Contents

• Update from the Honors Program
• PEARL Updates and Information
• Undergraduate Research Conference - April 3
• Celebrate Earth Day with Environmentalist and Policymaker Bruce Babbitt
• OASIS Events for April 2008

Special Announcement

Update from the Honors Program

The Honors Program has just completed the review of over 1000 applications for the fall of 2008. Some acceptance letters were sent out in December, and the final ones went out on April 1. We anticipate an entering class of about 500 students, and this class should be one of the strongest and most diverse we've admitted so far.

Those students will join another 1500 Honors students who excel in the classroom and who are active on campus: the Honors Program is well represented among the newly elected ASUN officers (both the president and first vice-president are in the Honors Program) and members of Mortar Board and Innocents. They are active in UCARE, in honoraries, and in a vast number of student organizations, from UNL and college ambassadors to professional organizations to Dance Marathon and intramural sports. One was involved in the Andrill project.

In addition, our students have applied for many major scholarships and fellowships as well as to graduate and professional schools around the world. One student has been accepted into MPhil programs at Oxford and Cambridge, while another awaits the decision on a Fulbright to study at the University of Nottingham. Two have just been awarded Goldwaters.

Our alumni are distinguishing themselves as well, in Lincoln, in the state, nationwide, and internationally. We invite you to peruse our website at honors.unl.edu to meet some of our outstanding students and alumni, such as Aaron Eske, UNL's first Marshall Scholar. And to see Honors in action, drop by Neihardt when you're out and about campus.

Announcements and Events

PEARL Updates and Information

Jessica Jonson, Office of Undergraduate Studies, Julie Johnson, Child, Youth and Family Studies, and Jeremy Penn, Office of Undergraduate Studies, will present "Developing Shared Criteria for Peer Review of Program Assessment Plans" at the 113th Annual Meeting of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in Chicago on April 13th.

Jessica Jonson, Office of Undergraduate Studies, and David Wilson, Academic Affairs, will present "The Power of Three: Creating a Culture of Assessment Through Software Supported Program Assessment, Reform of General Education, and Improvement Grants" at the 2008 North Carolina State Assessment Conference on April 26th.

As a result of some discussions at the 2008 Spring PEARL luncheon, a new listserv for sharing and collaborating on PEARL and program assessment has been created. All current PEARL Program Leaders and Peer Reviewers have been automatically enrolled in the listserv. Please contact Jeremy Penn (jpenn@unlnotes.unl.edu) for more information.

Undergraduate Research Conference - April 3

As part of the 2008 UNL Research Fair, the Undergraduate Research Conference will be held on Thursday, April 3. 190 undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines will present their research in a poster session from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in the Centennial Room of the Nebraska Union.

A preliminary program can be found on the UCARE website: http://www.unl.edu/ucare/ugrcprogram.shtml.

Celebrate Earth Day with Environmentalist and Policymaker Bruce Babbitt

Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001, will replace William K. Reilly as the final lecturer in the 2007-2008 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues. Babbitt will give a lecture titled, "Nebraska's Water Future: Feast or Famine?" at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 22 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 12th and Q streets.

Babbitt was Governor of Arizona from 1978-87 and Attorney General of Arizona from 1975-78. As governor, he brought environmental and resource management to the forefront in the state. He negotiated and steered to passage the Arizona Groundwater Management Act of 1980, which remains the most comprehensive water regulatory system in the nation. He was also responsible for creation of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Clinton, Babbitt led the creation of the forest plan in the Pacific Northwest, restoration of the Florida Everglades, passage of the California Desert Protection Act, and legislation for the National Wildlife Refuge system. As a certified fire fighter, he brought his front line experience to creating a new federal wild land fire policy that emphasized the role of fire in maintenance and restoration of natural ecosystems. He pioneered the use of habitat conservation plans under the Endangered Species Act and worked with Clinton to create 22 new national monuments. He is the author of "Cities in the Wilderness," recently issued by Island Press, in which he lays out a new vision of land use in America. He currently serves as a director of the World Wildlife Fund.

All Thompson Forum lectures are free and open to the public. Tickets are required and guarantee you a reserved seat. If you are already holding a ticket for the April 22 lecture, please use that ticket. It is not necessary for you to get a new ticket due to the change in speaker. If you need tickets, request them by calling the Lied Center at 402-472-4747 or 1-800-432-3231. You can also view the lectures live via the web at www.unl.edu or on Lincoln cable channel 21.

In other Forum news, unfortunately we were unable to reschedule a lecture by sustainable development advocate Sunita Narain, which was postponed last fall due to illness. We regret any inconvenience this caused. http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/enthompson/

OASIS Events for April 2008

• April 1, Lost Boys of Sudan (movie night), Discussion by Lost Boys of UNL, 6:00 p.m., Neb. Union Crib
• April 2, God Grew Tired of Us (movie night), Discussion by Lost Boys of UNL, 6:00 p.m., Neb. Union Crib
• April 3, The Lost Boys and Print Media: An Examination of Refugee Resettlement Policy, Programs and Culture, Presentation by Dr. Mary Willis (Anthropology and Geography), 6:00 p.m., Nebraska Union Crib
• April 3, Helpful Hints for Final Essays, Presenter: Mike Kelly, UNL Writing Center, 6:00-7:00 p.m., Culture Center
• April 7, Motherland Afghanistan (movie night), Discussion by Farida Ebrahim, Afghan Renascent Youth Association, 6:00 p.m., Nebraska Union Crib
• April 8, The Message: The Story of Islam (movie night), Discussion by Farida Ebrahim, Afghan Renascent Youth Association, 5:30 p.m., Nebraska Union Crib
• April 9, Afghan Nawroz: A New Year Celebration, Hosted by Afghan Renascent Youth Association, 6:00 p.m., Nebraska Union Crib
• April 16, The Center of any Culture is Protecting the Women and the Children: Women's Health, Health Insurance and Ovarian Cancer, Presentation by John Trudell (Poet, Recording Artist, Actor and Activist), 7:00 p.m., Nebraska Union Crib
• April 18, NU Connections Cookout, 5:30 p.m., Culture Center

Contact the Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services (OASIS) for more information.

Dr. Rita Kean, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Professor of Textiles, Clothing and Design
Jamar Banks, Director of OASIS
Dr. Patrice Berger, Director of NU Honors Program and Professor of History
Dr. Laura Damuth, Director of Undergraduate Research and Fellowship Adviser
Dr. Donald Gregory, Director of General Studies and Associate Professor of English
Gail Hackwith, Administrative Assistant
Dr. Jessica Jonson, Director of Institutional Assessment
David McGee, Administrative Technician I
Nancy Mitchell, Interim Director for ACE Program
JoAnn Moseman, Academic Transfer Coordinator
Jeremy Penn, Assessment Associate for PEARL
Marcia White, E.N. Thompson Coordinator and Political Science Adviser
AnnMarie Williams, Academic Learning Communities Coordinator