching, but also for their hard work, dedication, and overall interest in the success of their students. Each recipient will be presented with a commemorative plaque and a stipend. Today, I'm proud to present our 2019 recipients of the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Awards. The first recipient is Dr. Julianne M. Coleman from the College of Education. Dr. Julianne Coleman earned her bachelor's degree in government and politics from George Mason University, her master's degree in elementary education from Marymount University, and her PhD in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in literacy from the University of Virginia. She joined the University of Alabama's faculty in 2006. And six years later, she was promoted to associate professor of elementary literacy. She currently serves on eight doctoral dissertations and previously served on over 20 dissertation committees. Over the past decade, she has also written for numerous research publication outlets regarding literacy education, including the elementary school journal, the Journal of Visual Literacy, and the Journal of Science, Teacher Education. Dr. Julianne M. Coleman. Next recipient is Dr. Alan E. Lincoln from the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Alan Lincoln earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Albany, his Juris Doctor from Albany Law School, and his master of public policy from the University of Albany, and his PhD in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He joined the University of Alabama Honors College in 2014, and in 2016, he became a clinical assistant professor in the Political Science Department. Lincoln has also received commission in the US Navy Judge Advocate General Corps, where he has served on active duty and in the Naval Reserve in the United States and abroad since 2005. He currently holds the rank of commander in the United States Naval Reserve. Dr. Alan, third recipient is Dr. Steven W. Raimi from College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Steven Raimi earned his bachelor's degree in history from Furman University and his PhD in religious studies. Specializing in religions of India at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, he also has a master of divinity from Emory University. Dr. Raimi serves as the director of Asian Studies and serves in numerous committees, including the Research Grants Committee, the Committee in Religious Studies, and the Steering Committee for the American Examples Workshops. He also serves as co-editor of the International Peer Reviewed Journal, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, and is the treasurer of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion. Dr. Steven W. Raimi. And our fourth recipient today is Dr. Edward J. Schnee, College of Commerce and Business Administration. Dr. Edward Schnee earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from City College of New York, his master's degree in business administration and PhD from Michigan State University. Dr. Schnee has taught at the University of Alabama since 1982, and he currently is a Hugh Culverhouse Professor of Accounting in the Culverhouse School of Accountancy. Since 1985, he has also served as director of tax accounting, manages the program, and recruits students for the program. Dr. Schnee has been recognized for his research in taxation, publishing work in numerous business journals, and winning the best article of the year for his 2016 tax advisor article. Dr. Edward J. Schnee, thank you very much. Thank you, Carol, and congratulations to our four honorees, and thank you for your dedications to excellence in the classroom and for the impact that you have on our students in campus every single day. Now I would like to welcome to the stage Ms. Katherine Elliott. Mrs. Elliott is a UA alum and has been in academic advising at the university for 20 years. She has been with the College of Arts and Sciences for the last eight as an advisor and now serves as director for advising programs. Ms. Elliott will be presenting outstanding commitment to advising awards. Of the UA AAA organization. That's the University of Alabama Academic Advisors Association. UA AAA started over 10 years ago under Dr. Mark Nelson's direction when he was associate provost. The Office of Academic Affairs continues to support the work of UA AAA under the purview of Dr. Lohan Hahn, associate provost currently. The main purpose of UA AAA is to promote quality academic advising and support professional growth for faculty and staff in both academic and student affairs. We meet monthly, September through May, and our five-member executive board is elected on a two-year term. To recognize professional and faculty advisors across all academic divisions on campus, UA AAA solicits nominations from students each spring for the Outstanding Academic Advisor Award. For the 2018-19 academic year, our individual nominee total was 204 with many nominees for sitting multiple recommendations from students. We celebrated all of those professional and faculty advisor nominees at our April membership meeting. The UA AAA Vice President of Awards and Training, Sarah Harris, and her committee read through all the nominations and selected the top professional and faculty award winners. The UA AAA professional Outstanding Advisor Award winner is Mrs. Randy Ham from the College of Business, Culverhouse College of Business, and the faculty Outstanding Advisor Award winner is Dr. Meredith Bagley from the College of Communication and Information Sciences. Fortunately, neither one could be here today, but if you'll please take a moment to listen to what students said about each of them. Alex Lamberti said, Mrs. Ham has been a rock for me since I stepped foot in her office from my first academic advising appointment. She has been my saving grace multiple times, helping me when I'm feeling down, showing me a path to success, and looking out for my well-being as a person. I could not ask for anyone more extraordinary than her and to be my academic advisor, mentor, and friend. Victoria Jones said, Dr. Bagley was the first person I met when I decided to change my major. She listened to my struggles, presented new options, and understood my academic and personal needs. I will never forget the first time I walked into her classroom. She immediately knew my name. Dr. Bagley is outstanding faculty advisor who eagerly builds connections with students. She is aware that every advising session is different and each student will need a variety of resources. Academic advising goes beyond course registration. It's about building relationships with students. It's about listening, understanding, appreciating, and guiding them, each UA student, on their path to success. Both Mrs. Ham and Dr. Bagley do just that. