University of Nebraska Provost Lee B. Jones has announced the winners of the 1996 Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Awards. The awards recognize members of the faculty who have demonstrated sustained excellence and creativity in teaching. Each award carries a stipend of $3,500.
The 1996 winners are James D. Carr, (shown at left), professor of chemistry at UNL, and James R. Newland, professor of pathology and microbiology at UNMC.
Carr has been a member of the UNL faculty since 1966 and has been coordinator of the general chemistry program since 1983. He received the UNL Distinguished Teacher Award in 1981, and was recognized for his contributions to students by the UNL Parents Association and UNL Teaching Council in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1995.
He has developed courses of instruction in general chemistry, quantitative analysis chemistry, instrumental analysis chemistry, and physical chemistry. He pioneered a graduate course in chemical separations via live interactive television through UNL's CorpNet system. He is a teacher in the University Foundations Program for first-year students. He currently supervises the work of 13 Ph.D. candidates and 17 master of science candidates. Over the past five years his student evaluations for courses ranging from introductory to graduate level have averaged an exceptional 1.59 on a 5-point scale, with 1 being highest.
As coordinator of general chemistry, Carr oversees both laboratory and administrative operations for all freshman-level chemistry classes. This typically involves some 1,100 students in five lecture sections, 20 recitation sections and 45 laboratory sections. But he doesn't supervise from afar. He regularly teaches freshman courses, not only presenting material, but performing two or three demonstrations each class period. Setting the tone for other lecturers, he exhibits special concern for those students who are initially uncomfortable with science.
"Jim's approach to teaching science is very student-oriented," said Nancy Betts, UNL associate professor of nutritional science and dietetics. "His class presentations are designed to provoke thought and to develop problem-solving behaviors. They are also fun, with stimulating demonstrations that make very clear points students can apply in their daily lives."
"He has a special quality that goes beyond the mechanics of being a good teacher," said Robert Larson, head of the Drake University chemistry department. "He has the ability to relate to students, to understand them and to draw them into an appreciation for the subject matter."
Carr earned his bachelor of science degree from Iowa State University in 1960, and his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1966.
Newland has been a member of the UNMC faculty since 1973. He has been chief of the medical staff of University Hospital since 1991. He is director of the second-year curriculum in the College of Medicine, director of education for the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, and medical director of the Division of Medical Technology.
He was awarded the UNMC Certificate of Merit for Excellence in
Teaching in 1995, and the Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching
in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1993. The Golden Apple is presented each
year by the American Medical Student Association.
By Tom Simons, News & Information
At its Feb. 24 meeting, the Board of Regents will be asked by NU President Dennis Smith and chancellors James Moeser of UNL and Del Weber of UNO to approve the establishment of the Omaha Institute of Science and Technology and the College of Information Science and Technology at UNO, and to endorse a plan for enhanced engineering education in Omaha.
While the Omaha Institute is a long-term project that, if approved, will be phased in over the next six years, UNL will begin to implement the enhanced engineering programs in Omaha immediately and UNO will reassign existing departments to create the new college. The plan calls for:
Implementation of the six-part plan would eventually require the addition of 28 full-time faculty and one half-time faculty, plus administrative and clerical support; additional office space for the new faculty and staff; laboratories; studio, computer, interactive and traditional classrooms; and technological facilities such as fiber-optic lines to connect the UNL and UNO campuses.
"There are two parts of the engineering plan that are the most significant," said Harvey Perlman, dean of the UNL College of Law. As UNL's interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs from August through January, Perlman worked with Ernest Peck, vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNO, to lead the effort to develop the three-part package that will go to the regents.
"One is the build-up of electronic and computer engineering because that is a direct response to the kind of industry that seems to be flourishing in Omaha. It seems to be the most critical current need.
"The second-most important part will be the attempt to create a signature program in the area of construction-infrastructure studies. That's premised on a unique cluster of private sector resources in Omaha that would give a base for the program and a unique set of university resources that are already invested in that area. If we can pull it all together, it can be a really shining program."
