Amanda Yost, a member of the Nebraska Women's Bowling team, gets in some practice during Spring Break March 16 in the East Union.

Feed Your Brain at March 25 Research Fair

Feed your brain with food for thought at the University Reseach Fair March 25 at the Nebraska Union.

The fair, which features NU faculty members representing about 35 departments, runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Centennial Ballroom of the Nebraska Union.

Faculty will be on hand to discuss research in areas as diverse as the Dead Sea Scrolls, adolescent alcohol use in cultural context, biological systems engineering, art and art history, agribusiness, fiction writing, management, global positioning systems and virology.

The fair is held in conjunction with the Undergraduate Research Conference and the Graduate Student Research Symposium, which open on March 24 and conclude with a poster judging contest from 1-2:30 p.m. March 25.

Most activities for the Undergraduate Research Symposium occur in the College of Business Administration Building. The graduate symposium's March 24 events occur in the Wick Alumni Center.

Those attending the fair will receive a free Mug rootbeer float or ice cream product courtesy of Pepsi, the Food Processing Center and UNL Dairy Store.

All events are free and open to the public. Faculty are particularly encouraged to urge students to attend the fair.

The fair is sponsored by the UNL Committee Celebrating the Centennial of Graduate Education, Research and Creative Activity at the University of Nebraska.

Agronomy, Horticulture Integration Boosts Flexibility

By Dan Moser, IANR news

A proposed integration of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's horticulture and agronomy departments will reduce administrative overhead expenses while leaving both programs better positioned to serve students and the state during challenging budget times, university officials say.

Plans are to combine the horticulture and agronomy departments July 1, pending regents' approval, said Irv Omtvedt, vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, of which both departments are units. The new unit would be called the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture.

Undergraduate students still will be able to pursue majors in horticulture or agronomy through the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. However, the integration should enhance opportunities to share facilities and offer some courses that deal with plant-science basics that are core to both majors.

Omtvedt said the move makes sense for several reasons:

­ Some faculty in the two departments have similar discipline backgrounds.

­ Several effective collaborative programs already involve both departments.

­ The merger will make better use of limited space, allowing more sharing of facilities and equipment. The horticulture department and most of the agronomy department already are in the same building on East Campus and share a business office.

­ Larger departments usually have more budget and program flexibility ­ particularly crucial with reallocation and other budget challenges.

Not everyone supports the merger, Omtvedt acknowledged. At meetings last month with commodity groups and industry representatives, some urged the university to maintain two separate departments. Some alumni and faculty also oppose the integration, while others support it because it would enhance both programs.

One key industry group, the Nebraska Turfgrass Foundation, told Omtvedt in a letter that it does not oppose the integration as long as "the positive relationship between the NTF and UNL" continues.

"We recognize that not everyone considers this the most desirable or popular decision," Omtvedt said. Among the concerns raised by opponents of the integration were the existence of "cultural differences" between the two fields and the potential that horticultural interests could be de-emphasized since the horticulture department is smaller than the agronomy department.

Those concerns were heard and steps will be taken to address them in establishing operating procedures for the new department, Omtvedt said. If the proposal is approved and a new department is established, progress will be assessed after a two-year transition to identify any changes that might be needed. "If some aspects of the integration are not working, we will be willing to adjust accordingly," Omtvedt said.

Industry representatives will be invited to serve on an advisory committee for the new department and to be involved in search committees for the hiring of faculty. Other steps will be taken to solicit industry involvement in the department's activities.

Also, Omtvedt said, IANR administration is committed to trying to make certain that the new Department of Agronomy and Horticulture "gets off to a good start" during the next two years by ensuring that it receives at least as much state-appropriated funding as the two departments now get separately, "unless IANR encounters an unforeseen reduction in its state appropriations."

The integration proposal has been discussed for several years, and faculty from both departments have been meeting regularly for the last year to work out details, Omtvedt said.

P. Stephen Baenziger, professor of plant breeding in the agronomy department and member of the faculty steering committee planning the integration, said the plan should build on the similarities between the two departments to create a "new synergism" between the disciplines that should strengthen teaching, research and extension.

"Horticulture in many ways is not that different than agronomy," Baenziger said. "Many of the programs fit together nicely ... We've been working together very closely for years."

Perhaps most exciting, Baenziger said, is the expanded reach the new department would have.

"Agronomy tends to be related to agriculture, while at least a part of horticulture is oriented toward an urban audience," he said. "Now you have the opportunity to create a department that ought to be able to meet the constituent needs from the heart of Omaha to the heart of Cherry County."