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Elliott. I believe both of those are probably out advising right now, so there we have it. Well, now I'd like to call on Dr. Kevin Whitaker, Executive Vice President and Provost for Academic Affairs to award the SAM SMA Commitment to Service Awards. Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome everyone that's here this afternoon. It sure is a pleasure to be here and honor some folks that are here with us this afternoon. The first thing that I'd like to do is hand out the SAM SMA Commitment to Service Awards. This is named for a remarkable staff member from the Department of Chemistry who, in addition to his regular duties, volunteered many hours of his own time to tutor generations of students. The SAM SMA Award recognizes a department, a team, or center that provides exceptional service through commitment, innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement in customer relations. Today we have four awards. To our recipients, when I announce your team, please stand so we may recognize you. The first recipient of the award to be recognized is UA Early College, if you'll please stand. This is a very large team, so I won't call them all out by name, but they all support the academic success of the UA Early College program. They ensure our Early College students and their parents receive prompt assistance and support. And in ongoing commitment to success, this team also regularly examines feedback provided each term as a means of consistently evaluating the quality of service provided to our Early College students. They coach, mentor, advise, and insist, and they work very hard to be extra supportive due to the age level of the students they work with. The program also has dedicated faculty who solely or primarily teach UA Early College students and help them earn college credit while they are still enrolled in high school. There's so much more that I could share about what you do and the important impact that you have on our students. You place their needs first, so congratulations to all of you and thank you for your commitment and service. Our next recipient is the Gymnastics Administrative Staff with Alabama Athletics, if you'll stand. Oh, they're already standing, okay. This staff plays a vital role behind the scenes to support the longstanding successful history of Alabama gymnastics. One team member, Rita Martin, recently retired after serving Alabama's gymnastics team for over 40 years. Around campus, Rita was known for her caring but vivacious spirit as well as her pristine work ethic and attention to detail. Working alongside Rita for most of those years was Robin Kelly, who is now the new director of operations for Alabama gymnastics. Both Robin and Rita have been models for customer service and have interacted daily with customers, judges, coaches, athletes, and fans. A few examples of how they improved customer service over the years include community involvement, fan experiences, lighting, fireworks, parking passes, volunteers, facility operations, donations, donor relations, and alumni experience, as well as many other areas correlated to Alabama gymnastics. So congratulations to you both and thank you for your dedication to the university and to Alabama gymnastics. It's an honor to present the next award to Student Account Services in the Division of Finance and Operations. This is another very large team with 22 members who are successfully providing excellent customer service to Alabama students, parents, and campus partners. To that end, they maintain an internal goal of returning every call or email on the same business day received, often staying late to meet the subjective, while also upholding an open door policy and welcoming students and parents directly to their offices. Recently, this team led a project to institute an artificial intelligence chat box named Bama Bot in an effort to provide customer service 24-7, while making the best use of resources and funding. Customers comment regularly on the friendliness of this team and the comfortable office environment they have created. Consistently, they develop innovative ways to deliver message campaigns that allow improved communication with students while keeping student needs first. Congratulations to you all and thank you for your enduring commitment to the success of our students. The fourth recipient of the SAM SMA Commitment to Service Award is the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs in the Division of Student Life. This devoted team is made up of seven UA employees, two VA employees, one National Guard employee, and one Disabled American Veterans volunteer. In service to our campus community and those who have served our country, this team provides exceptional assistance to over 3,800 students as well as visiting parents, community partners, faculty and staff members who are veterans. They go above and beyond to ensure our students feel welcome and appreciated for their service or for the service of their parents. They work diligently to ensure UA students receive their benefits on time so that they may remain in school and do not have to face financial issues. Through their efforts, timely and accurate GI Bill certifications are processed every year, resulting in over $30 million in benefits paid to the university annually and another $15 million paid directly to students for tuition and books. Congratulations to you all. Thank you for supporting our students and veterans. Our campus community is grateful for your efforts and proud of your service. The final SAM-SMA award is presented today to the Office of Emergency Management. They'll stand. This team consisting of Dr. Donald Keith, Ken Horst and Sarah Johnston, serves the campus community during emergency situations that are often unpredictable and occur at the most inconvenient times. The staff is ready to react and jump into their roles at any hour. Their commitment to continually raise the bar to protect and inform our community is second to none. Several of the recent contributions include the UA Safety App, which was designed specifically with our students and campus in mind, and the integration of safety and emergency information into 92.5 UA Info Radio. We are one of the few universities that utilizes a radio station resource to provide ongoing safety information. UA was also the first agency in this state to adopt the new FirstNet communications platform, which led by this team in the Office of Emergency Management, allows our university officials and first responders to communicate on a secure network devoted solely for emergency response. In fact, because of UA's Office of Emergency Management, is so forward-thinking and innovative, we are role models for other colleges and universities in the nation. Congratulations to you all, and we thank you for helping keeping our students and campus prepared