Seeing Red?

Honors Class Peers into Spectrum

By Tom Simons, Public Relations

Some freshman honors students will see a lot of red this fall, and not just in Memorial Stadium on football Saturdays.

Those enrolled in Chemistry 191H, "The Color Red," will examine Nebraska's most popular color from a series of academic angles. Each week, the one-hour course will focus on a different aspect of red, with UNL faculty from appropriate disciplines serving as guest lecturers on red in poetry, art, psychology, sociology, politics and the physical sciences.

"Red is a great color. It's our most ubiquitous color and it's the one most often used in advertising," said Mark Griep, (shown at right), associate professor of chemistry, and the faculty member who developed the course. "I obviously chose the color red because Nebraska is the 'Big Red,' but it's not my intention to focus on that facet."

Griep said he starting thinking about the course after he noticed a similar course offering while visiting the University of Minnesota's chemistry department Web page.

"The idea incubated in my mind for a while and then last spring I stepped down as vice chair of the chemistry department because I wanted to enter the teaching pool," he said. "For several years, the chemistry department has offered these one-hour honors courses and I thought this might be a good way to get back into teaching."

The course will meet at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in room 29 of Hamilton Hall.

Angelou to Lecture Sept. 14

Author Maya Angelou will lecture at 7:30 p.m Sept. 14 in the Lied Center. Her lecture is sponsored by University Program Council.

Tickets are available through the Lied Center box office.

UNL students with ID can get one free ticket and can purchase one more ticket for $5. Tickets are $5 for non-UNL students (anyone who does not pay student fees).

Ticket sales began Aug. 28 to students only and any remaining tickets will be available to the general public starting Sept. 5.

All seats are assigned and the doors open at 6:30 p.m. the day of the show.

Angelou is one of the great voices of contemporary literature and a speaker of enormous power. A poet, educator, historian, author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, film producer and director, she is remarkable for her depth of knowledge and talent.

In 1981, she was appointed to a lifetime position as the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. Her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has entered the canon of American literature and in 1995, the book earned her status as the first African American woman to be on the New York Times' Bestseller list for two consecutive years.

In January 1993, she became the second poet in U.S. history to write and recite original poetry at the presidential inauguration.

Angelou's performance/lecture typically stresses the value of ethnic, economic, and religious diversity in all undertakings. A passionate and powerful speaker, Angelou challenges her audiences to invest their spirits and heart and the elevation of the human condition.

Located in Historic Haymarket, the new home of Nebraska Press will be holding a series of events in mid­September.

NU Press Celebrates New Home with Week's Events

The renovated Candy Factory Building, 233 N. Eighth St., is the new home of the University of Nebraska Press. The building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1906.

To celebrate its recent move, and in anticipation of its 60th anniversary in 2001, the press is hosting a series of events the week of Sept. 12, including an open house Sept. 14.

All events are free and open to the public and occur at the North Eighth Street location unless otherwise noted. Access to the press' third floor entrance is in the recessed stairway mid-block between P and Q streets on the west side of Eighth Street. Either take the elevator to the third floor or use the external stairway.

Celebration events:

o Sept. 12, all day, "Book Design Events," morning and afternoon talks by NU Press designers and a display of award-winning book designs from the press and other publishers nationwide.

o Sept. 13, "Editorial Workshops," 10 a.m. "How to Get Your Scholarly Book Published," panelists Gary Dunham, Ladette Randolph, Sue Breckenridge, Sandra Johnson; moderator, Clark Whitehorn; 1 p.m. "How to Write About Native America," panelists Robert Bringhurst, Diane Glancy, Delphine Red Shirt, moderator, Dunham; 3 p.m. "Writing Creative Nonfiction," panelists, Mary Clearman Blew, Hilda Raz, Lisa Knopp, William Kloefkorn; moderator, Randolph.

o Sept. 14 and 15, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Book Sale, University Bookstore, Nebraska Union Plaza; a large selection of NU Press books for sale at reduced prices.

Sept. 14, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Open House and Reception, hors d'oeuvres, conversation with press staff and guests and exhibits highlighting press achievements. Toasts at 5:30 p.m.

Cedar Point students get down and dirty in their search for parasites and knowledge.

Getting Down and Dirty with Science

Cedar Point Experience Shapes Young Biologists' Lives

By Kelly Bartling, Public Relations

Scrambling along the musty, dry lake bed, the scavengers descend on logs and crusty chunks of cattle manure.

