The holiday shopping season is in full swing and that of course means that we're constantly being bombarded by advertising.
While adults and adolescents know advertising for what it is - an attempt to sell products - younger children have a harder time grasping that concept, according to Pat Kennedy, UNL professor of marketing.
Kennedy said young children, particularly those under age 7, are particularly susceptible to television advertising. She said they just don't understand that the ads aren't part of the shows that that they're watching. Parents, she said, have to help them sort through it. "They just don't understand that they're trying to sell them something," Kennedy said. "Parents really have to work at explaining that. It's difficult for parents to be with children when they're watching because so many times both parents work nowadays. But if sometime after the fact they could sit down with the child and talk about the ads, they would really help them."
That's important, she said, because research has shown that the average child between age 2 and 11 sees approximately 40,000 television commercials a year, while other research has shown that kids have enormous spending power. A 1989 study showed that the nation's 33 million 4- to 12-year-olds had spending power of almost $14.4 billion a year and had influence on family purchases of almost $132 billion a year.
Advertisers, of course, are perfectly aware of those numbers.
"There is a purpose behind this (advertising directed at children)," Kennedy said. "Parents really have to work at explaining that."
Kennedy's research has also led her to look at how fashion models in advertising affect young girls. Again, she found that the role of parents in helping kids cope was crucial. "Even in the fourth grade, we found girls who were dieting, or knew someone who was," Kennedy said. "Some even talked about symptoms of anorexia and bulimia. The main thing parents have to do is make sure they have strong self-esteem - that they know they're beautiful, whether they're thin, fat or whatever."
Chancellor James Moeser will preside over the 9:30 a.m. ceremony at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Approximately 1,350 students will receive degrees.
As a scholar, researcher, author, teacher, administrator, consultant and civil rights crusader, Hale has created many new programs, including graduate and professional schools visitation days and the minority scholars program. Nearly $15 million in graduate fellowship awards were granted to approximately 1,200 minority students. Eighty percent of these fellowship recipients earned graduate degrees. Hale earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Nebraska and his doctoral degree at Ohio State.
An honorary doctor of humane letters degree will also be awarded to Melih Sipahioglu, the founder and chief executive officer of the Tamek Holding Co. in Istanbul, Turkey. Tamek owns eight major food and beverage companies in Turkey that process and distribute all of the canned foods, fruit juices and soft drinks sold in the country. Sipahioglu earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska in 1953.
Each software package, called Time Line for Windows, is valued at $700 and the department will need at least 20, bringing the total contribution to around $14,000. Khattab, who applied to Time Line for the contribution, will receive the package and license as early as spring semester.
Students in the construction management department aren't the only ones who will profit from the generosity of Time Line. The software will be presented at a training seminar for the construction industry Dec. 13 in Omaha along with other scheduling and estimating programs. The seminar is put on by UNL and the Associated General Contractors of America, Inc.
Through the construction management department, software demonstrations and training are available to construction companies in Nebraska who are considering buying scheduling and estimating packages. Companies don't have to spend a lot of money on software packages only to find out they don't fit their needs.
This is not the first time Khattab has received a software donation. Last year Primavera Systems, Inc., a Philadelphia-based software company, donated nine copies of P3 for Windows estimated at $45,000.
"This is a partnership," Khattab said. "Time Line is giving us software so we can teach our students and give seminars and training featuring their products. The construction industry gets see the software in action, be trained on the product that our students are trained on so that when our students enter a company, that company doesn't have to spend a lot of money on training." He has taught more than 25 continuing education seminars on estimating and scheduling software programs.
As a result of the partnership with Time Line, a subsidiary of Symantec Corp., the construction management department is identified as a national training center for the company based in Novato, Calif.
Construction on the parking garage west of Memorial Stadium is progressing on schedule. Tad McDowell, parking manager, told the Parking Advisory Committee Dec. 9 that work at the site is going well.
The committee, at its regular monthly meeting, discussed what affects changes in city parking lots will have on the campus. McDowell said that anticipated loss of surface lots near the INS building west of campus, and the Haymarket and Block 35 lots southwest of campus, will affect UNL because many student commuters park in those lots. And, he noted, if buildings are placed on those lots, the people who work in those buildings will need parking as well.
"Our concern is we are in a position where we are dumping student parking into the city, which the city cannot absorb," McDowell said. "We have enough spaces for the permits we now sell. But we have an unmet demand of some 900 people who would like permits but cannot get them."
UNL has a policy of not grossly overselling its lots.
Compounding the problem, he said, is that the demand is very high during a short duration, for about six hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the majority of people want to park in the same area. Even during peak demand periods, he said, remote lots on Holdrege Street and near the Beadle Center are not full.
Among the thorny issues for UNL, he said, is to find alternatives to bringing cars to campus. Because the city does not run bus service at night, UNL's ability to persuade folks to use public transportation is limited. UNL might be forced to provide this service, he noted.
"We should look to create more use of alternative transportation to encourage less use of personal vehicles and get away from relying on the city," he said.
The new garage will relieve some pressure but won't address all the demand, he added. The committee will revisit these issues in future meetings.
In other business, McDowell said on-going problems with students and others parking in fire lanes at nights and weekends must be addressed. UNL Police say they cannot patrol and ticket the lanes because of staffing shortages. McDowell said his office will try to publicize that fire lane parking is illegal but may resort to putting cadets on during the weekend to write fire lane violations (at $100 each) to emphasize that enforcement is necessary.
The committee also noted that speeding has become a dangerous problem, particularly on Vine, 14th, 16th and 17th streets. Pedestrians have been hit. McDowell said letters have been sent to the Lincoln mayor's office and to the city's traffic engineering office requesting a study of the area to see if lower speed limits could be posted but no responses have been received.
Harold Andersen, a former publisher and chairman of the Omaha World-Herald, and his wife, Marian, a UNL journalism graduate, donated the money to support the campaign's overall $250 million goal.
Of the gift, $500,000 will go toward creating an honors scholarship, and another $500,000 will go to the University of Nebraska College of Journalism and Mass Communications. That donation will go toward purchasing the college's new home in the current Security Mutual Life Building at 200 N. Centennial Mall.
The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources will receive $150,000 as an endowment to fund projects to publicize and encourage soil and water conservation.
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