and safe during emergency situations. We are very proud of everyone who received the SAM SMA Service Commitment Award today. We celebrate with you and thank you again for your important contributions. The next award I will be presenting this afternoon is the Virgil Parks McKinley Senior Employee Award. John K. McKinley and the late Helen H. McKinley established this award to recognize enterprising employees who by action or idea, contribute to the University of Alabama's important mission of teaching, research and service. The award honors Dr. Virgil Parks McKinley, a longtime professor at the University of Alabama, who began his career in 1918 and retired in 1945 as the head of the Trade and Industrial Development Department in the College of Education. We have three to honor today. First, congratulations to Bernadette Chaviro Trudeau, Director of the University Supply Store. Bernadette piloted the Access Granted Program at the University, which since its inception, has impacted over 35,000 students and saved them over $2.3 million in Access Granted course material. In addition to the implementation of the program, she also directs and oversees two supply store locations. She's described as dedicated, energetic and hardworking and she is always willing to do what is necessary to provide the UA community with exceptional customer service. Thank you, Bernadette, for your contributions to the University. Next, we honor Julie Ember from the College of Engineering. In the nomination materials, Julie is described as being a significant help to budgeting, faculty recruiting, startup funding, administration of overhead return and faculty reporting. She works tirelessly with her colleagues, has developed and fostered congenial relationships with everyone she comes in contact with and never fails to provide any needed assistance. Thank you, Julie, for being an asset to the College of Engineering. The final recipient of the Virgil Parks McKinley Senior Award is Daniel Wood from Advancement Services. Daniel began his tenure at the Capstone as a student working in Advancement's IT department and then was hired full-time in 2010. He's described as a vital part of his department, always displaying initiative and perseverance in his assigned responsibilities. Over the past two years, Daniel has contributed to the success of implementing a new software conversion and he works with the team mentally and with a positive attitude. Daniel, thank you for being an important member of the UA staff and for working to make the university even better. Congratulations to all of our honorees today. We are proud of the significant contributions you make to our campus community. With that, we conclude the awards proportion of our assembly today. If all recipients would meet at this stage at the end of the program before enjoying refreshments, we would like to take some photographs. Now, we will hear from the presidents of various organizations on campus. First, from the faculty senate, please welcome Dr. Rana Donahoe. Dr. Donahoe has been with the university for almost 36 years and she has been active in the faculty senate for more than 26 of those years on campus. Prior to becoming faculty senate president, Dr. Donahoe served as vice president and secretary. She is a professor of environmental geochemistry. Rana? Thank you, Dr. Whitaker. The faculty senate's standing committees have been very productive last year and have set ambitious goals for this year again. Today, I will attempt only to highlight some of last year's accomplishments and to mention a few of the goals that have been set for the coming academic year. The committee, Academic Affairs, continues to be one of the most active and hardest working committees within the faculty senate. Representing more than three years of hard work by the committee and the Office for Academic Affairs with assistance from the legal council office, the revised faculty handbook was approved by the system office this summer and went live on the UA website on August the 16th. The handbook is considered to be a living document and as such will be revised and revisions can be submitted annually and those will be considered. The committee also developed a proposal for an undergraduate council which supersedes and replaces the undergraduate programs and services committee. Elections were held last spring and the council began its work this fall. The Community and Legislative Affairs Committee organized and held a legislative reception on April the 1st this year with three state legislators and 20 senators in attendance. The event was a great success. The committee also developed a proposal for a commission on race, civil rights, and slavery at the University of Alabama. The committee will work with Dr. Taylor's office during this year to make, to form the commission and get its work underway hopefully. The committee also will cooperate with the PSA and OXA service and outreach committees to hold the second teacher and staff appreciation luncheon for Brewerport Children's Center on May 5th, 2020 which happens to be Teacher Appreciation Day next year. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee investigated the need for affinity groups and will actively work to promote their formation as a means of increasing the connectivity, support, and security of UA faculty and staff this year. They also worked with Dr. Taylor's office to develop and promote university-wide events. A Holocaust Remembrance event was held in April. A hate speech panel was formed and held on August the 18th and next spring a free speech versus hate speech panel will also be convened. In addition, the committee drafted the faculty senate's response following the resignation of Dr. Jamie Riley. The Faculty Life Committee developed parental leave proposals for nine month and 12 month faculty. They will follow up with the administration to modify and implement these policies. The committee will also continue to work to expand childcare on campus. They are working with strategic communications to develop a UA employee website aimed at providing information needed by new employees and to develop a stronger sense of community for UA faculty and staff. The Financial Affairs Committee is conducting a faculty salary study making comparisons with peer institutions and the Southern University Group institutions and comparing salaries with benchmarks such as the Consumer Price Index. They're also investigating postdoc salaries and graduate student stipends to ensure that the university remains competitive. They also are monitoring university benefits and will make recommendations to that group. The IT and Strategic Communications Committee is coordinating with the Office for Strategic Communications about UA website changes. They are providing feedback on concur issues and needed improvements to that system. They