Part of the university's ongoing efforts to expand educational opportunities in information science and engineering in the state, the Omaha Institute is designed to provide an administrative structure that would facilitate collaborative efforts between the proposed College of Information Science and Technology and the Omaha-based programs of UNL's College of Engineering and Technology.
The purposes of the institute are to create a center of excellence in information science, technology and engineering; to provide the Omaha metropolitan area and the state of Nebraska with a unique resource for education, technological support and business development; and to do this by exploiting the advantages of cooperative programming between the colleges and departments of the University of Nebraska.
If approved, the institute will be jointly administered by the deans of the two colleges and will be developed in three two-year phases. In the first phase (July 1996 through June 1998), the new college will be launched at UNO and UNL will begin to implement new engineering and technology programs in Omaha. The deans will develop academic plans within their respective colleges to support the institute and they will work together to develop a plan for programs and activities involving interactions between the two colleges.
In the second phase (July 1998 through June 2000), selected joint or cooperative efforts are expected to begin, including efforts in continuing education and research. Cross-listing of courses between the two colleges will also become possible, and by 1999 the two deans would be able to appoint a chief administrator for the institute. The chief administrator would not necessarily have faculty rank.
In the final phase (July 2000 through June 2002), the institute is expected to become fully operational.
Major factors influencing the development of the institute will be the development of the separate colleges' academic programs and the construction of a new facility on the UNO campus to house the institute and the programs in engineering and information science. Plans call for the facility to be completed by 1999.
Additionally, once the institute is established it is expected to generate funds on a revolving basis from service efforts such as noncredit courses.
In administering the institute, the two deans will be responsible to a Coordinating Council that will consist of themselves, the vice chancellor for academic affairs and the assistant vice chancellor for education and information services at UNO, and the senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and the vice chancellor for research at UNL.
The deans and the Coordinating Council will be advised by an 11-member Board of Policy Advisers that will be appointed to staggered three-year terms by the university president. The board's membership will come from state, local and national leaders of business, government agencies and industry. The institute will not have its own faculty and will not award degrees. It will utilize faculty from the two colleges as well as temporary or visiting faculty and will facilitate the awarding of joint or cooperative degrees by the colleges.
Funding for the three-part package will come from reallocation of existing funds within the university, new state resources allocated by the legislature and investment from the private sector. The university estimates that new funds needed, 1997-98 through 2002-2003, will be $3.1 million in one-time funds and nearly $4.7 million in permanent funds.
Smith has said the plans to be presented to the regents "offer an ambitious but realistic strategy for dramatically improving engineering and information science and technology in Omaha," and Perlman said the consensus opinion seems to be that he is right.
"The (Omaha) Chamber of Commerce has already said it is strongly
supportive of the substance of the plan and its structure," Perlman said.
"I think the major interests agree that the plan will be beneficial to
the university and beneficial to economic development in Omaha and the
state of Nebraska."
By Earle Holland, Ohio State University
Scientists from UNL and Ohio State University have uncovered in Antartica a bed of moss dating back at least three million years.
The unmineralized moss is the latest in a series of finds in recent years that are fueling a controversy over how warm Antarctica's ancient climates were and when the southernmost continent was transformed to its current icy state.
David Harwood, (shown at right), assistant professor of geology at Nebraska, and Peter Webb, professor of geologic sciences and a member of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State, said team members found the moss bed while searching for fossils in the Oliver Bluffs region of the Dominion Range, about 300 miles from the South Pole. The moss was buried under layers of rock and debris at the site.
On previous expeditions, Harwood and Webb have found sticks, twigs and leaves from ancient plants in the same area, artifacts that suggest the region resembled an arctic tundra environment as recently as three million years ago. This year's and earlier expeditions were supported by the National Science Foundation.
The research team exposed only a small section of the moss bed -- perhaps a half-meter square -- from the area. It was about four to five inches thick and was light brown in color. Individual fibers of the moss plants were easily recognizable.
