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David Jackson, UNL food scientist, hands out tortillas to
visitors during a tour of the Food Processing Center on Sept.
16
on East Campus. The tour was part of the center's 20th anniversary
celebration, which included guest speaker Pierce Hollingsworth,
director of special projects division of Stagnito Communications
Inc. IANR Photo by Brett Hampton.
Scientists earn $9.9 million to study
cells, cancer
UNMC Public Affairs
A UNL
scientist is among a team of researchers involved in
a new National
Institutes of Health grant to study cell signaling
and its role in
cancer.
Melanie Simpson, assistant professor of
biochemistry, is part
of the project led by the University of
Nebraska Medical Center.
The five-year grant totaling almost $9.9
million from the National
Institutes of Health will further the
understanding of cell signaling
- the biochemical response of cells
to their environment - in
relation to study a variety of
cancers.
The grant establishes an NIH-designated Nebraska
Center for
Cellular Signaling at UNMC and is the second-largest new
grant
in history received by UNMC.
Funded by the
Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence program,
an NIH-supported
program, it also is the second CoBRE grant received
in a week at
UNMC. On Sept. 15, a grant for $10.6 million was
received at UNMC
for the NIH-designated Nebraska Center for Molecular
Biology of
Neurosensory Systems.
Margaret Wheelock, professor of oral
biology, UNMC College
of Dentistry, is principal investigator of
the latest grant and
director of the new Nebraska Center for
Cellular Signaling. The
center will focus on the study of cell
signaling and will expand
cellular signaling research of junior
researchers to foster new
research initiatives that ultimately will
improve the health
of people around the world. Research projects
will focus on relation
to head and neck, prostate, colon, skin
cancer and cancer in
general.
Five research projects
within the grant will be led by researchers
from UNMC, UNL and
Creighton University. Each project involves
the study of cellular
signaling with a focus on its role in producing
tumors. Cell
signaling is a rapidly growing area of national
research because of
scientific and technological advances made
in the last 10
years.
"This grant will allow us to bring together
outstanding
junior and senior faculty with similar interests, which
will
greatly enhance the science knowledge and opportunities for
more
collaboration." Wheelock said. "It will increase the
research profile of Nebraska's dental schools and develop junior
researchers. We also will be working toward attracting more grants
and researchers long after the COBRE grant concludes."
Wheelock said the significant level of common themes among
the
five research projects strengthens the work, with the goal
to
further the understanding of the biological process of cancer.
"Normally, cells in the body signal to one another. During
the cancer process, cell signaling goes awry. We're studying
what's
gone wrong in the signaling pathways when cells grow more
rapidly
and divide. If we can modify the information pathway
in the cells,
perhaps we can decrease the potential of the cancerous
cell to
spread," Wheelock said. "Our clinicians have
a lot of
burning questions. If we could say 'this cell does this
or that,'
the patient could be saved a lot of trauma. Getting
this grant has
been one of our goals. We have the right people.
That's exciting
for the future."
"The goal is to develop
researchers and produce research
that may lead to earlier diagnosis
or new treatments for oral
and other cancers," said John
Reinhardt, D.D.S., dean of
the UNMC College of Dentistry.
"Dentists are often on the
front line of diagnosis for cancers
of the head, mouth, neck,
and throat. Nearly 8,000 people in the
United States die of oral
and pharyngeal cancers each year. Oral
cancers are particularly
aggressive; the overall five-year survival
rate is only 52 percent,
worse than cancers of the breast, uterus,
colon and prostate,"
he said.
Project leaders of
the center's first five grants are: James
Wahl and Sreenivas Koka,
UNMC College of Dentistry Department
of Oral Biology; Simpson of
UNL's Department of Biochemistry;
and Laura Hansen, Ph.D. and
Bhakta Dey, Ph.D., Creighton School
of Medicine Department of
Biomedical Sciences.
UNL
freshman class has highest ACT score average
Below is an
updated version of an e-mail sent to all faculty
and staff on Sept.
22 by Alan Cerveny, dean of admissions.
In today's
competitive college student recruiting market,
success depends upon
the active involvement and support of the
entire campus community.