have investigated the policy on UA logo use and approval. They provided feedback on the new five year strategic plan for the Office for Information Technology. And their goals for 2019-20 include working with OIT to improve information security on campus and to produce a facilities and resources template for use by faculty in grant proposal submissions. The Research and Service Committee developed a faculty research survey that was administered last October. Evaluation of the survey results has resulted in a report with recommendations for improving research at the university. The report was used by Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Dr. Russell Lumper, in development of a five year strategic plan for his division. The Committee on Student Life developed a crowdfunding proposal as part of the We Are UA fundraising campaign and raised money for the Joint Faculty Senate PSA and OXA service projects. A total of $1,678.12 was raised and matched by Bryant Bank. This money will enable us to continue our service projects for the coming year. The Student Life Committee also worked with Shannon Hubbard to support the Alabama Reach program students developing an Amazon wish list to restock pantry items needed by the students. They also are working with Shannon to create programs for reach student dinners. A financial literacy program was offered last spring and will also develop additional educational events this year. In terms of student care and well-being, work will continue on counseling center resources, suicide prevention, student food insecurity problems. The committee is also monitoring Greek recruitment data and will monitor the implementation of Greek task force recommendations. The Faculty Senate Steering Committee developed and submitted to advancement three proposals on May 17th of this year for possible use during the capital campaign. These proposals were requesting equipment and instrumentation endowment, an endowment for graduate student fellowships and an endowment for childcare, a childcare center on campus, a new childcare center on campus. Finally, recent events have highlighted the fact that too many members of the UAE community do not feel truly protected, respected and valued for their contributions to this institution. This is particularly true for our African American colleagues and students. Questions and uncertainties related to free, to academic freedom and free speech have been pushed to the forefront and it is clear that action must be taken to address them. And in September 17th meeting, the Faculty Senate approved the formation of a task force to transform campus culture at the University of Alabama. I am pleased to report that many concerned and passionate senators have volunteered for service on this task force and that expect the task force's membership to be finalized by the end of this week. The task force will carefully listen to concerns expressed by doing faculty, staff and students, devise effective strategies to address these concerns and work with the university's administration to advance its strategic goals for increasing diversity, promoting inclusion and achieving equality and thereby producing more welcoming and supportive environment for all members of the UAE campus community. Despite its ambitious title, I am not so naive to think that the task force can emerge nearly 190 years of history. However, I am very excited and optimistic about the task force work getting underway very soon. I look forward to the recommendations that the task force will develop to address the concerns voiced by many of you over the past few weeks. Partnership with the university administration will, of course, be crucial to the task force success. I also know that this challenging work ahead would not even be possible without the strong, sheer governance that we are quite fortunate to have at this institution. Thank you. I'm a professional staff assembly. Please welcome to the podium President Ben Kittishap. Ben has worked with the university since October of 2017. He is a licensing associate to the Office for Technology. The major staff here since 2007. But thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the opportunity to be here with you today. My name is Ben Kittishap. I'm a street honor privilege to be the president of the Special Staff Assembly. As an organization, we represent the extended professional full-time members of our campus. At the spring assembly, I told you that the administrative office would believe the PSA did not stand for people to serve impossible. Today, competition is worth any change. Because since that time, we have been busy. We have created, we have made four business profiles, passed two resolutions, and created an AdMob Committee task force to exceed the conversation. More on that in a minute. But all these efforts are led expertly by our experience, because of the unimprovable task of making the industry look good. And I think we can agree they do a good job. Throughout all these efforts, I challenge our assembly to not be a problem closer to a solution seat. We want to be a partner solution to not just a problem. Here's a snapshot of some of the solutions that we saw. As employees, here's how we'll be getting back to this. This is because we have no formal policy on community service matters. This leads to more work for a month who is at the vacation time to serve and volunteer within the community. Because of that, our solution which was meant to be delivered to Dr. Wittigert and the rest of HR was to create 24 hours annual community service time. They would event full-time employees to have a day of their vacation time to go and serve at these community service events, and most of which are sponsored by the University. This is not a better line of best practices across the University of Minnesota Conference and the Southern University Group. We look forward to learning from this process about community resources and finalizing this solution to not just PSA, but hopefully campus as a whole. Recently, some events have raised concerns in our environment for diversity and equity inclusion. PSA shares in those concerns expressed in our campus community. Dr. Bell has assured us that these issues will proceed full support in the entire resources of the University. And our efforts will be a part of that solution. We have created a permanent community for diversity, equity, inclusion, and quote, PSA. We hope that Dr. Bell will use and talk about it, Dr. Teller will use this community as a resource in front of these conversations and solve any future issues that may arise concerning diversity, equity, and. Finally, our biggest undertaking was our community on conversation. This meeting focused on the full conversation package and the process of which we did the diagnosis. And now we did not probably not have