November 8, 1996



Making a Difference

Pat Lawson, left, and Rhonda Zugmier, both with University Services, volunteered their own services to the university Friday by painting their building at 1700 Y Street as part of UNL's "Make a Difference Day." The event was designed for UNL faculty, staff and students to volunteer their time to help with a variety of service projects around campus.

(Photo by Richard Wright)

Tenure's the Talk at Academic Senate


By Kim Hachiya
News & Information

Tenure issues dominated talk at November's meeting of the UNL Academic Senate. The senate's executive committee submitted an opinion on periodic review of tenured faculty. The body also discussed a proposed change in regents' by-laws to eliminate the board's role in tenure appeals.

The executive committee opinion concludes that existing policies and practices offer adequate annual review and that further reviews are unnecessary.

Chancellor James Moeser has suggested a periodic review of fully promoted tenured faculty might allow the university to better recognize its top faculty through additional stipends and could help others redirect or recharge their careers. Moeser, who spoke to the senate as part of his regular chats with the body, suggested that the reviews would evaluate these people less often but more meaningfully, with a rigorous review every five years.

Sally Wise, law, suggested that the senate first look to see if there are consistent review procedures across units and colleges before wading into a thicket.

Don Jensen, psychology, said he feared the review might undermine efforts to recruit senior faculty, who already have tenure elsewhere, from coming to UNL if they have to go through the process again.

Jim Goedert, construction systems technology, argued that tenure offers more than academic freedom. "In reality, it does protect nonproductive faculty members. We find ourselves wagering our rights to academic freedom against a peer's 'right' to early retirement with full pay."

"I see nonproductive members in our community. Our students see them, the regents hear about them. No one is going to address this aggressively to get them to do what they need to do. If we don't fix this problem, someone else is going to fix it for us."

Darryll Pederson, conservation and survey, said the system does work to purge nonproductive professors.

The senate will vote next month on whether to accept the executive committee opinion.

Also on next month's agenda will be a vote on whether to recommend the regents withdraw from the business of sitting as an appeals body for tenure decisions. Recently the board reviewed a tenure denial in chemistry and the professor, who had left UNL, has said he will come back now that tenure is granted. Board members expressed discomfort with the process and have suggested changing their bylaws to drop out of the appeals process.

The Academic Rights and Responsibilities Committee supports the move, but several senators argued in favor of some appeals process.

Gerard Harbison, chemistry, said his department favored keeping the regents in the appeals mix to protect against "irregularities" in the tenure process. Gargi Roysircar Sodowsky said she was uncomfortable with the regents dropping out of the appeals mix before another appeals avenue is created.

Moeser said he would support the convening of a body of peers from outside UNL who would read a file and make a binding decision when a tenure application is denied. Jensen suggested the regents could convene this group when necessary and then use its opinions to inform their decision when handling appeals.

The senate also heard reports from the Chancellor's Commission on the Status of People of Color, the Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women, the UNL Research Council and the Recycling Office.

Moeser, in his monthly chat, urged faculty to support the Combined Campaign.
"We are members of a community and we have a civic responsibility to support this community," he said. "I want the university to be seen by its neighbors as responsible citizens."

Red Ribbon Campaign Against Drunk Driving

Two UNL student groups have joined forces with Nebraska Mothers Against Drunk Driving in a red-ribbon campaign against drunk driving.

The UNL Social Responsibility Committee and STAND (Students Taking A New Direction) will distribute red ribbons prior the football game Nov. 9. Student organizations will sell balloons as a fundraiser.

STAND is a student organization that organizes social events and other activities for students who prefer a drug-free environment. The UNL Social Responsibility Committee is working to change the misuse and abuse of alcohol and to encourage the responsible use of alcohol and promotes drug-free activities. MADD is a statewide organization whose message is "no tolerance" for drinking and driving.

The red ribbons send two messages, said Marilyn Bugenhagen, director of Student Involvement. If you are under 21, don't drink. If you are 21 or older, never drink and drive.

Nationally, students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol - more than they spend on soft drinks, tea, milk, juice, coffee or books combined. On a typical campus, annual per capita student spending on alcohol is $446 per student.

UNL, STAND and MADD support a no-use policy among students, Bugenhagen said, and they ask all others to be responsible in their choices by not driving after they have been drinking.

