October 18, 1996
A New Beat for UNL
Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller sets the rhythm for the halftime
festivites at last Saturday's Homecoming game following the debut of
UNL's
new alma mater, performed by Mannheim Steamroller, the University Singers
and the Cornhusker Marching Band. Those attending the Nebraska vs. Baylor
game were encouraged to sing along to lyrics displayed on the
HuskerVision
screens. (Photo by Tom Slocum)
Distinguished UNL Alumni Return for Master's Week
Five distinguished UNL alumni will return to campus Nov. 6-8 for Master's
Week, an annual event that honors successful UNL graduates.
This year's Masters are Karen Blessen, Karen Blessen Illustration,
Dallas;
Carlton Davis, Distinguished Service Professor, University of Florida,
Gainesville,
Fla.; Brian Larkins, Porterfield Professor of Plant Sciences, University
of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.; Kennedy Reed, physicist, Lawrence Livermore
National
Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.; and Sue Ann Tempero, vice president/human
resources, Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa.
Karen Blessen is the first graphic artist to receive a Pulitzer
Prize.
Blessen was a member of a team at the Dallas Morning News that won
the prize in 1989 for investigating an airplane crash. Blessen, who was
reared in Columbus, Neb., is a 1973 graduate of UNL with a bachelor in
fine
arts. She joined the staff of the Dallas Morning News in 1986 and
was involved in research, design and illustration. She earned awards from
the Dallas Press Club, the New York Art Directors club and the Society of
Newspaper Design for her work on articles on AIDS, the greenhouse effect
and airline safety. Her illustrations incorporate a strong, personal
sense
of color and composition with bold imagery. Inspired by Matisse, Dufy and
Picasso, her collages and cut-paper designs are executed by hand and
computer.
Before starting her own business, she was a free-lance illustrator in
Lincoln,
New York and Dallas. Her clients include Pepsi-Cola, The Times Square
Business
Improvement District, RCA, Money Magazine, the Los Angeles
Times
and The Gap. In 1994, she co-produced Be An Angel, a book on
contemporary
angel mythology, with writer Dana Reynolds. She is working on her next
book
with Reynolds, Seeking a Sacred Life: A Guide to Soulful Ways of
Living
and Being, which will be released next fall.
Carlton Davis is an expert in the study of human resource
development,
rural poverty, food and agricultural policy, and international trade and
development. His scholarly work has been recognized in the United States
and the Caribbean. An outstanding teacher, he developed the first
undergraduate
and graduate course in rural development at the University of Florida and
is a pioneer in addressing traditional graduate admission standards as
constraints
in increasing the supply of black professional agriculturists. His
research
and policy analysis expertise have contributed to understanding the
effectiveness
of food assistance programs and intervention strategies to improve the
nutritional
status of consumers, especially the poor.
Throughout his distinguished career, he has made significant
contributions
to research on the labor market for agricultural economists and to the
analysis
of international development and trade issues. His work includes studies
on strategies for enhancing U.S.-Caribbean agricultural trade, poverty
reduction,
sustainable agricultural development, agricultural industrialization and
sustainable development. He earned his bachelor of science (1964) and
master
of science degrees (1965), both in agricultural economics, from Nebraska,
and his doctoral degree from Michigan State University.
Brian Larkins, one of the nation's preeminent biotechnologists, was
elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1996. He studies the
regulation
of seed development and the synthesis of seed storage proteins. As the
most
abundant proteins in seeds, storage proteins determine the nutritional
value
of grain. However, they lack several amino acids required in human and
livestock
diets. Larkins and his colleagues are working to increase the levels of
these amino acids, resulting in more nutritious grains. He earned his
bachelor
of science in education degree (1969) and his doctoral degree in botany
(1974) from UNL. Larkins was raised in Chester, Neb. and York, Neb.
Kennedy Reed has written more than 100 articles on atomic
collisions
in high temperature plasmas, and has regularly presented at national and
international conferences. He has done considerable work on the problem
of minority under-representation in physics, including working with the
human resources department at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on
a number of programs related to the recruitment and education of minority
scientists. He frequently presents seminars and discusses graduate
studies
and careers with students at historically black colleges and universities
and is a co-founder of the National Physical Science Consortium, which
provides
graduate fellowships for women and minority students. Reed earned a B.S.
in physics from Monmouth College in 1967, an M.S.T. in physics from the
University of Wisconsin-Superior in 1971, and a Ph.D. in theoretical
atomic
physics from Nebraska in 1978.