conversations on the amount of emails that I sent to you guys. I did that purely for the love of the game. We started this meeting due to lack of transparency on how a conversation is determined in the diagnosis. With such large differences in the department of department, there surely must have been a reason to go. When we asked the people we got 15 different answers, we knew there was a problem. Atastically, we were sending the best practices at other universities with larger positions, including the federal government. And after all, they can get right by can't do it. We also surveyed all 2,000 seats to do our full-time professional study. I'm happy to report that the results even blew us up. With a 50% response rate and an average time to complete 40 minutes, it's safe to say that the worst of the game is strong. While I do not have all our proposal solutions to share with you today, I can assure you that they are coming. The committee is wrapping up their efforts and we are looking to deliver those recommendations to the appropriate channels, Dr. Weber, professors at Bay Jack and the rest of the campus community very, very soon. To close, I'm going to get into some context that all of these stories are just concrete and any of the very good we've done is a problem to solve. The best necessary in our story might stay thin after a lot of problems that you've identified, big ones, that many of you didn't address. But the openness, like me, said there were more answers to the term. No big problems come with big solutions. We have a new opportunity to work together as a campus to finish providing the rest of our story in depth for here I say, legendary way. After all, this is where they are. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ed. Now presenting the office clerk of the technical staff assembly board. Please welcome its president, Angel Alvarez Lugo. Angel is the program assistant to the division. Members of the campus community, good afternoon. When we'll ask you many people to be office clerk on technical staff assembly, reiterate its commitment to advocating for the needs and concerns of non-exempt employees in the campus. We summarized our intentions from partners of other three representative assemblies to advance initiatives and programs that are beneficial to the entire UA community and to ensure the contribution that our employees to the success of this university are recognized and celebrated. I can report that today, our efforts on these fronts have been positive and predominant. If you are with us at the spring campus assembly, you will also understand when I say that I can also report to all of you and more important to my department that the state of spring right on this campus is strong. As the programs that we're actively engaged in pursuing our aims are simple, to promote our presence on this campus and to advance the agency of our individual members and our organization. In order to promote our presence, the OCTSA is currently working on policy language that addresses standard across the board campus procedures that respect the staff and team of department and division while allowing non-exempt hourly employees the ability to seek and attend, universities foster professional development opportunities aimed at education, career growth, and campus engagement. In regards to our agency, we're actively involved in maintaining our seat at the proverbial table. We stand with this administration and its continued efforts to make sure that all voices and viewpoints are welcomed, heard, and encouraged. With that in mind, we thank Dr. Bell for his recent leadership in seeing that the OCTSA is represented in the search for the new provost and securing non-exempt employees a say in that process. To that end, the OSA will be presenting a proposal that means that ensuring that good faith efforts are made to include non-exempt employees in the institutional processes through which university leaders are selected and granting us input in those searches. In addition to these two policy initiatives, the OCTSA will continue its partnership with Alabama Reach to make sure that foster youth and orphans attending the University of Alabama can do so in a supportive environment. We're also working to ensure that our stretch of the Adopt-a-Mile program provides visitors to our campus with a welcome worthy of the city of champions. And as always, the OCTSA will stand on the vanguard of protecting spring break forever. Thank y'all and Roll Tide. Thank you, Angel. And now from our Student Government Association, please welcome President Harrison Adams. Harrison is from Selma, Alabama and is studying economics and finance. Well, thank you, Dr. Whitaker. And good afternoon. I want to thank each and every one of you for coming today. And it's my honor to serve here as your SGA president for all of our students here at the Capstone. As SGA president, I have been tasked with a challenging objective to serve each and every student at the Capstone wholeheartedly for the entire span of my term. The university student body is a diverse group of individuals composed of students of different backgrounds, cultures and interests. As president, I along with my executive counsel have worked incredibly hard to make campus the best it can be for our students through a variety of initiatives and programs. We have taken a proactive approach this year to these issues and I'm happy to speak about these goals and initiatives we have completed with you today. The first thing would be with the Parking and Transportation Services Committee. We've worked with this committee to keep parking permits prices stagnant for the first time in 15 years for students and faculty here at the university. We have also recently implemented a Gacha bike chair program for students who wish to bike to class rather than use their vehicle or walk. Our joint effort was made with the Panelinic Association to allow Greek women to park on campus without a permit during Recruitment Workshop Week and Recruitment Week without fear of getting a ticket. We also worked to convert a fourth of the Ferguson Center surface parking lot into pay stations that will allow students to park without a permit for free for up to 30 minutes to pick up food, books, mail, without fear of getting a ticket. We have also implemented the Tide Loyalty Program that monitors student activity at home football games for post-season ticket rewards. This is used for post-season ticket sales to reward students that have shown the most support for our student athletes on the football team. Long term, we believe this will help with our student organized seating process for awarding the organizations that attend the most games for the longest following year. The tentative plan is to move into all athletic events in years to come. We have also worked with UAPD to implement