November 15, 1996


Don't Feed the Animals

Larry Osborne, a senior majoring in crop protection at UNL, takes a look at the new bobcat diorama recently unveiled at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Morrill Hall. The refurbished display was officially dedicated on Sunday.

(Photo by Richard Wright)


Geography Department Open House Nov. 19

The UNL Department of Geography, on the occasion of Geography Awareness Week, welcomes the public to an open house from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Nov. 19 on the third floor of Avery Hall.

Visitors will have the opportunity to observe demonstrations on the use of satellite imagery and GIS applied to environmental issues, on the use of computers to visualize current weather data and to make weather forecasts, and on the use of computers in map animation. Gerry Steinauer, from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, will discuss "Nebraska's Native Habitats" at 7 p.m. in Room 341, Avery Hall. The evening's events will conclude with competition among several teams in the College Geography Bowl.


Human Resources Offers November Sessions

Human Resources offers a variety of seminars and sessions during the month of November, including the following:


Jane Elliot to Discuss Prejudice and Race Nov. 20

Jane Elliot, a nationally known speaker on prejudice and race, will speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Centennial Room of the Nebraska Union.

Elliot has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Donahue, and was selected as one of Peter Jenning's ABC-TV "Persons of the Week." She has also been the subject of several award-winning documentaries.

Elliot is considered an expert on race relations and discrimination because of her "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" discrimination experiment. This exercise labeled students inferior or superior based on their eye color. This was first done in an all-white third grade classroom in Riceville, Iowa, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It has been repeated with dramatic results in both children and adults in the U.S. and abroad to teach about the anatomy of prejudice and the effects of racism on both the perpetrators and the victims of discrimination.

This event offers a learning experience for all students and faculty, especially those in the field of education or psychology.


Trade Specialist to Address Thompson Forum Nov. 20

International Trade Specialist Diane Willkens will discuss the rapidly changing global marketplace in her address at the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The event is free and open to the public. Willkens, an international trade specialist who is president and founder of Development Finance International Inc., will discuss "International Development: Global Vision in Myopic Times."

Unprecedented political and economic changes have opened global markets where none before existed. International development institutions such as the World Bank are both applauded and accused for their role in financing much of the world's sweeping market development.

Willkens argues that the benefits of these institutions, coupled with pressure from environmentalists, grassroots organizations, and the private sector, far outweigh calls for their abolishment.

According to Willkens, American interests dictate increased financial and policy support for these institutions, but Congress and the public greet the investment with hostility. The lecture is available by satellite broadcast at College Park in Grand Island and at sites throughout the state.


Keeler to Portray Elda Walker Nov. 20

The next Olson seminar is Nov. 20, when Kathleen Keeler, UNL professor of biological sciences, presents "An Afternoon with Dr. Elda Walker, First Woman Botanist at the University of Nebraska." Keeler will portray Walker in delivering a lecture, "Vegetation of Nebraska," as Walker may have presented it in 1916.

The Olson seminars are sponsored by the Center for Great Plains Studies at UNL.


Information Theory Expert to Speak Nov. 20

An internationally acclaimed digital communications expert from the University of Essen, Essen, Germany, will deliver an address titled "Information Theory, Coding and Memory Systems" at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 20 in 112 Ferguson Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A.J. Han Vinck, whose interests include information and communication theory, coding and network aspects of digital communications, will discuss the possibilities of improved computer storage hinted at by information theory, as well as the practical aspects of devising codes that will allow such possibilities to become realities.

In recent years, developments in electronics and physics have stimulated the design of new types of expanded computer memory systems like optical rewritable or high density recording systems, says Spyros Magliveras, Hensen Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at UNL. Vinck will describe simple models for these memory systems and show how information theory helps to determine their storage capacity. Achieving such storage-density improvements is accomplished through appropriate coding techniques, says Magliveras, but in practical terms these improvements cannot be achieved through the use of classical codes. Vinck will describe and illustrate new coding techniques designed and developed at the University of Essen's Institute for Experimental Mathematics, where he works.

Vinck obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in 1980. From 1991 to 1993 he directed the Institute for Experimental Mathematics and is now the chairman of the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineering) German Information Theory Chapter and co-chairman of the IEEE Information Theory Symposium in Ulm, Germany. He is the leader of the Japanese-German research project "On Fundamental Structures of Information," which is sponsored by the Japanese and German equivalents of the National Science Foundation, and he initiated the Japanese Benelux Workshops for Information Theory and the International Wintermeeting on Coding, Cryptography and Information Theory. Vinck is also the co-founder and president of the Shannon and Gauss foundations, which stimulate research and help young scientists in the field of information theory and digital communications.

Vinck's lecture is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences' Colloquium in Discrete and Experimental Mathematics, a group of scholars from the departments of Mathematics and Statistics and Computer Science and Engineering at UNL.


Domestic Partner Benefits Forum Topic

The issue of the extension of spousal benefits for UNL faculty and staff to same sex domestic partnerships and unmarried heterosexual partnerships will be the topic for discussion at the next UNL Community Conversations rewritable or high density forum, from 3:30-5 p.m. Nov. 20, in the Nebraska Union's East Crib.

