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February 3, 2000 Societal, Personal Benefits of Research Recounted at Inaugural Symposium Vietnam War Topic of Thompson Forum Feb. 8 Karen Kunc Named State's Artist of the Year Thompson Family Endows Professorship in Modern History

Robert Knoll, Varner Professor Emeritus of English, addresses the audience Jan. 27 during the Centennial Celebration Inaugural Symposium in Kimball Hall. Knoll lectured about the history of the Graduate College at UNL. Societal, Personal Benefits of Research Recounted at Inaugural Symposium By Kim Hachiya, Public Relations Speakers at the Inaugural Symposium Celebrating Graduate Education, Research and Creative Activity recounted how graduate education have benefited themselves and society. Four speakers talked about benefits to specific sectors; the fifth recounted a historical perspective of graduate education at the university. Clayton Yeutter, former U.S. secretary of agriculture, said he regarded a graduate education as an investment in "long-term preparation and higher future performance." Government and industry rely on people with graduate degrees to supply talent, expertise and advanced thinking skills. While a graduate degree is not a necessary entrée to the private sector, a graduate degree is becoming an increasingly desirable credential that opens doors and lays the foundation for performance enhancements. Yeutter said that when granting graduate degrees, universities should require competence in spoken languages other than English, continuing education and exposure to the "real world" outside of academe. Kennedy Reed, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, noted that in the sciences, a graduate degree is an imperative for success. At Livermore, the bulk of the scientists have post-baccalaureate degrees and nationally, the mean salaries for those with terminal degrees are $15,000 higher than those with bachelor's degrees. Reed said he is one of a very few African Americans who have earned a Ph.D. in physics. He has worked to help encourage minority students to pursue careers in the sciences. He notes that despite much effort, the raw percentages have not risen appreciably, much to his regret. Recently, he said, he has developed collaborative relationships with scientists in Africa. That has been very rewarding and enriching, he said. Reed said he knows some critics say universities produce more Ph.D.s than the academic market can absorb. The degree is still valuable, he said, because of its relevance in industry, in non-research jobs and in non-traditional academic jobs. "Jobs will always be available for truly gifted scientists," he said. James Olson, president emeritus of the University of Missouri, said the humanities must work to demonstrate relevancy to the world of work. Olson, a historian, criticized what he called "the myopia of those who write the rules of entrance to jobs," because the specific skill sets that satisfy narrow of entry-level requirements become less important as a person advances in a career. "The humanities provide a context for activities," he said. "The humanities are essential to make sense of our knowledge-based society." Those students steeped in the humanities usually have the people skills and thinking skills that make for excellent employees. Graduate colleges, he said, need to look at occupational outcomes for their graduates and prepare them according to their post-graduate needs. Karen Kunc, professor of art, said the arts are a "vital ornament within the cultural mosaic of the state." Graduate education in the arts helps to justify the existence of the arts, she said, by proving that the creative arts are an intellectual exercise and not merely the performance of a set of learned skills. "The arts are a mindful endeavor," she said. "The arts provide an aesthetic feeling for the meaning of life." The master of fine arts program is an incubator that nurtures creativity and reshapes the perception of the artists. It creates a professionalism among artists and is a discipline that separates the intellectual practice from lay amateurism. "The MFA is a rite a passage of intellectual and creative rigor," she said. Robert Knoll, professor emeritus of English, noted that Nebraska created the first graduate college west of the Mississippi River and was a leader in graduate education at the turn of the 20th century.   Martin Massengale, left, Clayton Yeutter and Karen Kunc visit before the Centennial Celebration Inaugural Symposium Jan 27 in Kimball Hall. Kennedy/Johnson Defense Secretary McNamara Featured Panelist Vietnam War Topic of Thompson Forum Feb. 8 Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara headlines a four-person panel Feb. 8 in the next E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. McNamara, secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968; Robert K. Brigham, associate professor of history and director of the International Studies Program at Vassar College; James G. Blight, professor of international relations at the Thomas J. Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University; and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey will present "Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy," beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St. The discussion is free and open to the public and is also available live via satellite at College Park in Grand Island and at sites throughout Nebraska. The theme of the forum will be that the 20th century has been the bloodiest in recorded human history and that if we wish to avoid a repetition in the next century of the tragedy of the 20th, the time to start is now. During the century soon to end, 160 million people have been killed in conflicts within nations and between nations across the globe. McNamara and colleagues will argue that lessons can be drawn from past conflicts to advance peace among nations in the 21st century. To that end, a small group of foreign policy makers and scholars have met with their Vietnamese counterparts over the past five years to revisit decision-making during the Vietnam War. The goal has been to draw lessons from the war and to propose systemic and policy changes to avoid similar tragedies in the future. The result of this effort has been a new book, "Argument