an active shooter program. There has been an informational video created by UAPD, strategic communications, and the SGA to show students what to do in this type of emergency situation. There have also been self defense classes offered for our students. We have also worked with Dr. Taylor in our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Cabinet to offer a DEI certificate program for our students. We have been very pleased with the amount of student support we have seen and we've seen over 500 students at the first two sessions that we've offered. We have also worked with OIT as well as our Student Senate to bring Adobe Creative Cloud to campus. And we know our communication majors especially are very excited about that. We have worked with our Executive Secretary, our Vice President for External Affairs, our Vice President for Financial Affairs to work with the Office of Advancement to develop an alumni database for the Student Government Association. So hopefully we can increase our scholarship funds. We've also completed the student organized seating process for this year's football game, football season, excuse me. And we have also developed a council of student leaders from diverse spheres of campus to look at tangible ways through our DEI cabinet that we can make strides to make UA feel like home for every student on our campus. These are just a few high points for the 2019-2020 Student Government Association Executive Council. As you can see, we have been hard at work over the summer and over the first month of this school year. We are very thankful to be working with Dr. Bell and Dr. Cramer and the rest of administration to continue to make this year very impactful for our students. I look forward to working with our campus partners to continue to work together on more ways to improve our student experience. We will always work hard on behalf of the students here and please reach out to SGA if we can ever do anything for you. Thank you so much and roll tide. Thank you, Harrison. Now it's my privilege to turn the program back over to the President Bell. Thank you, Dr. Whitaker. Thank you, Rhonda, Ben, Angel, Harrison. The spring break platform is a good one, I think, Angel, to run on. Well, again, I want to thank everyone for being here this afternoon to help us recognize and to honor our award recipients and to hear of the all important updates across campus. Every spring and fall, I look forward to this assembly because it is a time when our community comes together to hear about the impressive things that are happening at the University of Alabama. Really, the accolades are too numerous to list and frankly, I think you may sometimes get tired of all the numbers and hearing those numbers. So instead today, I thought that I would not provide a long catalog of statistics, although I will provide some. I just can't help but do that. But I do want to use this occasion to share my pride in this university and to reinforce our ongoing vision to make the University of Alabama the place of choice for every student who sees themselves here at the university. I want you to know that I am honored, I am humbled to lead our great university. When Susan and I moved back in 2015, it was truly a homecoming for us, but we also knew when we moved back, there was much work to be done. One of the first things I said when I assumed this role is that we needed to take some time to assess where we are. There are moments and whether that is in our personal lives or professional lives, when I believe it is important to evaluate where we are presently, where we aspire to be and what we're going to do to get there. So in 2015, I began by really listening to our campus and our community. That began, we sent out over 100,000 surveys. We held town hall meetings. We heard voices that gave us broad perspective, students, faculty, staff, alumni, community and other supporters. Everyone who had not only investment in this university, but believed in the future potential of this university. We established a strategic plan to advance the flagship, to propel us to new heights. We developed it, we implemented it. We moved forward with significant accomplishments and we reflect on our progress. Today, I wanna focus on a very important word as part of all that and that is community. I've already used that word several times in my remarks, but it is the crucial foundation for what makes this university strong. There are over 38,000 students on this campus for the third year in a row. And we employ nearly 7,000 faculty and staff on our campus. There are distinctive personalities, individual talents, abilities, goals, dreams and personal victories all interlink as part of our university community. And it's important that we continue to collaborate, to learn from one another, to work with one another. And even though we embrace individuality, together, we are the University of Alabama. I know many of you are here today to cheer on our award recipients, but you also wanna hear plans to encourage and to support everyone in our campus community. So let me begin by giving you a brief overview of where we are presently as I see it. As a community, we are connected in a common goal and a common purpose. And that purpose begins with our students. It's really about the students, helping them to realize their personal dreams, their educational goals. We continue to examine and improve our efforts to welcome, to acclimate our students to our campus. University programs brings UA students together near the very beginning of the academic year in the week of welcome events. And they were hot this year. But those events promote unity through strength of relationships. We have mentoring programs such as the UA Believe program, which helps students with personal development, goal setting, and action plans. And we pair them with mentors who help them be successful and who meet with them on a weekly basis. We're providing academics to support, such as through tutoring offered by the Capstone Center for student success, students receive help from trained peer tutors on how to understand the fear of better and how to be successful. But there is more that needs to be accomplished. We will never stop refining, improving because we want the best for our students. We want them to feel at home here at Alabama. We want them to become that nurse, that accountant, that engineer, that teacher that they aspire to do. I love going to events and getting a chance to talk about and to talk with our incredible students and already this week, I've had a number of times that I've had an opportunity to do that. But did you know, for example, that we already have an entirely student run literary magazine in the University of Alabama's English department? Their magazine is called Black Warrior Review. It is one of only five national magazines to