If the integration is approved, plans are to appoint a head for the new department for the two-year transition period. When that period ends, the status of the new department would be evaluated and it would be decided whether to conduct a national search.

Ken Cassman heads the agronomy department; Dave Lewis last month retired as head of the horticulture department and Garald Horst was appointed interim head.

Before the proposal goes to the regents for consideration, Omtvedt said, it must be considered by the UNL Academic Planning Committee, UNL Chancellor Moeser and the Council of Academic Officers. Both Moeser and NU President L. Dennis Smith have been kept informed of the merger plans and are supportive, Omtvedt said.

Splinter Family Endows Professorship

By Rebecca Smith, NU Foundation

No one understands the value of an endowed faculty position better than William Splinter. An emeritus faculty member, Splinter held the George W. Holmes distinguished professorship while heading the agricultural engineering department at UNL. After accepting a position as vice chancellor for research, Splinter worked with donors to create other endowed faculty positions at the university.

Now, this long-time faculty member is creating the Dr. William E. and Eleanor L. Splinter Fund for Biological Systems Engineering in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Splinter's $500,000 gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation will fund the Splinter distinguished professor for biological systems engineering. The income from the gift will be supplemented by a match from the Donald and Mildred Othmer estate, creating the equivalent of a $1 million endowment.

"Throughout my career at UNL, I saw firsthand the value of endowed faculty positions," said Splinter, a North Platte native who now resides in Lincoln. "I regarded my own professorship as a great honor and assisted others in creating similar positions. I want this endowment to express my appreciation for what was given to me."

Chancellor James Moeser said Splinter truly exemplifies a great university professor.

"As one of two living Nebraska professors who are members of the National Academy of Engineering, he has an outstanding reputation both nationally and internationally," said Moeser. "His leadership and vision in the area of agricultural engineering has led to current practices that make American agriculture the envy of the world. The fact that he has chosen to honor his late wife, Eleanor, through an accelerated gift to the university is but one more example of his generosity and vision. When coupled with a match from the Othmer endowment, the gift has the ability to immediately affect teaching and research within the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources in a meaningful and important way."

The Splinter distinguished professor will develop research and teaching programs to integrate engineering, physiology, biochemistry, biotechnology, thermodynamics and bioenergetics with the ultimate goal of enhancing the well-being of rural citizens and improving food production efficiency.

"This endowed position allows us to hire an engineer with capabilities in the area of biological engineering," said Glenn Hoffman, head of the biological systems engineering department. "The faculty member will conduct basic research on engineering properties of biological systems."

The Splinter distinguished professorship recipient will be responsible for research and teaching within the institute. Irv Omtvedt, IANR vice chancellor, said the gift will enhance research and educational capabilities in this well-focused priority area.

"We are extremely pleased to receive Dr. Splinter's generous contribution," said Omtvedt. "The Splinter distinguished professorship will further this emerging discipline and will facilitate the development of a closer connection between engineering and science."

Splinter graduated from the university in 1950 with a degree in agricultural engineering and pursued his master's and doctorate degrees at Michigan State University. He was a member of the biological and agricultural engineering department at North Carolina State University for 14 years before returning to UNL in 1968 as head of the agricultural engineering department. He served in that post for 20 years before becoming the assistant vice chancellor for research and later vice chancellor for research. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1984.

"My wife Eleanor joked that I was on my third annual retirement when I stepped down from the position of vice chancellor," said Splinter. "My years at the university were wonderful because of her support."

The Splinters planned to create this endowed faculty position through a bequest following their deathes. However, when Eleanor died in 1999, Splinter decided to move ahead with the gift immediately to honor his wife.

"This fund has allowed me to create a memorial to my wife while impacting the university," said Splinter. "Having seen the benefit of such gifts first-hand, I can tell you that endowed faculty positions can greatly further any area of study."

Splinter's association with UNL continued as three of his children attended the university. Kathryn Watkins graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology and now lives near Paris, Ky., with her husband Steve. Watkins is an associate professor of occupational therapy at Eastern Kentucky University. William J. Splinter, an air traffic control supervisor who lives in Lancaster, Calif., with his wife Lori and sons Wil and Garret, graduated from UNL with a degree in geography. Karen Kolb, who operates a pet store franchise, graduated from UNL with a degree in horticulture. She and her husband Mike live near Waverly. Robert Splinter received his degree in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University and is employed by Honeywell in the area of avionics. He and his wife Sylvia and son Alan live in Albuquerque, N.M.