On behalf of the Office of Admissions,
I would like to thank all of
you across both campuses and in
Cooperative Extension for assisting
us in this critical effort
this past year.
New
Student Enrollment Update. Your support of student recruiting
is
making a difference. Despite budget cuts and tuition increases,
we
have enrolled one of UNL's most academically talented new
student
classes this fall. In ever-increasing numbers, we are
attracting
the very best. The average ACT score for this year's
freshman class
was 24.4 - the highest ACT average UNL has ever
had. The class
includes four perfect scorers on the ACT test.
To put this
accomplishment in perspective, only 195 students
(.01 percent of
all ACT test-takers across the country) received
perfect ACT scores
this past year. We also attracted more new
National Merit Scholars
per capita than any other college or
university in the nation
except one.
Our new, first-time freshman class of 3,641
was an increase
of 24 students from a year ago. The number of new
minority students
increased 15 percent and out-of-state enrollment
was also up.
While we are pleased with the size, quality and
diversity of
our new freshman class, one sobering statistic is that
our new
transfer student numbers were down 6 percent. With a
shrinking
pool of Nebraska high school graduates projected over the
next
decade, student recruiting in general - and transfer student
recruiting in particular - must continue to be a priority for
all
of us.
Identifying Hot Prospects. As we begin another new
student
recruiting cycle, I would appreciate your assistance in
identifying
prospective students who might be interested in UNL.
Even though
we currently have more than 50,000 active prospects in
our database,
I suspect you may know of some talented high school
or community
college students who are not yet on our recruiting
lists. If
you have names you would like to share with the Office of
Admissions
(particularly your children, grandchildren, family
friends or
relatives), I would appreciate it if you would please
e-mail
their names, year in school and mailing addresses to me at
<acerveny2@unl.edu>.
Big Red Road Show 2004. UNL will once again be bringing a
"Big Red Road Show" to Omaha next semester. This event
will feature more than 100 exhibits, displays, presentations,
demonstrations, autograph sessions, raffles, food and fun for
students of all ages. If you are interested in more information
on
the Road Show or would like to become involved in planning
process,
please e-mail me.
Once again, thank you for your continuing
support. All of
us in the Office of Admissions look forward to
working with you
to recruit another great class of new students for
2004.
Take care,
Alan
'Real Nebraska' is reality 'TV' for
students
UNL is capitalizing on the popularity of reality
television
by creating its own program called "Real
Nebraska."
The project gives miniature video cameras to three
UNL students
to document their lives.
The resulting
video will be edited into a video at the end
of the academic year,
but viewers can keep up with the project
on an interactive website,
<http://realnebraska.unl.edu>.
The site is updated weekly. Viewers can also ask questions of
the
three students featured via e-mail. The students are Bill,
Sarah
and Ryan. For security reasons, the students' last names
will not
be given.
Bev Cobain to
speak Oct. 3; depression screening offered
Bev Cobain will
present "Mental Illness and Surviving
Suicide" at 10 a.m.
Oct. 3 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium.
Cobain, a
registered nurse, has practiced for 10 years on
a hospital-based
psychiatric unit, treating and counseling patients
suffering from
depression, suicidal tendencies and other mental
illnesses. Her
cousin, Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the rock group
Nirvana, shot
himself nine years ago. His suicide, the third
in her family, made
her decide to follow a career path of teaching
others about youth
depression and suicide prevention. In 1998,
she wrote When Nothing
Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for
Depressed Teens.
Cobain's lecture precedes National Depression Screening Day
on
Oct. 9. Counseling and Psychological Services and the Employee
Assistance Program will sponsor free, confidential screenings
for
depression, manic-depression, anxiety and post-traumatic
stress
disorder from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day in the Nebraska
Union.
Anyone who thinks he or she may be depressed is encouraged
to
attend this event. Symptoms can include feeling sad or anxious
for
more than just a day or two; feelings of hopelessness; changes
in
appetite; increased restlessness or irritability; loss of
interest
or pleasure in usual activities; and many other symptoms.
Participants will fill out a self-test and can talk with a counselor.
