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 Stephanie Adams,
assistant professor
of industrial and management systems
engineering, has won a CAREER
grant from the NSF. Photo by Richard Wright.
Adams earns
science CAREER grant
Stephanie G. Adams, assistant
professor of industrial and
management systems engineering and
special assistant to the dean
of graduate studies, has been awarded
the prestigious CAREER
grant for new faculty members from the
National Science Foundation.
Over the next five
years, Adams will use the $587,568 award
to implement her proposal,
"Designing Effective Teams in
the Engineering Classroom for
the Enhancement of Learning."
This research is innovative in
its approach and its focus on
both the individual's and the team's
mastery of effective teaming
constructs.
Adams says
she hopes her research will strengthen the ability
of engineering
educators to fully prepare students to work in
teams.
"This grant enables the continuation of work I've been
doing for years," Adams said. "More than the money,
I
appreciate the validation this grant has given me. I know I'm
on
the right path."
Adams' research team includes UNL
current and former graduate
students Bianey Ruiz, Laura Simon,
Carolina Milano and colleague
Gül Kramer of Penn State
University.
"I wouldn't be where I am today without my
research team,"
Adams said. "And with this grant, we have
the resources
we need to do our work and do it right."
In the first phase of research, Adams and her research team
will
test and validate a Team Effectiveness Questionnaire and
pre-assessment methodology that have already been developed.
The
second phase of research will involve refining and testing
a
protocol for behavioral observation. In the third phase, Adams
will
develop a methodology for determining if students working
in teams
learn more than those who do not. To that end, she will
develop and
implement two engineering management courses: one
team-based and
one individual-based. Finally, Adams will track
students from the
classroom to the workplace to ascertain their
satisfaction with the
university teaming experience and their
preparation to function on
teams in the workplace, testing her
hypothesis that teams enhance
learning experiences and better
prepare students for the
workplace.
Yankech wins
Kudos award
Jim Yankech
received the University Kudos Award at the March
1 meeting of the
NU Board of Regents.
During the last year, Yankech served
as both the associate
director for business operations of the
University Health Center
and as interim director of Multicultural
Affairs. At the University
Health Center, he negotiated the Student
Health Insurance Policy,
developed a summer fee policy and
continued to supervise the
business office, pharmacy, counseling
and psychological services,
and community health. His
responsibilities also include human
resources.
"Throughout this physically demanding year, Jim has maintained
his sense of humor and his focus on care for the students. Jim's
effort is an example of one who is willing to go above and beyond
the expected in service to the University of Nebraska,"
his
nominator said.
Adams, van
Rossum receive Sue Tidball Awards
Stephanie Adams and
Chuck van Rossum are the 2003 recipients
of the Sue Tidball Award
for Creative Humanity at UNL.
Adams is an assistant
professor of industrial and management
systems engineering and a
special assistant to the dean of graduate
studies. Van Rossum is
assistant to the vice chancellor for student
affairs.
All nine nominees for this year's award were honored at the
awards ceremony March 30 at St. Mark's on the Campus Episcopal
Church. The other nominees:
- Lindsay Carlson,
a senior in Teachers College;
- Rachida Faid-Douglas, lecturer
in Teachers College;
- Brenda Friedman Ingraham, lecturer in
the Department of English;
- Michaela Policky, a senior in the
College of Human Resources
and Family Sciences;
- Jan
Sammet, transfer credit evaluation specialist in the
dean's
office at the College of Agricultural Science and Natural
Resources;
- Christine Timm, associate director at Career
Services;
- Anona Trutna, custodian at University Housing.
The Sue Tidball Award for Creative Humanity honors people
from the UNL campus who are nominated by their peers for making
significant contributions to the development of a humane, open,
caring, educationally creative and just community on campus.
More
than 200 students, faculty and staff members have been award
nominees. Recipients have ranged from senior faculty and administrators
to students to secretaries.
The Sue Tidball Award program
is sponsored by the campus ministry
of Cornerstone-UMHE at UNL as a
memorial to a staff member who
died in 1976. The program is
conducted by an committee of students,
staff and faculty.
Recipients of alumni awards
announced
The UNL Alumni Association and the Hixson-Lied
College of
Fine and Performing Arts will recognize winners of the
2003 alumni
awards at an awards dinner on April 25, which is part
of a special
alumni weekend, April 25-27. Other special activities
that weekend
will include an MFA thesis exhibition, a graduate
showcase of
creative work, an alumni performance event in the
Sheldon Auditorium,
and performances of University Theatre's
Macbeth, the School
of Music's Wind Ensemble, and Brahms' Requiem
at the Lied Center
for Performing Arts.