"You guys ready to flip over this cow pie?" calls senior biology major Heidi Baumert to her classmates. It was still somewhat moist, so the women hesitate, hinting only momentarily at dread.

"You've got to love to get your hands dirty," says Baumert. "That's what this class is about. You have to get your hands in there."

Buckets and jars fill with insects that the youn scientist hope are infected with parasites. With luck, the students will find microscopic parasitic intruders in their specimens. And back at their lab, they will compare cricket parasites to those of damsel and dragonflies netted at nearby Dunwoody Pond.

This is field parasitology at Cedar Point Biological Station, UNL's field research site that nestles among the arid sandstone bluffs, cedar canyons, shortgrass prairie, lakes and springs near Lake Ogallala. In their final days of a summer five-week class, the students are accustomed to the dirt, heat, muck and the associated exhausting physical rigor that comes with participation in this twice-a-week class.

"It's a good time," says student Josh Krejci, also a biology major. "It's the best way you can spend your tuition dollars. By far. You're actually getting out here and doing things instead of listening."

That was the intent of Janovy and his colleagues Brent Nickol and Gary Hergenrader who 25 years ago took over a former Girl Scout camp to arrange a scholarly refuge for university students, researchers and instructors. They envisioned a place where biology could be experienced. Over those 25 years the station has grown from its original 30 acres to a two-square-mile site with 19 buildings comprising student and faculty living units, labs and a central lodge. During the summer, as many as 70 people a day sleep, eat and study at Cedar Point, working around the clock.

Hosting classes like field parasitology, aquatic microbiology, prairie ecology; and research projects on birds, parasites, and insect herbivory, today's Cedar Point enjoys a wide reputation. Students emerge from their summer studies as field scientists.

"In 1983 I was an undergraduate out here, and took two classes. That would change all my career goals and why I was a biology major," said Richard Alward, a biologist and now associate director at Cedar Point. "I realized you could get paid for doing biology in the field. Here, you get out and find the organisms. You know their whole environment. It's not just microscope work or preserved organisms from a catalog."

Baumert, Krejci and the other 20 students spent about three hours that August morning collecting specimens at three sites, using dip nets and their bare hands, wading into streams and greenish ponds, while scores of wild turkeys ran, a rattle snake was uncovered in the log brush, mosquitos bit and dust stuck to sweaty brows. After the group returned to the lodge for lunch, they spent the afternoon under Janovy's watchful eye dissecting their catches, creating slides, and tediously sorting and characterizing the identifiable parasites found inside insect families. Following the evening meal, the students returned to their slides and did several hours of computer -matrix conversion for the parasite characteristics.

Their day had started at 7 a.m. and ended about 10 that night. Many would be up for several hours more preparing for aquatic microbiology the next day, with lights burning into the early morning hours.

"The camaraderie is a big part of the experience," said Julie Shaffer, a biology professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and instructor of the microbiology class. "This class is small; seven students, and I'm with them all the time. We do things together, eat together, they know where I live because my place is just a few yards away from theirs and they can find me any time. That's a lot closer relationship and I believe a valuable experience."

Meals together and round-the-clock study at the station prompt a different view of the possibilities of biology, the teachers and students said.

"One thing you get at Cedar Point that you don't get anywhere else is such a high degree of interaction with scientists, both in your field but also unrelated to your field," said doctoral candidate Ben Hanelt, a researcher in parasitology. "You get a different perspective here than when you're on main campus or holed up in your lab. You analyze your data and talk about the implications, you see and learn for yourself."

Janovy said access to a diverse environment is what fuels both the scientists' learning and their study.

"When you study microrganisms there is diversity everywhere, but this particular site and the surrounding 100 miles is a very rich source of teaching and research for us," said the biologist, who also uses the Cedar Point landscape and experience as fodder for most of his books. "It's real easy to teach here. There's a lot of stuff. It's all at your fingertips, it's all alive, and it's all in the proper context."

"You can never order a field program from a catalog."

If you could, it might be a lot like Cedar Point.

"Getting away from all the distractions of city campus, and being surrounded by like-minded people as much as anything tells us what education ought to be about," Janovy said. "When students are surrounded by peers and are focusing on problems they are interested in, they're seeing the value of studying the material. Not because it is a course requirement, but because it interests them. That's a principle that goes well beyond biology."

"The field program is the place where teaching, research and original experience, and the beauty of nature all merge together, and are inseparable. That's what biology is all about."