An online screening is also available in the areas of
depression,
manic depression, anxiety, eating disorders and alcohol
use.
Access it at <www.unl.edu/health/CAPS.html>.
For more information, call CAPS at 472-7450.
Extended Education Plans Open House at
New Location
The Office of Extended Education and Outreach
will offer an
open house for the campus community at its new
location, 900
N. 21st St., from 3:30-5 p.m. Oct. 10. The new office
is on the
east end of City Campus across from the Beadle Center at
21st
and Vine streets.
The open house will allow
faculty and staff to tour the new
building and find out more about
Extended Education and Outreach's
programs and services. Attendees
can learn about the program's
partnerships with academic colleges,
faculty and student support
services, UNL's distance education
graduate degree programs,
College Independent Study, Summer Reading
and Independent Study
High School programs.
Refreshments will be served after the tour.
For
information about the open house, call 472-4500. For more
about
Extended Education and Outreach and its programs, visit
<http://extended.unl.edu>
or
call the customer service office at 472-2175.
First Grant Writing Seminars Oct. 20-21
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies has announced
the
2003-2004 schedule of grant-writing seminars. "Write
Winning
Grants" will be presented on Oct. 20-21. These seminars
will
be presented by Stephen Russell and David Morrison of Grant
Writers
Seminars and Workshops, LLC.
"Write Winning
Grants" will be presented in two
concurrent sessions - one
focusing on NIH proposals and one on
NSF proposals. These seminars
are designed for faculty members
and others interested in
developing grant proposals to these
and other funding agencies. The
NIH seminar will be at the Nebraska
East Union, and the NSF seminar
will be in E103 Beadle.
"Getting Started as a
Successful Grant Writer and Academician"
will be presented on
March 5-6, 2004. This seminar, designed
for junior faculty members,
post-doctoral associates, research
faculty and graduate students,
introduces participants to the
proposal writing process and to
strategies designed to get them
started in their academic
careers.
Registration for these seminars is on a first
come-first served
basis. To register for these seminars, visit
<www.unl.edu/research>.
For more information contact the
Office of Research and Graduate
Studies (email: <UNLresearch@unl.edu>,
or
call 472-2851).
Career
Spotlight
Career Services offers a Career Spotlight
program as a service
to students who are undecided about their
majors and want to
learn more about career options in specific
areas. The next Career
Spotlight is from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at
the Nebraska Union
and will focus on health-related career options.
Students will
be able to speak with members of the panel who work
in that field
to learn more about jobs in that area. Faculty
members are encouraged
to attend.
The panel chosen to
speak about this field includes:
- Brad Brown,
physical therapy/athletic trainer;
- Kathy Carter, nurse
practitioner in a pediatrician's office;
- Becky Schlegel,
physician's assistant;
- Gaye Homer, medical technology;
- Dr. David Isom, final-year resident, family practice;
- Curt Kuster, dentistry;
- Andy Link, community health.
For more information, visit the Career Services website
at
<www.unl.edu/career
s/events/spotlight.htm>.
Blackboard and Photoshop training
series offered by Information
Services
Learn
Blackboard tools to assist and enhance your instruction.
This
series of workshops covers creating quizzes, using discussion
boards, the gradebook and more features of Blackboard.
Faculty and staff can learn a range of Photoshop techniques
commonly used in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Our workshops
will cover selections, layers, photo retouching and more.
For more information on these workshops and how to sign up,
visit: <http://itg.unl.edu/training>.
Letters to the editor
The Scarlet will accept submitted letters to the editor from
members of the UNL campus community in an effort to foster dialogue
and discussion of campus news, events and issues.
For
policies or information, visit <www.unl.edu/scarlet/>.
Enter a display
in the annual Homecoming contest
Entry forms for the 2003
Homecoming Office Display contest
are now available. The deadline
to turn in forms is 4 p.m. Oct.
8. Displays will be judged on Oct.
14, during Homecoming week.
This year's Homecoming theme is
"Return of the Bugeaters."
Download an entry form
at <www.unl.edu/asun>.
Call 472-2581 for more information.