Without End," co-authored by McNamara, Brigham and Blight. McNamara, Brigham and Blight will discuss the lessons learned from the Vietnam conflict and their implications for peace in the next millennium. Karen Kunc Named State's Artist of the Year Karen Kunc, professor of art, was named Nebraska's Artist of the Year at the Governor's Arts Award luncheon Feb. 1. Kunc was chosed for the honor by a panel of artists, arts administrators and arts advocates organized by the Nebraska Arts Council, which coordinates the biennial awards. Born in Omaha, Kunc graduated from UNL in 1975 and earned a Master of Fine Arts from Ohio State University, where she began to develop her unique style of woodcut printmaking. Kunc has had more than 60 solo exhibitions in the United States, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Finland, Poland and Japan. Her works have been shown in more than 350 group exhibitions around the world. Kunc's next solo exhibition will open Feb. 7 at the Walker Art Gallery at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She currently has works in the MFA Portfolio: Past and Present exhibition at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Kunc received a Fulbright Scholar Award in 1996 and has earned two Mid-America Arts Alliance/National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. Kunc, who joined the UNL faculty in 1983, also has earned accolades as a teacher. In 1998, she received the prestigious University of Nebraska ORCA (Outstanding Research and Creative Activity) Award, one of the highest honors granted by the university system. Thompson Family Endows Professorship in Modern History By Kim Hachiya, Public Relations Elwood N. "Jack" Thompson and his wife, Katherine Clarke Thompson, have endowed a new distinguished professorship in the history department to be filled by a scholar of world history and international relations. The Thompsons' contribution to the University of Nebraska Foundation, made through the Cooper Foundation, is the latest in a series of gifts to the university to support the study of and interest in international affairs. Jack Thompson, a 1933 graduate of the university, is chairman of the Cooper Foundation, a charitable Lincoln-based foundation that supports initiatives in education, the arts, humanities and human services. Katherine Thompson is also an NU graduate, earning a degree in 1932 from the College of Arts and Sciences with an emphasis in teaching. The latest $300,000 gift will support a scholar of world history who will interpret contemporary political, economic, social and cultural trends from the perspective of world history and international relations. A national search will be conducted to find the first appointment to the Elwood N. and Katherine Thompson distinguished professorship of modern world history, which will be housed in the department of history. The Thompson gift will be matched with funds from the Mildred Topp Othmer endowment to fully support the professorship. The Thompsons also significantly increased their family's commitment to supporting the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues with a $250,000 gift. This lecture series, founded in 1988, brings speakers of national and international import to the UNL campus. "This (professorship) is an educational extension of the lecture series," Thompson said. "The idea is to increase student and public awareness of trends and issues around the world. Being located in the center of the country, we don't have the daily exposure available on the east and west coasts to world leaders, journalists and other experts in foreign affairs. "But increasingly, our own students and citizens are traveling more, conducting business, trading around the world. We have an increasing need for awareness of world trends." Thompson, a student of history who until three years ago audited a class each semester at the university, noted that many current developments have origins "50, 100, 500, 1,000 or more years ago." "The events in Kosovo have ancient origins. Macao just recently was returned to China after 450 years of Portuguese colonial rule. Ireland's troubles are generations old," he said. "Students and their parents are inclined to see history as a dull and dry subject but it's very alive in this era and someone who can provide links to current trends give history greater interest and meaning." Thompson said the scholar would be an established historian who has broad interests in related social sciences, humanities, economics, politics and the arts. The scholar must also be a "top-notch" teacher. He admits it's a tall order but he is confident that the university will find an excellent match. Chancellor James Moeser said Thompson's generosity would help students discover the link between the past and the future. "Jack Thompson's lifelong interest in history and foreign affairs has led directly to the development of this professorship," Moeser said. "We hope that more students will come to have the deep understanding of world issues and love of history that Jack embodies." The Thompsons have enjoyed a front-row seat to 20th century history. After graduating from Nebraska, Mr. Thompson won a Pulitzer fellowship from Columbia University in New York City that took him and his wife to Europe during the mid-1930s, where they spent time in Germany as Hitler rose to power. Upon their return to the United States, Mr. Thompson worked for several publications, the Associated Press, the National Municipal League, the U.S. State Department and the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. While at the State Department, he was involved in the development of the United Nations, and was a member of the staff in San Francisco when the U.N. was chartered in 1949. In 1951, the Thompsons returned to Lincoln, where he was president of First Trust Co. until 1961. He joined the Cooper Foundation, first as a trustee, in 1953, and assumed presidency of the organization in 1964. He has been chairman since 1990. In addition to founding the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues (originally called the Cooper Forum), Thompson was co-chair with the late D.B. "Woody" Varner of the fundraising campaign to build the Lied Center for Performing Arts .

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