Snow Geese. Pair in flight (detail of). C. 1980 by Paul A. Johnsgard, ink drawing. Artwork in the exhibition 'Migrations of the Imagina-tion' will be featured as a part of the Great Plains Migrations symposium.

Migration topic of 26th annual Plains symposium

Great Plains Migrations" is the theme of the 26th annual interdisciplinary symposium hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Center for Great Plains Studies March 7-9 at the Cornhusker Hotel and Conference Center and the Great Plains Art Collection in Lincoln.

Migration is broadly defined to include prehistoric, historic and contemporary movements of flora, fauna and humans to, within and from the Great Plains, according to David Wishart, professor of geography at UNL and co-chair of the conference with Mary Liz Jameson, UNL research assistant professor of entomology and museum.

Prize-winning historian Elliott West of the University of Arkansas will present the keynote lecture on migration and the Great Plains, at 7 p.m. March 7 in the Great Plains Art Collection, Hewit Place, 1155 Q St. West is the author of The Contested Plains (1998) and The Way to the West (1995). His lecture will be free and open to the public.

An hour before West's lecture, Paul Johnsgard and Michael Forsberg of Lincoln will open the free art exhibit, Migrations of the Imagination, in the Great Plains Art Collection. Johnsgard, UNL foundation professor emeritus of biological sciences, is guest curator of the exhibit. He has published 41 books, most of them on ornithology and bird behavior, and as an artist has created many drawings, sculptures and decoys of plains birds.

Forsberg's image of "Nine-Mile Prairie, October in the Tallgrass" was selected by the U.S. Postal Service for an international postage stamp released on March 6, 2001. He also won an Award of Excellence from the 58th Annual Picture of the Year competition for his image of a burrowing owl.

One conference event will be at 7 p.m. March 8 in Morrill Hall, 14th and U streets, when the University of Nebraska State Museum opens its new Platte River diorama with a reception and talk by Johnsgard on waterfowl of the central Platte. Parking will be available in the lot directly north of the building. The event is free, but a donation of $1 is suggested for Morrill Hall visitors over the age of 2.

All other conference sessions are open to the public but require preregistration. The advance registration fee is $75 and includes two lunches. A March 9 bus trip to view the sandhill cranes along the Platte River in central Nebraska is $40 per person. For registration and other information, call 472-3082 or visit the symposium Web site (www.unl.edu/plains/events/2002symp.html).

On March 8 and 9, 50 presenters will speak at the Cornhusker Hotel and Conference Center, 333 S. 13th St., on topics relating to migrations, such as whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, bison and horses, plant and insect invasions, fossil records, climate change and frontier settlement, plains writers such as Gabrielle Roy and Willa Cather, African-American migrations, Franciscan missionaries, Czechs in Nebraska, Plains Indian migrations, Japanese-American internment, Mexican-American migrations, political policies and issues on immigration, refugee resettlement, McCool Junction, the Kincaid Act and rural to urban migration.

John Hudson of Northwestern University will present a luncheon talk on March 8 about 1 1/2 centuries of human migrations. Hudson is the editor of Rand McNally's "Goode's World Atlas" and has won awards for his books Plains Country Towns and Making the Corn Belt.

At 10:30 a.m. March 9, Orley "Chip" Taylor, professor of entomology at the University of Kansas, will present a theory on the migration of the monarch butterfly. Other conference speakers of note include UNL paleontologist Michael Voorhies, Kenneth Vogel, research geneticist for USDA-ARS at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Johannes "Jean" Knops, assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Forsberg will present a slide show and lecture about photographing sandhill cranes at a noon luncheon on March 9 at the Cornhusker. After Forsberg's lecture, Johnsgard will lead the field trip to view the sandhill cranes.

UNL snares 3 of 5 NU system honors

Two UNL faculty members and a UNL department have received the highest academic honors bestowed by the University of Nebraska Central administration.

Hilda Raz, (shown at right), professor of English and editor of Prairie Schooner, was named a winner of the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award.

Peter Maslowski, professor of history, received the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award.

The Department of Biological Systems Engineering received the Universitywide Departmental Teaching Award.

The awards were announced Feb. 27 by Lee Jones, NU provost and executive vice president.

Other recipients were Jeffrey A. French, Varner Professor of Psychology and Biology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who received an ORCA; and William L. Blizek, professor of philosophy at UNO, who received an OTICA.

The ORCA recognizes individual faculty members for research and creative activity of national or international significance. The OTICA recognizes meritorious and sustained records of excellence in teaching by individual faculty members. Each of these awards is accompanied by a $3,500 grant.