"As you cheer the Huskers, wave your red ribbon in support. And we encourage you to 'tie one on,' that is, tie your ribbon to your car antenna, door handle, mirror or trailer hitch to symbolize your support," she said.

National Video Conference on Diversity Nov. 13

On Nov. 13 UNL will take part in a live national video conference on campus diversity. Moderated by CNN's Farai Chideya, the Summit is a forum for renowned panelists and thousands of college students from around the country to participate in an interactive discussion about diversity on college campuses. It is designed to offer new information through national programming and local forums, inspire new connections in people's minds between the many different "isms" and facilitate new relationships among students across lines of difference.

The focus for the Summit is "The way things are . . . the way things can be." The Summit isn't about rhetoric or political correctness, but rather about dealing with diversity in a way that broadens minds, understanding and interests.

There is no charge for the video conference. To make a reservation call UNL Student Involvement, 472-2454, or sign up in 200 Nebraska Union. For more information on the Multimedia Campus Diversity Summit contact Reshell Ray, coordinator for ethnic minority programs, Student Involvement, 472-8156.

'The Great War' Comes to the Airwaves Nov. 10-13

World War I - which set the stage for World War II, the Cold War and today's conflicts in the Middle East and Bosnia - will be examined as never before in a new series, The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, to be broadcast at 8 p.m. Nov. 10-13 on the Nebraska ETV Network.

Like The Civil War, The West and other landmark public television series, The Great War goes beyond ordinary time-date-place recounting of history. In addition to archival photos and newsreels, the series draws heavily on diaries, correspondence and even poetry to explore the human impact of the war, says Executive Producer Blaine Baggett.

"The war is like a massive haystack full of horrific and world-altering events," said Baggett. "What we've tried to do is search out the golden needles in that haystack, the best and most vivid stories, characters and events, and use them to tell the larger story of the war."

Those stories are told by 43 actors including Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List) who reads from the writings of Wilfred Owen, a British soldier and poet whose idealism was shattered by the war. Jane Leeves (NBC's "Fraser") reads from the diaries of Caroline Webb, a woman slowly poisoned by the toxic fumes in the ammunition plant where she worked. Helen Mirren (PBS's Prime Suspect) gives voice to the memoirs of Evelyn Blucher, a British woman who married into German royalty and found her loyalties divided by the war.

Those individual stories make a compelling backdrop to the larger story of the war itself as told in eight parts: Historian Jay Winter, who provided the framework for The Great War, says the series has a moral purpose. "It's to identify the extent to which the chaos of the world hasn't come out of thin air," says Winter, "but instead comes directly from the events of our parents' and grandparents' lifetimes."

IANR Provides Educational Information Via Internet

Computer users worldwide can now watch or listen to agricultural and natural resources educational information via the Internet, thanks to technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"UNL is one of the first land-grant universities to use video streaming technologies to deliver educational information via the Internet," said Mark Hendricks, electronic information specialist in Communications and Information Technology in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

"Providing information via the Internet serves as a distance education tool through the university," Hendricks added. "It's a cheaper way to deliver information and people can view the Internet at their own convenience."

Communications and Information Technology has developed ways to put NU's resources into the hands of people around the state and the world via Internet, Hendricks said. To view this information, computer users with Internet access can visit the Communications and Information Technology unit's home page at http://citv.unl.edu.

In 1995, Hendricks and other IANR staff researched and assembled computer equipment to experiment with delivering audio and video information via Internet. The process, called streaming, doesn't require downloading the file to the client's hard drive. Any computer user with a basic multimedia computer and Internet access can use IANR's streamed information.

The software is similar to a videotape player, which can be started and stopped anytime. The picture frame rate depends on the user's Internet connection speed and the video may be slow and jerky. Visuals must be carefully designed so the receiver can easily read them. Visual quality will improve as the technology continues to advance, Hendricks said.

The first test in fall 1995 was a transmission of a live broadcast for a Nebraska home football game. This showed that up to 150 people could receive information simultaneously as indicated by Husker fan responses from Australia, Asia, Europe and across the United States.

This test proved the equipment worked. In January 1996, IANR's Nebraska Ag Almanac Radio programs began being transmitted via the Internet. Communications Information Technology produces six radio programs weekly about current agricultural news for farm families and ag industry professionals. Two weeks of radio programs are stored on a computer web server for on-demand Internet access.