receive the 2019 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize from the Whiting Foundation and they'll be receiving a print development grant. The Black Warrior Review publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and art twice a year. While they weren't able to join us today, we can all celebrate in their accomplishments. Really, our students just consistently, I think, amazed all of us. This fall, we've seen an increase in in-state enrollment and another gifted freshman class for the third consecutive year, approximately 40% of our freshmen arrived with an impressive ACP of 30 or higher. Some may say that's just a score. I look at it as potential. These are an elite, hardworking, diligent art students in the 94th percentile of all students in the nation based on that score. We also have 256 new national merit students in this freshman class, the largest in our history. And will be one of the largest in the nation in that number. These students are ranked in the 99.5 percentile of all students in the nation. Lockheed Martin was just here a couple of weeks ago and their chairman, president, and CEO, Marilyn Houston is a UA alum. Just last week and now for the second year in a row, she was also named the most powerful woman in America in business. At the end of their three-day challenge box event that some of you all may have seen, 41 of our UA students received a full-time job offer with Lockheed and another 44 offered the internship placements. One of our students, Chris Simpson, he's a PhD student here. He solved the space challenge box high value question and was awarded an instant job offer at Lockheed Martin. Chris, would you please stand? If you all saw that problem, yes, it had a lot of math in it. What a bright future you have. Lockheed Martin recognizes the quality of our programs. In fact, Marilyn Houston credits UA as the most influential place in her life because it is the foundation for her remarkable career. Lockheed is ranked 60th among Fortune 500 companies and they want our students to be working for them because they know the value of a UA graduate. 56 goldwater scholars, recognition as a top-producing institution for Fulbright scholars, a student team winning NASA's grand prize for five years in a row, a UA student, Peyton Strickland, named among the top 20 science, technology, engineering, and math students across the country and internationally. Peyton is also one of our three most recent goldwater scholars. Peyton, would you please stand and be recognized? The other thing you need to know about Peyton is he broke his collarbone last Sunday night playing intramural football, but he wanted to be here today, so he's not only brilliant, he's a really tough guy. We're very proud of you, Peyton. These amazing individuals that I've mentioned today, these are among the students who are in our classrooms across this campus day in and day out. And what is it about the University of Alabama that brings them to our campus each year? What attracts students of this caliber? It's not a rhetorical question, we know what the answer is. And it is the legendary Alabama experience that brings them to Tuscaloosa. It is our commitment to excellence as a university that is who we are and what we believe in. It is the life-changing experiences that they have here and the people that care for them and the people that invest in them. It is the power of the University of Alabama degree to improve lives and not just the life of an individual student, but the lives of our communities and the life of society at large. Our legend's slogan isn't just an advertising campaign, it's a mantra of who we are, shaping a better world by equipping and empowering our students for a better tomorrow. And certainly none of this happens in a vacuum. I mentioned earlier the 7,000 faculty and staff on our campus. And so those of you who are here today across campus in colleges, divisions, labs, residential facilities, dining facilities, all of you are the key component to our impact and the success that our students enjoy on this campus. You shape the learning that is taking place. You devote your time, your resources, your knowledge and unquestionably your heart and your passion into molding these students. You impact their knowledge, their skills, their future and their families. You work alongside of them challenging and encouraging them. You are the foundation for their educational experience. You are the University of Alabama at our very core. And what a solid foundation it is. 30 current faculty have received National Science Foundation Career Awards, the nation's most prestigious recognition of top performing scientists. Two of our most recent recipients are Dr. Paolo Aruzio and he's a assistant professor in physics and astronomy and Dr. Kevin Kosot, assistant professor of biological sciences and curator of invertebrate zoology in the Alabama History Museum. Would you please stand to be recognized? Thank you, we're proud to have you as a faculty here. There are also 46 UA researchers included in the National Inventors. The Academy of Inventors, certainly their contributions and innovations are benefiting society. Faculty, staff, your efforts in classrooms, lectured halls, online courses, labs continue to propel us. Our online bachelor's program mechanical engineering is fourth in the nation. Our school of law is ranked eighth among public institutions. And for the first time, the women make up a majority of the incoming class in law and I think that's pretty cool. UA Coverhouse School of Accountancy, undergraduate program ranks 11th overall, PhD program ranks ninth overall. The Advertising and Public Relations Program and the College of Communications and Information Sciences has been a top five program in eight of the last 11 years that that award has been given. We are leading a national effort to continue to expand undergraduate science learning and engage students in active research even as they are freshmen. We're growing our graduate programs and we're working and collaborating with researchers in international settings and serving as a critical thought leader in global research. As I promised, I wouldn't just list accolades but and that's certainly not my intent but as we evaluate where we are, there is proof that the University of Alabama is a leader in higher education but it's also because of you in this room that has gotten us there. And when we're evaluating who we serve, how we're doing, and sometimes we look at statistics in those rankings but our mission is very clear. It declares our people as our priority. When we evaluate our impact on others, those on this campus, those in this community, those in this region across the state and around the globe, we are significantly enhancing the quality of life for those around us. And our state alone, we can see the results. The