Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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Dr. Berte and his wife, Ann, are smiiing folJowing the gala din- ner held in the coliseum. Gala 71 2 Honors Ten Years of Service The Berte Bash By Sharon Lynch In 1976, a young Neal Berte came to Birmingham-Southern College while the institution was going through trou- bled times. This year he celebrates his tenth anniversary at the college. We have seen the college experience a renewal, says Berte of the last decade. His anniversary was marked by a Decade of Excellence celebration in conjunction with the annual alumni weekend April 19. During the dinner in Bill Battle Coliseum, various alumni and community leaders gave Berte ac- colades not only for his work at the col- lege, but also for his service to the com- munity. The program also included a video tribute to the Berte ' s produced by the Office of Public Information that documented their accomplishments. To honor the Berte ' s ten years of ser- vice to the college, a one million dollar President ' s Anniversary Fund has been established from donations and pledges. The fund will endow the Ann and Neal Berte Honors Scholarship and support other programs of institutional renewal. Soon after the celebration Berte said that ' Southern (not him, he emphasizes) has accomplished three major goals during the decade: achieving recogni- tion for the academic program, strengthening the liberal arts mission, and placing the institution on a firm fi- nancial footing. Looking toward the next decade, he predicts that it will be a tough one for all of education. For this reason, one of his goals is for BSC to do all it can to strengthen the liberal arts mission in higher education. Berte has 2 goals for BSC itself. First, he would like to fulfill all the school ' s capital needs. The first step in this process is the construction of the new Harbert classroom building to replace Ramsay Hall. Other projects include renovations on Andrews and North Dorms, and Phillips Science. Second, Berte would like to see the school ' s endowment increase to 35 million dollars in order to offer more scholarships in time of cutbacks. Besides honoring the Bertes, the alumni weekend was also used to an- nounce major monetary grants. The most important and largest of these was a three-million dollar pledge from John M. Harbert III toward the 4.2 million needed to construct the new classroom. The weekend was, for the Bertes, one of looking forward as well as looking back. Dr. Berte says that he and Mrs. Berte enjoy what they ' re doing here and have no intentions of leav- ing. H Honoraries chat over dinner at the head table during the Berte Gala. The Bertes— 19

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Dr. Berte sports his administra- tive thinking cap while dishing up delicacies in the cafeteria. 18 — Academics Dr. and Mrs. Berte receive their guests in the Sundial Plaza. Dr. Berte savors his Shamrock punch on the Library Plaza. Dr. Berte takes a break from his never-ending duties as President of the College.

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Penfield Recaps First Year Dean Takes Charge. By Rodney Ferguson As the school year draws to an end, so the does the successful charter year of Dean Penfield ' s term at South- ern as Dean of the College. Warned by former Dean Moomaw that the job had a two year Initiation period, Dean Penfield seems to have taken the chal- lenge of the job and run with it. He has gone through the year learning the ins and outs of his new positions and transforming from a faculty member to an administrator. A lot of his work has taken place on a general level in that he has spent a lot of time getting to know students and faculty and how to orient his job towards their needs and the needs of the College. Besides learning the basics of the job, he has been involved with working toward a Ford Foundation Grant, pro- motion of the Adult Studies program by gaining funds for new faculty positions in that program, working with the nationally recognized nursing program, and working on programs to be imple- mented with the use of Kellog Foundation funds. He has also been very successful with his faculty ap- pointments this year, especially in the Math, English, and Humanities divi- sions. Looking forward to next year. Dean Penfield hopes to further his work with new academic programs by finding the funding for these programs and grants that are available to the faculty for projects. The Dean also hopes to continue to find good professors for ' Southern. Another big goal of the Dean ' s is pushing BSC into the regional, national and internations markets by promoting traditionally strong, liberal arts values and programs coupled with an excel- lent faculty and students. With a year under his belt, Dean Penfield seems to have successfully made the transformation to the kind of dean Birmingham-Southern can be proud of. [ ] Daper Dean. Dean Penfield took time out of his daily routine to pose for a photo. This photograph was used in the offi- cial announcement of the Dean ' s promotion. 20 — Academics