(Photo by Richard Wright)
Assembly President Joseph A. Alutto notified CBA Dean John W. Goebel of the reaffirmation of accreditation in a Nov. 8 letter. Alutto said the accreditation followed the recommendation of a review team that visited the college in February. The accreditation is for the college's baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degree programs.
Alutto said one purpose of peer review is to stimulate improvement of quality business programs. During the review process, the college was visited and evaluated by business school deans, accounting educators and corporate representatives with knowledge of management education, applying standards widely accepted in the educational community.
The report commended the college in six areas - for its college writing center for faculty and students; its newly renovated and expanded facilities and infrastructure in the classrooms, laboratories and offices; links between the marketing department and the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Journalism and Mass Communications; the master of business administration program offered at Scottsbluff through distance learning; admission standards that ensure an outstanding student body, in particular the exceptional MBA students at Offutt Air Force Base; and strong alumni support.
"The faculty and staff of the College of Business Administration are pleased at the recognition that AACSB reaccreditation affords the high standards established and maintained in this college," Goebel said. "We realize that we are among only 122 of the 667 member colleges of AACSB to attain accreditation in business and accounting. We will continue to work diligently to improve our programs and the delivery of those programs to our students."
Approximately 1,200 colleges and universities in the United States offer undergraduate business degrees, but only 122 are accredited by the assembly. CBA has been a charter member of the assembly since 1916.
Computers and other state-of-the-art information technologies make the classroom, room 210 in Keim Hall, a truly interactive learning environment, said Bill Hayes, IANR supervisor of computer labs and multimedia classrooms.
"This classroom is unique to UNL and the Midwest," Hayes said. "We've had visitors from France, Germany, Ireland, Japan and the U.S. interested in the student-centered learning environment."
The classroom's design allows teachers to evaluate new teaching technologies, Hayes explained. Equipped with 33 work stations to seat 66 students, each multimedia station gives students hands-on experience using the Internet, Windows 95 and other software programs.
"Computer monitors are buried in the desktops so eye contact with the students isn't distracted," Hayes said.
The front of the classroom features two instructor work stations that include an overhead camera, video recorder/player and two computers.
Students use the classroom's audience response keypad system to respond instantaneously to instructor questions or discussions. Teachers use this feature to measure how well students understand the presented material or for surveys, quick feedback and even exams. This response tool provides a more accurate assessment of student understanding than a show of hands, Agronomy Professor Rick Waldren explained. It's confidential so students aren't afraid or embarrassed to admit if they don't understand.
While the classroom's technology garners lots of attention, using these tools to enhance interactive learning is the biggest asset, said Jim Emal, professor and computing coordinator of IANR Communicators and Information Technology.
"We've come full circle here. It's no longer just an instructor up there teaching and students taking notes," Emal said. "It's students discovering and learning with the instructor as the guide. When they make a discovery, the instructor can instantly assess it."
Teachers volunteer to teach in Keim 210, which offers a variety of classes. Technical writing, biometry, microcomputers in agriculture and several other classes take full advantage of the multimedia classroom's resources.
Converting Keim 210 into a multimedia classroom was a two-year project, Hayes said. The first classes using the new technology were held in the spring 1996 semester.
The computer classroom idea grew from a 1993 proposal by Emal and Waldren.
"Our goal was to design a room easy to teach in," Waldren said. "At times the project was frustrating because we completely gutted the room and started over."
Classroom construction was a long process. Solving temperature control engineering problems and installing equipment took lots of time, Waldren added.
The end product appears worth the effort.
"Overall the room has worked well. Feedback I have received from both students and faculty has been very good," he said.
"We are proud of what we've accomplished through this classroom and the UNL administration has been very supportive. Now we're looking toward the future to continue to enhance technology in the classroom," Waldren said.
The classroom takes center stage Nov. 22 from 2 to 4 p.m. during an open house hosted by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. NU President Dennis Smith, UNL Chancellor James Moeser and Donald Edwards, dean of UNL's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, will speak. Agronomy Professor Rick Waldren, who played a key role in the classroom's development, will briefly demonstrate the multimedia computer classroom at 2 p.m. followed by speakers.
The Nov. 22 open house also will feature a new faculty Authoring Station in Agriculture Hall room 311B on East Campus. The Authoring Station, funded through a NU foundation grant, provides hardware and software to CASNR faculty to develop multimedia teaching materials for their class, said Bruce Sandhorst, instructional technology coordinator of UNL's Computing Information Services.