Under the title of "Equal Pay For Equal Work: Should University Benefits `Come Out of the Closet?'," a panel of campus experts will open public discussion on the issues involved, focusing on the matter of equity. Questions involved include the areas of benefits which would be affected, projected economic costs, possible political ramifications, how eligibility of a relationship would be defined, and possible alternatives available for equitable solutions.

The Community Conversations' Steering Committee noted that in a recent survey of faculty and staff concerns, 12 percent indicated the matter of spousal benefits to be one of their top five concerns. A number of large U.S. corporations such as Walt Disney Enterprises and IBM extend such benefits, as do some colleges and universities.

Earlier this year, an All-university Benefits Committee, in a split vote, decided not to pursue at this time a recommendation of the UNL Academic Senate for an extension of benefits.

The Community Conversations program and forums are co-sponsored by over a dozen faculty, staff and student organizations and offices on the UNL campus. Programs are dedicated to the public discussion, in an open and civil manner, of issues facing the campus and the community. All faculty, staff, students, and interested persons from the community are invited and welcome.


`Adopt A Smoker' Nov. 21

The University Health Center's Health Aide Program is asking all UNL students, staff and faculty to stop by the Great American Smokeout information booth in the Nebraska Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 21 and "Adopt A Smoker."

For approximately nine years, more than 100 Health Aides participate each year in the Great American Smokeout by Adopting A Smoker. Health Aides fill out adoption papers and receive a survival kit-complete with gum, stickers, buttons and a tip sheet for quitting smoking-to help their adoptees make it through the day without smoking or chewing tobacco.

Adoption papers are available now from Community Health Education, room 12, lower level, University Health Center. Adoption papers will also be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 21 or 22 at the Great American Smokeout information booth in the Nebraska Union.

In addition to the Great American Smokeout, the American Cancer Society will sponsor giant ashtrays around the city for all smokers to dispose of their cigarettes, cigarette butts or smokeless tobacco. The ashtray for UNL will be located at the north entrance of the Nebraska Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. After 2 p.m., the American Cancer Society will gather together all the ashtrays and take them to Lincoln General Hospital for a "cremation ceremony."

For more information regarding the Great American Smokeout or "Adopt A Smoker," contact Health Aide Supervisor Nancy Basham, 472-7440.


Emeriti Association Meets Nov. 21

The UNL Emeriti Association will meet at the Nebraska East Union at 12:30 p.m. Nov. 21. Guest speaker will be Don Clifton, former staff member and current CEO of the Gallup Organization.

Clifton will speak on the working relationship between UNL and Gallup, the scope of Gallup-SRI Operations and how the merger of the two organizations came about. For more information, contact John Furrer, 486-1375.


Swoboda to Demonstrate CLASS System Nov. 21

Donald Swoboda, dean of the division of continuing studies, will demonstrate CLASS (communications, learning, and assessment in a student-centered system), a state-of-the-art learning system, and guide a tour of the newly remodeled Clifford Hardin Nebraska Center for Continuing Education from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Center's Nebraska Room.


British Professor Featured in Morris Lecture Nov. 21

The annual Roberta A. Morris Memorial Lecture will feature David Carson, professor of law, The University of Southampton, England, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Nebraska Union.

Carson's topic is "Risk: Welcome to Its Funeral." In his talk, Carson will argue that the debate about risk has moved, and must move, from risk analysis and assessment to dynamic risk management. Carson's thesis is relevant to social service assessments in instances of alleged child abuse; in addition, he will use illustrations from a range of areas, including the Ford Pinto debacle to mentally disordered offenders and prisoners on parole. The lecture is sponsored by law and psychology.


Visiting French Professor to Offer Master Class

David Rubin, professor of French at the University of Virginia, will give a Master Class in the Collaborative Learning Method in 201 Henzlik from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Nov. 22.

The Master Class will be conducted in English as part of a demonstration in the teaching of civilization and literature. Faculty and students from all disciplines are invited to attend. Discussion of the method will follow the class.

Rubin will also give a lecture on the acceptance and publishing of scholarly manuscripts at 5 p.m. in the Regency Suite of the Nebraska Union. His visit is sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and the Convocations Committee.


National Chemistry Week Offers `Final Whistle'

In celebration of National Chemistry Week the Department of Chemistry and the science outreach group ScienceWorks have scheduled a fun event called "Final Whistle" from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 23 in Hamilton Hall.

The public is invited to attend the event, which includes lots of hands-on science demonstrations, poster sessions and chemistry magic shows given by James Carr from noon to 2 p.m. in room 110.


Schaal Retiring After 30 Years

A reception honoring Merle Schaal, director of accounting, will be from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Wick Alumni Center. A program will be presented at 3 p.m. Schaal is retiring after 30 years with the Accounting Department.


Courting and Romance Stories Sought

UNL student Christina Micek is seeking information on the Mueller belltower or courting and romance stories involving Broyhill Fountain. The information will be part of a research project for a freshman honors English seminar. Micek can be reached at 475-0720.


No Scarlet Nov. 29

The Scarlet will not be published during the week of Nov. 25 (the Nov. 29 issue) due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Only three issues of the Scarlet remain for the calendar year - Nov. 22 and Dec. 6 and 13.


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For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
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(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825