The UDTA recognizes a department within the university that has made a unique and significant contribution to teaching and carries a $25,000 grant to the department.

Raz has been editor in chief of Prairie Schooner since 1987. Since then, the magazine, in continuous publication since 1927, has grown in prestige and reputation. Under her leadership, the magazine has produced many special editions to critical acclaim.

In addition, Raz is a prolific poet. Among her recent collected works are Divine Honors, published in 1997; Truly Bone, published in 1990, and Trans, published in 2001. She has had works published in dozens of publications.

She has edited two "Best of Prairie Schooner" editions, published in 2001 and 2000 and edited the acclaimed Living on the Margins: Women Writers on Breast Cancer, in October 1999. She was named a professor of English in 1998 and has been a graduate faculty member since 1993. She also teaches poetry writing. In 2001, she received the Outstanding Research and Creative Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Maslowski joined the UNL faculty in 1974 as a visiting assistant professor of history. He joined the faculty the following year and was promoted to full professor in 1984. He is an expert in military history, particularly of American wars.

Throughout his career, he has been consistently identified by students as being a teacher of superior capabilities. His classes are extremely popular and upper-division classes attract two or three times the typical demand for history classes and are of particular interest to non-history majors.

Students report his teaching style makes "history come alive" and relevant for students. Extensively researched and well written, his lectures are considered masterpiece performances. He is also a master of one-on-one teaching, with an open door for undergraduate and graduate students.

Maslowski was involved in helping the department twice revise its program toward a more global perspective. He also has introduced new courses, such as a course that examines military history as depicted in film, a class on methodologies for study of the Civil War, and a class on the Vietnam War.

The Biological Systems Engineering Department, headed by Glenn Hoffmann, consists of 27 faculty and about 203 undergraduate majors and 30 graduate students. Statewide programs are offered through Cooperative Extension and distance education. The department offers four undergraduate majors, five M.S. degrees and a Ph.D. program in engineering.

The department was organized in 1904 and is recognized as a leader is developing curriculum and programming.

The department has a strong and long-standing record of peer review of teachers, courses and curricula and the department head is an active teacher. Team teaching is common. Advising is also emphasized, and surveys of graduates report that more than 90 percent were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the quality of advising. Mentoring of students, and of new faculty, is also departmenal priority.

A key indicator of the department's strength is that is graduates are in high demand for well-paying positions. Most students have three or more job interviews, and most are placed before graduation. In addition, students are successful in gaining admittance to graduate schools at prestigious institutions. And 100 percent of its graduates have passed the national Fundamentals of Engineering exam over the past five years, besting the national average of 72 percent. More than 25 percent of the department's undergraduates participate in the UNL Honors Program.

Cerveny appointed dean of admissions

By Dave Fitzgibbon, University Communications

Alan Cerveny, director of admissions and scholarships at the University of Kansas, was been named UNL's dean of admissions on Feb. 28. His appointment is effective effective April 1.

Cerveny will manage all undergraduate recruitment and admission processes, including special events, recruitment communication and marketing, and oversee programs such as new student orientation and welcome programs. He will supervise a staff of 45.

"It became very clear during the search process that Alan was an ideal candidate for this key leadership position," said James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs. "Over the past two decades, Alan has proven his ability to organize and manage highly effective recruiting programs that draw upon the resources of the entire campus."

Cerveny, a native of Fairbury, earned his academic degrees at UNL, a bachelor of science in 1978 and a master of arts in 1980. From 1979 to 1980, he had a graduate internship in UNL's Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid and later held several positions in UNL's admissions office where he was assistant director (1980-1983), associate director (1983-1985), and acting director (1985-1987). Cerveny was named director of admissions at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., in 1987 and was promoted to associate vice president for admissions and enrollment services and executive director of the integrated university information system in 1992. He was recruited by the University of Kansas in 1996 to serve as director of admissions and scholarships.

"I'm a Nebraskan and UNL graduate," Cerveny said. "I'm excited to come home and help the university develop a first-class recruiting program. I want people to understand this is more than just a job for me; I have a real passion for the university and I want to do what I can to make difference."

With Cerveny's hiring, the title of the position has been changed from "director of admissions" to "dean of admissions," to better acknowledge its relationship to the academic strength and growth of the institution, Griesen said.

Cerveny will succeed Susanna Finnell, who left in fall 2001 to follow her husband to his new job in Texas. Patrick McBride, associate director of admissions, has served as the acting director since Finnell's departure.