September 27, 1996




Loope displays fossilized rock samples from his recent expedition to Mongolia. (Photo by Donna Simon)

Barren Deserts Yields Diversity of Life

Geologist David Loope Uncovers Secrets in Mongolian Desert


By Mary Jane Bruce
News & Information

David Loope lived a childhood dream this summer when he embarked on an adventure to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Loope, chairman of the UNL geology department, was part of a team sent to uncover the secrets of a fossil rich environment called Ukhaa-Tolgod, some 250 miles south of the Mongolian capital in the heart of the desert.

Loope developed an interest in the region at the age of 10 when he read All About Dinosaurs by Roy Chapman Andrews, the paleontologist who discovered dinosaur fossils and the first dinosaur eggs in the Gobi Desert in 1922. Mongolian borders were closed to westerners in 1930 but the political climate has changed and the American Museum of Natural History in New York has been putting together and sending teams of scientists to the region since 1990 as part of a joint American/Mongolian expedition.

Loope was invited to be a part of the team based on his expertise in sand dunes and ancient sandstone. He has studied the Nebraska Sand Hills for 10 years, which are similar to - albeit younger than - the dunes of Mongolia, which date back 70 million years to the crustaceous period. Insights from Nebraska were expected to yield better interpretations into Mongolia's natural history. And they did.

In the far reaches of the Gobi Desert, Loope found a geographic feature similar to what he had studied close to home.

In the Sand Hills of Nebraska, Loope found tracks produced centuries ago by bison walking the slopes of migrating dune fields. The distinctive deformations are visible in the layers of sand, providing a vertical cross section of the large animal's footprint. When he got to Mongolia, Loope found the same thing.

"On the first day in the field - sure enough - we found these deformed layers, and they were just like the Sand Hills bison tracks only larger with more toes," Loope said. "But clearly these large animals had been walking around on the sand hills while the sand hills were moving and left a rich record of their activities."

But in contrast to the Nebraska Sand Hills, where only a limited variety of animals roamed the slopes, the Mongolian desert was home to a long list of ancient creatures, from huge dinosaurs to primitive species of mammals, some so tiny their skulls are smaller than a chipmunk's. While paleontologists combed the outcrops, eyes glued to the ground, Loope and his fellow geologists studied the rocks from which the fossils came and tried to understand why the arid and barren terrain is such a tremendous boneyard with a large and diverse population.

In addition to the tracks, Loope found evidence that plants grew on the dunes while they were actively migrating. That suggests a wetter environment with seasonal dryness triggering the moving sand.

"Maybe it's a bit like the edge of the Sahara where you get into areas of greater rainfall and a greater diversity of animals available to be fossilized," Loope said.

Loope spent eight weeks in Mongolia, six of them in the field and, while sand dunes in the Gobi Desert may be geologically reminiscent of the Nebraska Sand Hills, Loope said the closest thing resembling a town was small by Nebraska standards. Except for nomadic herdsmen passing through by camel or motorcycle, the scientists were on their own.
"We didn't see any jets fly over for 30 days, and at night you could see for 100 miles in just about any direction. And no lights," Loope said.

In June, at a latitude higher than Nebraska, there were 18 hours of daylight and work made time pass quickly. If Loope and his colleagues "wanted to do geology after dinner," they were right in the midst of it. The higher latitude also contributed to a comfortable working environment where temperatures during the day were similar to a hot summer in western Nebraska. Loope said it rained twice and he suffered more from the cold than the heat.

The landscape is not as rugged as the deserts of southern California or west Texas, where Loope said rocky terrain and cactus make it hard to find a place to sit down. He described the Gobi Desert as a gentle landscape with little vegetation, making it a relatively easy place to do field work. Wind was a factor but bugs and snakes were not.

The scientists slept in tents and shared cooking and cleaning duties. A cargo truck supplied food shipped from New York, supplemented with spices and the occasional sheep or goat bought locally. Loope said most of the time there were 16 to 18 people in the camp from many different backgrounds but all sharing an interest in the earth and its history.