E-news process for e-mail to all
E-News is a weekly
compilation of notices distributed to all
faculty and staff and
replaces the "e-mail to all"
system. The deadline for
submission is 5 p.m. Monday; E-News
is distributed Tuesday
evenings. Submitted items must be sponsored
by a UNL department,
program or organization. No commercial or
personal announcements
are allowed. Announcements must have news,
not opinion, content.
Submit items to: <www.unl.edu/e-news>.
International conference calls for
proposals
Proposals for sessions are being accepted for
the Nebraska
International Multicultural Exchange Conference and
are due Oct.
13. This annual conference offers cultural exchange
between the
community and international students, and the sessions
offer
information about many cultures through presentations and
hands-on
participation.
The conference will be Nov. 8
at the Nebraska Union with a
kickoff event at the Cornhusker Hotel
on Nov. 7. Students, faculty
and staff, and members of the
community are welcome to participate.
For more information,
call 472-0382, e-mail <nimec@yahoo.com>
or visit the website:
<www.unl.edu/FoFStu/nimec>.<
/P>
Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women nominations
The newly structured Chancellor's Commission on the Status
of
Women seeks nominations for members to serve one-to-three-year
terms. The purpose of the commission is to enhance the status
of
women at UNL by advising the chancellor on issues pertaining
to
gender equity and on specific concerns of women faculty, staff
and
students at UNL.
Submit a letter of interest, including
title and description
of the role you serve on campus, by Oct. 6,
to Jody Wood, commission
secretary, 128 Administration Building, or
e-mail her at <jewood@unlnotes.unl.edu>.
Self-nominations are encouraged.
For information, call Wood
at 472-0085.
Stake Lecture
Oct. 6
Professor Robert E. Stake will present a lecture,
"The
Unbearable Lightness of Education: Capturing Experiential
Data,"
at 4 p.m. Oct. 6 in 105 Teachers College Hall.
Stake's lecture will focus on the idea that for a century
or so,
the organizers of education have struggled to make teaching
and
school management rational, propositional and research-based.
The
actual decisions in classroom and boardroom have continued
to be
based largely on experience. But the accountability movement
and
"No Child Left Behind" have tipped the balance
toward
impersonal contingencies. What can be done to discipline
experience
and to re-legitimize legitimate professional understanding?
Stake is professor emeritus of education and educational psychology
at the University of Illinois and director of CIRCE, Bureau of
Educational Research at UI. He was an assistant and associate
professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska
from 1958 to 1963.
He is author of Quieting Reform,
Evaluating the Arts in Education
and The Art of Case Study
Research, and coauthor of both Case
Studies in Science Education
(with Jack Easley) and Custom and
Cherishing: The Arts in American
Elementary Schools (with Liora
Bresler and Linda Mabry).
The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Teaching, Learning
and Teacher Education in the UNL College of Education and Human
Sciences, and the National Center for Information Technology
in
Education at UNL.
Schedule for TIAA-CREF counseling
sessions
A TIAA-CREF consultant will be in the Nebraska
Union on Oct.
7, 9, 29 and 31, and the Nebraska East Union on Oct.
8 and 30
to provide free, one-on-one counseling sessions on
investment
planning issues. The room will be posted.
Sign up by calling (800) 842-2009 or going to <www.tiaa-cref.org>
and
choosing Meetings/Counseling.
October schedule for Fidelity counseling sessions
A
Fidelity consultant will be in the Nebraska Union on Oct.
7 and the
Nebraska East Union on Oct. 8 to provide free, one-on-one
counseling sessions on investment-planning issues. The room will
be
posted.
Sign up by calling Reservation Systems at (800)
642-7131.
Bookstore to offer 'One Book' discussion
University
Bookstore will host a brown-bag discussion of Bel
Canto by Ann
Patchett, the current "One Book, One Lincoln"
book, from
noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 9. The bookstore will supply dessert.
Copies of Bel Canto are available at the bookstore or through
city libraries. For information, call the bookstore at 472-8560.
UNL Emeriti Association Meets Oct.
16
The UNL Emeriti Association will meet at 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 16
at the Nebraska East Union. The room will be posted.