Harwood believes the moss was growing on a wetland area that eventually was covered by silt from a nearby river or stream during a glacial advance into the area.
"I'm sure that this moss bed was a great home for beetles and other organisms. We found it in sediments near an ancient peat bog which should have stored and preserved a lot of organic material as well," Harwood said.
The moss and bog probably contain remnants of a host of organisms that thrived in the area before it became ice-covered. Identifying these organisms can help scientists paint a picture of what life in the area was like. They can then extrapolate what the climate patterns were for the area.
Many scientists now disagree over the history of the rock beds in this area. One group suggests that the area has not changed for as much as 20 to 30 million years. The other group -- including Harwood and Webb -- think the area, with its rock deposits, is much younger, perhaps as young as three million years old.
The age dispute is significant for a number of reasons. The area of this recent find, as well as those of past years, is high up in the Transantarctic Mountain range. That suggests that the terrain has risen substantially since the moss, sticks, twigs and leaves were buried. If true, it would mean that the mountains had risen in a remarkably short time.
The Transantarctic Mountains form a dam of sorts blocking the vast East Antarctic Ice Sheet from spilling down into the Ross Sea. If the mountains had risen in what geologists consider a very short time, then it could change many ideas about the recent history of the region, how many times the ice and glaciers had spread and receded, and when the region was locked into its present deep freeze.
Harwood, Webb and others are focusing on a deposit of rock called the Sirius Group, sedimentary material laid down when the area was covered by an inland sea during a warmer period in the region's history. They and other research teams worked for three months out of a remote field camp on the Shackleton Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains. They surveyed as many as a dozen sites throughout the valley cut by the glacier.
"Either the climate was exceptionally warm high in the mountains or the mountains were much lower at the time the Sirius Group was formed," said Webb. "The fact that we see so much faulting, dislocation and slumping (of rock beds) associated with Sirius Group outcrops suggests significant uplift of the mountains."
"Most of the Sirius Formation has been eroded," Harwood said. "From what we saw at Shackleton, it appears that the whole valley was at one time probably filled with this type of sediment, perhaps 100 to 200 meters thick."
That would have made the Shackleton and Beardmore glacier area -- and probably many other glacial valleys -- resemble present-day fjords or broad river valleys emptying into the sea.
Other researchers argue that the diatoms and foraminifera -- microscopic life forms -- found in Sirius rock throughout the region were blown by strong winds from the Ross Sea into the area and then trapped. Harwood and Webb counter that if this were the case, the diatoms would first have had to be deposited, locked into rock that later eroded, allowing them to be carried by the winds to redeposited and trapped in the Sirius.
Harwood and Webb counter that the rocks they've sampled come originally from near-vertical slopes that are undergoing constant erosion. They argue that, while the windblown theory might be possible for some deposits, "it's hard to imagine that the diatoms would survive because of that erosion."
"In 1990-91, we found the leaves and twigs in Sirius material," said Harwood. "The leaves they found had not been mineralized and, like the moss bed, represented a remarkable find. They were still remarkably fresh, still organic, and retained much of their original color."
Webb maintains that this series of findings over the last four years confirms that the Sirius Formation is not a local geological phenomenon, that is, "it represents a series of major geological events distributed over hundreds of thousands of square miles in this and other parts of East Antarctica."
Harwood said that the region's climate at the time was probably much warmer than it is today perhaps 15 degrees C warmer. That would mean that temperatures in the summer had to be above 5 degrees C for three months during the winter and that winter conditions could not have exceeded minus 26 degrees C.
"These were hardy plants, probably ground-hugging types, that had adapted to a very harsh environment," Harwood explained, similar to the Southern Beech that now grows in alpine environments.
"By finding something like the moss, leaves or beetles, it gives us an idea of the community that had survived in Antarctica before the great extinction that wiped everything out.