"Bill and Eleanor were exceptional members of the university community and we are pleased to be able to honor them both through the permanent funding of a professorship in their names," Moeser said. "Bill held a named professorship at the university and he well knows the honor and responsibility such a position holds. We hope that the scholar who fills this professorship is every bit the scientist that Bill exemplifies."

"Toward a Coherent Campus Culture" Available on Web

Kellogg Letter Proposes Way to Improve Universities' Culture

To help public institutions prosper and meet increased demands on them in the 21st century, Chancellor James Moeser and 23 other public and land-grant university chief executives have announced a strategic framework for creating a stronger, more cohesive university culture.

Their recommendations are detailed in an open letter to the presidents and chancellors of the nation's state and land-grant universities titled "Returning to Our Roots: Toward a Coherent Campus Culture." The letter is the fifth in a series of reports from the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges that present a vision for reforming public higher education. It identifies the diverse cultures that have helped fragment today's "multiversities" and offers principles for integrating the disparate elements to help institutions thrive in the future.

"The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is committed to creating an environment in which both our students and our institution can thrive," Moeser said. "One of our greatest challenges as we strive to meet ever-more complex responsibilities is how to fashion a sense of common identity among the various cultures and subcultures ­ faculty, student, administrative, and athletic ­ that exist within our institution. Yet a sense of common values, goals, and missions is crucial to the success of universities like ours in the new century."

The open letter from the association's Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities suggests eight principles for effectively reinvigorating the university culture. The strategy includes fostering institutional coherence, reinforcing the integrity of tenure, and renewing efforts to align athletics with academics.

Some of the highlights of the report concern:

- Fostering Institutional Coherence. The Kellogg Commission urges everyone on campus to develop "a type of double loyalty and creativity." Although commitments to various professions, departments, and services will always exist among individuals on campus, these must be "matched by loyalty to institution and willingness to collaborate to advance the overall agenda of learning, discovery, and engagement."

- Reinforcing the Integrity of Tenure. Working to change the image of tenure is also crucial for universities, the open letter asserts, noting that too often, the general public thinks of tenure as a shelter for inferior professors. Universities must stress that tenure is a guarantee of academic freedom to ask unpopular questions ­ not job security. The report also urges institutions to insist on faculty accountability through ongoing documentation of performance and to institute effective post-tenure reviews.

- Aligning Athletics and Academics. Allegations of over-commercialization of college sports, academic fraud, and low graduation rates for athletes continue to plague institutions. For more than a decade, university chief executives have discussed a major reform agenda for intercollegiate athletes. The commission says the time has come for institutions to recommit themselves to institutional principles that make reform possible, and likely. The report points to the 10-part statement of principles issued by the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics several years ago as a model to establish academic and financial integrity.

In addition, the report recommends that universities:

- Never forget that learning is the reason they exist and thus strive to become "great student universities," just as they may strive to be centers of research.

- Renew their commitment to the basic values of discovery, engagement with the surrounding community, access, and inclusiveness.

- Reinvigorate academic governance and make existing systems work better by clarifying roles and rebuilding trust.

- Develop administrative leadership, including among deans and department chairs, by implementing clear processes and encouraging collaboration across units to encourage stronger awareness of overall institutional mission.

- Agree to redefine the nature of acceptable scholarly work according to the late Ernest Boyer's four-part model, by endorsing scholarship based on discovery, integration, application, and teaching, rather than focusing solely on research and discovery.

"Our universities have always struggled with the dichotomy of operating in two arenas ­ holding on to the valued traditions of the past, while at the same time, confronting the challenges of the future," said Graham Spanier, President of Pennsylvania State University, chair of the Kellogg Commission and former UNL chancellor. "This has resulted in a fragmented university society that is ripe for rebalancing as we enter the new millennium."

Added C. Peter Magrath, "There is no silver bullet for success, but if universities take the strategies we've suggested to heart, we can make real progress toward achieving a new set of common values that will serve us far better than our current fragmented campus climate has done." Magrath is NASUGLC president and a former UNL dean and vice chancellor.

The entire text of "Returning to our Roots: Toward a Coherent Campus Culture" is available on the World Wide Web, http//www.nasulgc.org.

Founded in 1887, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges is the oldest higher education association. A voluntary association of 205 public universities, land-grant institutions, and many of the nation's public university systems, its campuses are located in all 50 states, the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia.