The
Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts award
winners:
Award of Merit: Jack Rokahr.
NU alumnus Rokahr donated
the Rokahr Family Archive, a vast
collection of opera, operetta,
musical and zarzuela scores dating
from 1765 to the present, to the
UNL School of Music in 2002.
Alumni Achievement
Awards:
James D. Butler, of Bloomington, Ill., art.
Butler
is a distinguished professor of art at Illinois State
University.
Vaughn Jaenike, of Charleston, Ill.,
music. Jaenike
is a development officer and dean and professor of
music emeritus
of the College of Fine Arts at Eastern Illinois
University in
Charleston.
Bob Hall, of
Lincoln, theatre arts. After earning his
master's degree from UNL,
Hall spent 25 years in New York City
pursuing dual careers in
cartooning and theatre arts. From 1988
to 1993, he was artistic
director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre.
He has also drawn many
of the major characters for Marvel Comics.
Sandy
Veneziano, of Lincoln, theatre arts. Veneziano
is a freelance
director and set designer in California. She also
has taught film
design classes at NU.
Student Leadership Award: Abigail
Miller, Department
of Theatre Arts. Miller received her
bachelor of arts degree
in theatre arts in December.
Boden leads ag
libraries group
Dana W. R. Boden, associate professor and
subject specialist/liaison
librarian at the C. Y. Thompson Library,
is serving a three-year
term as an officer of the United States
Agricultural Information
Network: 2001-02 as president-elect;
2002-03 as president; and
2003-04 as past president. She will
preside at the Network's
Eighth Conference this month. In addition
to this elected position,
Boden also was elected to serve USAIN as
a director on the Executive
Council from 1995-97.
Boden has served as liaison librarian to various IANR departments
during her years at UNL from 1982 to 1986 and 1989 to the present.
Current liaison areas are animal science; agricultural leadership,
education and communication; biochemistry; biological systems
engineering; veterinary and biomedical sciences; and the Research
and Extension Centers.
USAIN was established in 1988 and
provides a forum for discussion
of agricultural issues, leads in
the formation of a national
information policy as related to
agriculture, makes recommendations
to the National Agricultural
Library on agricultural information
matters, and promotes
cooperation and communication among its
members.
Spinner-Halev organizes conference
Jeff Spinner-Halev, Schlesinger professor of political science
at UNL, organized the political science department's Hendricks
conference in conjunction with the human rights and human diversity
program on the theme of minorities within minorities on Oct.
4 and
5. The conference's objective was to explore the different
ways in
which the liberal state ought to respond to conflicts
generated by
minorities within minorities.
The conference featured
speakers from the United States, Netherlands,
Britain, India and
Canada. An edited volume including papers
first presented at the
conference will be published soon.
Atlas named outstanding academic title
UNL geography
professors J. Clark Archer and Stephen Lavin's
co-authored book,
Atlas of American Politics 1960 to 2000, has
been named an
outstanding academic title by Choice, the review
of books for
academic libraries, for 2002.
The atlas contains text and
maps about presidential elections;
Congress; the executive and
judicial branches; federal, state,
and local government; and
foreign, social, and economic policy.
The atlas examines these
aspects of U.S. government from historical,
geographical, and
political perspectives and includes information
from the 1960-2000
U.S. censuses. It was co-authored by Kenneth
C. Martis of West
Virginia University and Fred M. Shelley of
Southwest Texas State
University.
Choice granted the outstanding award title to
about 10 percent
of its 6,600 reviewed books in 2002. The atlas was
honored in
the social and behavioral sciences category.
The book was published by CQ Press, a division of Congressional
Quarterly Inc.
Caldwell is interim director of tech transfer office
Celika Caldwell has been appointed
interim director of the
Office of Technology Transfer. The
appointment was effective
April 1. Caldwell joined UNL in December
2001 as a technology
transfer associate.
In the
current position, she will oversee the office, which
is responsible
for identifying and commercializing intellectual
property developed
through research at UNL and economic development
activities. She
serves on the senior management team of the Office
of Research and
Graduate Studies and reports to the vice chancellor
for research
and graduate studies.
Caldwell holds a bachelor's degree in
electrical engineering
from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and a master's
in business administration from Stanford
Business School.
In January, Caldwell received one of two
national awards from
the Association for University Technology
Managers. The Howard
Bremer Scholarship recognizes outstanding new
professionals in
the field of university technology transfer.
Criteria for selection
include a demonstrated desire to establish a
career in university
technology transfer activities, a record of
professional achievement
and volunteer work with the association.
The association is a
group of 3,000 technology managers and
business executives.
Caldwell replaces Stephen Frayser. A
national search for a
permanent director is ongoing.
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