Now that he's back, Loope will continue to study the sandstone and other material shipped from Mongolia, using more sophisticated equipment such as a scanning electron microscope. He hopes to return to Mongolia next year.

Information collected through an expedition like the one to Mongolia changes as new observations are made in the field or new interpretations come out of museum studies. Loope describes it as an ongoing process and a dynamic science.

In the meantime, Loope's students benefit from hearing about his experiences in the field.

Bethea Named New Lied Center Director


By Peggy Strain
News & Information

Charles Henry Bethea has been named the new executive director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts at UNL, a position he will assume Jan. 6.

Bethea (pronounced beth-AY) has been associate executive director of the department of public events at Arizona State University since 1987. At ASU, he presides over administration of programming, marketing, education and outreach and the box office for three facilities where more than 300 events are presented each year. He also operates his own consulting firm for university performance events administration, planning, scheduling and operations. The 47-year-old Bethea earned bachelor of education (1970) and master of music (1972) degrees at Arizona State.

Bethea will replace C. Bruce Marquis, who resigned earlier this year.

UNL Chancellor James Moeser lauded Bethea's wide-ranging depth and experience. "We're delighted that Charles Bethea will be joining us. He really understands the business of arts presenting and has experience in every aspect of presenting. He comes highly recommended and I am confident he is going to provide great leadership for the Lied Center for Performing Arts."

Bethea will be paid $80,000 annually and was chosen by a search committee with Moeser making the final decision.

Bethea began his career 23 years ago as an elementary school music instructor and said he wasn't job seeking when contacted about the Lied position. But he found the Lied Center to be "a dazzling place" when he visited the campus earlier this month. He said his goal is to make it "a successful and vital center for the arts in the community, the state of Nebraska and beyond."

He vowed to strive to make the six-year-old Lied Center "a place where every step of the way, the center would be a part of people's lives and that everyone can find something at the Lied they want to see or hear."

The director-designate compared the Lied Center to a small child who has gone through its initial growing pains "can walk now and is ready to go to the next phase of development." He said one of his first tasks is to examine how engaged the audience and the university are with programming.

Bethea said he likes to support emerging artists and is personally committed to "adventurous programming," but said programming is a long process that also involves fiscal responsibility. "You cannot educate in an empty building," he said.

He was impressed with "the sense of pride and excitement about the Lied Center. That's an enormous resource. One of the things I want to do is work with that feeling and those hopes and goals and start or continue the process of making programming and activities of the Lied Center accessible."

Larry Lusk, retired dean of UNL's College of Fine and Performing Arts, will continue to serve as interim director of the Lied Center until Bethea's arrival.


Versatility Marks Dick Fleming's 40-Year Career


By Stacie Jacob
IANR News
Communications and change characterize the career of Richard L. "Dick" Fleming, who retires Sept. 30 after more than four decades working with people at UNL and across the state.

While witnessing great changes at UNL and its Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Fleming held a dozen different positions, from news writer/editor to assistant to the chancellor. Although all were at the university, he can relate to young people today who may have eight or 10 different positions in their lifetime.

"There were offers to go elsewhere, but there always were new opportunities here," Fleming reflected. "The different positions required considerable change, but made it possible to work with some outstanding people and to develop many friendships inside and outside the university."

Various positions involved travel to provide news coverage, as well as speaking to various groups, conducting communications and marketing workshops for 4-H youth and Cooperative Extension faculty, working with alumni and Cornhusker athletics, and coordinating a variety of events. He also worked with and handled inquiries from state senators, NU regents, other officials, Nebraskans and members of the university community.

Fleming believes that every Nebraskan is a stockholder of the university and should have easy access to information about the institution as well as its many education, research and outreach/extension functions. He thinks "UNL must continue to meet the changing needs of people. At the same time, the university must provide leadership and a climate to explore new ideas. That's how society moves forward. You either move forward or fall behind."