"These are survivors of some pretty severe environmental change. They
could have found other ways to adapt to the climate stresses at the
time," Harwood said.
By Faye Colburn, HR&FS Writer
Work recently completed in Ruth Leverton Hall has transformed labs once used for Connie Kies' pioneering studies of human nutrient absorption.
According to Marilyn Schnepf, head of the Department of Nutritional Science and Dietetics, two-thirds of Leverton Room 304 has become a nutrition/foods, classroom/conference room with an attached, bench-type lab facility. Crumbling plaster and peeling paint have become part of history like Kies' then innovative studies.
Room 304 once housed resident subjects for a study of the relationship between dietary fiber and the bioavailability of calcium, Schnepf said. During the period of that study, 285 mostly undergraduate and graduate females participated during experimental periods of five to seven days each. Kies used atomic absorption spectrophotometry to analyze many kinds of materials from that study for calcium content.
A second study of manganese and lipid metabolism involved 14 healthy men and women who lived in the human metabolic unit, the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences official said.
A series of 28-day feeding trials investigated the effects of giving calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium and selenium supplements to healthy human subjects on copper utilization. Again, the subjects lived in the lab and ate diets concocted in Kies' kitchens.
At the time of those studies, 304 was divided into ten partitioned cubicles, each equipped with a folding door, bed, dresser, and closet, Schnepf said. Subjects shared a kitchenette for those times when they didn't have a required study diet to eat.
Room 313, also scheduled for renovations, provided that lab environment for simple blood work analysis of foods involved in the study and analysis of other samples from the residential studies, as well as a number of non-residential studies.
To determine the availability of copper to infants, Kies collected and analyzed milk samples from 30 mothers.
Now the laboratory, Room 313 will be renovated and refitted to better
meet new research demands, said Schnepf. The college now needs strong
nutritional biochemistry support to understand the impact of nutrients at
the cellular level.
"Celebrating Women in Science and Theory" is the theme for the third annual "No Limits" interdisciplinary regional Women's Studies conference scheduled March 1 and 2 at UNL's East Union.
The conference is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
Academic and creative presentations will be given by students and community members as well as students from the universities of Wyoming and Nevada. Presentation topics range from Women in American Literature to biography and history of women scientists.
The No Limits interdisciplinary conference was organized in 1994 by students who wanted to create a conference that adhered to the most basic tenets of Women's Studies. Each year, No Limits has hosted more than 60 presentations from students and community members involved in Women's Studies in numerous academic departments and community groups from around the nation. Topics range from women and art to the analyses of violence against women. No Limits also accepts a large number of creative readings and performances. No Limits is completely funded through student fund-raising and through donations from UNL academic departments.
Londa Schiebinger, professor of history and women's studies at Pennsylvania State University, will present the conference keynote speech at 11 a.m. March 1. Her lecture, "Women in Science: Does Gender Make a Difference?" is free and open to the public. Schiebinger will also visit with students during a session from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m.
A 1974 graduate of the UNL Department of English, Schiebinger completed her M.A. in History at Harvard University in 1977, and completed her Ph.D. from the same department in 1984.
Schiebinger's talk is sponsored by the UNL Research Council and the Women's Studies Program and is co-sponsored by the UNL School of Biological Sciences, and the departments of chemistry, geology, history, philosophy, physics, English and the College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information on attending the student conference or the keynote event, please contact the UNL Women's Studies Program at 472-9392. E-mail inquires may be made to kmapelbl@unlinfo.unl.edu.
This year's No Limits conference is sponsored by the Women's Studies
Association and the UNL Women's Studies Program. Co-sponsors include the
UNL College of Arts and Sciences, along with UNL Departments of
Communication Studies, Economics, Graduate Studies, Great Plains Studies,
Latino and Latin American Studies, Modern Languages, Political Science
and Psychology.
By Kim Hachiya, News & Information
With just three voting members present, the Parking Advisory Committee lacked a quorum at its Feb. 20 meeting, so no official business could be conducted.
