Joan Leitzel, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNL, announced Thursday that she has accepted the presidency of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. Her appointment is effective July 15, pending the approval of the University of New Hampshire Board of Trustees at a special meeting scheduled for April 9. She would replace former two-term New Hampshire Gov. Walter Peterson, who has served as interim president.
Leitzel and her husband, James Leitzel, professor of mathematics and statistics at UNL, will leave UNL on June 30.
"This was a difficult decision for us because we think highly of UNL and care a great deal for the people at the university and across the state," Joan Leitzel said. "I have been particularly pleased with the academic accomplishments at UNL during my time here and will always treasure this experience."
As senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, Leitzel is second in UNL's administrative organization after the chancellor and serves as the university's top academic officer. She served as interim chancellor from August 1995 to February 1996 in the period following the resignation of Graham Spanier and the hiring of James Moeser.
The University of New Hampshire is the only public research university and the only doctorate-granting institution within the state and carries land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant charters. It enrolls approximately 10,800 full-time undergraduate and 1,700 full-time graduate students. The university comprises five principal colleges on the Durham campus, a commuter college at Manchester, a graduate school, several interdisciplinary teaching and research institutes (in such areas as marine studies, earth, oceans and space science, international education, policy and social science research and the humanities) and is the administrative base for the UNH Cooperative Extension and other affiliated organizations.
"I have very mixed feelings about Joan Leitzel's decision to accept the position as president of the University of New Hampshire," Moeser said. "Of course, I am delighted for Joan. She deserves such a position of major leadership as the presidency of the University of New Hampshire She has served brilliantly as acting chancellor and senior vice chancellor at UNL. This university should be proud that one of our own has been selected for this important position.
"On a personal level, however, I shall miss her very much. She and I had already established a warm and cordial working relationship. We consulted together two or three times every day, in conversations ranging from a few minutes to an hour or more. She has been a key adviser in my becoming oriented to major issues. I shall miss her very much."
Moeser said he will name an interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs as soon as possible and select a committee to advise him in a national search for a permanent replacement for Leitzel.
After coming to UNL Aug. 1, 1992, Leitzel led the adoption by all undergraduate colleges of a new general education curriculum that was implemented last fall. She has had oversight for the expansion of the honors program, the growth of information technology in instruction and the development of stronger measures for evaluating teaching. Her duties include oversight of the Graduate College and the International Affairs office, and she has responsibility for all academic programs on campus except those in the Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Leitzel came to Nebraska from the National Science Foundation, where she was division director of materials development, research and informal science education. She was a faculty member and administrator at Ohio State University for 25 years.
Leitzel earned her bachelor's degree from Hanover (Ind.) College in 1958, her master's degree from Brown University in 1961 and her doctorate from Indiana University in 1965, all in mathematics. She was a faculty member at Ohio State from 1970 to 1992 and was Ohio State's associate provost from 1985 to 1990. As associate provost, she was responsible for instruction and curriculum and for academic program assessment.
Leitzel has published many articles on mathematics and science education. In her position with NSF, she was responsible for initiation and support of science, mathematics and technology education projects in all fields of science including pre-college and informal science education experiences.
She was elected vice chair of the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education in 1995 and began a four-year term on the board. She will serve as chair-elect of the AAHE board in 1996-97, then will be the association's national chair in 1997-98.
Additionally, Leitzel has held a number of leaderships roles in the
Mathematical Association of America. She is a member of the Coordinating
Committee for Education of the National Research Council at the National
Academy of Sciences and is also a member of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, the American Mathematical Society, the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Sigma Xi, the science
honorary.
Two UNL faculty members have been awarded distinguished professorships by UNL Chancellor James Moeser.
Robert Audi has been named the Charles J. Mach Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Barbara Plake has been named the W.C. Meierhenry Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology. Each appointment is for a five-year term and is renewable. Each receives a $10,000 annual stipend for the term of the appointment.
Audi has been a member of the UNL faculty since 1973 and has written or edited six books. He most recently served as editor-in-chief for The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, published by the Cambridge University Press in 1995. The author of scores of scholarly articles, he served as president of the central division of the American Philosophical Association in 1987-88, received the Award for Outstanding Research and Creativity from the University of Nebraska system in 1991 and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki (Finland) in 1995. Audi earned his bachelor's degree with high honors from Colgate University in 1963, then earned his master's (1965) and doctoral (1967) degrees from the University of Michigan.
Plake has been a member of the UNL faculty since 1977 and serves as
the director of the Buros Center for Testing, whose three institutes
evaluate commercially available tests, perform research to investigate
methods to improve test products and practices and perform outreach
activities to inform the public on tests and test practices. A fellow of
the American Psychological Association, Division 5, she received the
University of Nebraska Foundation Trustees' Award for Distinguished
Teaching in 1987 and was elected to the Psychonomic Society in 1985. She
has contributed as an editor or writer to 10 books, published nearly 100
articles in scholarly journals and delivered nearly 180 papers at
international, national and regional conferences. Plake earned her
bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Colorado in 1968,
then earned her master's (1972) and doctoral (1976) degrees in
educational statistics and measurement from the University of Iowa.