Marceil
Dreier and Helen Eckholt will speak on investing in The
Town
and Gown Partnership.
For more information, call
Wilma Crumley at 435-0287.
Phi Beta Delta seeks award
nominations
Phi Beta Delta, the honor society of
international scholars
at UNL, has established a program to
recognize a faculty member,
a domestic undergraduate or graduate
student and an international
undergraduate or graduate student.
Information about the awards
and nomination/application forms are
available on the International
Affairs web site (<www.unl.edu/iaffairs>,
at
"Opportunities"). The deadline for receipt of
nomination/application
forms and letters of support is Oct. 24.
Research Ethics Forum Oct. 9
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies will host the
inaugural lecture of the newly instituted Research Ethics Forum
from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Oct. 9 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium.
Elyse Summers of the Federal Office for Human Research Protection
will present a lecture titled "Protecting Human Research
Participants," focusing on federal initiatives and regulations
that govern social and behavioral science human subjects research.
Also presenting will be the chair and administrator of UNL's
Institutional Review Board, who will provide guidance on submitting
protocols to the IRB. Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research
and
dean of Graduate Studies, will discuss details of UNL's Human
Subjects Protections Program accreditation effort. The forum
is
designed for anyone engaged in human-subjects research.
Anyone interested should register for the forum by e-mailing
<UNLresearch@unl.edu>
or by calling Peg Filliez at 472-2851. More information can
be
found on the UNL Research website at <www.unl.edu/research>.
Nebraska Food trade show Oct. 7
Nebraska food manufacturers and suppliers have been invited
to
exhibit at the second annual New Nebraska Food Market trade
show on
Oct. 7 at the Nebraska State Fair Park Agriculture Hall.
This show is sponsored and organized by the UNL Food Processing
Center, which provides business development and technical services
to food manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, associations,
retailers, food-service providers and entrepreneurs. This event
is
also being sponsored by the Nebraska Cooperative Development
Center, Nebraska Restaurant Association, Nebraska Grocery Industry
Association, Midwest Laboratories and the Nebraska Department
of
Agriculture.
This event provides companies the opportunity
to display,
sample and sell their food products to potential food
buyers.
It also provides buyers with a way to sample products and
evaluate
many companies in one day. This increases their awareness
of
Nebraska companies and products.
For more
information, call the Food Processing Center at 472-2832.
UNOPA Floyd S. Oldt Boss of the Year
Award
The University of Nebraska Office Personnel
Association is
seeking nominations for its 2003 Floyd S. Oldt Boss
of the Year
Award.
A full-time employee with
management, administrative and/or
supervisory responsibilities is
eligible for nomination. Any
UNL employee, University of Nebraska
District Research and Extension
Center employee and employees of
UNO and UNMC whose primary work
location is on the Lincoln campus
may be nominated. The recipient
of the 2003-2004 award will receive
$500, a framed certificate
and a one-year UNOPA membership. All
Floyd S. Oldt Boss of the
Year Award nominees will receive a
certificate to commemorate
their nomination and will be recognized
at the presentation luncheon
on Nov. 11.
More on the
application process can be found at <www.unl.edu/unopa>.
The
deadline is Oct. 10. Send nominations to: Becky Hastings,
awards
director, 1700 Y St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0606. For information,
call Becky at 472-2085 or e-mail <rhastings1@unl.edu>.
Call for New
UCARE Project Proposals
The application deadline for
one-year-only UCARE proposals
for the academic year 2003-04 is Oct.
3. These awards will be
available to students from Oct. 15 until
June 30, 2004.
The Office of Undergraduate Studies
encourages faculty new
to the university to apply as well as
university faculty who
have not participated in UCARE before.
Interdisciplinary projects
are also welcome. Faculty are also
invited to post a UCARE opportunity
on the UCARE website for
students to browse.
Applications are available on the UCARE
website, <www.unl.edu/ucare/forms.html>,
and online application is suggested. For information, to
post
a UCARE opportunity or to discuss a proposal, call Laura
Damuth,
UCARE coordinator, at 472-5024 or email <Ldamuth1@unl.edu>.
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