While there has been a virtual explosion in communication technology during the past 40 years, Fleming said "I never subscribed to the notion that the medium is the message." He was always anxious to try new technology, but wanted to make sure it was effective and efficient in transmitting a message to a target audience.

Futhermore, he felt the message should be accurate and understandable. That's very important when information emanating from the university will be used by people in their life and livelihood, he emphasized.

Over the years, Fleming has maintained close working relationships with members of the Nebraska Press Association and the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and other statewide groups to ensure information was meeting their needs and those of Nebraskans. Those relationships fostered development of computerized transmission of news and information starting in the late 1970s. Future plans call for moving into graphics and making effective use of the Internet, Fleming said.

Having grown up on farms in Massachusetts and Kansas, Fleming understands and appreciates the importance of agriculture. He received a bachelor's degree in agricultural journalism from Kansas State University, and a master's degree in agricultural economics and a doctorate in adult and continuing education from UNL.

Fleming developed and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in communications, marketing, and adult and continuing education. A former professor of adult education, he retires as coordinator of news and public affairs in IANR's Communications and Information Technology, professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, and in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication (AgLEC). He has served as faculty adviser to Corn Cobs, Innocents Society and the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow.

Throughout the 40 years, Fleming has been actively involved in several organizations. He is past president of the Nebraska Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi, University Association for Administrative Development, Nebraska Agribusiness Club and the Midlands Chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association.

He also served on the executive committee for the Council on University Relations of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and chaired the North Central Regional Committee on Communications Research.

Besides trips with his wife, Connie, and playing golf after retirement, Fleming plans to help market the UNL Speakers Bureau, work on some projects for AgLEC, and assist the U.S. Small Business Administration's SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) group.


Western History, Literature Associations to Meet
Oct. 2-5

George McGovern to Address Oct. 4 Banquet

Some 1,300 scholars and enthusiasts of Western history and literature will converge on Lincoln Oct. 2-5 for the annual meetings of the Western History Association and the Western Literature Association.

The two groups will meet separately for the most part, but will have some joint activities and share a common theme, "Grasslands and Heartlands: Remembering and Representing the Great Plains in History and Literature."

"We are delighted to have both the Western History and Literature Associations join us," said John Wunder, director of UNL's Center for Great Plains Studies, the official host for both conferences. "These are very special events and great opportunities for Lincoln and the university to showcase our history and literary traditions."

It's the first time the WHA has met in Lincoln. The association's 36th annual conference will convene approximately 1,000 historians and history buffs from all over North America (plus one from Finland) at the Cornhusker Hotel. The conference will include 34 sessions on a variety of topics and displays by 40 presses of the most recent books on Western history.

Former South Dakota Senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern (shown above) will address the WHA's annual banquet at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Cornhusker. McGovern will speak on "The Genius of American Politics - Conservatism and Liberalism."

The historians will have Oct. 3 tours of Arbor Lodge, Brownville, Pahuk (a sacred site of the Pawnee nation on the Platte River) and Lincoln museums.

"Lincoln is a particularly interesting place for western historians to meet," said Richard White, WHA president and professor of history at the University of Washington. "On a visit to Lincoln recently, it struck me how much the West is inscribed on the town and how much readings of the local landscape have created modern visions of the West."

It's not the first time the Western Literature Association has met in Lincoln, but it is the first time the association has met at the same time and place as the WHA. Approximately 300 Western literature enthusiasts from across North America will gather for the association's 31st annual meeting at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.

The literature association's agenda includes 63 sessions on a variety of topics, readings by authors and a display at the Ramada of the latest books on Western literature. Tours are scheduled for Oct. 5, including one of Nine Mile Prairie, a walking tour Mari Sandoz's Lincoln and a literary "ghost" tour of Lincoln.