The two finalists for dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts at UNL will visit campus and meet with university officials next month.
Richard Durst, dean of the fine arts school at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, will be on campus April 8-10. An open reception will be given for Durst from 3 to 4 p.m. April 9 in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room.
Durst is also a professor of theater at Minnesota-Duluth and the president of the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology Inc. in New York. Before joining the University of Minnesota in 1977, he was an assistant professor of theater and a scenic designer at the University of South Dakota.
Sue Ann Martin, dean of arts at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, will visit UNL April 21-23. An open reception for Martin will be from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. April 22 in the Lied Center's Orchestra Lobby.
Before becoming dean of arts at Windsor in 1991, Martin was the
director of the university's School of Dramatic Art for nine years. She
has also been a speech consultant for General Motors Truck and Coach, a
children's book reviewer for the Detroit Free Press and a speech
instructor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
UNL Chancellor James Moeser has announced the members of a search advisory committee for the position of assistant to the chancellor and director of affirmative action and diversity.
The committee will be co-chaired by Rodrigo Cantarero, assistant
professor of community and regional planning, and Melvin Jones, vice
chancellor for business and finance. Other members of the committee are
Linda Crump, associate director of affirmative action and diversity;
Barbara DiBernard, professor of English; Gabrielle Dalton, UNL student;
James Gibson, professor of anthropology; Joel Gajardo, executive director
of the Hispanic Community Center; Venita Kelly, assistant professor of
communications studies; Joan Mendoza-Gorham, consultant/learning
specialist in multi-cultural affairs; Judi Morgan, executive director of
the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs; Virginia Newton, UNL student;
Ed Wimes, director of affirmative action for the city of Lincoln; and
Gary Yuen, associate professor of plant pathology. Carmen Maurer,
associate general counsel for the University of Nebraska, will serve as
consultant to the committee.
The University of Nebraska Press has been singled out for special recognition at the 16th annual Paris Book Fair March 20-24.
The Nebraska Press was one of four American university presses invited to the book fair, which this year focused on contributions of American commercial and university presses to the furthering of French literature and culture in the United States.
Other presses invited to showcase their wares and to participate in activities and events in connection with the fair were Harvard, Columbia and Duke universities.
The NU Press was represented at the fair by Doug Clayton, editor-in-chief. Clayton participated in a March 22 panel discussion at the Sorbonne. The panel discussed the current state of Franco-American exchange in regard to foreign rights to literary works.
Clayton said the NU Press was invited to participate in the annual fair, a major literary event in Paris, because of its work in publishing French novels and other literary works. Over the years, the NU Press has been a major publisher in the United States of French critical works, including a series of translations dealing with French modernism. Most significant in this regard is an ongoing project involving translations of works by Andre Breton, the foremost figure among the French surrealists.
The NU Press has also recently offered the first translations of
several novels by Marie Redonnet, a highly regarded contemporary French
novelist. Three of four Redonnet novels published so far were translated
by Jordan Stump, UNL assistant professor of modern languages.
By Kim Hachiya, News & Information
At its March 26 meeting, the Parking Advisory Committee approved two changes in parking lot assignments.
Some Area 10 faculty-staff parking was added near the Dental College and approximately 10 spaces designated as Area 20 were added to a lot between Burr Hall and the Activities Building on East Campus.
The committee decided to wait until fall to see whether other lot designations could be reassigned. Members were concerned about shifts in faculty-staff parking due to construction of the parking ramp, which will cause about 200 faculty-staff parkers to find alternative lots. Once folks have sorted out their parking in the fall, then the committee could look at redesignating lot assignments.
Tad McDowell, parking manager, said the Legislature is expected to sign off next week on bond arrangements for the parking ramp. Clark Enersen Partners of Lincoln and Carl Walker Co. of Kalamazoo, Mich., will design the 600-stall ramp. Construction should begin in late fall, he said, and the target completion date is July 15, 1997.
McDowell said a high-tech security system with video cameras and monitors is planned.
About 50 "reserved" permits may be sold in the new ramp, McDowell said, but the goal is to have fee-per-hour parkers provide most of the revenue for the structure. The reserved stalls could cost as much as $60 to $70 per month in order for the ramp to break even, he said. This is comparable to reserved stalls in downtown garages, which typically fill half of their space with daily reserved parking. UNL plans to reserve about 10 percent.
And of course, it's expected to be heavily used on football Saturdays.
"But the other 358 days a year, it will be used by visitors, students,
faculty and staff," McDowell said.
"Politics and Culture of the Great Plains" will be the subject of the 20th anniversary interdisciplinary symposium sponsored by the Center for Great Plains Studies at UNL April 11-13 at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.