Sue Ann Tempero's career experience includes teaching at the high
school and college levels, serving as assistant dean of women at both
Washington
State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle,
administering
Fulbright and UNESCO grants within the Institute of International
Education,
and working with former U.S. Rep. Charles Thone (R-Neb.) and the
reelection
campaign of former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray. At the Des Moines
Register,
she is responsible for companywide employment, employee counseling, wage
and salary administration, affirmative action, benefits, health and
safety,
management training, internal communications and automated human resource
information systems programs.
During her tenure with the company, the Des Moines Register has
been
recognized by Gannett for outstanding affirmative action and hiring
practices,
by the local chapter of the NAACP as employer of the year for outstanding
employment practices and community participation, and by the local
chapter
of Business and Professional Women as business of the year in support of
women. Sue Ann Carkoski Tempero graduated from Hartington (Neb.) High
School.
She earned a B.A. in education from the University of Nebraska in 1961
and
an M.A. in speech from Northwestern University in 1965.
Masters Week was founded in 1964 by then-Chancellor Clifford Hardin.
Sponsored
by the Chancellor's Office, the Student Alumni Association, Innocents
Society
and the Black Masque Chapter of Mortar Board, the program brings
successful
alumni in contact with students through class visitations, tours of
campus
facilities and meetings with clubs and organizations. More than 170
alumni
have returned to campus as masters since the program's inception.
Faculty nominate alumni each winter for the next year's program. Masters
are then selected by a committee appointed by the chancellor.
Physics and Astronomy Introduces 'Paperless Course'
Beginning in January the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UNL will
offer an experimental paperless course in general physics. The course is
being developed by Robert Fuller, physics; Steven Dunbar, mathematics;
and
laboratory manager Vicki Plano Clark, physics.
The course will consist of interactive lessons that will use an
electronic
database and interactive multimedia. The developers of the course plan to
use electronic communications to share assignments, provide
student-teacher
and student-student interactions, and make commentaries, said Fuller.
"The technology can aid in the solution of mathematical problems
which
could not even be approached otherwise. Multimedia instruction can assist
the student in understanding the concepts while technology makes the math
come alive," said Dunbar.
Clark added that modern technology has "changed the way that
questions
can be addressed and solved. This course will give students experience
with
scientific computing tools such as using spreadsheets to complete
numerical
analyses and using computer-assisted data acquisition equipment to record
and display data immediately. The focus of this course will be small
groups
working together to study physical phenomena with a special emphasis on
events found in the real world."
The course will be an experimental combination of Physics 211 (4 credits)
and Physics 220 (1 credit). It will be a calculus-based course intended
for students in engineering and the physical sciences and will cover
topics
in mechanics, fluids, wave motion and heat with related laboratory
experiments.
An electronic database, the Physics InfoMall CD-ROM, will be used instead
of a printed textbook.
The course will be taught in an interactive classroom instead of the
traditional
lecture, recitation or laboratory format, and will make use of electronic
homework and electronic examinations.
The course will integrate multimedia and mathematics with physics. This
course is the first one to be developed under the new
Multimedia-Mathematics
Across the Curriculum and Across the Nation project at UNL funded by the
National Science Foundation.
Additional information and enrollment details can be obtained from
Marilyn
McDowell, 110 Ferguson Hall, UNL, 472-2790.
Nebraska Counties Reversing Migration Trends
In the 1980s, all but three of Nebraska's 93 counties experienced net
outmigration
- that is, more residents moved out of the counties than moved in.
In the first half of the 1990s, however, that trend has changed for a
substantial
number of Nebraska counties, according to an article in the October issue
of Business in Nebraska, a publication of the Bureau of Business Research
at UNL's College of Business Administration.
In the article, John Austin, research associate in the bureau, said the
majority of nonrural counties (those classified as metropolitan or trade
centers) experienced net inmigration from 1990-95. And while 35 of the
state's
52 rural counties continued to experience net outmigration from 1990-95,
the average net migration rate increased across county types from the
1980s
to the 1990-95 period. Austin reported that the largest changes were in
the large and small trade-center county groups.
What's more, Austin wrote, a 10-member population forecast panel
assembled
by the bureau predicts that the state's 1990-95 migration patterns will
continue past the year 2000, although inmigration rates are expected to
slow.
Nebraska's experience in recent years reflects a national trend toward
population
growth in nonmetropolitan counties, Austin wrote. He said three types of
counties have benefited the most from that trend - "bedroom"
counties
located near metropolitan areas, recreational counties and developing
counties
(those with increased job opportunities) - while well-developed
retirement
centers can attract retirees and self-employed persons in high-tech
fields
may find rural areas attractive.
The full implications of the migration forecast outlined by Austin will
be published later this year by the Bureau of Business Research. The
report
will contain population projections to the year 2010 by county,
classified
in five-year age groups.
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For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
dtaurins@unlinfo.unl.edu
(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825