A long spring break: Snowstorm closes UNL John Gross, a Nebraska Union painter, traded in his paint brushes for a snow shovel on March 25 to clear the 7 inches of snow that fell in Lincoln and welcomed students back from spring break. The UNL campus shut down for the day because of the weather.

Hixson-Lied college to be dedicated April 7

The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, the first and only named college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will be dedicated on April 7.

The festivities begin at 5 p.m. that day with the unveiling of a monument commemorating the dedication in the Lied Center Plaza at 12th and R streets. The 9-foot monument will be an addition to the campus's Arts Quadrangle. Granite benches will be located adjacent to the buildings that house the college units and affiliated programs.

The formal dedication ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall. Both events are free and open to the public. The evening's ceremony will include the presentation of the Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Board's Award of Merit to Christina Hixson.

The Alumni Board's Alumni Achievement Awards will also be presented that evening to Carol Haerer in art (1954 BFA), Robert Nelson in music (1963 BME and 1964 MM) and Daniel Proett in theatre arts (1977 BFA). Music and theater students also will perform during the program, as will the Moran Woodwind Quintet, the resident faculty quintet of the School of Music. A special video showcasing the college will also premiere during the ceremony.

"One of the many things that reflect the quality of an institution is the way in which those external to the institution support it," said Dean Giacomo M. Oliva. "The Hixson-Lied endowment speaks in a major way to the quality of the college's programs and the importance of the college to the university and to the citizens of Nebraska."

The college is named in honor of Hixson, (shown at right), the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust, who in January 2000 announced a gift of $18 million to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support UNL's College of Fine and Performing Arts. Hixson and the Lied Foundation Trust have given more than $34 million to support the college and its affiliated units. Hixson is scheduled to attend the dedication weekend activities.

"There is no doubt that the University of Nebraska - and indeed the state - are better places to live and learn as a result of the years of support from Christina Hixson and the Lied Foundation Trust," said Terry Fairfield, president and CEO of the University of Nebraska Foundation. "It is very appropriate that the university publicly demonstrate its appreciation by dedicating the college in their honor."

Other activities will fill this dedication weekend. The School of Music's opera The Bohemian Girl will run April 5-7. A special screening of work by the Department of Theatre Arts' film and new media program students will be offered from 1:30-3 p.m. April 6 in the Richards Hall Auditorium Room 15. The MFA Thesis Exhibition and Reception for Jerry Sumpter and Judy Stone Nunneley will be from 3-5 p.m. April 6 in the Eisentrager·Howard Gallery in Richards Hall. Peter, Paul and Mary will be in concert at the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. April 6. The Alumni Achievement Award winners will be in classes on April 8. A special graduate work showcase will be from 4-6 p.m. April 8 in the Johnny Carson Theater.

For more information, call the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at 472-9339 or visit the Web site at http://www.unl .edu/finearts/dedicationweb/main.html.

Hixson-Lied Dedication Weekend Events April 5-8

April 5

• School of Music Opera: The Bohemian Girl, Kimball Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: 472-4747
• Aquila Theatre Company: The Tempest, Lied Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: 472-4747

April 6

• Screening of Film and New Media work: Richards Hall Auditorium Room 15, 1:30-3 p.m.
• MFA Thesis Exhibition and Reception: Eisentrager·Howard Gallery in Richards Hall, 3-5 p.m.
• School of Music Opera: The Bohemian Girl, Kimball Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: 472-4747
• Peter, Paul and Mary, Lied Center for Performing Arts, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: 472-4747

April 7

• "Arts of a Northern People: Ainu Objects from the Collection of Ann and Peter Bleed" exhibition, Lentz Center for Asian Culture, 1155 Q St. Lower Level, 1:30-4 p.m.
• School of Music Opera: The Bohemian Girl, Kimball Recital Hall, 3 p.m. Tickets: 472-4747
• Hixson-Lied Monument Dedication, Lied Center Plaza, 5 p.m.
• Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Dedication, Kimball Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m.

April 8

• Alumni Achievement Award recipients activities in the academic units
• Showcase of Graduate Student Creative Work: Carson Theater, 4-6 p.m.