"Providing these stories via Internet allows agriculturists to access the information at their convenience," Hendricks said. "They can also replay any of them as often as needed."

IANR also has new way of packaging information that plays with viewer senses through "What's Bugging You," a program about insects that links to NU Cooperative Extension's educational NebGuides and other IANR online documents. Viewers can hear recordings about certain insects and may respond to UNL entomologists via e-mail.

"As the technology continues to advance, UNL will be among the first universities to offer a class via the Internet through audio and video streaming," Hendricks said.

A step in that direction has been to transmit a class segment of video and audio on-line. "What's Shaping the Market Today," a 10-minute segment of UNL's ag marketing class, has been transmitted three times weekly this fall. Each class is filed for viewer convenience. Instructor Jim Kendrick, UNL agricultural economist, has received comments that his segment reaches agriculture producers all over the world.

Beginning in January 1997, an entomology class will be audio-video streamed via the Internet.

In the future, Henricks said, video and audio will be increasingly integrated into distance education tools, including the Internet.

Hendricks expects more interest from other universities in putting classes on-line. On-line classes can work in all weather, reduce travel time and can be repeated at any time. This "education on demand" approach is important to life-long learning opportunities because users can access the information at their convenience.

Ancient Niobrara Valley Lake Beds Provide Clues to Past, Future

The buried beds of two 40,000-year-old lakes in the Niobrara River valley may provide clues to past and even future climate change in the region, according to a University of Nebraska-Lincoln researcher.

Fossilized algae, fish and mammals now fill the deposits left behind by ancient lakes Wobig and Cobb in north-central Cherry County, said Jim Swinehart, UNL research geologist with the Conservation and Survey Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Swinehart presented his findings Thursday (Oct. 31) at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver. His presentation was titled "Thick Pleistocene Lake Sediments Discovered in the Ancestral Niobrara River Valley, North-central Nebraska."

The size and formation of the two buried lake beds, named after the owners of the properties where they were discovered, support an idea that Swinehart and colleague Dave Loope, chair of UNL's geology department, have been working on for several years but have generally researched in the southern or western Sandhills and in much younger sediments. The concept that has captured their imaginations is dune dams - the blocking of rivers by blowing dune sand during a major drought.

"This could really change our thinking about the development of the Niobrara River valley," Swinehart said. "If we can prove that the river was blocked by dunes, this could be the first direct evidence we have of dune-damming of this nature."

Swinehart estimated the lakes were filled with sediment 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. If accurate, the findings would also give scientists a rare glimpse at that period's geological data.

"This is a slice of time in the history of the Great Plains that we know very little about," Swinehart said. Glaciers are thought to have moved through the region during that time, which meant many geological features of the landscape were wiped out by erosion.

Swinehart and Loope have done extensive research in Nebraska's Sandhills on the geologic history of dune sand and its effects on rivers and streams. They believe the ancient Niobrara River, which ran a course relatively similar to the modern Niobrara, was blocked by at least two masses of sand that were large enough to eventually create Lake Wobig and Lake Cobb, he said.

Dune dams are significant, he explained, because they provide valuable clues about major drought occurrences throughout history. Drought can kill nearly all surface vegetation, which allows sand to blow.

"For enough sand to mobilize and blow into these riverbeds, there definitely had to a major drought," Swinehart said. By identifying patterns of major droughts and climate changes, scientists can better understand future changes, he explained.

Research on lakes Wobig and Cobb began in 1994, following a tip from Bruce Bailey, a highway salvage paleontologist with the Nebraska Department of Roads.

While Bailey was collecting fossils from a construction site in the Niobrara Valley, he discovered thick layers of fish and mammal fossils in an area several hundred yards from the river channel.

"Obviously, where there are fish fossils, there was once water," Swinehart said. "And Bruce (Bailey) found fossils in a place where we didn't know there was water."

Further investigation revealed deposits of fossils and sediment up to 180 feet deep in each of two ancient lake beds, one about 12 miles long discovered south of Cody, Neb., (Lake Wobig) and the other about 2.5 miles long near Eli, Neb., (Lake Cobb).

Swinehart said the shape and makeup of the lakes point strongly to some sort of natural damming in the Niobrara, and the dune-dam theory fits in perfectly with that idea.

"The river was blocked by something," he said. "And if it wasn't dune sand, I'll be flabbergasted."

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