Equity Administrative Fellowships Awarded

NU President L. Dennis Smith has awarded of two Equity in Opportunity Administrative Fellowships for academic year 2001-2002. The fellowships allow recipients to experience operations of the university's central administration.

This year's recipients are:

Theresa Barron-McKeagney, associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and project coordinator for UNO's Family Mentoring Project. She earned her Ph.D. in community and human resources from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993, her master of social work degree from UNO in 1986, and her bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Iowa in 1981.

Eric C. Lee, academic adviser in the Student Services Center, in UNL's Teachers College. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in educational psychology and holds a master's degree in education (1997) and a bachelor's degree in sociology (1994), both from Wayne State College.

The purpose of the fellowships is to increase professional opportunities for University of Nebraska faculty and administrative staff members and to encourage them to consider serving in senior administrative positions. Fellows expected to devote up to 20 hours per week to their fellowship activities.

Activities scheduled for this year's fellows include:

• assuming leadership in the development and subsequent implementation of a universitywide mentorship program for new and untenured women faculty and faculty of color;
• assisting in the design of a workshop for department chairs on methods of successfully retaining minority faculty and staff members;
• participating in universitywide diversity and gender-equity meetings;
• assisting in the university's outreach to local area community groups and organizations;
• participating with Smith in selected formal and informal meetings and events.

For information on the Equity in Opportunity Administrative Fellowship program, call Shari Clarke, associate to the president, 472-3109, or e-mail sclarke@uneb.edu.

Cather, Bessey Professorships Established

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln establishes the Willa Cather Professorships and the Charles Bessey Professorships to recognize distinguished scholarship and creative activity. The first group of Cather and Bessey Professors will be named during the academic year, 2001-2002.

They are established under the following rules:

1. The number of Cather and Bessey Professorships (together) is variable and will be established by the chancellor. In the fall 2001 round, it is anticipated that 10 Cather or Bessey Professors will be named. The numbers for subsequent rounds will be set by the chancellor.

2. Faculty members holding these professorships will be designated as "Willa Cather or Charles Bessey Professor and Professor of [field]."

3. Any UNL full professor, regardless of discipline, who does not hold another named professorship or chair, is eligible to be nominated or apply. A faculty member may not hold a Cather or Bessey Professorship and another named professorship or chair simultaneously.

4. Cather and Bessey Professors will be appointed for five-year (renewable) terms. During the fifth year, the holder's record will be reviewed for purposes of reappointment; ordinarily, reappointment will be expected to follow upon review.

5. Cather and Bessey Professors will receive a $2,500 annual stipend.

6. Selection for a Cather or Bessey Professorship will be made on the basis of a demonstrated record of distinguished scholarship or creative activity. Nominations and applications will be reviewed by the group of University Professors. Final selections will be made by the chancellor.

Nomination and Application Procedure:

Nominations and applications should be submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by Oct. 1. The completed dossier should include a letter of nomination or application, a current curriculum vitae, and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of three appropriate scholars of national prominence not associated with the University of Nebraska who will serve as references. (Letters of reference will be solicited by the Office of Academic Affairs.)

The candidate should also arrange to have his or her department chair or head provide a letter of support; the letter should first be forwarded to the dean to add his or her endorsement, and the dean should then send it to the Office of Academic Affairs. Letters of nomination or application, reference and support should describe and explain the significance and quality of the individual's record of distinguished scholarship or creative activity.

Presidential Fellowships Announced

University of Nebraska President L. Dennis Smith has awarded eight Presidential Graduate Fellowships for 2001-2002. Seven were awarded to candidates for Ph.D. degrees; the other to a master's candidate. Four are graduate students at UNL; two at UNMC and two at UNO.

The fellowships include stipends of $16,500 at UNL. Funding for the fellowships is provided by donations to the University of Nebraska Foundation.

The graduate students studying at UNL are:

• Jun Ma, a Ph.D. candidate in nutrition at UNL. Ma is examining nutrition behaviors and perceptions of health among minority populations.
• Dora Ramirez-Dhoore, a Ph.D. candidate in English literature at UNL. Ramirez-Dhoore draws on the historical social, economic and political aspects of American society to help interpret texts that have been assumed to be universally understood by all readers.
• Dawn Vernooy Epp, a Ph.D. candidate in English at UNL. Epp studies English writer Mary Darby Robinson's contributions to British Romanticism.
• Rachel Lynn Waddell, a D.M.A. candidate at UNL and a performance flutist. Waddell studies French flutist Marcel Moyse.

Hilliard is Interim Director of NU Press

Stephen Hilliard, professor of English, has been named interim director of the University of Nebraska Press.

Hilliard succeeds Daniel J.J. Ross, who has resigned effective Aug. 31 from the director's post he has held since 1995. Before that, Ross was assistant director and editor-in-chief of the NU Press.

"We are grateful to Dan Ross for his 12 years of dedicated service to the press and excited to have someone as talented as Steve Hilliard directing this transition process," said Prem S. Paul, who as vice chancellor for research has administrative oversight of the press.

Hilliard will oversee the press while a national search is conducted to fill the position.

Hilliard, whose research specialty is renaissance literature, earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and his master's and doctoral degrees from Princeton University. He is former chair of the Nebraska English department, former associate dean and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and former director of the Humanities Research Program.

The University of Nebraska Press is the third-largest state university press in the nation in terms of number of titles published and is among the top 10 university presses in the nation in sales volume.

Sports Publications Win National Awards

The University of Nebraska was honored by the College Sports Information Directors of American for several of its publications produced during the 2000-01 academic year. These awards were presented in July at the annual CoSIDA Convention in San Diego, Calif.

UNL was honored with 23 awards - 12 in national competition and 11 in district competition.

Those from UNL who won:

• Tanya Wright, Jeff Abele, best in nation and 2nd in District VII (single sport brochure), rifle brochure.
• Shamus McKnight, Abele, 2nd in nation (Division A), baseball brochure.
• Wright, Abele, 2nd in nation, cross country brochure.
• Chris Anderson, Jeff Griesch, McKnight, 2nd in nation, preseason baseball brochure.
• Shannon Sherman, Abele, 2nd in nation, softball brochure.
• Anderson, Janet Denison, 3rd in nation and best in District VII, football posters.
• Griesch, Matt Miller, Abele, 3rd in nation and best in District VII, women's soccer brochure.
• Jerod Dahlgren, Abele, 3rd in nation, wrestling brochure.
• McKnight, Abele, 4th in nation, women's gymnastics brochure.
• David Wilson, Abele, 4th in nation and best in District VII, track and field brochure.
• Aaron Babcock, Abele, 5th in nation and 2nd best in District VII, women's volleyball brochure.
• Anderson, Keith Mann, Abele, 6th in nation and best in District VII, football brochure.
• McKnight, Abele, best in District VII, baseball brochure.
• Dahlgren, Sherman, Abele, best in District VII, women's golf brochure.
• Abele, 2nd in District VII, gymnastics poster.
• Griesch, Abele, 3rd in District VII, women's basketball brochure.
• Abele, Babcock, 3rd in District VII, basketball poster.

Elias Receives Inaugural IIE Medallion

Samy Elias, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering and Technology, recently received the first Henry Gantt Medallion Award to be offered by the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Elias was selected from more than 125,000 industrial engineers in the United States. He was honored for his innovative design of the Personal Rapid Transit system at West Virginia University, the world's first fully automated computer-controlled transit system.

The award recognizes individuals who have made a notable impact on the industrial engineering profession and is named after Henry Gantt, who was one of three individuals who laid the groundwork for what has come to be known as industrial engineering.