UNL honored 69 faculty members who published books, edited journals or
were awarded patents at an April 5 reception at the Wick Center.
After a successful test run, the UNL Speakers Bureau will be renewed and expanded for the 1996 academic year, said Phyllis Larsen, director of public relations.
Created to share the university's wealth of expertise with Nebraskans, the Speakers Bureau provides presentations by top UNL faculty to civic and professional groups across the state. The community outreach program was launched last fall with 10 members from diverse fields. Next year's bureau will comprise up to 15 distinguished faculty and staff and nominations are now being sought. The executive committee of the Academic Senate has endorsed the project and is encouraging faculty participation.
"We owe a huge thanks to this year's group," Larsen said. "They traveled far and wide -- and the evaluations show that their audiences loved hearing what they had to say."
This year's Speakers Bureau included Teresita Aguilar, curriculum and instruction; Hubert Brown, broadcasting; Deanna Eversoll, Continuing Studies; Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, physics; Ann Mari May, economics; Paul Read, horticulture; Larry Routh, student affairs; Alan Steinweis, history; Steve Taylor, food science; and Mike Voorhies, museum.
Final numbers have not been tallied, but Larsen said bureau members combined to give more than 50 presentations to nearly 2,000 people in about six months of operation. About half of the presentations were in Lincoln, but bureau members have traveled to 15 other towns, including Scottsbluff, McCook, Grand Island, Pawnee City and Omaha.
Bureau members are ambassadors, Larsen said, charged with promoting their field and UNL, as well as listening to citizens' questions and concerns about the university.
"The folks in the Speakers Bureau have become the 'face' of the university for many people who don't have much contact with UNL," she said. "The bureau has made many people aware of some of our finest professors and programs."
Deanna Eversoll, director of Evening Programs and Lifelong Learning Services said the bureau plays an important role in the university's mission. Giving the public personal contact with UNL's people and programs through projects like the Speakers Bureau will be even more important in the future.
"It's something that we need to do as we move into the unchartered waters of higher education," she said. "We need to have this kind of a presence in communities around the state."
Mike Voorhies said the program reinforces UNL's commitment to Nebraska citizens.
"People in the community appreciate having someone from the university pay some attention to them," he said. "This is important because it gives people the idea that the university is accessible."
Because not everybody can visit UNL, Eversoll said UNL should visit them.
"I don't think we can do too much to go beyond the 'Ivory Tower' to
have one-on-one contact with all kinds of people across Nebraska," she
said.
Results of an upcoming poll should provide a better perspective on rural Nebraskans' views, needs and well-being.
Questionnaires for the first Rural Nebraska Poll were mailed the first week of April to 7,000 randomly selected rural residents. Results should be available this summer, said John Allen, the UNL rural sociologist spearheading the poll for UNL's Center of Rural Community Revitalization and Development.
Allen will conduct the poll annually. Some questions will be carried over year-to-year, he said. Over time, answers to these core questions will provide insight about trends and changes in rural Nebraska.
The poll includes rural residents in rural towns and cities, farmers and non-farmers who live in the country.
UNL is conducting the poll in conjunction with the Partnership for Rural Nebraska, a joint NU, state and federal partnership.
"It's really important that people fill out this survey if they get it because it's a way to aggregate their voices as rural residents," Allen said. "It really does have power when you can say, based on this poll, here are the issues or this is what we need."
The survey addresses issues related to community and individual well-being. The poll asks about the availability and importance of various services and amenities. Some questions seek information on community changes and atmosphere. Others address individual and family well-being, work and demographics.
Each year's poll will include questions about different public policy
issues. Environment, the federal deficit, and government policy and
taxation are this year's policy topics.
The UNL Arts and Sciences Alumni Association, in cooperation with the Arts and Sciences Advising Center, has established a new program, "Professional Development Partners," to increase interaction between the College of Arts and Sciences' students and alumni.