Getting 'Em Started and Getting Out of the Way

By Kelly Bartling, Public Relations

Digging for insects under leaves, elbow-to-elbow with biology students who just happen to think he is somewhat of a legend, John Janovy Jr. is grinning and full of energy.

Announcing family, genus and specie of handfuls of diverse insects, the biology professor simultaneously gives orders to his students.

"Turn over every piece of vegetation. Walk along the shore and pick up anything 'beetle.' Look under rocks," he says, leaving the impression Janovy has been through this drill before. And he's enjoying it.

"We've hit the jackpot already," he says.

Herding his young proteges to vans, nets and buckets in tow, he drives a well-beaten path to a pasture near Roscoe, and explains its history to students who weren't even born when Janovy began walking the sandy streams and hills or started his now well-known love affair with Keith County.

He named a parasite after the owner of the land here, and this particular piece of blacktop between Roscoe and Dunwoody Pond is his "favorite road," and has been for 25 years.

Janovy is a biologist who loves to teach and write, loves the beauty of nature and the mystery of science. Often compared to Henry David Thoreau, Lewis Thomas and Annie Dillard, Janovy's works have appeared nearly as often on popular book shelves as they have in scientific journals. He's the recipient of numerous teaching awards and research accolades, earning the Paula and D.B. Varner chair in biological sciences. He has mentored scores of young biologists.

Janovy's personal and teaching style are student-focused and spontaneous.

"Get a person started, get the material in their hands, then get out of the way," is Janovy's philosophy. Students learn because they want to. Give them the tools and let them take over.

Students also need to be actively involved in their profession, like they are at Cedar Point, Janovy believes, which is why he remains dedicated to the biological station, even after 25 years.

"Universities produce human resources," said Janovy. "They may produce inventions to make your life easier, and they may cure diseases, but the product of higher education is human resources. The secrets to success are providing students with material, let them do their own work, treat them with respect, help them bring projects to closure and be excited about what you do. Those principles really apply to every subject."

Enthusiasm is clearly evident from the professor, who joined UNL in 1966 as an assistant professor of zoology, later becoming the distinguished professor and a research associate, holding the Cedar Point directorship for many years. His passion for biology spills over to the 25 students in this parasitology class. Many will call the class and their summer at Cedar Point a highlight of their career at UNL.

"Dr. Janovy's a heavyweight. Amazing," said senior Josh Krejci, a biology major. "He gets a huge smile on his face when something comes up on the (projection) screen that he wants us to see. He makes classes very fun, very entertaining and very informative too. If you have a professor who's enthused, it gets you enthused and it's not really work."

"From the very first day, he told us he wanted us to learn more about nature," said parasitology student and pre-med senior Allison Benson. "We're learning more about what the real study of biology is like from a world-known professor. He's great to work with, I've read several of his books and now I've learned about what he's written about."

During one parasitology class, Janovy called on a student at the back of the room to tell him the answer. Sounding tentative about her conclusions, Janovy told her to keep going, not whether she was right.

"At some classes you're given the answers and told the answers, but here, it's left up to the students to make a choice and stick with it and defend it," said Ben Hanelt, a doctoral candidate and Janovy's teaching assistant. "If at 9 o'clock tonight they learn that one of their choices wasn't right, then that in itself is a real learning experience and they'll remember that a lot longer.

"Dr. Janovy teaches you how to think. He teaches you transferrable skills those that help to get me a job in the future, the tools, skills and knowledge and actions that are learned by doing a project."

Janovy's learn-by-doing philosophy, his work ethic and passion have produced results.

"I think when you get positive feedback year after year and see people go on to become successful professionals, you know you're doing your job," Janovy said.

"As long as there are faculty members willing to give up their time to ensure we turn out really fine human products then this program and any one like it is going to be successful."

Photos by Kelly Bartling and Tom Simons.

	Collecting bugs and beetles under vegetation near Lake Ogallala, biology students Ashley Jones and Scott Coleman gather specimens for field parasitology.
	Biology professor John Janovy makes sure students are finding varying insect species.
	Alison Benson, a biology major, grabs a handful of sand along with a tenebrionid larvae.
	The shores of Lake Ogallala serve as habitat for various wildlife, birds and plantlife.
	Janovy looks for dragonflies near Dunwoody Pond, gathering leeches and insect larvae.
	Janovy empties his catch net into Coleman's jar. The students will inspect the specimens' parasites back at the lab.
	Sophomore Travis Bourret searches for bugs.

Students grab bottom vegetation from Dunwoody Pond, gathering leeches and insect larvae.