"Teachers can check out the multimedia presentation cart administered through the CASNR dean's office. It's equipped with a computer and projector to take into the classroom and present course materials," Sandhorst said.
"We will also have a person available to consult with CASNR faculty to integrate multimedia teaching tools into the classroom," he added.
Todd assumed her added duties Nov. 11, replacing Michael Mulnix, who will concentrate on his duties as interim president of the alumni association.
Todd's duties include coordinating the university's dealings with outside agencies such as chambers of commerce and governmental relations, including acting as legislative liaison when the Nebraska Legislature is in session.
"Kim Todd has long played a key role in representing the university in its contacts with the city of Lincoln and the state," said Chancellor James Moeser. "I'm looking forward to her playing an expanded role in that area. She will bring a fresh point of view as well as her valuable experience both inside and outside the university as a member of my cabinet."
Todd and Mulnix will return to their regular posts when a new alumni association president is in place.
Thomas Franti, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources surface water management engineer, headed a development team for the first searchable computer database dedicated to the Platte River Basin. Franti pulled together for the first time more than 1,500 publications, reports and academic studies related to the river and its basin and made them accessible through a single source.
Anyone with a PC-compatible computer, 386 or faster, can access the new Platte-Search program. The program is available through IANR's Platte Watershed Program. It's loaded with information from a wide variety of sources including the Central Platte Natural Resources District, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, Nebraska departments of environmental quality and water resources, Nebraska Natural Resources Commission, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Public Power District, Platte River Whooping Crane Trust and UNL's extensive library system. The database's bibliographic information covers the entire Platte River Basin, including the North, South, Central and Lower Platte basins encompassing Colorado and Wyoming as well as Nebraska.
"We hope that Platte-Search will help researchers and managers in the basin gain quick access to information on several subjects and allow them to determine future research and project needs within the basin," Franti said.
Franti said UNL student assistants were invaluable in searching libraries and other sources for information incorporated into the database. They compiled so much basin information, that the database had to be set up in bibliographic form.
"Time and space constraints wouldn't allow the actual data and text to be entered," Franti said. "But where we could, we entered abstracts to help inform users."
The program lets users quickly search by title, subject, author or by entering keywords. While Platte-Search doesn't include all research and published data on the basin, it's the most comprehensive bibliography available and the only searchable database on the subject, Franti said.
Franti's aim was developing a database that focuses on natural resource issues. Anyone interested in the Platte River Basin ecosystem could be interested in this program, he said.
More than 50 copies of the program are already in the hands of potential users within the basin, and Franti has fielded requests for copies from as far as Texas.
For more information, or to obtain copies of Platte-Search, write Lorna Pleasant, 234 L.W. Chase Hall, 68583-0726; or call 472-1638.
The issue will be more than 300 pages in length and will feature writing by the best of contemporary Jewish American writers including fiction by Robin Hemley, Rebecca Goldstein, and Daniel Stern; poetry by Marilyn Hacker, David Ignatow, Cynthia Macdonald, Alicia Ostriker, Linda Pastan, and Mark Rudman; and essays by Robin Becker, Irena Klepfisz and noted critic Sanford Pinsker.
Due to a limited print run it will be necessary to reserve a copy of the issue. To do so contact the Prairie Schooner, 201 Andrews Hall, UNL, Lincoln NE 68588-0334 before Jan. 15, 1997. The cost per copy is $7.25.
Graumlich will be presenting two seminars during her visit. At 3:30 p.m. Nov. 18, she will give a presentation entitled, "Long-Term Patterns of Climatic Variation and Ecotonal Response in the Sierra Nevada of California" at the Nebraska East Union. Graumlich uses annual ring growths of foxtail pine and western juniper to reconstruct temperature and precipitation records back to AD 800. Sub-fossil wood preserved above the current treeline has also allowed the reconstruction of the movements of the treeline in the Sierra Nevada over the past 3,500 years. Refreshments will be served beginning at 3 p.m.
At 12:30 p.m. Nov. 19, Graumlich will present a seminar entitled "Global Change and Local Process: Land-Use Change in Nepal." This seminar will take place in Room 117 of Bessey Hall Auditorium.
For more information on either seminar, contact Michael Hayes at 472-4271.
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