university's total statewide impact was $2.7 billion last year and we provided over 13,000 jobs. University of Alabama formed more than one million hours of community service through our students. In 2018, the Beet Auburn Beet Hunger Food Drive culminated with over 300,000 pounds of food being collected. UA's Dance Marathon raised close to $250,000 for the Children's Miracle Network Hospital at Children's of Alabama. Just a few moments ago, we recognized awards. I'd like all of the awardees that were recognized. If you all would please stand up in this room. Everyone that was recognized earlier today, would you please stand? Y'all can be seated. I want you to remember what Dr. Whittaker, what Carol Catherine said about these award recipients. Serving, going beyond, answering emails in the same day. Certainly as you teach in your classes and you see the impact on your students. All of that is serving our students, serving their parents and those around it. You could not be more proud. This is who we are. This is what we do. These are the results of a community that is dedicated to educating, problem solving, creating and continually growing and developing even beyond our own comfort zones. University recently launched a five year economic development plan that will stimulate economic development to illustrate our state and strengthen economic activities. Our graduates are part of the vital future of our state's future workforce. And we want them to have the best career and employment opportunities as they move forward. UA is educating and graduating more students than any other college in this state. More than 9,100 degrees were awarded over the past year. The University of Alabama system educates more Alabamians than any university system worldwide. And we continue to hold down costs. In fact, this marks the second consecutive year that the University of Alabama has held in state tuition constant. It has been an exceptional year for the University in philanthropic giving as well. This past Monday was the last day for the fiscal year. And while the final numbers are not fully tabulated, we will have reached a new record for dollar gifts from donors and alumni. And this will be the third record in a year for the last three years. We're also on the cusp of hitting the fundraising goal for Houston Hall. That means with approval of the Board of Trustees we expect Houston Hall will be open for students by fall of 2021. We also recently brought on board Dr. Charlene Newman and accomplished researcher in cognitive neuroscience to lead the Alabama Life Research Institute. Charlene, are you here? Here she is in the back, y'all will wave at her. I'm glad you made it. This is actually her second day on the job at the University of Alabama. And sometimes wayfinding is just hard on her. But certainly be sure and stop by and see her at the reception so that you can meet her and welcome to our campus. This is an exciting time at our university. We can look ahead to a promising future. We're succeeding, we're changing lives. We are transforming the society that is around us. But always when we take time to reflect and to evaluate, time that is clearly well spent to make sure that we're on the path that's correct is that we will find areas in room for improvement. And it's only natural that when we find those areas that need our attention, perhaps we feel uncertain. Change is often difficult. Sometimes it's just a matter of resetting. Sometimes it's listening. Sometimes we need more conversation, sharing of ideas, of thoughts and solutions. But to be on the right path, everyone has to be a part of the conversation. In a community, we must work together for solutions. And so we must learn from the past, we must take a good look, and then we must do better. With the necessary insight, we can plan for our future, and we can identify a clear and positive path ahead. Recently, specific concerns have been shared with me and other leadership about our campus, and we are listening. We will work with our campus, our community, and today on to provide assurance in some direction for these. One of our highest priorities of our administration and the third pillar of our strategic plan is to provide an accepting, inclusive community that attracts and supports a diverse faculty, staff, and student body. Since I arrived here, we have taken numerous steps towards that goal. We have established and are now expanding our first ever division of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We implemented a required diversity training for all incoming freshmen. We also have over 70 different student organizations which have diversity and inclusion as a focus. We've also been intentional in honoring those who have made significant and lasting contributions to our campus while also championing equality, including authoring Lucy Foster and Judge John Engel and both of whom were honored earlier this year. This goal of providing an accepting and diverse community has taken on a personal meaning for me as I have heard your concerns and ideas over the past few weeks. Let me be clear, Dr. Kramer, Dr. Taylor, and I were not just hearing, we were listening. Words will lead to action. A clear question was woven throughout our discussions. How can we do a better job of building a sustainable campus communities that meets and honors each of our shared values and expectations? As your president, I wanna thank you for your willingness to work together to that end. We are committed to a diverse, equitable, inclusive environment where all voices, all viewpoints are welcome. Nothing about our strategic plans, our goals, our policies, our handbooks, or commitment to these efforts or academic or free speech has changed. We affirm each of these. Our progress will continue. Faculty development opportunities will expand. Dr. Taylor is hiring several new positions to expand her role. Our searches for campus leaders will include diverse committees and require commitment to diversity. Our campus has made great strides, but more can be done and will be done. We are stronger when we are a community. We have more power and impact. We embrace individuality, but we also work in unity. And make no mistake, it is critical work that we do. We are responsible for the future. Every one of you in this room are part of that calling. You are the teachers, you are the supporters, you are those who will make our future and mentor our students. Imagine what one university can do when it is a community that is united. That is our future. We can do more and we will do better together. Thank you again for being here. Thank you for making the University of Alabama such a special place in Roll Tide. Thank you. We do have a reception that follows and those award winners as Dr. Whitaker said, if you would come forward, we'll do pictures. Thank you all again.