That meant that several ticket appeals and other items will be held over until the March meeting. Chair Joan Konecky was irked that the committee was "crippled by lack of quorum," and said she regretted in particular having to hold over appeals.
Viann Schroeder, speaking on behalf of the Parking Services office, addressed some concerns raised by the group at its January meeting.
Konecky said she will work with the safety and police committees to
set a date, probably in April, for the spring safety walk. Typically the
spring walk begins at 4 or 4:30 a.m. when most campus lights are out and
ambient lighting is negligible. Schroeder said it would be helpful to
look at areas and problems noticed in the fall walk to see if they have
been rectified.
By Dave Engberg, Office of International Affairs
For many students away from home for the first time, the university experience can be very challenging. Unfamiliar with the new environment and isolated from family and friends, feelings of homesickness and isolation are typical. For the university's international student population, however, these feelings can be especially acute.
Just ask Christina Herencia, a graduate student from Peru. At UNL to pursue a doctorate in social psychology, Herencia reports that many of the foreign students she has had contact with have a difficult time adapting to the cultural differences. Many are very lonely and "thirst for communication," she said.
Herencia came to Nebraska from New York State where she completed undergraduate and MA degrees. Compared to Lincoln, she found New York to be much more culturally heterogeneous with a variety of public places where foreign students could meet and talk to Americans.
"It is difficult for foreign students to get to know other people," she said. "At the university, structured classes result in limited opportunities to make contact with other students. You sit, listen, then go home and do your homework. The only places strangers will start conversations with you are at coffee houses or Super Saver."
Fortunately for Herencia she met a local woman associated with the Lincoln Friends of Foreign Students (LFFS).
LFFS, a nonprofit community organization affiliated with UNLs International Affairs office, matches members of UNL's foreign student population with area individuals and families willing to make periodic contact with them.
Herencia's Lincoln "friends" not only gave her someone to talk to, but helped her overcome occasional transportation difficulties and offered medical advice when her daughter became ill. She was able to return some of the favors to one of her friends when she accompanied her to Peru for a brief visit.
Eric Soo, a resource management student and LFFS participant from Malaysia, said it took him about a year to adapt to life in Lincoln.
He learned about the LFFS program during the new student orientation sessions conducted the week before his first semester of classes. Participation is voluntary and requires only that one fill out an application form.
According to Soo, spending time with his host family was his first chance to both "be with an American family and feel at home again."
The most difficult thing for him when meeting his family for the first time was knowing what to say and how to eat. "Chinese families don't talk a lot during meals," he said. "I was also uncomfortable using the dining utensils."
LFFS matchmaker and Cather-Pound-Neihardt Food Service Manager Cheryl Card explained that many of the participating friends initially want a student from Europe.
"They are often more familiar with European countries through travel experiences or want to learn more about the country their ancestors come from," she said. European student participation is low, however, because many of them are older graduate students and it is generally easier for them to assimilate American cultural patterns. Last year, Card matched 125 students new to the program. This semester, 21 students are still waiting to find friends.
Recruited two months ago by Card, Ann Johnson's experience with LFFS is a typical one. "We were leery going in. It's hard to open a house to people you don't know, especially when you have so many other commitments," she said. She soon discovered, however, that the students "don't expect a lot. They just want someone to talk to."
Johnson feels the experience has been helpful in broadening her family's perspective of world cultures. The reverse is almost certainly also true: In addition to visits to their home, her family has taken their student to their daughter's basketball games and the zoo.
International Student Advisor and LFFS liaison Judy Wendorff is especially pleased with the program's success. "I don't see a lot of the students after they are matched," she said. "That indicates that the families are really able to serve their needs."
Currently, there are approximately 250 friends in the Lincoln area and
between 1,500 and 1,700 foreign students. "We want to support as many
students as we can, but it is always difficult to get people," Wendorff
said. For more information about LFFS or to become a friend, contact
Cheryl Card at 421-1659.
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