With the end of spring semester, Education Professor Gary Martin completes his term as the first presidential faculty  fellow at Auburn under a program started in late 2007 by President Jay Gogue.

Since starting the fellowship in January, Martin has been balancing his time between the President's Office in Samford Hall and the College of Education's Department of Curriculum and Teaching, where he teaches graduate courses for current and future math teachers and coordinates AU's involvement in the East Alabama TEAM Math partnership.

In his role as a presidential fellow this semester, Martin has been developing a proposal to establish a Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics center at Auburn as part of a national program widely by its acronym, STEM. He has also been assisting Gogue and Executive Vice President Don Large with administrative responsibilities and joining those executives in meetings with a cross section of AU constituents.

Martin, who applied for the fellowship last fall to get a broader perspective on university administration, says he gained that and more while working in the Office of the President. "As faculty members, we focus on own students and programs, and most of the time we work in a clearly defined area," he said. "Administrators, on the other hand, have to take a global view. They have a responsibility to see how all the pieces fit together."

With many issues competing for their attention around the clock and numerous individuals providing information about those issues, administrators seldom have the luxury of focusing for long on a single goal or project, he said.

He noted that a decision in one area will usually impact other areas, as well, leading administrators to look far beyond the narrow or short-term impact of their actions. "I have a new appreciation for the responsibility that people in administration carry forward on an ongoing basis with style and grace," he said. "The amount of thought and planning that goes into budget matters, for instance, is astonishing."

Martin said he would strongly recommend the experience to others. "This has been a tremendous opportunity to see how the university works and how all the pieces fit together," he said. "It is a healthful experience to get out of one's own environment from time to time in order to gain a broader perspective."

The central administration fellowship is the latest in a range of experiences in education for Martin, who taught at Northern Illinois University from 1984-88 and the University of Hawaii from 1988-97. He was director of research and then chief education officer for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics from 1997 until he joined the Auburn faculty in 2000.

As he returns fulltime to his academic duties, Martin will spend the first half of the summer working with TEAM Math, a partnership involving AU, Tuskegee and area school systems. The second half of the summer, Martin will be back in the classroom, teaching graduate students, many of whom are also teachers in Alabama schools.