The program will provide an opportunity for current Arts and Sciences students to contact alumni to gather information about the professions that interest them.
"Students who come to the Advising Center often want to talk to practicing professionals -- in their office or on the phone -- about the 'real story' of the profession," said Anne Kopera, coordinator of advising for the college. "They want to get suggestions for preparing for the profession, for making the transition from school to career, and to find out what the profession is really like. Some students are also interested in 'shadowing' opportunities, as a way of seeing what professionals do day-to-day."
The Arts and Sciences Advising Center is seeking alumni of the college who are willing to talk or meet with students. The center will maintain a list of these professionals, which students will be able use for initiating contact with alumni who work in their areas of interest. The alumni professional and the student will then decide on the amount and type of contact they will have.
"While many students would like to make contacts with alumni in the Lincoln area during the academic year, we would also like to encourage participation from both out-of-town and out-of-state alumni," said Kopera. "Students are often very interested in making connections during the summer and semester breaks and exploring the possibility of relocating after graduation."
Interested alumni should send their name, address, phone number and
professional or career title to the Arts and Sciences Advising Center,
107 Oldfather Hall, UNL, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0330. They can also
contact Kopera or Vicki Fisher at the Advising Center, 472-4190, for more
information.
A woodcut from an 1874 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a chief forbidding passage of a wagon train on the Oregon trail.
In Search of the Oregon Trail, an epic documentary produced by the Nebraska ETV Network and Oregon Public Broadcasting, makes its national debut on pubic television stations around the country with a special three-hour showing on April 29. Narrated by actor Stacy Keach, the program airs at 7 p.m. April 29 and at noon on May 5 on the Nebraska ETV Network.
Native American scholars, noted historians of the American West, emigrants' journals, breathtaking photography and historical reenactments combine to tell the story of the migration of hundreds of thousands of Americans along the route known as the Oregon Trail.
Well-known from Hollywood films and television, the story of the actual experience is much more compelling and complex. In Search of the Oregon Trail, based largely upon the written diaries of the emigrants involved, looks at the actual day-to-day effort of the trip and explores two areas often misunderstood: the relationships of the emigrants with Native American tribes, and the roles that women played on the trail.
Respected Western historians, including John MacFaragher, Yale University; Patricia Limerick, University of Colorado at Boulder; and Richard White, University of Washington-Seattle, provide insight and perspectives about the Oregon Trail experience that are rarely communicated in grade school history books or Hollywood movies. Native American scholars and tribal leaders, including James Riding In, historian member of the Pawnee Tribe; Rick William, Oglala Lakota scholar; and Antone Minthorn, respected leader of the Cayuse Tribe in the Northwest; share Native American perspectives on the Oregon Trail story.
Divided into two 90-minute episodes, the narrative is interwoven with
interview and diary excerpts read by Susan Ruttan, Robert Culp, Adrienne
Barbeau, Wes Studi and others.
Early in 1995, the Business Services Advisory Council conducted a survey seeking input from the campus on how well the Business and Finance service units were meeting the needs of the university.
In an effort to provide the campus with feedback regarding the survey, the committee has listed below some of the responses from the various service units to the questions and concerns raised by survey respondents. Subsequent editions of the Scarlet will cover the remaining questions.
Those with additional questions about a specific service unit should contact the person listed below for that area.
Ken Cauble, director, 1335 N. 17th St., 0634, (2-3555)
Bruce Currin, director, Human Resources, 407 Adm 0438 (2-3105)
Those with questions concerning business services areas may contact
any one of the Business Services Advisory Council members -- John
Ballard, 2-3181; Lester A. Digman, 2-3364; Glenn Hoffman, 2-1413; Melvin
W. Jones, 2-4455; Roger Mandigo, 2-6456; James P. O'Hanlon, 2-5400;
Pill-Soon Song, 2-3501.
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For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
dtaurins@unlinfo.unl.edu
(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825