The WLA president is Susanne George, professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and a fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies. This year's conference, she said, "not only enhances literary and historical awareness but promotes diversity and flexibility, enriches critical thinking, encourages collaboration and helps us understand the limited nature of our own ways of knowing."

Four joint WHA-WLA panels are on Omaha writer Tillie Olsen, nature writing, Native Americans, and the interplay of literary imaginations and historical experience in trying to understand the West. Two Oct. 5 tours outside Lincoln are also available to registrants of both conferences - one to the John Neihardt Center in Bancroft, the Susan LaFlesche Picotte Historical Center in Walthill and the Swedish settlement in Oakland and the other to Willa Cather's Red Cloud. An Oct. 2 reception at the Museum of Nebraska History will kick off both conferences.

"We are very pleased to help bring Western literature and Western history alive here on the Great Plains of Nebraska," Wunder said. "To have Susanne George as president of the Western Literature Association is a tremendous honor for her and for all of us, and the opportunity to host those who admire and analyze the works of our own Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, John Neihardt, Loren Eiseley, Bess Streeter Aldrich and many other writers is very special indeed."

For more information on the Western History Association conference, telephone the association office at (505) 277-5234. WHA registration begins at noon Oct. 2 at the Cornhusker.

For more information on the Western Literature Association conference, telephone the Center for Great Plains Studies at (402) 472-3082. WLA registration begins at 4 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Ramada.

UNL Discrimination, Harassment Policy Now in Force


The UNL Policy and Procedures on Unlawful Discrimination, Including Sexual and Other Prohibited Forms of Harassment, has received final approval and is now in force.
Mary Beck, associate professor of animal science, was a member of an ad hoc committee of faculty, staff and students who wrote and shepherded the document through a long approval process. Beck said a number of campus groups including student government, Academic Senate, UNOPA and UAAD approved the document during the more than two years that it was under development.

It will be mailed to every department chair or head and also will be available in the Office of Affirmative Action and Diversity as well as through groups like Academic Senate, UNOPA, UAAD and ASUN, she said. In addition, the document is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.unl.edu/pr/policy.html.

Beck said the document has several important features. The committee tried to make it as user-friendly as possible by using clear, easy-to-read language. While the laws regarding sexual harassment were used as a model for the document, the policy actually addresses in detail many other forms of harassment.

The new policy includes a recusal policy aimed at removing from supervisory or evaluative roles the more senior of two UNL employees who have a personal or domestic relationship. The more senior person must arrange for another person to take over the supervisory or evaluative role, she said. This extends the conflict of interest policy beyond the traditional spousal/family role to those whose relationships are domestic or personal in nature but not in the realms of family or spouse.

The policy also lays out procedures, both formal and informal, for employees who believe they have been harassed or discriminated against.

Teachers College Plans 'Stand Down' on Alcohol


By Mary Jane Bruce
News & Information

The UNL Teachers College borrowed from the military during the past week by calling a "stand-down" on alcohol.

During a military stand-down, regular activities are suspended to address a single problem. In Teachers College, the tactic was used to focus on misuse of alcohol by young people.

Health education professor Ian Newman said the Teachers College faculty was asked to spend 10 to 15 minutes of class time directing student discussion and activities toward the costs associated with alcohol misuse. Each department was provided with ideas and resources for use in planning and conducting stand-down classroom activities.

Newman said Teachers College provides a unique opportunity to reach a large number of young people and encourage a change toward healthy behavior.

Studies suggest Nebraska young people may be at a higher risk of alcohol related problems than students across the nation.

For example, in a 1994 survey of high school students in 20 states conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nebraska ranked seventh among those teens who reported drinking alcohol in the last 30 days and fourth in the number who reported binge drinking in the last month.

UNL students also appear to use alcohol more frequently than others according to a 1995 study of binge drinking on 140 college campuses by the Harvard University School of Public Health. The incidence of binge drinking reported among UNL students was higher than the campus average and UNL students also reported a higher than average rate of alcohol-related problems such as missing class or doing something they later regretted.

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