Numbers show high-risk drinking declining at UNL

University of Nebraska-Lincoln students appear to be positively affected by local efforts to curb high-risk drinking, a university study reveals.

Despite national data released March 25 by the Harvard School of Public Health in its College Alcohol Study, UNL officials say they believe fewer Nebraska students are engaging in high-risk drinking.

James Griesen, UNL vice chancellor for student affairs, and Tom Casady, Lincoln Police chief, said two surveys indicate UNL students are binge-drinking less than they were four years ago. The decline, they said, can be attributed to work by the NU Directions Campus/Community Coalition, which addresses the positive environmental factors surrounding high-risk drinking. Those positive factors include state and city law, consistent enforcement, alternative activities, responsible hospitality and consistent messages across campus and community.

"Those are the things we credit with the success," said Casady, who with Griesen co-chairs the coalition. "Everybody worked together on what's not solely a campus problem, nor solely a community problem."

While the Harvard College Alcohol Study shows little change in college drinking at the national level, Nebraska numbers show significant declines in high-risk drinking over a four-year period. The 1997 data from Harvard provided the NU Directions coalition with the needed information to create a comprehensive strategic plan. The Harvard study and the annual UNL omnibus study give a more detailed analysis of the number of drinks students consume.

Among the findings:

• In 1997, 53.4 percent of UNL students said they drank four or fewer drinks per sitting. By 2001, that number increased to 71 percent, indicating students have reduced high-risk drinking significantly.
• In 1997, 29.3 percent of UNL students experienced five or more personal problems from their own drinking. In 2001, the number fell to 20.9 percent.
• In 1997, 59.2 percent of UNL students reported they had sleep or study time interrupted because of someone else's drinking. In 2001, the number fell to 46.2 percent.

In 1997, 68.7 percent of UNL students reported having to baby-sit another drunken student. In 2001, the number fell to 49 percent.

Casady said the data support the Harvard journal article.

"The bottom line is that these numbers show we're making a dent in the problem of high-risk drinking and we can attribute it to our comprehensive approach," Casady said.

NU Directions is a campus-community coalition working to combat high-risk drinking among college students. It is funded under a five-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

2 finalists named for dean of CASNR

Two finalists for dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources will be on campus early next month for interviews.

Jacqueline A. Ashby, director of research in natural resource management at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, and Steven S. Waller, interim dean of CASNR, are finalists for the leadership of the college.

Ashby is scheduled to be in Lincoln April 3-4 for interviews with administrators, faculty, staff and others. Waller is to be interviewed April 9-10.

Ashby has been in her current position in Colombia since 1996. The center, where Ashby has spent most of her career since 1981, is one of 16 in the world affiliated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an agency sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and U.N. Development Program. In her role, she directs six research teams on integration of biophysical and applied social science research, with an annual budget of $13 million.

Ashby served as deputy director general of the International Food Policy Research Center in Washington, D.C., in 1995. She's filled several other positions at the Colombia-based CIAT, including leader of the Hillside AgroEcosystem Program from 1992-95 and senior scientist and director of the Farmer Participation in Technology Design and Transfer project from 1987-92. From 1981-87 she worked at CIAT as senior sociologist for the Muscle Shoals, Ala.-based International Fertilizer Development Center.

Ashby received her bachelor's degree in history from the University of York, England, in 1969 and her doctorate in development sociology from Cornell University in 1980.

Waller has been interim dean of CASNR since July 2000 after the retirement of then-Dean Donald Edwards. Waller served as assistant and associate deans of CASNR and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Agricultural Research Division from 1993-2000. He has been a faculty member in UNL's Department of Agronomy since 1978; served from 1989-2000 as regional coordinator of the North Central Region of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program; was assistant to the director of resident instruction at South Dakota State University from 1977-78; and was an assistant professor in animal science at SDSU from 1975-78.

Waller received an associate of science degree in pre-forestry from Vincennes University in 1967, a bachelor of science in conservation from Purdue University in 1970, and a doctorate in range science from Texas A&M University in 1975.