Great Plains Conference Explores Significance of Bison

By Linda Ratcliffe, Great Plains Studies

"Bison: The Past, Present, and Future of the Great Plains" will be the focus of the University of Nebraska's Center for Great Plains Studies' 24th interdisciplinary symposium April 6-8 at the Cornhusker Hotel.

Top scholars, American Indian leaders, bison producers, ecologists, and artists are expected as presenters or attendees at the symposium where they will discuss bison as a spiritual force, a food source, a commercial product, and an active part of the history and ecology of the Plains.

"The bison is one of those animals that has generated a mystical presence to the American public," said James Stubbendieck, center director. "Realizing this, the center decided to create a symposium that focuses on this symbolic animal that despite near extinction has continued to play an important role in shaping the cultures, environment, and history of the Great Plains."

Session topics will explore ecological issues, prehistory and archaeology, indigenous perspectives, preservation, Canadian and European bison, grazing and production, management and nutrition, and literary and artistic references. Participants from colleges and universities, bison organizations, government agencies, bison producers, and interested members of the public are welcome.

Charlene Porsild, assistant professor of history, and Ken Winkle, associate professor of history, are co-chairs of the symposium, which is expected to draw more than 400 attendees. Pre-registration for the conference is $60 and includes the luncheon. Except for meals, registration is free for students from high schools, colleges and universities.

"This bison conference has already generated a great deal of excitement from people in the business of raising bison as well as scholars of the ecological and historical role of bison," Porsild said.

The headline speaker is Dan Flores, professor of history at the University of Montana and author of "Horizontal Yellow: Nature and History in the Near Southwest." Flores will talk on the past and future of bison in the American West at 7 p.m. April 6 in the auditorium of the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. His address is free and open to the public.

Lakota Chief Arvol Looking Horse of Rosebud, S.D., keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, will open the conference the morning of April 7 at the Cornhusker Hotel. Looking Horse will offer a prayer for the bison and the conference and will speak about the legacy of White Buffalo Calf Woman.

At noon April 7, Louis LaRose, president of the InterTribal Bison Cooperative and bison herd manager for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, will be the guest speaker at the conference luncheon. LaRose will discuss the role of tribal communities in the restoration of bison to the plains. Also on April 7, Don Gayton, a range ecologist with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, will address conference registrants at 7:30 p.m. at the opening of the bison exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum, 14th and U streets. Gayton will talk on bison as a symbolic presence in human cultures and as a historic and current ecological force.

Representing bison producers, David Hutchinson, former president of the Nebraska State Buffalo Association, will speak at the Cornhusker Hotel on April 7 on bison grazing. On April 8, Samuel Albrecht, executive director of the National Bison Association, will take a look at the economics of the bison industry.

On the evening of April 8, the closing event of the conference will be a dinner and celebration at 6 p.m. at the Lincoln Indian Center. American Indian storytellers Robert Perry from Bartlesville, Okla., and Matt "Sitting Bear" Jones of Lincoln will perform bison stories. Sponsors for this event are the Lincoln Indian Center, the InterTribal Bison Cooperative and the Center for Great Plains Studies. For more information on this event, contact Randy Ross, director of the Indian Center, at (402) 438-5231.

Two art exhibitions are planned to correspond with the symposium. Prairie Music Suite, featuring prints by Derek Michael Besant, Warrington Colescott, K. Gwen Frank, David L. Faber, Karen Kunc, Frances Myers and James Westergard, with poetry by Robert Alexander Hedin, is on view in the Great Plains Art Collection gallery, 215 Love Library, 13th and R streets.

At 4:30 p.m. April 7, David L. Faber, professor of art at Wake Forest University, will speak at the opening reception for Prairie Music Suite in the Great Plains Art Collection gallery. This free public event is sponsored by the Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the UNL department of art and art history.

Visions of the Prairie: The Great Plains at the Dawn of the Millennium is open at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. Martha H. Kennedy curated this exhibition of works by plains artists.

Additional sponsors of the conference are the Conservation Alliance of the Great Plains, InterTribal Bison Cooperative, Dr. Michael and Bonnie Jones, National Bison Association, Nebraska Humanities Council, Tom Russell Charitable Foundation Inc.; and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Arts and Sciences Humanities Program, the departments of history, English and sociology, the Native American Studies Program, and the University of Nebraska State Museum with the assistance of the Government of Canada.

For more information, contact the Center for Great Plains Studies by telephone, (402) 472-3082, or e-mail cgps@unl.edu. The complete conference program is available on the center's Web site http://www.unl.edu/plains/2 000symp.htm.