The three-day conference will feature scholars from 25 colleges and universities from the United States and Canada, experts from other public and private organizations and individuals with expertise pertinent to the symposium's theme. The symposium will feature 14 panel discussions on subjects ranging from populism to Native American rights to women's suffrage and U.S-Canada Great Plains linkages. Panels will also address the role of politics in the economic and educational systems of the Great Plains.
A special panel discussion from 8 to 10 a.m. April 13 will focus on
the late Robert Spire, the former Nebraska attorney general who was
widely admired from all parts of the political spectrum.
The conference will open with a keynote address by Morris S. Dees Jr. (shown at right) at 7:30 p.m. April 11 in the ballroom of the Nebraska Union, 14th and R streets. Dees is co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center Inc. in Montgomery, Ala., which he continues to serve as chief trial counsel and chair of the executive committee. Dees was credited with bankrupting the Ku Klux Klan when he won a $7 million settlement against it in federal court in 1981. He was also successful in obtaining a $12.5 million judgment against Tom Metzger and the White Aryan Nation in 1990. Dees' address is free and open to the public and is titled "Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat."
Three other sessions of the symposium will be free and open to the public -- two panel discussions at the Ramada and evening entertainment at the Capitol Building April 12. The free panel discussions are "The Future of the Plains: A View from the Grassroots," chaired by Dick Herman, former opinion page editor of the Lincoln Journal, from 10 a.m. to noon and "Women and Politics: Breaking New Ground," chaired by UNL English Professor Moira Ferguson from 1:45 to 3:30 p.m.
The evening entertainment, "In Times Like These," will be in the old Senate chambers of the Capitol Building at 7 p.m. Nebraska state Sen. David Landis will portray former Nebraska U.S. Sen. George Norris. That performance will be followed at 8:15 by a presentation of the play "The 1914 Women's Mock Parliament." Randi Warner, professor of religious studies and director of Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, will portray Canadian suffragist Nellie McClung and the members of the "Mock Parliament" will be played by Nebraska state Sens. Ardyce Bohlke, LaVon Crosby, Carol Hudkins, Jan McKenzie, Carol McBride Pirsch, Jennie Robak, DiAnna Schimek and Elaine Stuhr. The members of the men's delegation will be played by Landis and state Sens. Jerome Warner and Don Wesley.
Registration is $50 through April 1 and $60 after. The fee includes all sessions of the symposium, including a 12:15 p.m. April 12 luncheon at the Ramada where former Missouri Lt. Gov. Harriet Woods will speak on "Women, Politics, Power and the Plains." Woods is immediate past president of the National Women's Political Caucus and is vice-chair of the Women's Vote Project '96.
Registration should be made through the Center for Great Plains Studies, 1213 Oldfather Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, P.O. Box 880314, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0314, telephone 472-3082, by April 9. Separate registrations for the April 12 luncheon at $17 may be made through the center, also by April 9.
All panel discussions will be conducted at the Ramada. Persons who are not registered at the conference but wish to attend individual sessions may do so by paying a $5 per-session fee at the door.
The schedule of panel discussions includes:
The 11th Nebraska Conference on Entrepreneurship will be April 13 at the Cornhusker Hotel and Convention Center in Lincoln.
The conference, "Seven Secrets to Becoming No. 1: Starting and Building a Winning Business," is coordinated by the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship at UNL's College of Business Administration. It will begin with an 8 a.m. keynote address by Peter Legge, president and chief executive officer of Canada Wide Magazines and Communications Ltd. Legge is an award-winning speaker and the author of three Canadian best-sellers.
Legge's address, "Believe in Yourself: How to Soar with the Eagles," will be followed by five breakout sessions, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Another feature of the conference will be the eighth annual International Business Plan Competition in which teams from 18 colleges and universities from the United States and Canada will compete for $5,500 in prize money in the graduate and undergraduate divisions.
"The contest has grown to be one of the premier contests of its kind," said Robin Anderson, director of the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship. "The competition judges new venture ideas based on their viability. Prominent business people, serving as judges, review written business plans prior to the contest, then the contestants present their plans and have a question and answer period with the judges. The teams represent America's leading business colleges and universities and the plans presented most often are actually implemented into new businesses."
The preliminary round of the business plan competition will be April 12. Four teams in each division will advance to the finals from 9:35 a.m.-12:15 p.m. April 13.
The winners will be announced along with the Nebraska Entrepreneurs of the Year and other award winners at a 12:25 p.m. luncheon that closes the conference. Gov. Ben Nelson will present the awards and the featured speaker at the luncheon will be John Hughes of the Coleman Foundation. Hughes' speech is titled "Just Do It: Helping Entrepreneurs Implement Their Ideas."
There is a $60 registration fee for the conference and reservations must be made by April 5 through the Center for Entrepreneurship at 472-3353.
The conference is presented by the Center for Entrepreneurship, the
Gupta Institute for Small Business Management and the Department of
Management in UNL's College of Business Administration, the UNL chapter
of Students in Free Enterprise, College Entrepreneurs of the Heartland
and UNL.
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